The Nongwah Nook under the Salesforce Trailblazer Community Lab today held an exhibition designed by learners at the Chief Minister’s Youth Centres (CMYCs).
Nongwah is one of the twenty potential hubs of innovations and entrepreneurial initiatives for the people of rural communities initiated by the State government under the Smart Village Movement to supplement traditional schooling and focus on creating open and safe learning spaces.
People from the village and its adjoining areas as well as learners from other CMYCs attended the exhibition to check on a wide range of items made and designed by the learners being put on display for visitors and potential buyers.
Hand knitted sweaters, cakes and bakeries, toys, dolls, lipsticks and lipliners were some of the items on display. These were made as part of the learning projects of the learners in these self designed learning spaces where a lot of thoughts, efforts and intentions are being involved in the making of these items.
Nongwah Community Lab Manager, Mintioneth Fancon said the exhibition day marks the ending of the current learning cycle of three months. “The learners have been looking forward to this day for a long time. They are so eager to showcase their hard work and show other people of how much they have learned in one year,” she added.
Fancon said though there is still room for improvement, the skills used in the making of the items were remarkable, which is a testament to the idea that self designed learning systems are working and can be a great addition to the existing education system in the State.
“We didn’t expect that so many people would come to our exhibition. It was great that we had prepared extra items and we are even psyched that the people love our food,” said one of the learners who had been extremely busy with the food preparation the previous days before the exhibition day.
The upcoming centres which are being co-designed by Project DEFY and Sauramandala Foundation across the state are based on the concepts piloted in the two Labs at Sohrarim and Nongwah in the last 18 months. The CMYCs are expected to create similar experiences for learners across the state with access to the nook, library and sports programs, a press statement here said.
