The Modern Story directors, Piya Kashyap and Remy Mansfield, visited Railway Girls High School during their trip to Hyderabad at the end of February. Here are photos of the event that Mr. Prabhakar, the school administrator and physics teacher, put together. Students showcased their video poems and audio-visual newscasts on issues ranging from women’s issues to race and education in India.

TMS Young Women's Spoken Word

Vidya pointed out to the girls how far they’d come by contrasting our first and last day together – the first day most girls were too shy to participate in the ‘bust a move’ activity where students introduced themselves with a dance; by the last class students came prepared with a choreographed routine, unprompted spoken word poetry, speeches, and a skit written and rehearsed completely on their own. It was incredible to mark the difference and see the change happen before our eyes.

Mr. Prabhakar commented on The Modern Story’s impact on his students, noting improvements in their confidence, English skills and public speaking abilities. He also expressed his gratitude to the Head Mistress. She stood by TMS throughout the year, accommodating the program to fit in between other teachers’ classes. In his speech, he expected even better performance next year as the class may begin earlier in the summer, become a more regular part of the girls’ schedules, and integrate the hard and soft skills TMS teaches into his own classroom.

TMS on the silver screen at Railway Auditorium

“Although I haven’t noted a sea change in our girls, as this is just the beginning of TMS at our school, I most certainly have seen it benefit our students’ confidence, improve their computer skills and their minds – even in my own classroom,” concluded Mr. Prabhakar during his address to TMS directors and the assembly of 8th and 9th class at Railway Girls High School in Hyderabad, India.

The Crew