Their hearts are in the right place

Pratiksha Chopra

Kids can change the world!

Sounds like a bumper sticker. But it ain’t! Hold on. Kids can not only change the world, but can also stimulate our sunny-side up despite trials and make it all worth. It is not often that teachers set off on a commemorative journey on paper. Now that I have the paper and my mind’s eye active, I would like to hitch the prospect to share, what, to an extent, helped me pull my strings as a teacher. If a student was visualizing and shaping what the world would be 10 years later, why wasn’t I thinking of constructive strategies to drive that idea?

I had always wanted to pay tribute to this entire class of 22 enterprising, creative, observant and happy-go-lucky students because they unfailingly inspired me at every moment of life (and still do) to swirl the classroom despite raised eyebrows and questioning tongues. I remember initiating quality circle times, meet-up grounds for knowledge sharing, art-therapy classes, pantomime, team-building games and anything new that would help me get language input and reflection. And all that to go on in a language class – we got to be kidding!

Eight years down the line, after studying how reading can actually be taught, researching language instruction alongside Fulbright scholars from around the world and becoming a little more insightful, there is only one regret that lingers – I wish I could travel back and teach them differently. Because the spark, the energy, the levity, the willingness to deliver in that bunch of 22 students was a springboard for me to revolutionize my teaching practice.

Without ignoring the rest of them, I would dedicate this stream of consciousness to the one student, who never failed to invalidate my aspirations from him. None, other than this now ‘socially-driven tech wizard’ aka Manu Chopra, who was almost always a success in his own little and big ways, bears a testimony to this. Let me tell you what I observed in him during our classes together. Three intriguing observations will be enough for the discerning educationist to connect the dots and figure out why he is where he is.

First.
He always had a trigger experience, in a way that he couldn’t say NO to the idea. That trigger might have been related to a personal experience or to someone or somewhere in the world. And he paired those experiences with something that he loved. He loved inclusivity, innovation, ingenuity. And he couldn’t say no to an idea taking birth. It always happened.

Second.
His parents always stepped out of the way and made space for him to run. There are some adults who volunteer alongside children; others, are on the sidelines; and some, virtually uninvolved. For him, his parents lifted him on their shoulders to see the parade himself rather than explaining to him what was happening. Imagine the difference it makes.

Third.
Change-makers. He was constantly thinking and behaving like a change-maker in really organic and natural ways. Constantly on the verge of drawing out connections – How can I connect my story to this? What makes my heart race? What makes us feel most alive? It wasn’t projection of hope of what he would become four years down the line, what mattered was the current moment. He, together with his club members, pioneered a restaurant that we started as part of the Life Skills Club, ran a knowledge-sharing club, designed tech devices and most of all, carried people in his wave.

Manu Chopra a graduate from Stanford University and The ‘Innovator of the Year’, as declared by the Indian President, is now hailed as a socially-driven genius and a tech wizard who is working on tackling extreme poverty in rural India by giving people access to dignified digital work. Over the past year, he, along with a friend, in an independent project, has worked with adivasi villagers in rural Maharashtra, with dalit women in Rajasthan and tea workers in Bihar.

When he spoke on the TedX stage (https://youtu.be/W1cTnGUOKkE) last year addressing ‘Tech-novating for Social Change’, all his goals, desire for change, furtherance, dismays about the process and his unbending confidence in ideas seemed to seamlessly turn into a blithely changing landscape. Might seem dreamy, but I am sure his share of challenges must have impelled his actions. Currently, he is engaged in Project Karya, generously supported by Microsoft Research, Bangalore, which provides digital dignified work to India’s most vulnerable populations. The second project he is working on is Project Janta, which shares stories of hope, tremendous change and compassion from rural India (www.projectjanta.com).

I shall feel guilty of taking any credit here for what Manu has become. It is truly his becoming. However, I will not deny the significance of creating spaces for acts of social endeavour in classrooms. Most naturally, we are surrounded by anonymous extraordinariness and what better way to churn it! Here is what teachers can guide students into –

• Perform act of micro-leadership at school and community level.
• Social intrapreneurship (acts of support within the school).
• Create a meet-up ground for sharing ideas, opinions and triggers.
• Learn, strengthen and practise the traits of great social entrepreneurs.
• Have an idea for improving the world? Stop fearfully holding onto it and share it for potential collaborators.

Stories of social interventionism are far and many and it takes true change-makers to forge friendships of trust and growth. My biggest reward has been that while I was busy creating spaces for a better world and still observing transitions, Manu had already constructed one!

And I had succeeded as a teacher.

Last year, I moved back to India to work on tackling extreme poverty. In all honesty, I expected it to be harrowing. Mainstream media (within India and especially abroad) paints such a bleak picture of India – as if nothing good has ever happened or will ever happen in India. I expected to feel jaded at the lack of progress.

Obviously, the opposite happened. Every single village I visited blew me away. The more I travelled within India, the more optimistic I became. Over a thousand villages later, I can confidently say that there’s an *insane* amount of good work happening on the ground. I have personally met countless young and old Indians who are fighting the good fight, refusing to give up on India and in turn, serving millions of people. And not surprisingly, I realized that most Indians didn’t know these stories.

Most Indians don’t know about Bunker Roy’s miracle in Tilonia (he helped move 3 million women out of poverty by making them solar engineers) or Dr. George’s amazing work in building Shanti Bhavan (an incredible school in Bangalore that serves the most underserved communities in our country). Most Indians don’t know about Digital Green (a movement that has helped 1.5 million farmers in India) or Kudumbashree (a women’s empowerment group that has changed 5 million lives). The list is endless.

Do check out projectjanta.com today and read inspiring, positive stories from India and beyond!
– Manu Chopra

The author is an independent professional in the field of ELT. A Fulbright scholar and a learner by heart, she wishes to drive change in classrooms through teacher education. She can be reached at pratikshachopra@gmail.com.