Bangalore-based 100% project-based learning school Tapas has launched India’s first school campus redesign hackathon ‘Jaga’ to make classrooms more flexible and conducive to learning for children. Moving away from the traditional cookie-cutter approach to designing classrooms, the unique initiative focuses on initiating dialogues and coming up with new ideas to foster better student-teacher relationships and engaging learning environments in schools. Tapas School has invited entries for this hackathon and participants will also get a chance to attend a Tapas Masterclass on space planning.
Talking about this initiative, Tapas School’s spokesperson said,” Traditionally, schools have relied on the ‘cookie-cutter’ or ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to design and plan their classrooms without paying enough attention to individual differences. This has resulted in teacher-centric classrooms which do not encourage collaboration amongst learners. They are rigid and don’t offer flexibility. Jaga is our attempt to create engaging learning environments in classrooms with more attention to space planning and design. We believe this allows learners to make choices, experiment with new techniques and learn the best. Additionally, flexible classrooms will also support teachers with greater capacity to respond to individual needs and discover effective ways of teaching.”
The hackathon will be conducted in 5 stages:
i) sending in the ideas,
ii) shortlisting of ideas,
iii) presentation to the jury,
iv) final selection of entries to be featured in the book,
v) release of a book documenting the entire hackathon and the final ideas.
The initial set of participating entries will be judged and shortlisted based on parameters set by Tapas. The shortlisted participants will present their ideas before the jury members. The shortlisted entries will be translated into an implementable design idea by a team of reputed architects. The jury includes seasoned professionals from the field of education, architecture, space planning, psychology, and design.
The full list of jurors is as follows:
-Neha Cadabam (Executive Director – Cadabam Group),
-Dr. Swati Popat Vats (President – Podar Education Network),
-Preethi Vickram (Founder – Tapas School),
-Devishobha (Founder, Kidskintha),
-Harish Srinivasan (Co-founder and learning experience designer – Infinite Engineers),
-Dr. Tirka Widanti (Rector – Universitas Ngurah Rai, President – Yayasan Kul Kul Green school),
-Francis Joseph (Director – SLN School Leaders Network Foundation),
-Amrita Burman (Deputy Director – Sunbeam Group of Educational Institutions),
-Sarvesh Srinivasan (Educator and Architect, GEAR International School),
-Kathryn Cogan (K-12 Studio Leader – CHA Architecture),
-Ar. Krishna Murthy (Architect – De Sara Architects).
After presentation to the jury, the final shortlist of entries will be featured in the book to be released by Tapas School. The jury members will also participate in a panel discussion about Jaga. The panel discussion will act as a platform for the jurors to discuss their take on the entire exercise and their rationale behind the final selections.
Tapas School will be partnering with like-minded peer organisations for strategic outreach and subject-matter expertise. The partner organisations include ECA APER, All About Architecture, Kidskintha, Daily Hunt, Sunbeam Group of Educational Institutions, JoGenii, Jumpstart Preschool chain, Mindful Gurukul, FloMont World School, Somaiya School, Kidlet, Fairkraft Creations, and Infinite Engineers.
Jaga is one of the many efforts made by Tapas School to make learning meaningful, enjoyable, and relevant for students.
