A Scrappy News Service By Children & For Children In Worli’s Fishing Village

The Bhagat Singh ground on Parel Tank road is, as usual, bursting with the din of children. The elder ones zealously play cricket, ushering the younger ones to watch, learn and occasionally fetch the ball. The little ones are playing their own games–on monkey bars and the merry-go-round. Toddlers accompanied by their cautious mothers jump around in the sand pit. Senior citizens on their daily evening walks watch them in awe perhaps reminiscing of their days as young parents. The sun is about to set, the birds are about to stop chirping, and concerned mothers and fathers have already gathered by the gates, asking their children to come back home. But suddenly the attention of the children has shifted from their games to something else entirely. The parents follow suit and watch as two children with mikes in their hands and a badge of ‘reporter’ on their chest have started speaking at the backdrop of a colorful makeshift news room made entirely of scrap. A line up of cameras and lights is on the duo.
“Sound Rolling, Camera Rolling and Action.”
Scrappy News is Live Now.

The Children’s Scrappy News Service is the first kids’ makeshift news service run by kids, for kids, taking on the world’s biggest problems and solving them with design, innovation and critical thinking. An initiative by the NGO, ‘Going To School’, founded by Lisa Heydlauff, Scrappy News Service runs as a news-talk show-game format that ends with a call to action. Airing on a digital channel, a scrappy news app and a YouTube channel, the project is a global kids movement emerging out of Indian schools, addressing little changes that make a big difference.

The reporters are 14-year-olds, Prachi Chauhan, Salauddin Khan and Rajlakshmi and they are all from municipal schools from various part of the city, ready with their scrappy mics, rehearsing the lines they’ve been given minutes before the show. They remain unfazed. As the camera rolls, the reporters speak confidently in fluent English. The pep and the zeal in their voice has attracted more people. The show, being shot at the Bhagat Singh Park, is a feature show called 100% Wild which would become a part of the bigger bulletin shot over the week. Using a child’s imagination and perspective on various items, the reporters call in various children from the audience asking them how they clean an item using various objects around. The narrative builds, to paint a larger picture of how a child’s imagination plays out as they come up with bright ideas to solve little problems that create a huge impact. The team also conducts vox pops, interviews and other short feature shows under the guidance of the Going To School Team and then put them together every weekend to form a bulletin which is shot in their vibrantly colorful newsroom made entirely out of 10,000 pieces of scrap, located in Worli fishing village.

“Children’s Scrappy News Service was started to bridge the gap between children’s education and community involvement,” says Padmini Vaidyanathan, Director of Children’s Scrappy News Service. With major operations in Bihar, Delhi and even Bangalore, the organization came to Mumbai and re purposed a truck that went around the biggest slums in Mumbai, encouraging kids to audition and anchor, re testing pilot scripts and then finally forming a team to across 11 states to create a news channel. All the props they use are made out of junk. “Most of these kids grow up in poverty with scrap material around them. This project also helps them create value out of scrap,” Padmini adds.

Tackling problems like more open space for children to play, climate change, importance of sports while growing up, scrappy news children have lots of interesting ideas and deliver well-researched journalistic stories that appeal to children. “Scrappy news has given me so much exposure. We have learned about so many different things and travelled to so many new places,” says Prachi, the 9th grader who has a huge exam tomorrow. “I am not nervous at all. I have done this so many times,” she says confidently and walks up to the set as she receives her cue. Rajlakshmi, who wishes to become an air hostess seems quieter but is an excellent orator as she talks confidently, without fumbling even once. Salaudeen is the goofy one who has the most fun while he reports. “It’s fun catching people off guard and questioning them, but I do so responsibly. After all I was the chosen one among so many others who auditioned,” he states proudly. When asked about the solution to the biggest problem plaguing the country, Salaudeen’s answer stands out. “Corruption is the biggest problem as it gives rise to poverty which gives rise to slums leading to litter that affects the process of development. We need to initiate dialogue and catch people red-handed,” he says, his tiny eyes twinkling with insight.

With 3,00,000 kids in 3,000 government schools, 1.8 million YouTube hits and much more traction on the Scrappy App, the Scrappy Children’s News Service is creating an impact in its own way, raising questions that the mainstream media doesn’t bother with. Starting April 1, they will also have a 60-minute run time on Colours channel. “But do grown-ups take you seriously?” I ask the trio of reporters after they successfully complete yet another day as young journalists. “Sometimes they do, sometimes they just giggle. But the show must go on,” he says as he looks up. “Grownups don’t have the time to solve our problems. This way, we are taking things in our own hands.”

Watch Children’s Scrappy News here.

You can visit their website here.

Feature Image Courtesy: The Free Press Journal

In Article Images by Rashi Arora.

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