Abhyudaya Nagar MPS, TFI

1. A Design For Change Project at Abhyudaya Nagar Mumbai
Public School
By Aida Ali and Smriti Parikh

2.  At Abhyudaya Nagar MPS in Parel, we observed
the community of most of the students and
realized the need for sexual awareness and
empowerment.
 The community is rife with violence and abuse,
especially child abuse, of various kinds.
 Over the course of a month, as we interacted with
the students, we observed a need to increase their
awareness of their own bodies and minds.

3.  When the need was directly communicated by the
students in classroom meetings and private
conversations, in the form of questions and
concerns, we decided to address the need as a
Design For Change project.

4.  We observed our students, especially those from
grades 5, 6 and 7.
 We set out with an idea entitled “Growing with
Confidence” as a Design For Change project in the 5th
grade this academic year.
 After extensive research and consulting several 5th
grade sex education curriculums from around the
world, we designed our plans and started our sessions
with the students, aged 8-12 years.

5.  We determined that in order for us to achieve our
vision of empowering children all across the
community, we needed the project to be long term.
 Our vision acknowledges the need for this across
different grades and will, thus, conclude with the 5th
graders passing on the torch themselves by having
conversations with their siblings, friends and most
importantly, by conducting their own sessions with the
4th graders at the end of the year.

6.  We began by dividing the students of 5th grade, 50 of
them, into 4 groups – 2 of girls and 2 of boys. Group A
roughly consists of girls aged 11-12 and Group B of girls
aged 8-10. The boys were similarly divided into groups.
 After initial few sessions conducted with the class as a
whole, we conducted group wise reflection sessions
wherein we had conversations about the changes in
our feelings because of hormones and the changes in
our bodies. The discussions were student led, with the
teacher acting as a moderator.

7. Picture: Eyes closed reflection
time

8. Picture: Adnan raising his hand to
talk about “What makes you feel
powerful.”

9. STUDENT
REFLECTIONS

13. We hope to keep this project going
through effective student leadership
for years to come.