Methodology:

Language: Marathi

Catalysts: Ignatius Dias

Youth Fellows:
Royal D’souza
Prashant Martin
Pritam Almeida
Liten Dabre
Sachin Marti
Hense Dias
Jackson D’souza

Coordinator:
Manoj Tank

Surveys, discussions

About the Subject:
We always say that school is the second home of every child. School,
teachers and teaching system play a very important role in the life of a
child. A child learns a lot of things about life as he/she spends a lot
of time in the school during childhood.

Many things like which school the child should go to and what should
be the medium of instruction are decided by parents. Once in school, the
teachers mostly decide what sports the students should participate in
and when, what teaching method should be utilized. The students felt
that since a lot of these activities are initiated for their benefit,
could they have any opportunity to participate in the decision regarding
these activities?

Challenges & Learnings:
All the researchers from this group were from Bhuigaon village. They
completed their primary education from the same village. When they were
students themselves, they had some say in the activity-related decisions
in the school. They were curious to find out if that space still existed
in the school for the current students. To find this out they selected
Holy School of Bhuigaon and surveyed the students of 9th grade, using
questionnaires. They hosted some events in which they played games with
students which helped them to observe and test the students’ ability to
participate in the process of decision making which impacted their own
lives. They also arranged a discussion where parents, teachers and
resource persons shared their views on their research question.

Conclusion:
Their research revealed that the students had no say in the
decisions which impacted their educational life in school, be it the
style of teaching or the kind of sports they would like to participate
in or the career they would choose after they finish their 10th Grade.
Some of these decisions impacted their lives in an adverse manner
especially when the teachers and parents together made decisions about
their future careers without consulting the students themselves.

End Product:
The group prepared a game of snakes and ladders which would help
players to check their decision making capacity.