Bangalore-based Efundu brings India’s first syllabus cartoons

“Why be serious about learning? A happy mind learns better” is Vijay’s motto. But over the years, school education has not changed much in India, while students have.
Jyothi Thyagarajan, Founder, Meghshala Foundation, says: “Today’s children need a multi-sensory approach to learning because they are handling more information than the previous generations did. Otherwise, they miss a huge amount of information, which they cannot afford to.” The education expert has been analysing the content in Efundu since its inception.
“Most developed countries have more engaging activities for students, whereas India still follows the old chalk-and-talk method of teaching in government schools. “What is written on the blackboards are just facts. But what we do need to teach them is how to apply those facts in real life,” says Jyothi. According to her, getting children to think for themselves is key. “It’s a mechanical thing to look up and write down from the board. There is no story around a text book; we need the students to connect facts,” Jyothi adds.
The Indian national curriculum framework is quite advanced. The problem lies in implementation. With constant changes in governments and bureaucrats, even a great policy cannot make an impact. Alternative educational methods like Efundu can supplement the curriculum through innovation in the method of instruction.
Efundu tries to strike a balance between content from the CBSE & ICSE boards. “As state government schools are also now set to follow CBSE in Karnataka, we have taken NCERT as our base. Depending on teachers’ inputs, we refine the storyline and capture the essence,” says Vijay.
The pilot [launched in 2015] was based on NCERT’s Class 5 textbook on Environmental Studies ‘Looking Around’. The lessons are conveyed through Zyno, a friendly alien, who has all the answers for his friends little Inga and Mini. “We have to do a lot of designing for each lesson and crowdsource for stories,” says Jyothi. Renowned cartoonist B G Gujjarappa has designed the cartoons for Efundu.

Story telling

Vijay Srinivas Prativadi, Founder, Efundu

Vijay believes that while one should love his/her mother tongue, accepting English as the professional language is essential. Efundu is experimenting with bilingual content. Vijay says, “Underprivileged children would find it easier to pick up English when the same content is narrated in their native language [like Kannada in Karnataka schools] next to each other.” The second book for Class 5, as well as a third book for Class 4, are expected to be ready by May 2016. Content will be available in English/Hindi and English/Kannada.
“Apart from the syllabus, we provide relevant information validated by our teacher partners Meghshala Foundation,” says Vijay. Efundu also works with Enfold India, an agency working against the sexual abuse of children, which has provided content on body safety rules for children through cartoons.

Need for Business

Efundu began as a CSR (corporate social responsibility) initiative by MSTQ Foundation, the registered trust of Tattva Q Life Labs. They also got an initial investment of $20,000 from Dr G.V. Iyengar, Adjunct Professor, Tufts University, US, and UN Staff (Learning & Capacity Development).
About 10,000 copies were distributed in 1,100 government schools during the 2015-16 academic year through NGOs such as the Akshaya Patra Foundation. The Shikshana Foundation, Dream School Foundation and the Parikrama Humanity Foundation have also cooperated with Efundu. But Vijay is now looking for investment, as CSR seems inadequate to scale up his venture. Efundu has been selling on Amazon for the past couple of months. The team of 12 also has more books and films on the anvil.
“Every entrepreneur’s idea is disturbing for the family till a VC calls it disruptive,” Vijay says. If all goes well, Efundu could just be the next big disruption in school education.