On Friday, thought provoking ideas were propogated by young minds
at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan auditorium in Bengaluru. This helped in fixing
civic woes.
Students from Around 531 schools worked for four months on the project in Janaagraha's Bala Janaagraha National Civic Fest. They got local area corporators, MLAs and municipal commissioners to meet the basic civic needs of their locality. The fest witnessed around 40000 students of class 8 who drove civic authorities to improve roads, conditions of slum dwellers and effectively manage garbage and sewage in their respective cities.
The winners were- DPS Patna followed by DPS Pune, DPS Coimbatore and Cambridge Court High School, Jaipur. These schools were in Bengaluru to share their thoughts and bring a positive change with their efforts.
Students from DPS Patna said that they filled pot holes, fixed street lights and accomplished the task of building dividers. They spoke to the residents about the condition and presented the same to the civic body so that the requirements can be completed. They in turn appreciated DPS's efforts.
DPS Pune on the other hand used technology i.e. they built an app to address civic concerns in their city. The app can be used by citizens to file complaints against the road which was in poor shape and needed attention. According to Gaurandi Pande, one of the team members, when they approached area corporator, she supported their initiative. The app is already popular among locals and the team will now add more streets and roads which need urgent repair.
As per, YS Ravi, senior manager, Bala Janagraha, they tried inculcating values through civic education programme. The main is to teach students how they can work with government for capacity building and making them aware about civic issues. This will also sensitize them towards civic bodies.