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.
Tags: Janaagraha
National Civic Fest
Education Times
Bengaluru
