CHENNAI: The halls of Chettinad Hari Sri Vidyalayam were quiet except for the excited chatter that erupted from the auditorium on the third floor. Three to five representatives from 26 schools in and around Chennai sat in circles and listened to Gauthamraj Elango, senior programme manager at Reap Benefit, explain the different steps of identifying and addressing a civic or environmental issue. “Discover, investigate, solve and share.
Following this structure will make any problem easier to solve,” he said. Reap Benefit, in collaboration with Janaagraha, organised Solvathon 2020 to inculcate environmental and civic problem-solving skills in children. “This session has been designed to focus on building individual concern as well as community involvement to improve the environment. That’s why we are targeting children. If they develop a concern about the various problems they encounter, with a structured approach, they will be able to help solve them,” shared Rutuja S Devaru, mentor, Reap Benefit, Bengaluru.
Janaagraha, an NPO based in Bengaluru has been working with children from government schools to address civic issues in their surroundings for a year. The children they have worked with have come up with projects like an automatic flush system and traffic and garbage clearance drives within the last two years. “They have taught children how to approach government bodies to solve issues and also hold them accountable for half-baked jobs,” says Rutuja. The Solvathon saw the participation of children from both private and government schools.
The registered participants also included teachers from the respective schools. Everyone was asked to pick a civic issue like garbage dumping or water wastage and conduct a survey to understand the root cause of the problem. “I learned how to ask questions and what questions to ask,” said Sharada, a student from Bala Vidya Mandir School. In one activity, the students and teachers were divided into ten groups. Each group had participants from different schools. They were asked to pick a prominent civic issue and come up with a prototype to address it. “Now you can address a problem in five ways — reporting, campaigning, hands-on work, using technology and taking action collectively. Your prototypes can be in any of these forms,” announced Vishnuram Ranganathan, director, Reap Benefit.
Students and teachers alike huddled together to design their solutions. “Many pigeons come and settle in our school bathroom ducts and defecate everywhere. We are building a scarecrow that would shoo them away,” enthused Samarth, a student from Chettinad Hari Sri Vidyalayam. Another group of students were painting black roads on a piece of cardboard.
“We are designing a campaign that will help in curbing traffic jams around our school. We will have signboards and proper traffic management personnel to address the situation,” said Sharada. The group sitting across theirs was making a shower head that would reduce water consumption. “You just need to fit the device over your shower head and it will regulate the water flow,” explained Vishnu, a student participant. The two-day event concluded with each team displaying their prototypes and explaining their ideas to the audience.