A ‘comic’ take on educational issues

While significant developments have happened in the country’s education system over the last few decades, India is still a long way from developing an egalitarian system that focuses on equal opportunity. If you think about it, educational institutions are rife with marginalisation. The pandemic, too, brought in its share of problems in the form of inaccessibility to education for many students who were unable to attend classes virtually. Little has been done in tackling such issues.

Realising the dearth of discourses around the education system, Munirka-resident Vrinda Bhatia (25) and Sayan Chaudhuri (34) decided to start ‘Aaina’, an Instagram comic-based microblog that makes academic perspectives more accessible, in February 2021. “We wanted to find a cohesive way to not just relate to the academic experience but also think about alternatives,” shares Bhatia, who is currently pursuing a PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

Since its inception, the ‘Aaina’ team has grown to include Kolkata’s Joyeeta Dey (31), Sruthi Ranjani (22) from Chennai, and JNU-student Nidhi Kinhal (23). “Even though research is important, it barely reaches people. ‘Aaina’ becomes an important domain to engage in research in a simpler manner,” shares Dey.

Researching important matters 
On scrolling through their Instagram page (@aaina_edu) you will come across a number of comic strips on real-life scenarios—infrastructural issues faced by students with disability, gender inequality in sports, etc. Each strip is divided into slides—the first few demonstrate the issue through real-life scenarios; the final slide provides a short explanation along with solutions. “This way, the posts are both relatable and useful for readers [who are mostly students],” adds Bhatia. While a lot of these are presented through extensive sociological-educational research, the team also engages in conversation with students and teachers across India about their experiences with the education system. 

Making such scholarly research accessible in bite-sized information is nothing short of a challenge. “The biggest challenge is to come up with short understandable dialogue that is simple but can get the point across. It has to be something that readers can flip through while retaining the nuance of the topic,” shares Ranjani. They also mention that indulging in constant conversation is key. “The discussions help make it apparent that these are everyday ideas that people think about. It is almost absurd how academia contorts useful information with jargon,” concludes Dey. 

While they have received promising feedback from their followers, the team is gearing up to set up a website to reach a wider audience. Bhatia concludes, “A lot of teachers are not on Instagram so the platform is somewhat inaccessible for a larger audience. The website will provide more reach.”