DBC: Badripur VDC and Dhamboji Chowk, Banke (10th June 2008)

Under the hot sun here in the flat southern planes we observed an interaction taking place between the students, teachers and the parents on quality education for a program of the Bageshwori FM.

By Paramita Yonzon

20. June 2008

The students raised problems in their school and the teachers or the parents answered them. Taking this thing as an advantage, the campaigners started their informal civic class thereafter where they talked about the problems that were raised earlier by the students. The aspect of self change and finding the right way of solving a problem was shared by the campaigner. Besides this, the teachers and the parents who were present in the program were also included in the civic class. The lack of electricity and enough space to accommodate the students, inside the classroom became the hindrance for the campaigners to present the documentary show. Nevertheless, the campaigners could have come up with civic games to supplement the program which would have been new methods of learning for the students and the teachers.

Dhamboji Chowk - Nepalgunj

Nobody had the slightest idea how the mass would react to the DBC activities. It was our first time as well. The program started with the forum theater of the Miteri group where all the actors were young people, the youngest belonging to class two. Having seen the theater group of Palpa perform with perfection, my expectations from this group were high. This stopped me from enjoying the street play as I had preconceived judgments on it. The story line of both the teams were the same but the execution was different. The actors were very young and looked confused. As the play continued, it was difficult for me not to let my mind divert as I started loosing interest. The important thing is that the people seemed to enjoy it and grasp the important messages. However, a lot of work and effort needs to put by the team as it was not a complete package. The theater group understood this and in the days to come I hope they prove my judgment wrong.