In the context of the Design for Social Impact, I run the Pick Me, Click Me, Educate Me! project for the promotion of child education in Rural Bihar and this project is a result of my Masters Graduation Project. This project was also shared as a case study at the IHCI 2010 conference and presented at TEDxBITS Goa and TEDxMANIT Bhopal.
Pick Me, Click Me, Educate Me! is a collaborative platform for understanding different educational models and educational tools to improve quality of education. It is also an endeavor to use digital photography as a social reform tool to create awareness of the existing educational situations in rural Bihar. This project serves to provide a platform to people from different backgrounds (photographers, writers, educationists, social workers, donors etc) to collaborate. It allows to utilize the work done by one group (like photographers who go to these locations and shoot), for discussion with the others who are not able to. The project is based on the ACT-Now model, which is derived from Activity Theory.
Screenshot from the site
The goal of Pick Me, Click Me, Educate me! is to provide with stories from the location, and through photographs to help spread a) value of education b) the existing avenues and facilities and c) a possible word for donation, all leading to the improvement of the quality of education.
Philosophy
Not all of us have the privilege of going through a great education. Many years there are millions of children across the state who start going to school, but fall out for some reason. In extremely poverty struck districts and towns, the rate is a lot higher. There are many reasons behind it. Lack of enthusiasm is a major cause. There have been considerable efforts by the various governments and other organizations to tackle this issue.
Being aware of the existing realities, accepting the current situation, identifying the areas of effort application and understanding things at a level rooted in the rural community would go a long way in the creation of a proper channel towards economic uplifting.
This platform is thus also to celebrate success stories, get inspired by stories of courage, and motivate others to understand the value of child education.The focus is on education, due to the underlying principle that a proper education is a key to a progressive society.
Why Bihar?
Being amongst the most economically backward state, The current literacy stands at 47%. This is the lowest in the country. Bihar has a long way to go before it can catch up with the other states. Being constantly struck by internal violence and natural calamities has not helped either. There has been considerable efforts from the various government and the central government to uplift the current situation. However those efforts are not enough.
Bihar, ironically sends a large number of students to the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, the Indian Institutes of Management, in the Indian Administrative Services, the universities in USA and other countries. A lot of these students settle either abroad or in other parts of the country. Pick Me, Click Me, Educate Me! also seeks out to this community to be more aware of the situations back home and be involved in whatever way possible towards education of children in rural Bihar.
I have been using this platform to create a platform to understand and share stories, from the field.