Byregowda M

This Foundation Project implemented by IFA will enable students from fifth and sixth grade of the Government Higher Primary School in Avverahalli, Ramanagara district, to explore flora and fauna of the hills around Ramanagara through a series of hikes, and engagements with visual arts, theatre and storytelling, which connect their learnings to their geography, science and language curriculum. Byregowda M is the Coordinator for this project.

Byregowda M, a doctorate in philosophy, is a former employee of the Revenue Department. He is a folklorist, theatre practitioner, publisher, and writer and has worked as a Kannada lecturer at Christ University and Government First Grade College, Vijayanagara, Bangalore. He is also a hiker with admirable knowledge about the hills in Ramanagara district. Given his experience he is best placed to be the Coordinator of this Foundation Project of IFA.

The hilly landscape and the wide open spaces of relatively untouched nature makes Ramanagara a beautiful escape from the hustle and bustle of the concrete jungle we live in. Yatirajagiri, Shivaramagiri, Somagiri, Revannasiddeshwara Betta, Krishnagiri, Sidilakallu Betta and Jalasiddeshawara Betta are the seven major hills around Ramanagara. This project enables students to walk around these hills and engage in curriculum-based outdoor learning pedagogy that provides first-hand experiences in a natural learning environment.

This project will involve students to participate in hiking expeditions while drawing, painting, creating stories and enacting them, and documenting not only the flora and fauna and also local social and cultural life in these seven hills. Each expedition, conducted once a month, will begin with an orientation and end with a session on feedback in the classroom. After the orientation which will introduce students to the process of hiking, its rules and safety measures, the actual expedition to the hills will be conducted in a systematic manner.  

After the hike, students will be encouraged to question what they saw in their hikes. Their learnings and the information they collect will be used to create local narratives in the form of skits, songs, drawings and paintings. All activities will be connected to each other to give students a larger sense of the world that they inhabit. For some of the workshops, Byregowda will invite professional resource people with relevant expertise.

The goal of the project is to enrich the students’ personal growth, collaboration skills and self-esteem as well as to provide them with authentic learning experiences in nature. It will support the development of each student’s personal relationship with nature through phenomenon-based cross-curricular learning. Another significant aspect of this project is to encourage the teachers, most of whom at this school including the Head Mistress are women, to become participant learners and hopefully later evolve as facilitators so that they can continue with the processes learnt even after the grant period.

The outcomes of the project will be a performance and an exhibition in the presence of school staff, and a publication with the writings of the children. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be the publication, photographs, and video documentation of the entire project.

This project suitably addresses the framework of IFA’s Arts Education programme in the manner in which it attempts to connect students and schools to the natural surroundings they inhabit.

IFA will ensure that the implementation of this project happens in a timely manner and funds expended are accounted for. IFA will also review the progress of the project at midterm and document it through an Implementation Memorandum. After the project is finished and all deliverables are submitted, IFA will put together a Final Evaluation to share with Trustees.