STORY PREVIEW

2020

Education on air.

ESPALIER - THE EXPERIMENTAL SCHOOL

Maharashtra

MENTOR

SACHIN JOSHI

Step 1 FEEL

List the challenges or problems in your surroundings (school,neighbourhood etc.) that bothered you.

1. How to get rid of plastic waste generated due to Covid crisis?? 2. Schools closed down due to lock down. 3. Education of children living in remote areas. 4. Stress of online education. 5. How to make education easily accessible to all the children??

State the problem chosen to work and why.

In a class discussion to select an appropriate idea for the DFC story there were many opinions but most of the children were concerned about the kind of education that is being given to the underprivileged children. We all felt that being from middle class and upper middle class family we have an access to internet ,smartphone and therefore it is easy for us to again connect back to our schools and school teachers through online education. But it might not be a similar situation for all students from different backgrounds. And if they will remain to be disconnected from the world and disconnected from education then how are they going to progress in life. And in view of this situation we cannot leave children deprived from education. We must find a solution to provide easily accessible education to all and this thought gave rise to the concept of Radio Espalier - Education on air.

Who were the people affected by the problem? What were their primary concerns?

We were concerned about the kind of education that is being given to the children in the rural and the tribal areas. Even though online education is an option but poverty and internet connectivity are some issues that cannot be overlooked. And even if we consider that all children in the urban, rural or tribal areas are getting online education the fact remains that the screen time has tremendously increased for all children due to watching excess TV and very long screen time. As a result of which problems of restlessness, anxiety and hyperactivity is also increasing amongst many students.

Step 2 IMAGINE

List ALL the different solutions you came up with.

1. Teaching students with help of Sachin Sir's EDUCATION ON WHEEL 2. Providing online education to children in rural and tribal areas. 3. Providing our old textbooks and notebooks to help them study. 4. A Radio for education

Which solution from those listed above did you choose to implement and why?

We chose to launch a Radio for education in which we can broadcast audio programmes based on academics, information& entertainment and life skills. In this way we can reach out to a large number of students in far and wide areas and make education accessible to all. It will also help to reduce screen-time of children and also stimulate visualisation and imagination in children through audio stories.

Step 3DO

Describe very briefly the process of implementing your solution(s).

1. With help of Sachin Sir we launched our own Radio for education. 2. After getting training for recording we started doing recording of different content from home. 3. The content for radio programmes was taken from SSC and CBSE curriculum. 4. We also created content for life skill education especially for children of rural and tribal areas. 5. We approached Commissioner of Tribal Development department Maharashtra and associated with them to provide radio service to almost 4 lakh children of tribal areas.

What was the result or impact of your project?

We provided an effective substitute to avoid long screen hours of online education. We were able to introduce an effective alternative to online education. We discovered a new way to provide easily accessible, quality education to children in tribal and rural areas.

How many people were impacted by your solution(s)?

200000

What did the impacted people have to say about your project? Provide 2 quotes or testimonials:

A child from Eklavya school, Bhakti , said, " Radio for education is the best thing that happened in lock down. Radio programmes help me in my studies and keep me focused. I really enjoy the life skills activities and folk songs." Espalier School student, Arya says, " I am so happy that Espalier School always comes up with innovations. Learning from Radio programmes is so much fun. Now without straining my eyes I can completely focus on what I hear and then visualise the content easily. I wish it continues forever."

What challenges did you encounter while implementing your project, and how did you overcome them?

The biggest challenge was to make this project successful in times of corona. Because of safety concerns and following social distancing we had to plan everything online. Content discussion, error-free recordings with expressions and voice quality, managing the recorded data, sorting and validation of data, planning and scheduling of daily radio programmes was a tough task. It was a completely new experience for us.

How long did it take to implement your solution?

MORE THAN 30 DAYS

Which global goals does your story align with?

Quality Education

Please explain briefly why do you think so?

Radio has always been identified as the cheapest and easily accessible mode of communication. Radio for education will surely be a great discovery to reach out to all children in the remotest area where poverty and connectivity are a common concerns. With our Radio we can reach out to a large number of students in far and wide areas and make education accessible to all. With radio education all children can be engaged in informative and productive learning. It will also help to reduce screen-time of children and also stimulate visualisation and imagination in children through audio stories. Also if we consider screen time saturation and health of children then education is surely a welcome change in the field of education.

Step 4 SHARE

How did you share your project with your school and community? Who did you share your project with? What was their response?

With strong teamwork and encouraging leadership we made our own online radio and started recording the content from home. Our teachers also joined in to contribute for radio content with full enthusiasm to support the cause. We were able to record a lot of academic and informative content which was validated by the teachers and the experts . Our radio programmes are broadcasted regularly for our school children. Also with help of Sachin sir we got in touch with the Tribal Department Maharashtra government. We presented our plan of action for the radio to the Commissioner of Tribal Development Department and got a lot of appreciation and encouragement and also a chance to develop content for the students of the tribal areas . There are around 800000 children studying in in schools in the tribal areas. Though internet facility is available only to about 2 to 3 lakh children but then also we considered it as a great achievement. We also shared our plan to involve the gram panchayats in an initiative to deliver education on air. Now the radio programs can be broadcasted over a large area with the help of speakers installed in the Gram panchayat office.

Approximately how many people did you share your story of change with?

More than 100

Briefly share your plan to sustain the impact of your project?

Education is a continuous process and with help of our radio we strive to reach out to maximum number of students across India and world. We aim to transform students as educators. Since Espalier radio is a mobile app which runs on very less data it will surely emerge as the most convenient and easily accessible way to provide quality education to many. We also invite and encourage all young change makers to contribute for the radio content to make it everlasting and full of information and entertainment.

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