Kids script lessons for adults

And yet the third in the unique series of 8220;twinning8221; sessions, children from municipal and private schools came together, played and learnt from each other. For the first time in their lives, children from totally different socio-economic backgrounds got the chance to become friends.

Why do we think some people deserve more than others ? What makes us see people as stereotypes and not individuals ? What makes a child distrust another? Why do we confuse value with price ? Just a few questions that took the shape of a project 8220;Mel jol 8211; hum bacchon ka8221; under the auspices of Tata Institute of Social Sciences TISS and now reaches out to 20,000 children in 35 schools.

After the successful experiment in Mumbai, project coordinators Swagata Chakravarty and Abhijit Deshmukh tied up with the PMC and launched their Mel Jol programme with Rewachand Bhojwani Academy8217;s school and Karnatak High school. While Bhojwani Academy standard V children made friends with their counterparts at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar school in the cantonment, Karnatak High school8217;s standard VI children found new chums at the PMC school number 74.

The third 8220;twinning8221; session included 68 standard VI students each of a private Don Bosco school and Subashchandra municipal school. For 12-year-old Lekha Naiknavare of Don Bosco school, Mel Jol means being together while Kavita Shendge of Netaji school says she likes her new friend. Two classrooms are a scene of hectic activity as eight groups work rapidly, cutting newspapers and coloured paper to dress up their kings, queens, clowns and Shaktimaan.

Project coordinator Abhijit Deshmukh sings Hum sab bacchon main shakti hain, hum sab kuch kar sakte hai along with the children while forming other groups to participate in the 8220;Akdam-Takdam train8221; race followed with a bag of popcorn for everyone. Children from municipal schools may not have brand new tiffin boxes, nor can they afford shiny black shoes like their counterparts in private schools.

Some schools even snubbed Mel Jol project coordinators as 8220;their girls and boys8221; definitely cannot mix with the municipal kids. Yet, as Swagata says, while taking the children for an 8220;amoeba race, a beginning has been made as equit education is recognising that all human beings are equal yet uniquely different8221;.