CMCA believes it’s never too early for children to engage with our democracy. Our programs support State efforts in education with powerful Citizenship and Life Skills, transforming children into concerned, thinking, and active citizens. We work closely with the governments of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.
Last year, CMCA’s Citizenship and Life Skills school programs were implemented in over 2,400 schools, reaching more than 1.77 lakh children across India. Together with the regular school curriculum, CMCA programs align with Sustainable Development Goals and UNICEF frames for Socio-Emotional Learning (SEL) and vital 21st-century skills.
CMCA offers diverse age-appropriate and contextual citizenship and life skill programmes for school children
CMCA programmes create ripples of change
Our programs create a ripple effect, beginning with young citizens and spreading change to friends, families and communities.
Schools and State departments can easily implement CMCA’s programs. Schools simply need to sign up. CMCA provides training content and teaching aids and equips and supports school teachers, CMCA volunteers and educators.CMCA’s tech-powered monitoring and rigorous evaluation systems provide data and analytics to enable continuous learning, improvement and integration of feedback.
Our regular programmes are experiential and focus on learning by doing, but with our Magic Box initiative, we aim to focus solely on activity-based learning. Suitable for students from class 1-3 (with an option to extend to grade 4 or 5), the Magic Box is a 3-year-long, activity-based programme that can be delivered by the class teachers themselves. Each Magic Box consists of 300+ learning cards and various props. Each learning card is easy to use and contains all that a teacher needs to conduct the activity in the class, and every working day, the teacher can conduct one short activity in the classroom for the students. The activities take 8-10 minutes each, and each addresses a specific Learning Outcome.
The learning outcomes are designed to develop Citizenship Values and Life Skills. Some examples of the learnings expected are given below:
The Learning Outcomes are divided into three levels based on complexity and depth. Each card is designed as a standalone activity with no links to other cards, so cards within a level can be used in any order, as per the teacher and students’ convenience. The activities could be a story or a rhyme, a flash card that spurs discussion, a game, a quiz, a role play, etc. Each card is self-explanatory, with easy instructions for the teacher. Students have fun doing the activities, which also make them think about related issues. For teachers, the activities are quick and easy to conduct, but they energise the class and engage students.
Programme Snapshot
How it Works:
To bring Magic Box to your school or to partner with CMCA and nurture Active Citizenship from an early age in your students, write to us at headoffice@cmcaindia.org.
The CMCA Club Programme is CMCA’s oldest and most far-reaching intervention.
A CMCA Club comprises of a group of students from the 7th and 8th grade to spread awareness on democratic and civic issues. When a school signs up to this programme, the curriculum is delivered over a period of nine months at a weekly ‘CMCA Club period’ allotted by the school during its regular timetable. Rather than having the school’s own teachers deliver this curriculum, it is facilitated by a CMCA Educator, typically one of our committed volunteers.
In order to better address the needs of the various socio-economic groups of students, the CMCA Club Programme has two broad categories: Private School Programme and Government/Aided School Programme. Both are almost similar in their approach except that the Government School Programme has additional curriculum modules. We also facilitate students’ participation in Makkala Grama Sabhas (Children’s Village Sabhas) for rural schools coming under the Rural School Programme.
Programme Snapshot:
How it Works:
What we need from the school:
CMCA will provide the following:
The CMCA Club programme is planned, monitored, implemented, and evaluated using Results-Based Management (RBM) methodology with clearly defined programme objectives, activities, outputs, and outcomes, verifiable indicators, and means of verification. We use the findings from our quality assurance activities to tweak and improve the curriculum on a regular basis.
Apart from government, government-aided and private schools, in Karnataka the CMCA Club Programme is also run in partnership with the Directorate of Minorities in Maulana Azad Model Schools.
To learn more and launch the CMCA Club Programme at your school, write to us at headoffice@cmcaindia.org
After being members of a CMCA Club for a year at school, we see our alumni carry forward key learnings and democratic values, using them to lead better lives as better citizens for a better India. However, as they grow older, there are different issues students can engage with, and greater depths to which they may engage even with issues they are already aware of.
With this in mind, CMCA has designed the Spark Workshops for our alumni of Grade 8-10. Each workshop is an hour long, and reinforces the ideas discussed during the CMCA Club Programme, as well as covering new areas and going into more detail on some of the issues. In addition to workshops for Grade 9-10, CMCA has designed workshops for 6th and 7th standard students. As always at CMCA, the approach is to have children learn by doing, and arrive at conclusions through their own thinking based on the activities, rather than spoon-feeding the desired ideas to them. The Spark Workshops follow these themes:
The programme includes experiential learning capsules to ensure that the values of democracy, civic responsibility, justice, and sustainability find deeper roots in the children’s belief systems.
Programme Snapshot
How it Works:
Schools interested in having these workshops conducted for their students can write to headoffice@cmcaindia.org.
The Grama Panchayat is an important institution at the village level for voicing concerns and solving civic issues. In a notification in 2006, the Karnataka government exhorted Grama Panchayats to pay special attention to the condition of children and their development during their stipulated meetings, and also dedicate one day in a year to them by holding Makkala Grama Sabhas (Children’s Village Sabhas), where children engage with the Grama Panchayat and make recommendations about their care and protection at school and the village.
Since 2011, CMCA has energised Makkala Grama Sabhas (Children’s Village Sabhas) in villages in rural Karnataka. The Makkala Grama Sabha (Children’s Village Sabha) recognises children as equal citizens and gives them the opportunity to meet authorities and discuss matters concerning their schools, communities, and villages, and call for action towards the improvement of their quality of life.
370+ Makkala Grama Sabhas (Children’s Village Sabhas) were energised during the academic year 2022-2023. 27,000+ children from more than 460 schools participated. The young citizens exercised their right to participation and were able to drive various positive changes in their community. Through the Makkala Grama Sabhas (Children’s Village Sabhas), children secured:
We have found that Makkala Grama Sabhas (Children’s Village Sabhas) empower children in numerous ways and give them newfound confidence. Through the process of attending these meetings, they have learned the practical workings of the government in their villages, and understood the importance of actively participating in addressing the issues that affect them and their villages.
CMCA has been accredited by Credibility Alliance under the category “Desirability Norms” – for good governance, accountability, transparency and continuous improvements. Credibility Alliance is a consortium of voluntary organisations committed to enhancing accountability and transparency in the voluntary sector through good governance.
