Islands of Wisdom: community engagement in learning centres

Duration	2017 – present
Support	Wipro Applying Thought in Schools grant (2017 – present)
Location	Wandoor, South Andaman Island

Karishma Modi, Moumita Bhowmick, Aplonia Topno, Naveen Namboothri

Numerous studies conducted all over the country find that students in primary school struggle to keep up with curricular requirements. They could do with support. Our model moved from working directly with students from elementary schools to working with educated community members of the rural, fishing community in and around Wandoor to make them able to provide meaningful support to elementary-school students.

If the energy it takes for a student to cope with school is reduced, then they can be encouraged to access the more complex domains of critical thinking, media literacy and appreciation for the environment and be called upon to apply these learnings to active decision-making. Community members trained in the Dakshin Foundation model will be able to use innovative teaching methods to assist in language learning, curricular comprehension and expression skills.

Islands of Wisdom seeks to produce a replicable model of community engagement to provide school-support so that it can be deployed in Dakshin’s various geographies.

Outcomes for various stakeholders

Islands of Wisdom: The journey

Since its establishment in 2017, the Islands of Wisdom project has developed through a process of reflection. The larger objectives for the years between 2017 and 2020 reflect the changing direction of the project.

The events of each year were planned to best meet the broader objectives of each year.