Idea Challenge at Vidhya Vidhai

A stormy weather and you know that you have to drive through the bumpy roads and come through safely at the other end. Before you enter the stormy territory, you would plan and make assumptions of the challenges that would come your way and based on that ideate ways to overcome those challenges and achieve the goal of reaching your destination. What if you are not the only one who has to cross the stormy weather and bumpy roads but you need your team members to have similar skills to overcome the challenges while they wish to achieve their destination?

Working in the Education space is like this complex road drive and we at Vidhya Vidhai as Change facilitators are making every effort to make this drive a much smoother and enjoyable experience for every school head, teacher, parent, and student in the system. While dealing with such a complex system it is important for the change facilitators to have the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to understand the severity of the problems in the system and strategically design and implement solutions that can address these challenges for better learning outcomes. 

We strongly believe that “if you would like to change the world, first start with yourself” –This led to initiating an IDEA CHALLENGE for all of the team members at Vidhya Vidhai. As part of the Design Thinking exercise, we felt the need to identify what interests would each one bring to the ideating platform. The IDEA CHALLENGE was announced to our team on July 21st, 2021 with few guidelines. Each one had 50 days to work on their idea that they would present it on the final day of sharing. 

1. Identify a problem that would eradicate a specific problem in the school education space. The problem was expected to be weighed in different perspectives with relevant data, articles and news. Once the broader problem has been identified ask 5 why questions to understand the root cause of the problem. 
2. Followed by the problem statement, the next step was to ideate solutions to address the problem identified. A detailed thought process on ideating the solutions was requested to be documented, each solution may not be valid but this activity would definitely facilitate innovation and creativity in the ways we approach the problem. There were only three conditions to select a solution to address the problem 

a. The solution should have an approach of sustainability 

b. The solution should have the ability to contextualize it and apply it to any geography

c. The solution should be measurable and time-bound

1. The third step in the Idea Challenge was to create a pitch presentation for their idea with a detailed business plan, budget and resources required. 

In addition to their journey in ideating, each team member had the opportunity to choose their mentors who were experts in their chosen sphere. These mentors passed on the energy and traveled a journey of exploration, innovation, and creativity throughout the idea challenge. 

These 50 days seemed like 15 days when it was no time that everyone had to showcase their journey into ideation. It was a relaxed Saturday morning as we entered the beautiful Art Cafe, the excitement of spending a day outside the office reflected in everyone\’s face. What a great place to have an IDEA CHALLENGE final day showcase in a place where you are filled with creativity. This definitely set the mood and the presentation began. This space was completely judgment-free and resistant free which boosted confidence and courage in each individual to converse about the challenge that they are deep-rooted towards.

Conversations over “A classroom with a computer” to “Inclusivity of children with special needs” gave a detailed insight into how a problem can be big or small but its impact on students and the school system is definitely huge. Our day experienced different spectrums of challenges in the education system from “Rethinking the civic subject pedagogy” to “Preparing students for their life skills” and some problems which needed deeper interventions like “Lack of Teachers in schools”. These presentations paved a path to discuss the problems in a deeper sense trying to decode its root cause while collectively ideating sustainable solutions. The day ended by reviewing the policy documents in the education space that caters to the conversed problems and challenges in the space. I must say, it was a day filled with hopes, dreams, and ideas.