Vanitha R

Vanitha R is an Assistant Teacher at the Government High School, Kuruvinakoppa, Kalaghatagi, Dharwad District. She has a Masters in Mathematics and is one of the most promising Government High School teachers from the area working in the field since 2005.

Her project is to enable students to appreciate, learn and imbibe the process of thinking that is derived from the discipline of design study. The context of her project is built around the entire assemblage of the vibrant art forms in the community, the textbooks in school, and the plants and animals in the natural environment around the Kuruvinakoppa where school is located – and to attempt to understand them through the idea of design.

Vanitha draws attention to the fact that design in the context can play a very significant role in finding appropriate solutions to contemporary concerns. Her programme focuses on the methodology of how design learnt through practical, hands-on-experience can make a difference to the process of learning. She wants her students to understand the design process of natural habitats and manmade products through workshops, demonstrations, and visits to traditional art forms and craft centres. She will also use materials from text books and presentations using collages and story boards to share the concepts and user relationships with her students. She will use case studies, stories of innovators, history of design and industrialisation and the making of landmark products in the classroom, ensuring that the students become eligible for higher studies in design.

The outcome of the project will be an exhibition for the local community. The deliverables of the project to IFA will be images and audio-video documentation of the programmes. 

This grant was made possible with support from Goethe Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan, Bangalore and Citi India.