Resume Learning with Project Aakam: To Create is to Learn

It is Kurippangulam village, a remote place in the Thirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. The streets are deserted due to the curfew.  Insiya, a 6-year-old child, is busy writing something in her old rough notebook using her color pencils. She searches her surroundings from time to time and we can see on her face, the pride of having found something. She writes in her notebook as if recording her findings.  We can also see a 20-year-old supporting Insiya with guiding questions. 

Similarly, an eight-year-old boy named Mathesh from Karumbanur, a village in the Thenkasi district of Tamil Nadu is busy making plates with leaves along with his friends. Some papers lie scattered near him that reveal some sort of planning. Like Insiya, even Mathesh has a person with him, who is guiding him with all the work he does.

Wondering what\’s going on here? Who are they and what is the reason for their enthusiasm? Across the world, 1.05 billion students (1,048,817,181 affected learners- according to UNESCO report) are unable to attend school due to school closures due to the spread of COVID-19. Although the closure is crucial to battling against the pandemic, it poses a significant impact on students’ learning. We see that many schools have begun to adapt and implement distance learning solutions. However, there are hundreds of children like Insiya and Mathesh who have been left without digital learning accessibility. Should their learning be hampered for this reason? 

Project Aakam meaning ‘To create’,  is an attempt to bridge the learning gap of students through a series of projects. The projects are based on the learning outcomes of Grade 1-8. Through this experiential learning opportunity, we provide an opportunity for the students to explore the concepts. The projects have been designed by Education above all, an Organization working towards empowering children through education. These projects are contextualized and executed by Vidhya Vidhai in TamilNadu, with the support of our mentor organization ‘Mantra for Change’. More than 2000 children have enrolled in this Project from various districts across Tamil Nadu such as Chennai, Thiruvallur, Tirunelveli, Thenkasi, Tuticorin, Erode, and Dharmapuri. All these have been possible with the support of peer organisations in these districts. Insiya and Mathesh, are few of these 2000 children who have been exploring Aakam Projects. Insiya has been creating her own alphabet book and Mathesh along with his friends have been designing their own pop-up restaurant.

The one big question is “how to reach thousands of students with limited digital accessibility?”  Here comes the role of our volunteers! Our volunteers range from college students, tutors of community centers to parents and many such enthusiasts. Their major role is to guide the children through the project. To support the volunteers, guiding self-explanatory videos and worksheets are sent to them. 

“My students were excited to design a shop on their own. I was happy that they learned various Math concepts through this process.”– says an excited volunteer from Bodhi tree skills foundation, after completing ‘What is in my store?’ project. Through regular reflection calls with our volunteers, our belief towards the impact of inquiry based learning  has strengthened. Learning happens all the time and when the right opportunities arise, the impact is tremendous. Aakam provides such an opportunity for all children.