Visit to a Radio Station

Yesterday children I work with at the Nirvana High School visited Pondicherry University Radio Station. I had presented 'Aya Vada and Dinosaur' to the Program Executive of the Radio and she had shown interest to talk to children about it.

This was the first time children visited a radio station. I asked them what they know about a radio station and a child said, "Through radio we can talk to people in Tamil Nadu or India."

They were put into two groups of six and seven each and Anand (Radio's Technical Assistant) explained to them how a community radio station functions. A boy was interested to know if Anand has got a regular job in the radio station. This particular child comes from a very poor family and earning for his family is always a concern for him. Thus it was no surpirse to hear him asking a question about the job prosepcts in the radio station near his home.

This child wants to be a policeman and had expressed to me that he wants to earn for his family and give them a better lifestyle. He's 14 years. He's trying hard to improve upon himself and score good marks so that he can have better job prospects, but teachers are finding it difficult to orient him as his peer group of much older boys is not good.

While we started to record the show, this child got a call on his mobile phone and the show had to be stopped for a while. After this he left the studio immediately. Nonetheless we proceeded with our recording. Children were very excited about the show. This was the first time that they were recording for a radio show in a studio. They were very conscious of the mike and tried to speak the way they had heard jockeys speaking in the popular movies.

Some insisted to record in English even though they were not able to express themselves clearly in the language; a teacher helped them through.

I'll write further about the attitude with which the teacher dealt with them in the studio. This is important because as teachers we are not those who impose ideas or dictate knowledge to children, but instead we facilitate a learning environment and help children to discover their own wisdom.

In my later posts I would also like to publish what the children learned from their visit to the radio station.