4th June 2008 (Mohan Kanya Secondary School and Sitalpatti)

After the general introduction of the DBC and our objective, the informal civic education class started at 11:15am.

Students participating in the documentary show.

The students were given classes on aspects related to their everyday life such as friends, family and school. Political debates and political jargons were not used keeping in mind the target audiences but more importantly as the students could not relate to that.

The students themselves came up with their definition on democracy: Rule of the people. The campaigners helped them to relate the values of democracy within their school and in their everyday life by various examples and by explaining one of the illustrations (IEC) of stopping physical punishment in schools. The students believed that if they were disciplined and did their assignments regularly, punishments would not take place, highlighting the fact that self change is the key aspect.

“The program is very relevant and I really liked it when the aspect of self change was brought up. I have always told my students that child’s right does not mean being ill mannered and doing what one likes even if it is wrong”, Keshlaxmi Shrestha, local teacher.

After the informal class, two documentaries were presented, one related to child’s right to education (poor/marginalized and the disabled) and the other related to the history of Nepalese constitution (Janata ko Sambidhan). The documentaries were followed by short reflection and general understanding within the audience. It was good to see the students actively participating and giving their views on the issues that rose. The program ended with the vote of thanks from the principal Keshlaxmi Shrestha to the organizers. She asked the students to make proper use of the democracy handbooks and the pocket calendars that were distributed as she believed they were informative and related to one of their educational course (social studies).

“To be able to do what one likes within certain rules and regulations and without harming others is democracy”, was a comment of one student of class ten.

The afternoon program was held at Sitalpatti which is one of the major junctions of the Tansen bazaar where lots of people pass by. As a result a good number of people gathered for the program including the teachers of the Mohan Kanya Secondary School. The program began with the informal civic education class which was not interactive as the crowd was big and the campaigners had to use mics. Nevertheless, the forum theater was a success and the audiences seemed to be engrossed in it. The collective sound of the people of happiness, shock and anger were very audible throughout the play. The program ended at around 7:30 with a documentary show.

Forum theater by SRDC (Social Resource Development Centre).

Some reflections on my second day

Today after the completion of the forum theater Sara and I spend some time with the theater group and we reflected on the DBC activities in Palpa. What was heard so far is that the forum theater has been effective and successful in bringing the messages across to the people and that it is an indispensable part of the DBC. There have been suggestions from the people to present the forum theater to the government officials as well. With the work done for the day I headed towards Nanglo West, a popular café for my dinner. Eventually I ended up conversing with the restaurant attendant who had watched the entire program at Sitalpatti from the windows of the restaurant. “The messages that were given are relevant and though we cannot expect to change overnight, it did affect me to some extent and is an achievement”. He also added that after observing various forum theaters from different theater groups, the one performed at the Sitalpatti by the DBC was the best so far with the use of simple language by the performers. Maybe, he said that because I was a part of the campaign or maybe he was just truthful. Well, the thing is DBC still has a lot of room for improvement and that there is a need for more in-depth knowledge on issues which are area specific on the part of the campaigners.

P.S- Sitalpatti has a historic importance. It was a strategic place from where the rulers used to convey important proclamation and announcements but today in the 21^st century, the same platform has been used again but the nature of the message has changed.

Paramita Yonzon