Consumer Voice :: Workshop for teachers

Consumer VOICE
‘Consumer Clubs:How to run them–Orientation Workshop for teachers’

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‘Consumer Clubs: How to run them – Orientation Workshop for teachers’

An introductory presentation titled ‘Consumer issues: Why they need to be addressed’ by Dr Roopa Vajpeyi, Editor, VOICE, set the tenor for the one-day workshop, addressing a whole range of topics:

	Why a consumer club in a school?
	How teachers can be that crucial link in consumer protection
	Television: influencing consumers in insidious ways
	Shopping: ‘Pester Power’ and children
	Understanding the Four P’s of brand promotion to children/teenagers.

What followed was an animated discussion among the participants on what the traditional strengths of the Indian consumer are – thrift in consumption, recycling, sustainable consumption and cultural practices that are already so inherent in the familial fabric of today’s youth that all that teachers need to do is explain to students the science behind why we consume in a certain way, and already an aware consumer has been made out of a school student.

The perception among a majority of teachers present at the workshop was, that the society, generally, perceives teachers in very poor light – they are seen either as women who while away their time knitting sweaters, or as bespectacled men who don a crumpled kurta and wield a stick. The collective view that emerged out of the discussion in the first session of the workshop was that despite stereotyping of the teaching community, teachers have enormous influence over their students, hence they have that much more ability to counter the ever-increasing presence of the market and media.

Schools: Turning on the heat on fast food

If the discussions at the ‘Consumer Clubs Orientation Workshop’ are anything to go by, a trend against fast food in school canteens is definitely emerging in Delhi. School managements are weaning students off high-fat, high-sugar, high-calorie diet. Mukta Airi, a teacher from the Central Delhi Manavsthali School said that her school stood up to the fast food menace and banned colas from the campus, just a month after cricketer Anil Kumble visited the school as Coca Cola’s brand ambassador. Even bottled mineral water has been taken off the school canteen shelves.

It is not just the school managements, students themselves are coming forward to keep a watch on their school canteens. Gyan Mandir Public School for example, has a student committee, where two student volunteers are on duty at any given time – making sure that the no norms are flouted in the school canteen – that fair price is charged for each product.

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