Reclaiming Holidays for Meaningful Learning

We created the Holiday Project after observing a consistent pattern during school breaks: students were disengaging from learning, and traditional holiday homework was failing to meaningfully engage them. Teachers repeatedly shared that during longer breaks like the 20-day Dussehra holiday, students often lost touch with learning routines and returned with reduced motivation and continuity.

At the same time, we saw this period as a missed opportunity. Children are naturally curious and deeply connected to their surroundings, yet their learning rarely extends into their own communities. There was little space for them to observe, question, or act on real-world issues around them.

The Holiday Project was designed to bridge this gap by transforming holiday homework into a structured, yet student-led learning experience. We introduced a simplified, child-friendly design thinking process through self-paced worksheets, using stories and reflection prompts to guide students step-by-step—from identifying problems in their community to proposing solutions.

A key innovation was making design thinking accessible without constant facilitation. While such approaches typically require intensive mentoring, we embedded guidance directly into the worksheets, making the model scalable and adaptable even in low-resource settings. What began as an effort to reduce learning loss evolved into something more powerful: students became active problem-solvers, engaging.

The Holiday Project is implemented as a structured holiday homework model that enables real-world, community-based learning and problem solving. Before the holidays, our team designs the project by defining objectives and creating simple, self-paced worksheets . These worksheets break down the design thinking process into clear, child-friendly steps using stories, prompts, and reflection questions. Teachers are oriented to introduce the project and provide minimal support.
At the start of the holidays, teachers distribute and explain the worksheets to the students. During the break, students work independently; observing their community, identifying a real-life problem, interacting with people to understand it, and using the worksheet to analyse the issue and propose a practical solution. Light-touch support is available if needed.
After the holidays, projects are reviewed and shortlisted based on relevance, feasibility, and student ownership. Selected students are supported to prepare and present their ideas in platforms like the Makkala Gram Sabha (Children’s Gram Sabha), where community members listen and respond to the student’s issues.
Follow-up with the Gram Panchayat and classroom reflections with the students captures the learning and outcomes.
Overall flow: Design → Orientation → Exploration → Shortlisting → Preparation → Presentation → Follow-up → Reflection.

The Holiday Project has spread through a combination of strong on-ground response, stakeholder buy-in, and a simple, scalable design. It was first piloted in a few schools under the Maargadarshi program in Anekal block to address learning loss during holidays. Based on positive feedback from teachers and high student engagement, the model was expanded to reach over 1,900 students across 18 schools, with more than 1,200 project submissions and over 800 fully completed projects.

A key driver of its spread has been its low-resource, self-paced design. By embedding the design thinking process into structured worksheets, the model reduces the need for continuous facilitation, making it easy for teachers to implement across classrooms and contexts.

Government stakeholder support has further enabled scale. Block-level officials, including the Block Education Officer, encouraged wider adoption, and school leaders took ownership in distributing and implementing the project. The integration with platforms like the Makkala Gram Sabha has also increased visibility and community acceptance, strengthening its relevance.

The model continues to evolve based on implementation learnings each year, making it adaptable and ready for expansion to new regions.

The Holiday Project has evolved significantly based on on-ground learnings from each year of implementation.
In its first year, the project was limited to a smaller group of student leaders and focused on solving pre-identified problems. Based on student feedback, we recognised the importance of ownership, and in the following year, shifted to allowing all students to identify problems from their own communities. This increased engagement and relevance.
We also expanded the reach from a small group to all students in Grades 4–8 across multiple schools, making the model more inclusive. To support younger students, we differentiated the worksheets by age group, introducing simpler, narrative-based tasks for lower grades and a more structured design thinking process for older students.
Another key modification was simplifying design thinking into a self-paced format. Since traditional models require intensive facilitation, we embedded guidance directly into the worksheets through stories and prompts, making it easier to implement at scale.
We also strengthened the model by integrating community platforms like the Makkala Gram Sabha, enabling students to present their ideas to real stakeholders and increasing the real-world impact of their work.
Each year, we continue to refine support systems such as helplines, instructional videos, and teacher orientation based on feedback, ensuring the model becomes more effective, scalable, and responsive to student needs.

Start with a small group and a committed mentor who orients and supports students through the process. Use our ready-to-use worksheets and resources to guide community-based problem-solving during holidays. Review student work and create platforms to share solutions locally. The model is simple, low-cost, and scalable. Reach out at asha@involveedu.com to access resources or explore partnerships.