On the morning of 20^th February, 2023, the Alliance University Legal Services Clinic went on an awareness visit to the Byagadenahalli Government School with numerous objectives varying from developing humility in its members to creating awareness about the importance of women’s participation in the society.

The agenda was to display it through street plays in order to connect better with the students of the school that varied between the age groups of 6-15. For the same purpose, the clinic designed 2 street plays and also conducted various games to engage the kids and develop a sense of oneness and trust. The first play was informative and communicated the various government schemes for children studying in government schools. The members of the clinic enacted several situations like a little girl doing household work while giving up her basic primary education in order to meet the needs of her family or a boy working as a porter (coolie) in a railway station for the same purpose.

The members of the clinic emphasised on the need for education and the magic it does to individual lives and the impact it has on the country, as a whole. They also identified the importance of being aware of the schemes provided by the government in order to be able to optimise resources, whether human or otherwise.

The second play was enacted as a court scene in relatively historical times about how a female student challenged the court’s council for her admission to the same. She contested that admission to the king’s council must be based on merit and discrimination on the basis of gender should be abolished. The message communicated through this play was a major and intense one. It is so because the students of the government school still face such discrimination and marginalising factoring in their economic status and unawareness. The students were intrigued by the characters and envisioned themselves in such roles in their respective lives. The play was enacted in the regional language, Kannada for better understanding for the students. The members of the clinic dressed as their characters in order to have a better impact on the students of the government school.

The members of the clinic also organised games for the students. The first game was “pick n’ speak” where it would be required of the voluntary student to pick a chit from a little pouch on simple general topics like ‘family’, ‘my favourite celebrity’, ‘COVID’, ‘my favourite person’ and so on. It took a while initially, for the students to speak up. But they eventually did, and the face of confidence and happiness knew no bounds. In the end, all we need is a little push from people around us and that is precisely what the clinic did for those children.

The second game was word building where groups were made and each group would have to say a word related to the word that the previous group had stated. It was a thought-provoking game for the children who also learned the importance of team spirit and cooperation. It is wonderful what these games do for them, it may not directly and instantly be visible but the conditioning of the environment that way goes a long way and has a bigger impact on their minds than any of us will ever realise.

To me, the visit reminded me of the importance of collective growth of the society. It also made me realise how we all are different and have different abilities and disabilities which makes it important for us to not complete each other but to complement each other. One little girl in that school taught me to be gentler and patient. Because kindness is for everyone, it is what makes us human.

It is fascinating how we all take our abilities and lives for granted and how we assume that what we have is what most people have. It is important for us to pause and look around, because the biggest gift of humanity is the ability to care. The ability to help, to provide for those who cannot do it for themselves. The clinic did the humble duty of playing the role of the catapult for all those children with so much potential to shoot into the world and shine and be their best selves.