IIT-M promotes rural connectivity – Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) has fostered a unique way of taking technology, science concepts to school students located in rural India through its mentorship programme ‘1Lab-1School.’ ‘1Lab-1School’ which began about a year ago has reached over 800 students of 20 schools in the districts of Thiruvallur, Kanchipuram and Vellore.
The mentorship programme is fully funded by Verizon India, as part of its commitment to empowering rural communities by addressing barriers to digital inclusion as a part of its commitment to empower rural communities by addressing barriers to digital inclusion.
Mentor groups which comprise students, PhD scholars from various reserch labs in IIT Madras visit their respective high school in the rural area and train the students there in various nuances related to science and technology through simple day-to-day devices like calling bell, vaccum cleaner and electric iron.
IIT-M promotes rural connectivity
The students of IIT-M teach lessons through demonstration of these equipments. Students are also allowed assemble and disassemble these equipments to learn the lessons on technology involved behind making of these devices. Lessons are taught through question-answer based interaction programme also. Rural school students are taught skill development and career guidance is also offered to them.
It is not only that. Even faculty from IIT-M visit the schools along with their respective labs to inspire the students towards doing great things in life. Dr. Pijush Ghosh, project lead and Associate Professor, Department of Applied Mechanics, IIT Madras, said over 20 research Laboratories of IIT Madras have been connected to 20 rural schools since June 2018 with over 150 graduate students from the Institute having trained over 800 students studying in the 9th grade.
IIT-M promotes rural connectivity
‘Not just out of IIT Madras, we would like the higher education community to take up such models and implement them in schools in their regions so that together we can contribute towards the betterment and future of the children of rural India.’
Kalyani Sekar, Managing Director, Verizon India, said 1Lab-1School programme stands apart for its potential to transform science education in India in the long run. ‘We are confident that the programme makes quality science and technology education accessible for hundreds of children with a simple, scalable model.’
Such a unique mentorship model not only motivates the children of rural schools to pursue higher education, it also helps inculcate scientific temper and trigger them to think beyond. While the programme helps identify and nurture rural talents, it also helps IIT Madras graduates enhance their sense of responsibility towards the society.
In the next academic year (2020-21), the project will expand to 15 more schools. IIT Madras is collaborating with ‘Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan,’ a Central Government Scheme for universalising elementary education. Its ‘Teach to Learn’ team envisions a strong bond between educational institutions across India, particularly between premier institutes of the country and rural schools.
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