I Am Kalam is a beautiful film produced by the non-governmental charity called Smile Foundation. The reason behind making this movie was to bring awareness to people about the educational inequality prevailing in India.

I Am Kalam is a 2011 film, which was way ahead of its time. This is the story of a boy from a poor family who works as a child labourer at a highway-side cafe (aka dhaba). Irrespective of the problems in his life, he is a happy child with a simple dream to become someone like Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. 

The plot has the protagonist Chotu being sent to a dhaba to work and earn for the family. Here, he befriends the royal heir, Rannvijay, of a neighbouring resort's owner, who’s his age. Every day, Chotu dreams of wearing a tie and uniform to go to school, just like Rannvijay, as he has an unusual thirst for education and knowledge. He then chances upon the Republic Day Parade and Dr. Kalam’s salutation march. Curious, he finds out about the President and instantly decides to become like him. From here, he begins to call himself Kalam.

As the story progresses, he meets a foreigner woman who tries to convince his mother to let him study as he is a bright kid, but since the family's circumstances aren’t in favour, he is denied an education. As a consequence, Chotu aka Kalam decides to run away to Delhi to meet the President and give him a letter. In this, he writes about how he wants to become like the President of India and thanks Dr. Kalam for making him realise his dreams. Meanwhile, every one from his family comes running after Chotu to find him in the new city. They finally track him down and a relieved Rannvijay and zealous Chotu hug each other with joy.

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In the end, Rannvijay’s father offers Chotu’s mother work at his resort and agrees to pay for Chotu’s education and send him to the same school as Rannvijay’s. That is when Chotu says he wants to pay for his education on his own and the movie ends with both Chotu aka Kalam and Rannvijay boarding the school bus in their school uniforms.

Conclusion:

The plot shows that equality in education is still a mere thought and that ideas are still being built around the education for underprivileged. The movie is, without a doubt, an eye-opener for the education sector in India.

The child named Chotu, with the sole dream of education, depicts the scenario of the underprivileged communities in our country and the inequity of education a majority of kids his age face. With this film, Smile Foundation wanted to press on the matter a decade ago. Clearly, the great scientist, an exemplary leader and a visionary teacher, Dr. Kalam, is a huge inspiration behind the script. The film ends on a promising note that where there’s a will, there’s a way. But most importantly, it teaches us that nothing can stop a child from grabbing his right to education if his determination is strong.

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Who doesn’t remember the iconic 90's American sitcom F.R.I.E.N.D.S about six friends living in New York, that was premiered for almost a decade? Recently, a teacher in the USA went viral after he used its famous title song to cheer his students up while the schools are closed. 

Paul Miller, a teacher of Appleton East High School in Wisconsin, created a parody of the FRIENDS theme song ‘I’ll be there for you’ to virtually welcome his students in the new session. His parody implied that he shall always be around to support his students and that they can count on him even if they cannot meet him in person. 

His song's lyrics say – “So no one told me that life was gonna be this way. I got my lessons ready, but the students are MIA… I’ll be here for you when you’re learning at home. I’ll be here for you, and you’ll watch me on Chrome.”

Since his school decided to reopen remotely for the new session, this English teacher’s efforts felt right in every way to bring hope and joy among the excited young students. 

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Miller said that his ‘welcome ritual’ has been consistent over the years, though this year he did have to be a little extra creative. How amazing that he chooses to sing to his students every year, right?

He said, "Obviously, I am not an expert musician. My intent is to show them that I am not afraid to take a risk and I want them to push themselves as well. This year, I have no live students because our district is fully virtual. So, I decided to put the ukelele down and make a music video to send home to my students.”

Well, we must say his artistic imagination was surely loved by his pupil as well as the people on the internet. See for yourself!

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Coach Carter, directed by Thomas Carter and starring Samuel L. Jackson as Coach Carter, is an Americal film in the genre of sports teen drama. 

The film is based on the true story of Richmond High School in California and their basketball coach, Ken Carter. They made headlines in 1999 for suspension of the undefeated high-school basketball team due to poor academic results.

The story revolves around Coach Carter and his basketball team in high school. He gets hired as the coach because of being the alumni and ex-team player for the school. Though hired only to better the game of the team, he takes care of their academic scores, too, and makes them abide by a contract which obligates the players to maintain a minimum academic grade if they want to play for the team.

But Coach Carter, when learns of bad grades of the players, suspends the team from playing. He asks the performers to improve their grades as he wants them to have other options than basketball in life. Initially misunderstood and opposed by the board, Coach Carter’s intension and motives get clear to the players and they finally begin to strive hard to advance their academics to be able to play again.

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Eventually, all the delinquents and rowdy students realise what their coach has been saying all along, and although they do not win the final game, they get praised by their opponents and coach for the brilliant show and team spirit.

Lesson

There can be times when students reject teachers and their philosophies and not understand what they are doing and why. The moral of the movie is that teachers always think ahead for the betterment of their pupil. With this film, we learn to invest trust in our educators and develop the patience to understand their motives. Because, at the end of the day, teachers only love to see their students succeed, don’t they?

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The Podcast culture is not a famous one in our country but a budding one for sure. A podcast is an episodic series of spoken word digital audio files that a user can download to a personal device for easy listening. 

While the schools are closed, take this opportunity to introduce your students to Podcasts as they learn some hard facts about the most pressing issues in our country and the world at large.

Wildlife SOS was established in 1995 by a small group of individuals inspired to start a movement and make lasting change to protect and conserve India’s natural heritage, forest and wildlife wealth. Today, the organisation has evolved to actively work towards protecting Indian wildlife, conserving habitat, studying biodiversity, conducting research and creating alternative and sustainable livelihoods for erstwhile poacher communities or those communities that depend on wildlife for sustenance.

https://wildlifesos.org/get-involved/podcast/

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Mick Sullivan created The Past and The Curious in 2016 and it is a work of love.  Since then people from the founder’s friends and family have joined in as well.  A History Podcast for kids, parents, teachers alike.

https://thepastandthecurious.com/

The Life of Science is a travelling feminist science media project run by Aashima Dogra and Nandita Jayaraj which tells the story of women scientists around India. It is a good way to introduce children to our country’s most prominent women from science and their accomplishment, and parallelly tell girls what they can achieve.

https://ivmpodcasts.com/thelifeofscience

Kidnuz podcast, a new Podcast channel, that introduces children to current affairs of the world in a kid-friendly manner. No, they do not talk about crimes or any other hard-hitting topic, but positive and inspirational news that are age-appropriate.

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https://www.kidnuz.org/podcast

But Why is a podcast for curious kids, the ones who are highly observant and curious about the most trivial things in their surroundings. In this podcast, kids lead the episodes by asking questions about anything that tickles their fascination. Answers to such questions are then followed up on the podcasts. 

https://www.vpr.org/programs/why-podcast-curious-kids#stream/0

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Watching movies and entertainment series online more frequently has become a part of the ‘new normal.’ Keeping up with the trend, teachers can encourage their students to watch children-friendly movies that can also bring some kind of information or a lesson to them.

Family-fantasy is a genre of shows/movies that explores the imagination of the viewers as well as entertains them. Children’s films made by, for example, Disney have some deep-rooted meaning to their scripts. Also, consider the Harry Potter franchise. The third movie in the series, Harry Potter And The Prisoner of Azkaban, has many interesting lesson points if read between the lines. 

Check them out here:

1. Make your own future: A character in the movie called professor Trelawney teaches young witches and wizards the art of predicting the future. At one point, they realise that even after predicting the future, it isn’t always accurate. This shows one shouldn't listen to what others say about their future. As teachers, you can explain to the students about how it's up to them to choose their ultimate path.
2. Focus on the good: When Harry (the protagonist) casts ‘The Patronus Charm’ to wad-off dementors (creatures of negative energy), he needs to think of his happiest/positive memory to conjure the charm. It shows how being positive or recalling good memories can change one’s mood because “happiness can be found in the darkest of times if one only remembers to turn on the light."
3. Keep an open mind: Don't believe everything you hear. During the film, we find out Sirius Black (the prisoner) isn't who Harry thought he was. Teachers can tell the children that there's always more than one side to a story and that they shouldn’t jump to conclusions or judgment until they've received all the facts.

Students could also be motivated to indulge in some DIY activities inspired by the Harry Potter franchise. Here's how:

1. Make a magic wand: One of the first few cool things about Harry Potter is the wands all witches and wizards use, and so can your students and you! Take a chopstick (wooden), a thread to ⅓ of the top and paint it a wood-brown colour. They could take inspirations from the different pictures of wands of the Potter franchise.
2. Talk about boggarts: A boggart is a shapeshifter that turns into your worst fear. Sit down and talk about fears with students, and to make it more fun, tell them to think about what their boggart would turn into after using a Riddikulus charm. Act it out or draw it if you want to have a good laugh. 
3. Platform 9 ¾: The King’s Cross Station in London is a magical portal to reach to platform 9 ¾ for the Hogwarts Express that takes you to the magic school Hogwarts. Take a large chart paper, dip a sponge (anything rectangular-shaped) in colour and print bricks on the chart. Cut the chart in the middle and write ‘Platform 9 ¾’ on it, for your own portal to Hogwarts Express!
4. Pumpkin juice: The characters mention pumpkin juice and are seen drinking it many times. Making your own Potter-special drink should be fun and, in fact, there are more dishes that can be inspired by these films. Make a tall glass of cold-coffee/shake (yellow/cream coloured) and put some whipped cream on it to make your pumpkin juice/shake!
5. Floating candles: The Hogwarts great hall ceiling is shown holding charmed candles that float in the air. Your students can have their own floating candles, too. Draw candles on a white chart paper, cut them out and paint the flames. Then thread a thin string from the flames and hang them.

There are many more ideas that can be checked on YouTube/Pinterest for your students to have a fun art lesson. This could be an interesting ‘Watch & Make’ session while learning a thing or two about the real world through a world of fiction which Author JK Rowling has so wonderfully penned down. In fact, her life story and achievements so far in this patriarchal world have their own lessons to inspire youngsters. 

Source Credit: https://www.chicagoparent.com/play/indoor-fun/watch-this-do-that-harry-potter-and-the-prisoner-of-azkaban/

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Netflix has been streaming movies, documentaries, and tv-series of multiple genres, attracting people from different walks of life. There are some series and documentaries which are quite fascinating for classrooms as well. They talk about multiple issues and concepts from wildlife protection to gender-based issues that can educate the young students. Here is a list of 10 such programs which are a must-watch to enhance our knowledge banks. 

1. Our Planet: Our Planet, narrated by David Attenborough, is a ground-breaking and honest series on the flora and fauna. It reflects on the issues that have been intentionally or unintentionally skipped in other series under this genre. It has been filmed in more than 50 countries and covers the diversity of species from coastal areas to grasslands. 

2. Chasing Coral: Directed by Jeff Orlowski, it is a compilation of hard work done over a span of three years, with 500+ hours of underwater shoots, across 30 countries with the support of more than 500 volunteers. The movie sheds light on the depleting number of coral reefs and tries to find the underlying causes of such activity. The team’s work did not end with just this movie, they went beyond and started an impactful campaign afterwards. 

3. 13th: The movie 13th by Ava DuVernay is inspired by the 13th Amendment to the American Constitution. It is a depiction of racial inequality, unjust system and police brutality. The documentary has testimonies from different advocates and scholars on this topic and reasons for a large number of African-Americans in the prison. The message of the documentary is lucid and a must-watch. 

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4. Knock Down the House: Directed by Rachel Lears, it is the life-story of four women who aspire to change the face of American Politics and enter the field in 2018 for the Congress race. This emotional and touching documentary follows their life-struggles, their effort and campaign stories.  

5. Period. End of the Sentence: This documentary film by Rayka Zehtabchi is focused upon menstruation, which ideally should be listed as one of the important issues but has been ignored for decades, especially in the Indian context. The plot of the film is set-up in rural India, where stigmas and taboos over period persist and people prefer not to discuss it. The film is about a group of women who revolt against the existing treatment to menstruation and create an impact by producing sanitary napkins at lower costs to ensure their feasibility for all. 

6. The White Helmets: The White Helmets is a British short film on the work done by a relief and rescue crew in Syria and Turkey. The film has been directed by Orlando von Einsiedel and reflects on the daily operations and struggles of the Syrian Civil Defence, also known as The White Helmets. 

7. Zion: Zion is a short film by Floyd Russ about a teenager Zion Clark who was born without legs and has lived in foster care for years. It is an inspiring story of a determined young man who wanted to make it in wrestling despite all the odds. 

8. Explained: Explained is a series by Vog Digs, where a plethora of topics have been discussed from politics to music. It aims to explore cultures, trends and anything relevant happening across the globe, with interviews and explanations by experts in the areas. It touches upon when sound becomes music or why women are paid less or the growing water crisis in the world. It is a well-research series and highly recommended for the inquisitive young minds. 

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9. Abstract: Abstract by Mark Mothersbaugh is a series about the aspects of design and its existence in our daily lives. It dives into a different inspiration of designers, who changed the landscape and our perspective of seeing the world. It has talked about Tinker Hatfield’s experiences which shaped his ideas about the Air Jordan series to Es Devlin stage designs. 

10. Babies: It explores the life of infants in the first year of their life. The series is based on ground-breaking science and reflects on the statement of ‘what it means to be a human can be found in the youngest creatures.’ The series observes the emotional bonding between the parent and the child and how it affects the baby’s crawling, first words and sleep patterns. 

Here is a list of top movies starring Irrfan Khan followed by the lessons, we believe, the education sector can benefit from. 

Life of Pi (2012)

Pi Patel, brilliantly portrayed by Irrfan Khan, tells his story of surviving the Pacific ocean when he finds himself amidst a shipwreck and alone in a lifeboat that is adrift in the middle of nowhere. He soon realises that he is in the company of some wild animals, especially a Bengal tiger, and despite being frightened, he fights against the odds. When he shares this story with a few friends years later, he is met with scepticism and disbelief, post which he changes the animal characters to humans and lets the listeners choose as to which story to believe.

A lesson to learn: The character Pi, in the end, says "and so it goes with God,” which, in all likelihood, meant that the final choice lies with us, the humans. Whether to choose rational reasons or a fanciful narrative is upon us. It isn't unheard of that an educator’s beliefs are motivated by the subject he teaches or is most close to. As a mathematics or science teacher, he might be more cogent. On the other hand, an art teacher could be more inspiration bound. But is it the absolute truth? 

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It is one of the greatest powers of a teacher to let go of their personal belief and teach their pupil the truth, what is good, what is right and more importantly, what is ethical. It is simple, as crucial as it is, to educate children about rationality, logic and scientific meanings. It is also equally important to guide and advance their curiosity, perception and imaginative psyche.

Jurassic World (2015)

A theme park showcasing genetically-engineered dinosaurs turns into a nightmare for its tourists when one of the deadly dinosaurs escapes its enclosure. After the escape, the park owner Simon Masrani, played by Irrfan Khan, realises how risking it was to develop these modified animals that humans could not comprehend completely and contain. It shows how one’s mistake to achieve fame and success could lead to so many lives lost and brutal destruction.

A lesson to learn:  Expansion of science and eventually, the world has always been on priority for human beings, but at what cost? In order to progress, we are somehow forgetting humanity, that is, development should not be achieved at the expense of virtue. It is necessary for educators to remember to teach the younger generations the mistakes humanity has already made, how not to repeat them and be analytical of risk factors.

Educators are the crafters of the young minds who’re tomorrow’s scientists, mathematicians, architects, painters, photographers and more, absorbing everything that their teacher teaches them. One of the responsibilities of the educators in the present is to help develop a better world by crafting progressive yet compassionate, sensible and social humans out of their pupils. 

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Inferno (2016)

Latest in the Dan Brown novel’s adaptation, this movie revolves around Prof. Robert Langdon after he awakens with amnesia in a hospital. He teams up with Sienna Brooks, one of his doctors, to protect the world from the evil plan of a mad scientist. Harry Sims, played by Irrfan Khan, the CEO of a private security company called "The Consortium,” ultimately joins hands with the protagonist to save the world, after resisting his choices for long. 

A lesson to learn: There are always two sides shown in movies, the protagonist side (positive character) and the antagonist side (negative character). What is uncommon is showing a side that shift’s loyalty towards the good side when they realise what is at stake without a personal interest. The character played by Irrfan Khan teaches how it is necessary to know which side to choose at what time in one's life. 

Similarly, in educators' life, there will come times when they need to be stricter with students regardless of how callous they may seem, and there will also come times when they need to be tender. The key is to perceive the right move at the right moment in order to see their students thrive, without any gain or, perhaps, that is the gain.

Hindi Medium (2017)

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Raj, played by Irrfan Khan, and Mita, are parents of a little girl named Pia. They yearn to get their daughter educated from a reputed school, which is more status-friendly for them. When they learn that their background is holding her back, they do everything to ensure that she gets into the school including posing to be poor, in order to exploit the government rule of Right to Education. 

A lesson to learn: RTE quota is a reservation category that helps children from poor families study in prestigious schools. The exploitation of this category is a criminal offence and in this film, it’s shown how the parents are so adamant on getting their child in that particular institution that they take illegal measures. Clearly, it isn’t for the child’s benefit because she’s seen happy studying with her friends in a government school. The problem is how her parents perceive status and being elite, a necessity. 

Considering the kind of Educational Divide that prevails in the country, what we need are the kind of educators who would consider it their duty to bring forth any such activity if they suspect so, and support the RTE Act. This rule has been established for the betterment of society, nation and the coming generations, regardless of rich or poor.

Angrezi Medium (2020)

Irrfan’s character, Champak, an unassuming mithai shop owner and single father, is set to fulfil his daughter's dream to study in London. Though the girl in the movie studies hard to make her dreams come true, a single mistake by her father makes the administration so angry that they refuse to approve her admission, indicating a judgement lapse on the administration’s part. Later, certain misadventures lead him and his family on a new quest, one which renews their relationships and bonds.

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A lesson to learn: It is very evident that the movie’s leading concept is around foreign studies, how much students get invested in the thought of going for education abroad and the misgivings of being “independent.” It is important for the elders, parents as well as teachers to explain to the children that studying out of the country does not equal success. 

Also, one can notice in the film how no other faculty was shown stepping forward in support of the girl whom they saw working hard for the admission. It is necessary for the educators to support their students, boost their morale, and guide them, especially when they see real efforts. At the same time, educators should explain to their pupils how studying in a particular country does not make a difference, the way of implying one’s academic knowledge does.

Note: Irrfan Khan, the beloved actor, passed away on 29 April 2020 due to an illness that was beyond cure. Much like ScooNews, he, too, was born in Rajasthan. To give a tribute to this eminent actor and magnificent human being, our team decided to dedicate this space to his irreplaceable art. If you, just like us, are a fan of his artwork, here are some of his other movies worth watching – The Namesake, Piku, Lunchbox, Slumdog Millionaire, Madaari, Paan Singh Tomar, Maqbool, and Amazing Spiderman.

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