This activity is about our perception of elections in India.
Activity: Hasey toh fasey
Time needed: 20 minutes
Activity pre preparation:
Teacher must bring the following to class:
- Old newspapers published around the time of any election
- A4 sheets of paper
- Scissors
- Glue
- Scotch tape
Explanation:
The teacher must bring a large stack of old newspapers to the classroom and divide the class into groups, giving 3-4 papers to each group. Make sure these papers are in different languages and belong to different publication houses, for instance, The Times of India, Indian Express, Sakal (Marathi), Mumbai Samachar (Gujarati), etc. Make sure you acquire papers published around the time of elections,either local, state or national.
The kids are supposed to find cartoons associated with elections in these papers, cut them out and stick them on A4 sized pieces of paper. Spend 15 minutes on this activity.
Then, all the A4 sheets of papers must be stuck on classroom walls and the students must walk near these cartoons with their books and pens. Then, they must write about what they find funny in these cartoons.
Humour is often a great tool to bring out the reality in a situation. These cartoons tell us how Indians view the election process and the leaders.
Ask some kids to read out their observations and then talk about what elections are, their importance and why it is such a challenge to hold general elections across India. You can show video nos. 1 and 2 after this exercise. It is a long video, so you might want to make prior arrangements. Please do worksheet no. 2 after this.
