In a bid to ensure that children without technological means to access online schooling are not left out from the education system, a radio station in Maharashtra’s Nashik district has won national awards for broadcasting classroom lessons daily amidst the COVID19 pandemic.

‘Radio Vishwas’ has received two awards at the 8th edition of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’s National Community Radio Awards.  Radio Vishwas 90.8 FM earned first place in the category ‘Sustainability Model Awards’ and second place in the category ‘Thematic Awards’ for its programme ‘Education for All’.

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“At a time when schools are closed, there are many families who cannot afford smartphones to educate their children. I started the ‘Shiksha Sarvansathi’ programme so that their education would not be disrupted,” Hari Vinayak Kulkarni, Station Director of Radio Vishwas, told Gaon Connection. 

Nashik-based Vishwas Meditation Prabodhini and Research Institute operates Radio Vishwas and the radio station broadcasts 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

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“We enlisted the assistance of 150 teachers to launch Shikshan Sarvansathi, which translates to “education for all” in Hindi; several of them are affiliated with various organisations, and others are school teachers,” Kulkarni informed.

“We recorded the entire syllabus from class third to class tenth and broadcast it at different times,” he added.

This radio station broadcasts programmes to students studying in zilla parishad and Nashik municipal schools. The programmes were aired in languages including Hindi, English, Marathi, and Sanskrit.

“We also conducted a house-to-house awareness campaign about this initiative,” said Ruchita Thakur, programme coordinator of Radio Vishwas. 

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“There was an overwhelming response from the community.” The community’s radio programme, which aired from June to December 2020, is still broadcast three times a day for the children,” she added.

‘Some children didn’t even have an FM radio’

During the initial phase of the programme, it was found that some school children were devoid of a FM radio as well.

Hence, teachers delivered 451 FM gadgets to the underprivileged tribal youngsters in Nashik’s Igatpuri taluka in the initiative launched by Radio Vishwas.

“Many students studying in government schools in Igatpuri did not even have a radio. So, the teachers spent their own money and distributed radios to the children,” the programme coordinator told Gaon Connection.

Community radio programmes popular amongst grown ups too

Programmes like  ‘Shahri Parsbagh’ (Kitchen Garden) helped raise awareness about environmental conservation through the community radio station. 

“Our listeners get to learn everything they need to know about the process of setting up a kitchen garden, from seed availability to sapling planting,” Thakur said. 

‘Mala Avdalela Pustak’ (favourite books to read) and ‘Jaaniv Samajkachi’ (the challenges faced by elderly folks) are two shows aimed at the adult, grown up audience, the official informed Gaon Connection. 

Community radio stations typically emphasise on the local issues for the benefit of the community within a 10-15 kilometre radius. They are primarily operated by local citizens who host talk shows, play regional music and sing folk songs. 

The Information and Broadcasting ministry launched the National Community Radio Awards in 2011-12 to encourage innovation and healthy competition among community radio stations. These community radio stations have played an essential role in mass communication during the COVID19 pandemic. There are at present 327 community radio stations functioning in various states across India.

Read this report in Hindi