36 hours in India
Every so often a project comes along that gives us the opportunity to truly practice the part of Slash we value the most - having impact.
This particular opportunity popped up in Ahmedabad, India and we went from hearing the project founder speak, to having her into the office, to a small crew hopping over to India for 36 hours to see the project for ourselves, and eventually 4 weeks later, to a planning session with IDEO in San Francisco.
Deep breath.
So what's the project in India?
It's a school.
Sounds pretty standard right?
It is, until you meet the students, get taken on a tour of the school by 5 year olds, chat to the graduates and realise that there is a whole new way of learning going on here.
The curriculum is the same maths, english science jam that all other schools are based on, but the way it's taught is where this becomes special. The teaching methodology and the school itself is based on the principles of design thinking, meaning that the whole experience of teaching and being taught is focused on how the kids learn, how they interact, how they are empowered, and how they express themselves.
The opportunity and the chance for impact, is in figuring out how we take this education concept to the world, how we package it, how we position it next to centuries of established educational practice, what it looks like in other cultures, and how it remains a movement led by kids.
Tackling something as massive as education, realising the impact it will have on the future of schooling and teaching, and being part of the thinking around it all is HUGE, and it's exactly the kind of challenge we chase.
We've got way more questions than answers at the moment, but that's one of our favourite spaces to be in and this is a journey we're excited to be a part of.
