Just about a year back, only two of these kids had ever touched a two-in-one and non of them had any effective access to radio either. They could hardly write correct sentences and would find it difficult to read their own writings.
Today, they are ready with their programme to be aired from AIR Bikaner on Sundays between 3-3.30 p.m. which will have a repeat broadcast on Wednesdays 5.30-6.00 p.m.
It is a great moment of their lives. Those who had virtually no access to even radio in their homes are now ready to take on the world as perhaps the first rural radio professionals group in the country.
These kids belong to 22 remote villages from four blocks of Bikaner district of Rajasthan (The Thar Desert state of India)- Nokha, Kolayat, Sri Dungargarh and Lunkaransar. They have been undergoing training in acquiring skills of radio programming- scripting, interviewing, recording, editing and comparing for the last one year. From their busy schedule of school and other concerns of livelihood, primarily agriculture, they have been taking out about a week every month and have been given exposure in different areas of radio programming over the past 12 months.
This programme has been initiated by PANOS, India in partnership with Urmul Jyoti, Urmul Seemant, Nehru Yuva Kendra and Urmul Trust.
This unique venture aims at creating a model of adolescent community radio as a tool to express their aspirations, concerns, apprehensions and doubts. Though ultimately it aspires to be a vehicle of creating awareness about adolescent health, especially reproductive health and issues like HIV/AIDS, it attempts to locate these concerns in the overall context of livelihood, education and issues that touch their day to day life. Thus, the programme has multiple segments. One 5-6 minute special report is accompanied with sections on Agriculture/animal husbandry, radio class gives them additional help in studies as they ask their teachers those questions which they can not do in the class rooms. Employment news informs rural kids about latest job openings. Apart from these they also have folk songs most of which they record; from the pages of History and interesting information, in which they are now giving stories of inventions.
The idea is to make it a sustainable endeavour which could then be replicated at other places as well. It may be a too far fetched dream for them, but right now they are excited that they are going to take the first concrete step towards putting up a genuine adolescent radio slot on the AIR setup.
However, created by these kids as this programme is, the raw flavour of the programme also attempts to create a new radio aesthetics drawing inspiration from deep rooted tradition of spontaneous orality and matching it with the strict professional parameters. It aims to put community radio initiative on professional standards without making any compromise on quality. It also puts rural adolescents firmly in the centre as the vanguard of a new society, aware villages and forward-looking children, the future of the country by using radio as a tool of social change.
They are not afraid of committing mistakes but are ever willing to learn at every step. Your views would be a valuable input for them.
Tune in to Kishor Vani AIR Bikaner 1395 kHz.
For more information, please contact Vagish K Jha (Trainer & Producer, Kishor Vani) at the following contact details:
Email : [email protected] ,
Mobile telephone number: 9868249634
