To attract Anganwadi children towards learning and encourage reading, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has launched a slew of initiatives. One of these is the ‘Wonder on Wheels’, that was launched in collaboration with Freethinking Foundation and the Women and Child Development Department to provide a creative learning opportunity to marginalised children, in and around Bengaluru.
In an exclusive conversation with Indian Masterminds, BBMP Special Commissioner (Education), Ram Prasad Manohar, shared details about the initiatives.
WONDER ON WHEELS
“Through this programme, we wish to help Anganwadi children in exploring technology-driven and more sophisticated training and learning through exclusive resources,” shared Mr Manohar.
The initiative aims to bring the children out from their traditional Anganwadi and its four walls and take them to exciting locations, such as play areas, children’s parks, etc. where they can make use of available resources for a fun-filled learning session and could be taught in a natural environment for improving their learning capacity.
USING BMTC BUSSES
To launch the pilot project of this initiative, the BBMP purchased 10 Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) buses which have been revamped completely to suit the project’s requirements.
Architects have remodelled the bus with a detachable amphitheatre and musical areas, among others. The bus is furnished with detachable seating, shelves and storage to allow for free creative movement. Art, craft, musical instruments, library books and audio-visual systems, and permanent art and craft teachers will be present on the bus.
“We have appointed two Anganwadi teachers trained in Montessori schooling, a group D worker, who will be present in the buses. They will visit the Anganwadis where children will be escorted to the buses and will be taken to an outdoor location for their learning. The buses will be parked at a garden or park to help children learn in the open, in a stress-free environment, and explore nature,” he told Indian Masterminds.
The bus will be travelling across Bengaluru and stop by Anganwadis where children will be engaged for one hour in activities related to theatre, music, art, and culture. Each bus can accommodate up to 50 children who can learn in English, Kannada and Hindi mediums.
KIRTI BELAKU SCHEME
Another initiative launched by BBMP under the Kirti Belaku Scheme of the Karnataka Government helps children to study after school hours. There are numerous children in Anganwadis whose parents are not capable of helping them in their studies at home because of a lack of education, work commitments, or other issues.
Such children are identified by the government and they are then tutored by teachers who have volunteered for the cause. These volunteers are educated individuals who have already graduated and are currently pursuing post-graduation.
“We provide the volunteers with a stipend for their work. A proper set-up has been established for the students where they sit and read. This way their reading habits also get improved,” Mr Manohar told Indian Masterminds.
Apart from this, he is planning to inculcate co-curricular activities in the programme as well for an enhanced value system. Currently, the project is being implemented in 10 schools under BBMP on a pilot basis. The initiative has been successful until now and the officer has decided to upscale it soon.
MOTIVATING SCHOOL DROPOUTS
Due to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, back in the year 2020, several school-going kids dropped out of their schools and bid farewell to studies. BBMP wished to include all such children in their programme as well so that these kids can once again get into the habit of reading and learning.
The officer and his team surveyed rural households and identified over 40,000 children who had dropped out of school within the last two years. BBMP then motivated the teachers of schools to visit the homes of these drop-outs and convince them to come back to the mainstream formal education system.
“We were able to retain most of these students except for 2000 people, who are mostly children from migrated communities and are not ready to come to schools anyhow. For them, we thought of launching mobile vans with learning facilities and teachers, which could reach their location and the students could learn from their remote locations,” Mr Manohar said.
Accordingly, BBMP has launched one mobile van in each zone of Bengaluru so that all remote locations can be covered.
