India's new creative classes without a teacher

With schools in India shut for over four months, children in rural areas have been cut off from classes -- there's little to no internet connection in the hills of Dandwal, in western India.

But a group of teachers there have come up with a creative idea.

Armed with a loudspeaker, volunteers set off on motorbikes to the isolated villages. .

The students excitedly throw out the mat, sit a safe distance apart, and wait for "Spoken School" to start.

In the absence of a teacher, the speaker blasts out a pre-recorded lesson.

Kavita Chandar Yele is a year seven student.

"The speaker arrives at 8am. The speaker is kept on the chair. When it is turned on, we repeat what the speaker says. We repeat after the speaker and narrate stories, sing songs, recite poems and say English words. The speaker teaches us a lot."

In places like Dandwal, where telecom networks are poor and power supply is often erratic, some students have gone months without cracking open a schoolbook.

So the 'Spoken School' initiative was started in western India, thanks to the Diganta Swaraj Foundation a nonprofit that's worked for decades in the local villages.

A group got together and started recording their classes two months ago. .

Since then, they've rolled it out in six villages.

Parents say they are happy to see their children studying again:

"It gives me happiness that my son can now sing songs and say stories and he is getting into good habits."