Remember school? Remember Civics? And, more importantly, remember dozing off in the class because the chapters never made much sense? Let’s face it, it was boring as schmuck.

I remember never scoring well in the subject, and am kinda unashamed to admit that I still don’t remember the Fundamental Rights & Duties by heart.

When I heard of “,” the game, it intrigued me to dig more. Turns out that the game introduces fun to those boring Civics lessons, but there’s a catch here: these experiences are interesting. Before I go on to tell you more about the game, let me tell you about one of its creators, Ashraf Patel.

Ashraf grew up with her parents who had an inter-religion marriage. While her mother was a Jain Hindu, her dad was a Muslim.

“When we were born, our parents decided to let us choose our religion, and even though it was confusing at first, it liberated us.”

Ashraf realized that she loved being around people, and so when she realized that taking up Physics in graduation school had been a mistake, she had three options to choose from Rural Management (involved intense interactions), Forest Management (involved intense interactions) and Human Resources (involved intense interactions).

She picked HR.

Post the 1992 Muslim Riots, her co-founder and then colleague Arjun and Ashraf decided to bring about a positive change. And, that’s how “POSITIVE ME” was born. The intention was to get people in touch with their positive side. “We saw the difference in about a year’s time, and that’s how the Pravah Foundation was born.”

5th Space

The Pravah Foundation works with young people, and we realized that there are four spaces young people spend the maximum amounts of their time in – Friends, Leisure, Family, and Education/livelihood. In all of these four spaces, the rules and regulations are already set by either the society, family, peers, social media and more. 

We decided to create a where the youngsters set their own rules. In other words, it became an integral part of Active Citizenship or Volunteering. 

The Game

We were still deciding about how to motivate young people in Delhi to become active citizens when the idea came to our minds. We thought about it and realized that the one thing that brings together all of us as citizens of the country is the Constitution, that isn’t talked about too often. And so, we decided to build constitution literacy with the help of a game.

It’s a game, by the young, for the young and of the young.

The game began when 500 young ‘Jagriks’ (Jagruk Nagrik) took on the journey of their lifetime to engage with the on-ground realities of our constitution.

While playing a real life board game, the youngsters endeavored to live, understand and own the constitution. While playing the game, you will have to pick out cards and do as they read. Interesting, right? Want to know what the cards say? Read on…

Rights & Duties

Of course, the game familiarizes you with your rights and even duties. Honestly, think about it, when we don’t know clearly about our rights, how do you expect people to know about their duties.

Most of us don’t even realize that we’re supposed to ‘contribute’ towards preserving the heritage and nature of our country. How many of us plant trees or respect the heritage?!

What Right To Equality Means To Gender Equality

Back in school, we used to mug up these sentences. But hey, if we are equal, why is Dowry still practiced? Why does Khap Panchayat still exist? There are scary unequal practices because not all of us know our rights.

How Practical Knowledge Of Rights & Duties Can Be Integrated Into Textbooks

The youth must be assertive, and the schools must stop dividing students into gender-based groups! But, we’re lucky that a lot of change is happening in the curriculum, and many layers are being introduced.

When Samvidhan Live began, a lot of cards got the players thinking. For example, there was one card that asked the participant to reverse roles with another gender of the family. So, if the participant was a man, he had to cook food, fold the laundry, and other stuff that his mother was doing the entire day, and vice versa if it was a woman.

Another such task required the participant to inspire two couples to get married without accepting/giving dowry.

Imagine the world, where all our duties were well understood, respected and performed. It would be the world where rights were automatically well running into the functionality of the society. And, who knows, maybe it’d be the place we always have wanted our country to be! Think about it while you sip your Holiday coffee on Republic Day.

If you wish to be a part of the game, get in touch with the 5th Space team, here.