Election fever has gripped the country. Therefore the time was ripe for enlightening the learners at Parivartan about the ‘Dance of Democracy’. It was time for some preliminary lessons in Civics. Prof. Lokesh Upreti opened the day’s deliberations by trying to explain the process through which representatives are selected for the Parliament in India. He discussed how the party which enjoys majority in the Lok Sabha goes on to form the government at the center with the leader of that party occupying the chair of the Prime Minister of the nation. Prof. Upreti, with contributions from Nagesh, also took time to explain the mechanism behind the formation of the upper house of Parliament, the Rajya Sabha.

Observing that the children were having some difficulty in grasping the concepts involved, an impromptu role play session was organised where two of the kids were selected to represent the leaders of two major (fictitious) parties in the fray. Each party was to contest the elections for ten seats. Three children each were nominated as candidates from the major cities from each side. The resultant process clarified much of the bottlenecks in the learning process.

The second part of the day was devoted to a session on multiplication and division, specially that comprising of two digit numbers, with power performers Mansi and Atul spearheading the session. The learners worked out the sums in their copies, which were then evaluated by those present. For the first time, grades ranging from ‘good’ to ‘excellent’ were mentioned on the copies, in an attempt to encourage the children in their efforts.

With the end drawing close, the regulation quiz was held for judging the understanding of the day’s lessons, with those answering correctly receiving a pack of ‘Crax Rings’ each. This was followed by the distribution of ‘Bikano mixture namkeen’ and ‘Parle Orange Bite’ toffees among the children.

Prof. Lokesh Upreti planned and guided the volunteers in the conduct of the programme as the faculty coordinator of CSR Club - Parivartan.