The initiative emerged as a model framework for continuous learning during the pandemic.
While the education system across the country swiftly responded to restrictions imposed by the ongoing COVID 19 pandemic by opening up classes using digital technologies, a significant segment of students from the less privileged sections still struggled to continue their classes as they did not have access to digital tools and devices.
Realizing that the pandemic could cast a huge toll on the academic performance of underprivileged students appearing for Board exams in the near future, a group of conscientious students and teachers from Centre Point School at Katol Road, Nagpur stepped in with a unique learning innovation.
The group launched audio classes in partnership with Radio City, FM 91.1 called Gyaan-Vaani for students in 9 and 10 grades of the Maharashtra State Board. This entailed producing audio learning modules for subjects like Hindi, Civics and English which were broadcast by Radio City at 4:00 pm every day for 45 days starting October 1, 2020. This broadcast had an air coverage spreading across 150 km with Nagpur as the epicentre. The programme was tuned in by approximately 2 lakh people as per to the estimates shared by the radio partner, thereby making a huge positive impact on the beneficiaries. To popularize these Radio Classes, extensive promotions were done by a battery of students from Centre Point School using social media and whatsapp channels.
Commenting on the initiative, Mrs. Kshama Yadav, senior teacher at Centre Point School, said, “The enterprising spirit of our students and teachers has been commendable. During the pandemic, with restrictions and without access to any sophisticated studio infrastructure, a group of 61 students and 10 teachers collaborated seamlessly to produce exemplary content continuously over 45 days. It took us only 20 days to take the idea from the stage of conception to execution, which is laudable. This initiative would not have seen the light of the day without the support of our sponsors who contributed to pay for the airtime on the radio channel”.
Added, Mrs. Mani Verma, senior teacher at Centre Point School who helped shape the idea further, “It is extremely satisfying to note the positive impact Gyaan-Vaani project had on less privileged students as well as students who were deeply involved in producing the audio modules. I would like to thank all the teachers and students who tirelessly worked together to put together this widely acclaimed learning content that too in the local language making it extremely relevant for the less privileged students of the society”.
The programme was broadcast in three phases, each phase supported by a sponsor for the duration of 15 days. Sponsors who deserve special acknowledgement are Mr. Mohammad Zeeshan, Co-Founder and CEO, Climber Knowledge and Careers Pvt. Ltd. and an alumnus of the Centre Point School; The Rotary Club of Nagpur and Mrs. Radhika Rajwade, Director, Centre point Group of Schools, Nagpur.
The collective work done by students entailed downloading the Maharashtra State Board chapters from the internet and under the guidance of teachers, splitting the chapters into segments and condensing them into a module each. All the scripts were written by the students and also narrated through voice recording by them.
The teachers involved in the programme include Mrs. Kshama Yadav, Mrs. Mani Verma, Mrs. Shaila Sharma, Mrs. Esther Daniel, Mrs. Sruthi Nair, Mrs. Meeta Guru, Mrs. Nibedita Roy, Mrs. Sanjeevani Damle, Ms Arati Deshraj and Mrs Aditi Anand Deshmukh.
The student team included an Editing Team comprising of Adnan Amin, Romit Parakh, Arpeet Patel, Ira Misal, Sakshi Khushlani and Vikramaditya.
Hindi Modules Team had Manan Vaswani Aryan Thool, Jasmine Uppal, Anushree Kumar, Vidhi Shah, Adwait Mistri, Krishaa Bhargava, Prisha Jaiswal, Harshita Gangwani, Bhumika Vidhani, Anshaja Tarkunde, Sejal Suda, Ved Malviya, Gaurang Agrawal and Aanika Khushlani.
Civics Modules Team included Yukti Kaur Makan, Shruti Singhania, Prishita Mehadia, Aryan Thool, Riti Shah, Gurleen Batra, Armaan Chandwani, Ananya Shubhangi Sinha, and Riddhi Tikkas.
English Modules Team had Anshaja Tarkunde, Vedant Agrawal, Devansh Soni, Roshni Roy, Gaurang Agrawal, Adwait Mistri, Divisha Saraf, Aanika Khushalani, Anoushka Awasthi, Sumanyu Bagdi, Misty Awasthi, Kaveri Gadre, Diya Vaswani, Reet Sethi, Parth Khushlani, Vihan Saraf, Tanmay Agrawal, Vaidit Jaiswal, Avani Jog, Kakshi Agrawal and Sana Misal.