Bala Janaagraha is a uniquely designed citizenship education programme that is aimed at empowering children with the knowledge, skills and values necessary to develop a deep sense of ownership and responsibility towards their society.

Bala Janaagraha’s curriculum – the “Me and My City” module – is civics in practice. Through interactive classroom sessions and project work, the programme helps schoolchildren discover the rights and responsibilities of citizens in a democracy. Bala Janaagraha programme demystifies local government, introduces the political relevance of the ward and stresses the need for citizen participation in local governance.

The 3 segments of the Bala Janaagraha programme

Classroom Sessions – in which students work through a special Curriculum of 8 topics of the ‘Me and My City’ book –a handbook for young citizens- to help them understand the Local Government and their rights and responsibilities as a Citizen.
The 8 topics are: Citizenship, Government, Urban Planning, Water, Electricity, Health, Social Justice, and Safety. Each chapter has 3 takeaways for the Students: KNOWLEDGE, VALUE, and SKILL.

These sessions are conducted between June and October. The curriculum of the Programme is taught in both English and the local language.

There is an E-module also, which is introduced in the classroom sessions .This is an online and offline fun filled activity based game, developed to reinforce the learning from the curriculum sessions. These sessions are conducted between August and December.

Civic Projects – are theme-based collaborative projects in which students apply their newly-acquired knowledge to one aspect of urban India in a practical, tangible way. The students work on these projects from August-November.

The project objective is to develop a sense of awareness and responsibility towards their community thru interaction with their community. The students participate in researching on a civic issue that impacts their community and come up with solutions for their problems.

Civic Fest – a platform at which, students present their work and views from throughout the year and are recognized for their efforts in kind.

The Mini Civic Fests (at each Facilitator level) take place in December. The Finals take place in January.