The Coronavirus pandemic has forced the schools shut across the country. However, in the remote village of Mhalwadi in Bhor taluka of Pune district, walls in the area have images of the solar system, Maths tables, details about the human anatomy and other school lessons splashed across.
“The walls have many things that the teachers taught us in schools. We have not been to the school in the last one year… I like the pictures painted on walls across the village, with lessons from my school curriculum…,” Shubham Bodke, a class IV student told the Indian Express.
“The education of students was getting affected due to the lockdown. There were instructions to impart education online but the village has poor internet connectivity and limitations of mobile devices for students,” Ganesh Borse, a teacher of the Mhalwadi ZP school, told the news portal.
“We tried to impart education to students by visiting their homes or holding classes in open spaces, but could teach only two to three students at a time. It was not possible to reach out to all students…We noticed that students were losing touch with school education due to closure of schools… and it was a cause of concern for us as there no clarity on how much time it would take for actual teaching in the classroom to begin. Thus, the school came up with the idea of painting walls across the village with study tables, charts and pictures,” Borse added.
Talking about how the authorities went about selecting the walls to be painted, Rajesh Bodke, who paid Rs 1.5 lakh to implement the initiative, told the portal, “The walls of structures facing streets, lanes, and public places, which are mainly around the playing area of children, were selected. Around 85 walls have been painted so far with educational material as provided by school teachers. We will continue with the initiative and paint at least 25 more walls.”
*All pictures are from Indian Express' Twitter handle.