Galli Galli Sim Sim: Bringing Learning and Laughter to the Slums of India

Children follow the Galli Galli Sim Sim cart.

In an urban slum of India, dozens of children turn down a slim alleyway following a man with a Galli Galli Sim Sim street sign. “Galli Galli Sim Sim!” the man calls from a megaphone as he walks, causing more children to appear from houses, street corners and shops. He is announcing a “mobile community viewing” of Galli Galli Sim Sim, India’s version of Sesame Street, which has been brought to the neighborhood by way of a vegetable cart housing a TV and DVD player powered by battery. Children gather around the brightly-colored cart, craning their necks to see the small television that will soon light up with the friendly faces of characters, Chamki, Boombah, and Googly. For many children, these screenings of Galli Galli Sim Sim are their main access to early childhood education.

These mobile community viewings are just one part of Galli Galli Sim Sim’s comprehensive outreach efforts to provide early childhood education to the millions of underserved children living in urban slums. Of the 128 million children (aged two to six) in India, four out of five lack access to early childhood education—a number that accounts for almost one-third of the total population of the United States. Meeting the educational needs of so many children can seem daunting, but for Galli Galli Sim Sim, these large numbers reflect an equally large potential for positive change. Since its inception in 2007, the initiative has already reached many of these children with a program that uses multiple-media platforms to provide access to engaging, high-quality educational experiences.

Children watch Galli Galli Sim Sim in a Mumbai slum.

One major pillar of the program is mobile community viewing, which brings free screenings of the Galli Galli Sim Sim television series to urban slums in Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai four months out of the year, or whenever the streets are not too flooded from monsoons.

“We literally roll [the vegetable cart] through the streets of urban slums in the cities and we mobilize the kids to come and watch it. It’s a huge success,” explained Sashwati Banerjee, Executive Director of Sesame Workshop India, a nonprofit that drives the Galli Galli Sim Sim project.

These screenings are often followed by activities such as mask-making and theater workshops where children can re-enact scenes from the episode. During one of these activities, a Galli Galli Sim Sim team member recalls meeting a 6-year-old girl named Arifa who went around with her friends collecting garbage from the streets and throwing it in the trash. When the team member asked Arifa why she was doing that, she replied, “I learned to keep everything clean. Our galli (street) is very dirty and I learned that through the filth and dirt, germs spread….We were trying to follow what was shown in the program on the push cart.”

Mobile community viewings not only provide access to early childhood education, they also function as a platform to raise awareness about the value of early childhood education and school readiness.

Children enjoy mask making in a Tangra slum in Kolkatta.

“Our initiative is what allows us to provide the child with an impetus to stay in school, to really like school, and to understand that education is important,” Banerjee explained. “On the caregiver’s level, it allows us to provide an understanding that [early childhood education] really is the solid foundation that their child needs for a better life.”

Through its second initiative, Galli Galli Sim Sim introduces facilitated educational modules in local balwadis, or early childcare centers. To strengthen these balwadis, Galli Galli Sim Sim created innovative and fun learning materials for children that focus on more specific curricular areas, as well as tools and resource materials to train caregivers in creative teaching methodologies.

In some balwadis, Galli Galli Sim Sim has been able to provide a little, hand-cranked camera called a bioscope, which has large popular appeal and nostalgia value in India. “Children are allowed to [use] the bioscope on Mondays,” Vandana Manjrekar, a teacher with Pratham Mumbai, one of Sesame Workshop India’s partners, explained. “Attendance [used to be] very low on Mondays, but because of the bioscope, children look forward to the first day of the week!”

So far, research has shown that children with greater exposure to Galli Galli Sim Sim on television, show greater improvement in literacy and math outcomes over time, relative to those with less or no exposure. This impact is particularly pronounced among young children and among children from underprivileged backgrounds. Caregivers who participate in Galli Galli Sim Sim mobile community viewings also show more progressive attitudes towards early childhood education.

Galli Galli Sim Sim advocates talk to parents about the importance of early childhood education.

The logistics of organizing the outreach can be challenging, especially when monsoons, flat tires, poverty and social unrest can make it difficult just to push a vegetable cart through the streets. But as Banerjee explains, it is the children who make the efforts more than worth their share of trouble: “Oh my god, the look on those children’s faces. I mean, they just completely love it. They’re so engaged with it.”

At the same time, there is still a great need for support and awareness from individuals, partners, and policymakers: “It’s great that we’ve made a start, but it’s a really long road out there, “Banerjee said. “We’re getting more interest from stakeholders and policymakers, from partners. They see the kind of work we do and the difference that we’re making.”

“Kuch to mast baat hain iss jagga ki. Galli galli mein baat hain iss jagga ki. (There’s something exciting about this place. It’s spoken about everywhere),” children sing in the Galli Galli Sim Sim theme song. These simple words ring true in India—a team member recalls leaving Bibibagan, Kolkata after a mobile community viewing outreach had ended there, “I [was] accompanied by many children until the main road, and they all had just one request—that I bring Galli Galli Sim Sim back to their galli.”