Pratham Mysore’s Sapthahika Prasara

Pratham Mysore’s Sapthahika Prasara is yet another innovative program to increase general knowledge of the village children. It is held every Saturday of the week at 12.30 pm in four villages designated as Model Villages. The villages are Muthathi, Hyaknur, Sujjlur and Mavinahalli villages in T. Narasipura Taluk at a distance of approximately fifty Kms from Mysore. It is a popular program and attracts almost one hundred percent attendance by school children numbering 200, most of whom are teenagers.

The said villages are designated as Model villages, because many of Pratham Mysore’s new educational programs and experiments are conducted there with the active participation of the community. The experiments are carried out to increase and improve children’s knowledge of the world and to improve their learning abilities. Each Model village has a place designated as Learning Space where computer skills are taught. Learning Space is also a place to see a video or hear recordings of a specially curated topics which is outside the school syllabus. It is a one hour program open to all in the community and it is then followed by a discussion. Students carry out oral, written and hands-on activities based on the presentation. Activities are designed to bring out the latent creative skills in them.

At the end of each program, a quiz is conducted to ensure children are attentive. Recognizing good performers is yet another incentive. This program often attracts parents too. Till date since inception, more than one hundred topics have been witnessed or discussed. To name a few of the recent subjects discussed are : Sheethal devi, Seedball activity, Pakshi prapancha, Evils of Child Marriage, Indian armed forces, History of Mysore wadiyars, Kumaravysa, Marubalake (recycling), Water conservation, Akkamahadevi and more.

In a recent survey held, 13 children of 13 years of age, had not seen Mysore city, 23 did not have a TV at home, 96 of them had not seen the Mysore Palace or the zoo and 134 students had not seen the famous Mysore Dusserah. Though Mysore city is only fifty Kms distant. This should explain why Sapthahika Prasara is so popular. It is some of the children’s only window to the world outside.