“I have had some wonderful learning experiences with SIMA Academy and the resources. As someone who is trying to establish things in the informal learning sector, I struggle at times and SIMA Academy's resources always help me. I am really grateful for this opportunity and your support. I hope to keep doing better in this field of GCED and Transformative education.”
Rajvi Trivedi is an educator and changemaker based in Bangalore, India, working with Sattva – A Space for Lifelong Learning. Through her involvement with SIMA Academy, she leveraged film as a tool to encourage critical thinking and raise awareness on pressing global issues. As part of her initiative, she screened impactful documentaries such as The Story of Stuff, Tea Consent, and Tuning the Student Mind with her students, fostering discussions on sustainable consumption, gender equality, and quality education. Rajvi’s work aimed to connect the concept of responsible global citizenship with practical actions, using art, dance performances, and magazine creations to spread awareness within the local community. The project directly engaged students in artistic expressions, empowering them to think critically about their role in social change and their capacity to make a positive impact on society. Through these experiences, she helped students reflect on their biases, question conventional education systems, and take meaningful steps towards creating a more sustainable future, aligning with SDGs like Gender Equality, Quality Education, and Sustainable Consumption.
Introduction
Being associated with SIMA Academy for some time now, there were a few documentaries that really touched me and I wanted to show those to the students as well. As I was doing one of our dialogues about documentary sessions during the festival time, I really wanted to encourage students to think about how much they shop, consume and waste, especially during the festival season. Diwali, the festival of lights in India is often marked by excessive consumption, sale in shops, and buying goods. In the present context, a trend of showing off goods and possessions is also visible. I wanted to do something about the same and thus selected the film, The Story of Stuff. The film was an eye-opener for all the participants. All of them related with the ideas, one of them also said that she was following the same cycle shown in the documentary (television says I look awful- so I go to the mall and buy- trend changes- cycle repeats) and she mentioned that this did not hit her until she watched this film. It felt normal to follow the cycle and because of this documentary and the following discussion, she could look at this cycle from a different perspective. I clubbed this film with Tuning The Student Mind, because the film allows people to look inwards. I feel that in order to reduce consumption, people need to reflect on their thoughts, actions and beliefs. Both these films allowed the students to move from external to internal processes. And it has to be mentioned that we are in a system wherein textbooks contain pictures of fire crackers for explaining Diwali, and to change this education institutions also need to allow students to think about consumption patterns during the festive season specifically. So I felt that education and consumption were really connected and hence I clubbed them together in a session. The students really came up with different perspectives and they also felt that they learnt while watching films and sharing ideas and their picture of learning set ups also changed. We did another event on gender equality because India had recently witnessed a horrible rape case and I wanted to do something about it. I wanted women to come together and share their thoughts, feelings in a safe space. We watched the films Tea Consent and Can’t Hide Me to go to the roots of crimes against women. Although these were participants who came from privileged backgrounds, they had so much to share about how they had also faced similar situations of discrimination. This session was done with all dance students and they were all ladies. While we screened the documentary, many women had tears in their eyes, and they all felt that it was so important for society to understand what struggles women go through. The participants were under the impression that things have changed now, but when they started watching films, and started talking they realized that there was so much more to change and women still don’t have basic human rights. They all talked and shared their feelings for almost an hour after the films were screened. In this session, we felt the need to raise our voices and take action in some possible way to deal with gender-related issues. All participants felt that they were happy to have this safe space where they could express themselves.
Please tell us a bit about your SIMA INDIA SDG CHALLENGE Project
This year the theme of the series was to employ art for social change. I worked with students who had some connection with arts and as artists they felt the responsibility to take action and do something about the issues around them. As a result of the dialogue on documentary sessions, we had three major outcomes. Our participants created artwork, wrote poems and pieces of literature to raise their voices and spread awareness. These artworks were put together in a magazine and the magazine was distributed online as well as offline among around 500 people. The magazine was distributed in Bhavnagar, Gujarat and Bangalore. A show was conducted by Sattva to promote cultural heritage, integrate art and education and engage the community in Bhavnagar, Gujarat. As a part of this show, I put up a performance urging for a new perspective on education and encouraging the audience to step outside of conventional and outdated teaching methods. As a part of this show, we distributed magazines and books. By employing the dance performance, and the magazines, we shared our thoughts with 500 community members and we made an attempt to help them be more aware and sensitive about these issues, especially ones concerning education and gender inequality. The magazine was also shared on websites and social media platforms including LinkedIn and Instagram.
Another event on gender equality led to creation of a piece wherein we all came together to write a piece, record it and choreograph it. After we shared our thoughts about what we can do to bring changes, we created artwork and wrote slogans on charts and put all of those together in a dance performance. We composed this as a story where the women finally step out of the shackles and change the story of their lives, the women feel more empowered, safe and happy. We had 10 participants in the session, who worked on the entire piece and 8 of them participated in the performance. We shot the video and shared it on Youtube in order to reach more and more people. We believe that art can be a powerful way of bringing about changes. When we watched the documentaries, we felt touched. We wanted to create similar pieces of art that could create an impact on the audience and members of the community.
For all these magazines, performances and videos, we received a lot of response from people. People could relate with the issues presented and they started thinking about what they can do. We wanted people to start thinking about issues, and that was the first step. We felt that if we could change mindsets through art, that would be the aim for us. A lot of people also shared that they always felt that they were not in a position to bring any change, but watching these pieces they felt that their small actions also matter. This was the biggest win for us.
How would you describe the learning experience for your students?
At Sattva, it is important for me to provide the students an open and inclusive space wherein they can feel comfortable sharing their thoughts, and they feel sensitive about the issues. They also get the inspiration to take action. While regular schools and colleges always have little time to focus on integrating education for global citizenship and sustainable development, for us it is a primary goal. We want to focus on providing learning experiences that can help students and participants become aware and responsible global citizens. The dialogue on documentaries sessions are widely appreciated and enjoyed by our students.
Watching the films, discussing and then coming up with an outcome- this entire process allows students to think critically and to step out of the box. Students often mention that these sessions are eye-openers for them. They also like sessions where they can learn in a fun and engaging way. The documentaries specifically help students reflect about their own biases and prejudices and think about possibilities for the future. A film like Can’t Hide Me makes students hopeful that the stories can end on a positive note and that even a small step from their end can make a big difference. These films inspire students to be more responsible and take action. While the majority of students here have started to feel that they can’t do much about issues, and everything is only on papers; these films and these sessions help students to believe that they can be change makers and their actions can have a larger impact. The art based outcomes also helped participants feel that their voices are heard, and their work is being seen. So the students had an engaging, and empowering learning experience.
The worksheets also provide students a direction in order to note down their thoughts (SIFT) and a structure to come up with solutions. Students do not feel lost when they come into groups and work on solutions.
What type of project did you create?
Dialogue + Discussion, Short Film (Documentary/ Narrative/ Animation/ Creative Video/ PSA), Community Event or Coalition Building, Art, Mural or Poster Campaign, Art-based activities – Creating and sharing magazine, and dance performances for shooting.
Featured below:
What is the topic, theme, SDG or social issue your project addresses?
Gender Equality, Quality Education, Sustainable Consumption
Please tell us about something you learned in the process of creating the project with your students? What part are you particularly proud of and what challenges did you face, if any?
I have learnt the significance of giving students a space to be themselves in the process of learning. It is important to allow students to explore, to think, to question and to create. Given the fact that students are always in a race and they always have so much to complete in terms of assignments and deadlines. Through these projects students got some time to absorb, to brainstorm, to step aside from the routine and create something new. This experience is refreshing for them as students and for me as a teacher.
I must mention that some of my students are adults who attend the performing arts classes. Probably they don’t fit into the criteria of being college students or learners. But they enjoyed these sessions. That was a big moment for me when these adults said that they wanted to be a part of more such learning experiences. This shows their willingness to learn (after crossing a certain marked age), willingness to change and to contribute to a more sustainable future.
As a teacher, I feel that I am able to continue with a lot of my work at Sattva because of these resources provided by SIMA Academy. I can take so many important things to my students through these films and I can sow that little seed for change. I feel more confident stepping in my learning set ups with these films, because they create a long-lasting impact on participants and that in turn has an outcome for the good of the society at large.
Sattva is not a regular school, and we don’t have any certifications or examinations. We do not fit into the mainstream. At times, it is challenging to reach the audience, including parents and students. Such experiences are not valued in a society wherein the materialistic perspective has completely taken over in education. Grades, marks, jobs, placements-these are the only things people think about. For me it was challenging to get more participation from students. I want to change this mindset and bring more and more people into this project. I want to take these documentaries to lots of students and teachers and to other cities also. This is the next step for me. I want people to understand the value of GCED and holistic development and also how these projects can be helpful for students. I am working towards making this project bigger and better in terms of participation and impact.
If you could distill your experience participating in the SIMA India SDG Challenge to one sentence, what would it be?
Ripples of Change; Documentaries and Artwork engage, empower and inspire students to take actions for a sustainable future.
