bal vividha's aims and objectives are to encourage children, parents and teachers to embrace the idea that learning occurs in non-structured environments and its basis is the child's own desire to ask questions. Such an approach expands the scope of learning beyond the curriculum, infusing the process of learning with a sense of joy for both the child and the teacher and exploring alternatives that can make the classroom a more friendly place for children.

These educational festivals are attended by thousands of children who may spend 4-6 hours at the fair. Here resource persons set up interactive corners to stimulate creative engagement with knowledge artifacts and knowledge processes.

* To promote hands-on, activity-based learning and imaginative self-expression and to show how it can be applied to real life situations.

The interactive corners and teachers' workshops at the bal vividha festival are largely experiential, demonstrating techniques of joyful learning.

* To ensure that socio-economic or geographical location does not deprive a child of innovative learning opportunities.

The participants use existing learning resources, which only limited numbers of children have access to otherwise, so that other teachers can make low-cost copies and adaptations of these.

* To give a platform to talented artists and crafts persons and to promote traditional processes and products among children, by giving them scope to handle the materials and processes involved.

The rangmanch and the interactive corners feature crafts persons who relate children to materials found in nature such as clay and bamboo; and traditional performance forms such as malkhamb or chitrakathi.

* To provide a forum where practitioners of these ideas can meet other like-minded people and share experiences, contributing to the dialogue on the importance of non-formal interventions in the Indian education system.

Each year, we organise a colloquium around a given theme of interest to educators where various points of view are debated.

* To forge relationships between institutions that support mutual sharing of ideas in a collaborative and non-competitive way, enabling organisations and resource persons to reach people beyond their mandate and chosen geographical area of work.

The bal vividha festival is an act of collaboration between many elements: funders, educational institutions, NGOs working with underprivileged children, theatre people, filmmakers, publishers of children's literature, teachers and other interested individuals.