With schools and colleges still shut due to the pandemic, studies have moved online, however, not everyone in India is privileged enough to have a steady internet connection. However, with a determination to continue their studies during the pandemic, local children in Madhya Pradesh’s Betul district are now using roads as a slate or blackboard to learn counting, tables and other subjects.
Yes, in a unique experiment in Simori village of Betul district, people have moved to community classes and ‘learn with fun’ techniques wherein children are using a road as a giant slate. Notably, the kids assemble every evening and practice basic maths along with playing.
Children adopt various practices to learn like writing, counting, tables, month and day names, English, nouns, important days, counting in Sanskrit, names of grains, flowers, fruits, and vegetables etc while also collecting interesting information about the country and abroad, and important personalities.
Whatever the children learn at home or in community classes, they write it on the road just for fun which is actually improving their writing skills. Apart from this, whenever any child passes through this road the written stuff acts as revision material for them. The children are also liking this concept.
Shailendra Biharia, a teacher, said “This road was a hangout venue for children, they used to ride bicycles and play here for most of their spare time. In this situation, we have combined road and education in a single wire.”
Mamata Gohar, member of a local NGO, said “We are providing white and coloured chalks to children free of cost. This new concept has become quite popular in the area.”