Enriching lives of children in low-income communities through Music

Various studies across the world, shows the critical role of music education in overall development of a Child

Music Training Strengthens Children's Brains, Decision-Making Network: If the brain is a

muscle, then learning to play an instrument and read music is the ultimate exercise.

~ University of Southern California, MedicaXpress, 11/14/17

NYC's only K-12 school with music as core subject sees high outcomes: The school's

leaders believe intensive music instruction is a direct contributor to academic success.

~ Tara García Mathewson, EducationDIVE, 1/17/17

Music instruction improves cognitive, socio-emotional development in young children: Music instruction appears to accelerate brain development in young children, particularly in the areas of the brain that are responsible for processing sound, language development, speech perception and reading skills. ~ Medical News, Life Sciences & Medicine, 6/16/16

The NEP 2020, NCF 2005 and various Indian reserachs have explained the important role on music in education. Yet, most schools do not have access to Music Education. For instance, in Delhi, only ~20% of schools have music teachers, of which many are inactive. Further, currently, music is taught on a theoretical level in schools, failing to act as a catalyst for growth. Thus, we impact/improve classroom learning and enable life skills through our flagship programme ‘Learning through Music’ in schools.

Manzil Mystics is a distinctive Delhi based choir/a registered Non-profit known for sparking hope, happiness, compassion in young minds through music. We aim to provide music education to every child belonging to a low-income background at least once a week for an hour and aid ongoing teaching methods to enable life skills & impact educational outcomes in schools.

"Music brings colours to our life and that rainbow of happiness and joy should be created in our schools. The music workshops that we do are not only about learning music, it is Learning Through Music specially designed for children studying in government and low-income schools." ~ Anurag, Co-founder

 We are imagining schools change and learning through music. Our vision is to transform young lives by enabling access and use of Music to ignite creativity, learning and social change in low-income communities and government schools. 

How we are enriching lives through Music?

Learning Through Music is our flagship programme through which we:

●      create safe spaces, bring happiness, inculcate confidence and creativity, and ignite the true potential of a child

●      teach children how to sing, write and compose a song, and express their feelings and aspirations through music

Our programme acts as a magnet for them to attend school, trigger other essential elements. 

"Bhaiya, I really want to have this music class, but next year I have to leave the school as I will clear my 5th class. Tuesday is my favorite day of the week. Can you come to my school next year?" 

 ~ Sakina, SDMC School, Jangpura, New Delhi

Most Government/Low-Income community schools in India face an issue of low student attendance, largely due to a lack of interest in education. This leads to low educational outcomes and low student performance.

"Music is the easiest and most engaging medium to talk about anything we want. I love how students are now more confident and melodies at the same time"   ~ Teacher, SDMC, N Block Sewa Nagar 

We conduct interactive Music Workshops once/twice a week in Low-income schools & disadvantaged communities. We teach:

●      How to sing

●      Write and compose a song

●      Life skills

●      Gender equality and sensitization

Our programmes include: 

Performing Arts and Kids Happiness (P.A.N.K.H) and WeBhor:

• Identify and collaborate with Schools/ NGOs/ Communities

• Plan & design customized curriculum (based on school curriculum and Kishori Manch Policy) and conduct pre-assessment 

• Identify, Train and Place Music Facilitators in Schools / Centers, typically 2 to 3 facilitators assigned per school

• Conduct Interactive and Experiential Music Workshops over the Academic Year, typically once or twice a week (40 to 80 sessions per year)

• Monitoring, Evaluation and Impact assessment

• A showcase or performance on stage by the children

• Curating professional choirs in low-income schools

Bus Music Project: We have built India’s First Mobile Music Classroom & Recording Studio which is an initiative to solve the infrastructure problems 100% of the government schools in Delhi have. One Music Bus can solve the problem of music infrastructure in 15-20 schools at a cost of building a similar infrastructure in 2 schools. It provides a high-quality well-equipped music classroom, recording studio, and performing stage experience to each child at their doorsteps. This initiative has been possible because of SBI Card who supported us from the beginning.

Work with Delhi Government: Manzil Mystics have signed MoU with the Delhi government to work as a knowledge partner for their new School of Specialized Excellence (Performing & Visual Arts). As their exclusive partner for the music programme, we are building a unique curriculum to educate students in music as other performing arts. In addition to this, we have the government’s collaboration to run our LTM workshops and Music Bus in all 1030 schools in the next 2 years.

After running this project for 5 years in several government/low-income schools and NGOs we have seen students improve their grades, demonstrate leadership skills and learn crucial life skills. We have also seen an increased awareness of hygiene, reproductive health and gender equality. 

Our Music workshops help improve children’s happiness quotients, improve their mental health, bring out their confidence and creativity. The workshops create a long-term sustainable impact rooted in their foundation years which will enable them to reach their true potential as they grow. The objective is to use Music as an initial magnet and using it to firstly improving attendance and gradually triggering other elements of change.

We have executed the LTM program in 50+ low-income and government schools to date in Delhi and 900 rural villages across India. Presently, we have curated 85 unique choirs in Delhi NCR in 35 government and low-income schools with 3000 students come from low-income communities. 

Case Study

We Partnered with I Am A Teacher (Tech Mahindra Foundation) in 2017 for a programme to deliver music workshops in Government schools in Delhi.

• Enrolment increased from 35 to 200+ in 2 years

• More than 95% Attendance on the day of music

• 11 unique Music performances by the students

• Children were more Confident, Creative, Happy and Sensitized to Social issues