School may be out, but public problem solving never stops!
It’s a wrap! A look back at nine months of online Boot Camps in Chennai.
One of the biggest challenges learning communities faced during 2020 was taking learning online. At Reap Benefit, we too had to find a way to translate our year long, hands on mentoring programme or bootcamps into equally engaging online modules.
Mentors began working on online modules in April 2020, and piloted them via an online summer internship with students from the DAV Groups of Schools, Chennai. It was a steep learning curve for mentors, but they persevered and armed with their learnings and stakeholder feedback, they then set in motion plans to conduct online boot camps.
In June 2020, 8 private schools in Chennai began their online public problem solving journey with mentors Thresy James, Baiju Balan, Raghuvendra Singh, Vimalprabhu P, Madhumita R, Tejas Mahajan, Joseph Philip and Ashish VR. Cognisant of Covid19 restrictions, the objectives of the Build to Solve Online program were for students to
- Discover civic and environmental problems in their neighborhood and homes
- Take problem solving actions within homes
- Take problem solving actions in the neighbourhood
Over 9 months 4300 students from grades 6–12 had their civic muscles identified, activated and stretched!
Mentor Madhumita reflects on how the team prepared for the sessions. “Our team had two meetings every week where we discussed everything — objectives for the upcoming sessions, operational procedures to be completed, setting Solve Ninja Challenges, challenges faced etc. This was crucial in understanding the expectations of the upcoming week. Team members were always proactive in stepping in, taking up work and helping each other. I had a running mate for developing session plans, which was imperative in getting perspective on how the sessions might pan out. As a team, we have always focused on building on past experiences and learnings, which helps us course correct when a certain theme/challenge does not receive the expected outcome.”
Students slipped into Solve Ninja personas that best suited their talents, skills and interests and it was a joy to see Hands on Hippos, Campaign Chameleons and Techno Tigers emerge, albeit through digital screens. All the while, students were also acquiring crucial 21st century skills, which school leaders like Ms A. Jasmine Nizar, principal of Chettinad Harishree Vidyalayam (CHSV) Chennai acknowledged are important for learners to acquire.
“The digital divide has to slowly wane as we have to work, teach, learn, shop,pay and fulfill most of the needs online. Without 21st century skills like collaboration, communication, data interpretation and handling, continuation and survival is already a big question mark.”
The school leader believes that imparting these skills through community problem solving works well, as in addition to learning new skills students also “develop a mindset whereby one feels that every problem comes with a solution. This reduces the probability of students growing up as individuals who tend to ignore the problems around.”
This is something that matters deeply to us at Reap Benefit — for young people to know that they can solve the problems they see around them by working with the local government.
Reporting Rhinos
A crucial part of public problem solving is understanding the structure of local governance bodies and showing young people how collaborating with government authorities is crucial to solving problems. It’s a sentiment echoed by Ms. Ramalakshmi K, session co-ordinator, DAV Gill Nagar who is of the opinion that
“To maintain and improve our constitutional democracy, civic knowledge is a must for students.”
Over 200 reporting actions were logged during the nine months, giving students a first hand experience of what it means to work with local agencies to solve problems.
Karan a grade 9 student discovered that the Chennai Corporation had neglected to clear garbage from his area for three days in a row. “The garbage was a lot and the stench couldn’t be further borne. I went to the online portal of GCC, found a link to complain. I had to attempt it 3–4 times to register 1 complaint and at last it was taken.”
Ms. Jasmine acknowledges that interacting with civic authorities and platforms gives students an idea about the ground reality, structure and government agencies and the various processes, SOP and protocols in place.
“The Bootcamp has also given students the opportunity to interact with people from different walks of life,and in the process get to understand the challenges, strengths, various lifestyles, means of livelihood,learning to agree,disagree and adapt.” said Ms. Jasmine.
Overall, there was an increase in student’s civic literacy before and after the Solve Ninja program.
Solve Ninja Prakrithi learned first hand that solving a problem doesn’t always happen on the first attempt. She wanted to have a zebra crossing painted at a busy junction near her home. Watch her talk about her experience below.
Her mother, Mrs. Deepa shared that Prakrithi has always been concerned about civic issues, but through her experience at the Solve Bootcamp at school she now understands how to discover the root cause of a problem, the difficulty in addressing issues and how to take things forward when plans don’t work out.
“Students get an opportunity to be more vocal, observe civic problems around them and discuss the issues with mentors from Reap Benefit. This has helped sensitise students to problems around them and make an attempt to find a solution. Engaging students in such activities explained above will put the onus on the students to stay responsible,” she said, adding that more schools should encourage such programs and include them in the school curriculum.
Campaign Chameleons
One way in which students took responsibility was in starting campaigns.
Over 150 campaigns were activated by students, something that requires collaboration, communication, applied empathy and date handling skills. Ramsundar of Grade 6 steered a up cleanliness drive in his locality in Pothigainagar, Tirunelveli. With the help of his friends and support from his grandfather they cleaned up the waste in front of all the houses on their street, which earned them the appreciation of the citizens and MLA of the area.
The new skills students learn through these activities do not go unnoticed by their parents. Preeti Uthra A of DAV Girls Gopalapuram, 8E is a Solve Ninja, and this is what her parents had to say:
“We have seen a tremendous change in her understanding of new concepts. The sessions saw her motivating and discussing with others in a healthy way in bringing reformation in their views. We appreciate the concern, deep involvement and teamwork and dedication for what they are committed to.”
They are impressed by Preethi’s improved environmental awareness, her skills in team coordination, understanding how to approach others and ways to bring awareness in a delicate societal topic.
They also feel that the experience breaks social prejudices in students, and instills in them a scientific approach to problem solving.
Hands on Hippos
It’s this desire to activate a hands on approach to solving problems in young people that saw 1000+ hands on actions.
When Kamalesh realised that hand wash tap in his home has a very high flow rate, he optimised water usage by adding a water aerator to the tap which will save almost 1000 liters of water from that single tap over a period of one year!
Techno Tigers
Vasisht, Amal, Maadhav Krishna, Chandru, Hariharan created prototypes of drip irrigation, atmospheric water condenser, air quality monitor and purifiers.
As the school year comes to an end, what’s truly heartening for us is the number of students who have committed to continue problem solving at home and in their communities, through the Solve Ninja chatbot, web app and our summer internship problem.
If you are a parent, educator or student and would like to introduce Reap Benefit’s Bootcamp to your learning community write to communications@reapbenefit.org or leave us a comment below.
