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Siren on, TVs off. This Maharashtra village is on ‘digital detox’ to produce IAS, IPS officers

Children in the village must stay away from cell phones and TVs. If they don't, the village monitoring group does the rounds to check on each home.

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The siren goes off at 7 pm every day in Vadgaon village. The lights go on. Televisions and cell phones are turned off. It’s study time. Nobody dares defy the new village diktat. There’s strict monitoring of every home. After all, this digital detox is being done so that the village children can study and grow up to land big IAS and IPS jobs in the city.

Village sarpanch Vijay Mohite stated that during the lockdown since schools were closed and education was moved online, children had become addicted to mobile phones. “They had lost touch with their studies because most of them were constantly on their phones playing games, chatting, or using some app or the other,” he said, adding that this digital detox was therefore necessary.

“We chose the evening time because schools end by 5 pm and the kids would gather after school to spend time on their phones. They would now sit in their homes and study,” sarpanch Vijay explained. The order is followed very meticulously.

When ThePrint visited the village, at 7 pm the siren went off and some kids who were playing on the road ran off to their homes. They pulled their chairs out, took out their school books, and started studying. It was Rishikesh Mohite’s 7th birthday on 27 October. He was playing with his friends since schools were shut on the occasion of Diwali celebrations.

“It is time to study. We will celebrate my birthday post 8:30 pm,” Rishikesh said.

Prashant Mohite, Rishikesh’s father, said that the preparation for his son’s birthday party is under control and everything is ready. “His new clothes are also being pressed. His cousin has also come over to our house during the vacations. But the celebrations will begin later. First, they all have to study,” he added

Prashant said that earlier he used to come home after working in the farm field and would switch on the TV. “I could not even pay attention to what my children were studying or doing at that time. But with this mandatory rule, they have gotten a sense of discipline and automatically sit down to study on their own. I can look after their homework since the TV is off,” he said smiling

The point of this exercise is to further develop our village, the sarpanch said. “This has always been our aim. Students are taken care of by teachers for six hours or so, but at home, parents should also be able to take a look at their studies. Everyone wants a ‘Shivaji at home but who is ready to be Jijabai – Shivaji’s mother.” 


Also read: Why some farmers in Maharashtra’s drought-prone Sangli are taking a chance on dragon fruit


Sarpanch Vijay Mohite explaining the importance of studying everyday with a dedication | Photo: Vijay Mohite, Vadgaon sarpanch
Sarpanch Vijay Mohite explaining the importance of studying every day with a dedication | Photo: Vijay Mohite, Vadgaon sarpanch

Digital Detox

Vadgaon is a village in Maharashtra which houses people belonging to the Mohite clan – a Maratha clan. Comprising a meagre population of 3,500, most of the villagers are farmers who grow sugarcane.

According to some parents, the education had shifted online during the first two years of Covid-19, and the children would spend the entire time on their phones playing games, adding to the addiction.

“As schools reopen this year in full swing, many teachers during the teaching committee meeting told us about the problem of students not being able to retain what they have studied. The concentration span has dropped down,” sarpanch Vijay lamented. That’s when he began thinking of a solution to the problem. “Earlier, we asked teachers to take extra lessons but that didn’t work out,” he added 

Earlier this year in July, at the gram sabha meeting the village leaders discussed the idea of turning off the phones and TV sets for one-and-a-half hours. “But the problem was that 7 pm is the time for popular daily soaps and many are hooked to the TV sets,” the sarpanch said, adding that people were not ready for this at first.

“We first convinced the children with the help of the school teachers. I asked them to speak to the parents and encourage them for the initiative. The parents then made the kids understand the importance of time and dedication needed for the competitive exams,” Vijay added.

It was not an easy process. It took about a month of day-to-day meetings to convince the children before the order was passed on 15 August.

Suvarna Jadhav, a member of gram sabha and who is a part of anganwadi sevika, said that some women were reluctant to switch off the TV fearing backlash from their in-laws. “Even though parents came on board slowly, some did not want to accept it fearing how they would convince their in-laws who usually are stubborn when it comes to watching their favourite TV shows,” she said.

The sarpanch said that the gram sabha stepped in and took the responsibility to convince the elderly people. “We did a door-to-door campaign before passing the order and even after the order was passed, the main job was to spread awareness.”

For Mangala Patil, a woman in her ’70s, 7 pm meant ‘TV time’. She has grandchildren at her home and when she was informed about the initiative, she was not ready to accept it. “What else would I do at that time? But everyone in the household convinced me and now I don’t miss TV at that time. I feel peaceful. Sometimes, I meditate and look after these kids. Earlier, I never used to read books but now I have started turning pages every evening. I am now enjoying this,” she said.

When we started with the move, the success rate was nearly two-third. “Since most kids would be studying, the remaining others also started staying at home and followed them,” said Sudhoba Mohite, a gram sabha member.

Now almost every kid is following the initiative. The siren was placed on top of a temple at the main chowk in the village. To ensure its success, a team of around 20 people, including the sarpanch, in batches of 5-6, would take rounds in the village. 

“We are appealing to the villages around us that if we all follow this ‘digital detox’, it will help secure our kids’ future,” the sarpanch said. 

One such village is in Satara district, Vahagaon, which has been following this campaign since September. They follow the 6:30-8:30 pm timeline.  

Sangram Pawar, Vahagaon’s sarpanch, said that they got to know about this campaign through one of the regional media platforms. “We were contemplating whether to even put this up for a discussion fearing backlash as people come home after day’s work and watch TV. But we first convinced the men and later took a meeting with the women.” 

Sarpanch Pawar said that their village is not up to the mark when it comes to education. “The kids don’t get appointed in government services or the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) exams. This is what we used to convince parents and spread about.”

In Vahagaon, unlike Vadgaon, the siren was not put up immediately. For a week, it was on a trial basis to check if people want to follow this initiative or not. But an awareness campaign was conducted on social media and also a door-to-door outreach. “The response is growing. It is not mandatory here but we are appealing to people to slowly get on board,” Pawar added.


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The response 

Gayatri Nigam, who is a Class X student, said “I realised the importance of studying daily for at least an hour or two. Since I am in Class 10th, I am glad the programme has started as we are forced to sit to study during this time. It will be really helpful in the Board examinations,” she added. 

However, it was not easy for Gayatri and her friends, Suhana Tambure and Sanika Mohite, to give more than an hour dedicated to studies. It took some 10-15 days to get used to this. “But the fear of sarpanch roaming and observing also made us sit through in the initial days,” she said laughingly. “The amount of money we are spending on recharging the phone is also in control and I can at least buy a good book with that money,” she added.

Suhana said her younger sibling, who is in Class III, sits beside her with a book and studies

“If our kids improve in their studies, then we can also dream of having high-rank officers from our village. Yes, it’s a time-consuming process but in a few years down the line, some IAS and IPS officers can come out of our Vadgaon village,” said Vadgaon sarpanch Vijay.

(Edited by Tarannum Khan)

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