School buildings are meant for children. They are designed for them. And yet somehow they do not relate to them in a holistic way. Each component of the school is somehow conceived in isolation with little consideration about what the child is finally going to experience as a whole. “SPICE” is all about making the building components an active facilitator in the whole process of teaching-learning (which is the primary function of the school) for children and teachers (who are the primary users). It is an innovative way to conceive of and use the various building components like the floor, wall, door, window or even spaces like corridor and open space in such a way that it also helps children and teachers in the process of teaching—learning apart from serving their usual function. Thus, in a school that has been conceived like this, a floor may no longer be just a floor but a way to understand fractions, or window might become more than a usual window and let a child prepare for skills in writing Hindi alphabets, or a sensitively designed corridor could help children to correctly estimate distances.

‘SPICE’ stands for School Premises for Innovative & Creative Education. Believing that Government Schools are the only alternate for poorer and deprived children, we have initiated this project to let the children:

• Understand the physical world around them
• Comprehend the passage of time in their Daily Life
• Grasp Tech-Ticks to deal with numbers
• Get different ways of interacting with language
• Involve with Doing and Learning Acts
• Enabled with Fun & Learning concepts
• Making the nature of Government school’s components as inviting for children instrument.

To understand how DEHAT achieves the aim of this initiative, visit the Education Initiatives page