COMICS IN EDUCATION World Comics has been using Grassroots Comics extensively into education globally. Its mission is to incorporate the methodology into curriculum in both primary and higher education.

COMICS IN SCHOOL EDUCATION

Grassroots comics methodology has huge potential to be used into school education. It is not only a powerful teaching-learning
tool but also the entire methodology is participatory and helpful to create an environment to ‘learn without fear’.

Problem: Today's education system (mostly in South Asia)has long been criticized for it sun friendly atmosphere inside the classroom leading to low attendance and irregularity. The uninviting environment of the school has resulted into huge drop out rates and lower in quality of education. Children are overburdened with the homework. While on the other side in the absence of innovative educational tools and skill teachers feel clueless on how to resolve the issue. Also thecompletion of the curriculum is considered the end of responsibility irrespective to the gain in the knowledge in student. While on the other hand there are handful of good private school available for the privileged, hence no serious intention is visible to improve the quality of education in thousands of government schools where the silent majority sends their kids to study. This inequality is increasing by each passing day.

Comics Intervention: World Comics has been using grassroots comics in education since over a decade in different parts of the world. In India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Brazil and Thailand.Teachers have used comics to simply the complicated chapters so that students could understand it easily. This helped teachers in coming out of shell and be open to adopting new teaching-learning tool. Students felt empowered when they were given opportunity to co create the knowledge imparted in books. They felt that even they have a say in what they are taught. In 2008, WCI used the methodology extensively in Uttar Pradesh in India to address the issue of corporal punishment. While in Pakistan in year 2010 over 200 government school teachers of Sindh province were trained to use the methodology inside the classroom. In Thailand a number of teachers were trained in 2012 specially to raise environmental issues and also to make the classroom teaching more participatory. In year 2012 in Uttar Pradesh, a major experiment was carried out where World Comics trained nearly 500 teachers in using this medium in classroom. Teacher not only converted the school textbook into comics but also learned to engaged students through this medium. Many teachers became so much involved with the comics campaign that they started teaching even during vacations although earlier they were not interested in usual days. In 2015, an extensive work in this field was done in the state of Chhattisgarh in India. Here over 100 teachers were trained to use the grassroots comics methodology in their day today teaching. In collaboration with Unicef, NCERT and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyanthis project unfolded in three district of the state. This now being introduced into DIET, where all the lecturer are being trained in this methodology.

COMICS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

World Comics is a pioneer organization to use grassroots comics as development communication tool in higher education.
The students and teachers from over fifty universities around the globe were trained in streams like
Journalism & Mass Communication, Development Communication, Fine Art and Social Work.

While in school education grassroots comics plays a different role, here in higher education students learning why such alternative mediums are required and how this can be used to democratize the debate. For Mass Communication and Development Communication students this is a new area to explore beyond mainstream media, it is not just only to provide an alternative view point but also tounderstanding the other perspective. There are many examples where students have used it for research tool, data collection and for advocacy. One other area where students are using this medium is campaigning. No steretotypes Plz : Northeast is India is one such example.