Guessing Gurus- A game for rural India

Graduating Thesis Project 2016

(from Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology)

Background

There is a problem with the education system in primary government schools in India. Despite the government dedicating resources towards this sector, something falls short. Most government school students are not able to reach their reading milestones and many drop out of school. There are almost 3 crore students enrolled in primary government schools and there are only about 26 lakh teachers to teach them all. Some of these teachers are motivated while others are not. Regardless of this, their presence needs to be celebrated because of their dedication to government schooling, which is considered to be a lost cause by many parents and teachers in society. Government schooling is the answer to educating the underprivileged rural population of our country and the people who make this happen (i.e. the teachers) and directly engage with young minds require motivation and support to be able to meet their potential. This project is about rebranding primary government school teachers from rural and semi-urban areas to change other people’s image of them as well as their own.

During my primary research I uncovered some causes of this issue; poor infrastructure, low motivation levels, low income and corruption amongst others. Further research revealed the need for a healthy relationship between the student and his/her teacher. I feel that it is necessary for a teacher to develop a bond with his or her students because of the impression they leave on them, which is often long lasting. This special relationship is either not realised or stressed upon enough and that’s where the problem lies.

The government of India, the UN and the World Bank have established that education definitely helps in poverty alleviation. From some videos I looked at, I saw single teachers trying to manage very large classrooms which were in deplorable states, trying to impart whatever knowledge they could despite the state of the school. It is obvious that some teachers care and genuinely want to make a difference in the lives of children. Hence, building a brand of them is essential for them and our country.

The Intervention

I was trying to make the experience of teaching more enjoyable and interactive through illustration and visual communication. I was also trying to provide the necessary incentives for teachers to result in a better relationship between them and the students. This was done through a word-guessing game which was a spin-off of other popular word games like Taboo and Heads Up. The game reverses the roles of a student and a teacher by making the teacher guess the word based on clues given by the students. The words on the cards are chosen from the 4th and 5th (level 1 and level 2 respectively) standard NCERT syllabus and are depicted by illustrations that use only indigenous animals/plants so that the student can identify what they learn around them (below).

The Game

Get the teacher to guess the word on top of the card without using any of the "unspeakable" words mentioned on the card. Students help the teacher to guess the word by giving him/her clues within a limited time period of 1 minute.

Object: Score the most points by making the teacher guess as many words as he/she can in 1 minute.

To make the game a bit more challenging, there are 2 levels of 25 cards each. Level 1 features words from the 4th grade syllabus and Level 2 from the 5th grade. There's an interactive dice that comes into play while going through the Level 2 cards.