by Lynn Barendsen
Our colleague and inspired educator Kiran Sethi has sent us news about the Design for Change (DFC) initiative. The DFC Contest is an international contest encouraging children to make positive change happen in their communities. In India, an international jury narrowed the children’s stories from 2000 to 225 and the national jury met to further filter the stories to the top 100, and then the top 20. 10 special jury awards were also announced.
This year, over 200,000 children across all 29 states of India became “Changemakers.” The stories grew bolder and several age old superstitions and rituals like Mrityu Bhoj (rituals based on feeding people when a family member dies) and Black Magic were challenged. Children designed solutions for a range of problems such as traffic, rainwater harvesting, drug addiction, science aids for the visually impaired, bullying, heavy school bags and garbage. In Kiran’s words, “The children showed all of us what can be achieved when we say ‘I CAN’, instead of ‘Can I’!!”
Several of the top 100 stories are going to be documented and published as part of value and character building curriculum for schools.
Below, please find links to some of the outstanding stories of DFC ’10, and to the contest’s website:
Contest website: designforchangecontest.com
Mrityu Bhoj, Satya Bharti School, Alwar
Jal Hai to Kal Hai, Satya Bharti School, Jaipur
Every Child is an Entrepreneur, Sunrise English Medium School, Pune