Every morning, as I walk to the bus stand, I cross a local school here, a government school. I hear loud singing voices; the same songs every morning – the prayers and the national anthem. I pause and smile. School is such a beautiful feeling! Only when I am returning home in the afternoon do I mutter curses under my breath. Swarms of children run madly in all directions in and out of the school. With their uniform loosely hanging over their bodies and a few torn books falling out of their bags, I see the dismal picture of ‘education’. I wish these kids had a way to study at better schools, where they would truly be educated. There could also be an alternate option. Why not improve the quality of education in these government schools? That’s exactly what Sikshana does.

In 2002, Mr. E S Ramamurthy, retired chairman of BHEL in Bangalore wanted to work on a social cause. He started working with a primary school to understand their functioning and their problems. Initially he remained associated with aangan badis, overseeing the midday meal programmes. Yet, after it was taken up by the government, Ramamurthy decided to do something more. He decided to focus on the quality of education in government schools and act as a facilitator. The founder member of Sivasri Trust, which operates Sikshana, Ramamurthy started out in 2004. In the next one year, he could cover ten schools. Since then, there his idea has known no bounds. He gradually strengthened the Trust and found more board members. In 2007, one of the funders, Mr V.R. Prasanna, having returned from the US after 16 years, joined the Board as a fulltime Director.

Prasanna explains the Sikshana model, “I realised that the model was very successful and could be replicated. I joined as the Programme Director with a view to scale it up. It is a decentralized approach. We try to understand the basic needs of each school, based on the village and community conditions. The idea was to empower schools by disbursing funds and bring in management concepts. Since 99% of our schools are in rural areas, we noticed that students found it difficult to express what they knew. Hence, we focused on four skills – Read, Write, Compute and Express!”

What started with ten schools has today grown to 375 schools, covering almost 50 000 students. Sikshana acts as a facilitator, providing resources and guidance to the schools. In India, 90% of all children in the 6-14 age group attend a public school, which is why the Sikshana team felt that any meaningful effort to improve the educational standards of the new generation should necessarily start here. The value additions are countless. Take technology, for instance. Prasanna explains, “We started our initiative of providing one laptop per school and one pendrive per child. Being able to access a computer helps children overcome their fear of technology. Kids are even learning English faster, because of computers. We have English-Kannada dictionary installed in every system. We make sure every child comes forward to use the facility. We also help those who excel or are able to do better than the others by conducting summer technology camps for them. At the end of every year, we organise a computer summit, across schools. Two students from each school give presentations. This increases their confidence levels. We know that our students will be able to become whatever they want in life, because of the kind of exposure they get.”

Many individuals who want to make a difference in the society often wonder how they would do it all by themselves. When I look at Sikshana and the magnitude, impact and diversity of their projects, I am assured that anything is possible if you want it bad enough. Prasanna writes on the Sikshana blog, “With Sikshana yet to hit the 20 employee mark and the need to manage nearly 375 schools in 7 blocks, a question that naturally comes to one’s mind is how is Sikshana able to conduct such large events in addition to mentoring all the schools. I am seeing increasing signs of the teachers and the department taking ownership of Sikshana. An increasing number of teachers have started to believe in themselves.”

Thus, on one hand children are imbued with an enthusiasm to learn actively and on the other, the staff is more aware of its role and potential. With Skishana playing the facilitator, the day is not far when public schools will be at par with, if not superior to, the private schools.

India is a developing country with a developing population, developing economy, developing education. But is education really developing amongst the people who are born poor and underprivileged. Door Step School has taken the big leap to change the present and to make 100 percent literacy a reality. This is a group of people whose main motivation in life is ‘service to society’ and they believe the best way to do so is to usher in a wave of knowledge that engulfs the future of our nation – the children. Meet Mrs. Rajani Paranjpe, the founder member, who says “We go where ever the children are and start the class right there”.

School on Wheels

This inspiring lady, whose mission in life is spreading primary education, has closed many prisons as the saying by Victor Hugo goes “He who opens a school door, closes a prison”. When approached by The Better India for a brief glimpse into their world and how they work, she was kind enough to answer all our questions. Below is a detailed interview with Mrs. Rajani about her fantastic initiative, Door Step School:

What is the main objective that Door Step School is aiming at?

Hundred percent literacy through total school enrollment and quality education for all.
We bridge in the gaps in government’s efforts in achieving these goals. Our public education system faces three major problems in this regard, namely, non-enrollment, wastage (dropping out of school at early stage) and stagnation (not achieving the expected level of learning at respective stages in school). All our programs are designed to address these problems.

Education moves on to every door step – What was the initial thought process behind this philosophy?

I am a Social Worker by profession. I took this path because I always liked to work for and with people. So after nearly 15 years of my graduation (and infact 15 years of married life!) I took up a course in social work and after a few years of working in the field I joined the College of Social Work Nirmala Niketan, Mumbai, University of Bombay, as a member of faculty. I used to teach Research Methodology and Indian Social problems.

I selected Primary education as the mission of my life because I felt:

• Education or rather illiteracy was the problem we needed to address on a war footing
• Working with just one person in a family is usually sufficient because that person with a little education sees to it that his/her children get education.
• We focused on 3-18 age groups, because my experience says it is far easier to teach a child than to teach an adult.
• Messages such as health and family planning etc. can be given to a much larger population at much lesser cost if the population is literate.
• Education is one national problem which can be solved permanently once all the children are in school and are literate.

I made a plan to start four programs through Door step School. They are literacy classes (literacy is defined as being able to read a newspaper), study classes, pre-primary education and community libraries.

After having a clear idea of what I wanted to do, I shared it with like minded people one of whom was Ms. Bina SethLashkari, a student of mine for two years. She and a few others from the college joined hands with me and we founded the organization in 1988-89 in Mumbai.

We named our organization ‘Door Step School” because we go where ever the children are and start the classes right there. E.g. we held classes on pavements or on road construction sites, building construction sites outside big markets, railway stations etc. We have added a few more programs along the way but the core programs have remained the same.

What challenges did you face in the initial day? How did your team deal with them?

We did not face many major challenges as such. I think the following factors helped us in our smooth functioning:

• All of us who started the program were professional social workers and were in the field of social Work for some time before we started an organization.
• The field we have selected is relatively simple, the work is primarily developmental,
• The time was ripe for such activities and
• We had a very focused approach with clear plan in front of us.

However, after we started working with the children of construction workers, we faced the challenge of tracking them when they moved from one site to another. Our search for an effective solution to this problem is still on.

Could you provide a brief insight into the projects that you run?

Computer as a teaching aid

As I have mentioned earlier, all our programs are designed to address three major problems of our public education system. The target group is 3-14 (although we cater to children upto 18).
Pre-primary education serves two purposes – it prepares the child and the parents for schooling. On a more practical note it gives us the idea about which children are ready for school admission at the beginning of the next academic year. This ensures near-complete and timely enrollment.

For admitting children to school a birth or age certificate is required which many of the parents we deal with do not possess. We help them to get the age certificates and enroll children in school.

We provide school transport so that children attend school regularly which helps preventing school dropout and stagnation.

Study support classes to children attending school helps improve the quality of education which in turn reduces the chances of dropping out of school prematurely.

NFE (Non–Formal Education) classes helping reduce illiteracy.

School on Wheels, a bus which is designed as a class room helps us to take classes for children who are on streets and there is no place to gather them and teach them. It helps to cover those who would otherwise remain untouched.

School and Community Libraries as well as Reading Classes based in schools help in improving reading ability which is basic to any educational achievement

As an ending note, would you be able to tell us the difference that Door Step School has brought about on our society?

It is difficult to answer this question because the work we are doing is very small as compared to the need for such programs. Therefore I would rather not claim anything on the scale of society or nation.

However in the lives of children whom we have touched we have definitely made some impact or the other although this impact is not perceptible or measurable always. Some of our children have completed education and doing well in life. Some have left education midway and continued with their lives. It is their children who will benefit from the exposure we have given to their parents.
We experience this and we have many examples to show that a child who was with us even for a short time has nurtured a dream of sending his/her children to school and acts upon it when the time comes. We see this change in the attitude of ‘parents’ as our major gain. It shows that the root of education has struck in the family and now we do not have to worry. It will spread, we hope.

To know more about Door Step School, visit their website here: www.DoorStepSchool.org

Tip provided by a TBI reader, Zankhana Patel.

For most of us learning means sitting in classrooms and cramming formulas, theories or maybe (if I stretch it) reading and discussing with the teachers. With the current structure of dispersal of education, the outdoors seem to be long-forgotten!

Mathew Spacie understood the importance of outdoors in learning. Once whilst practicing rugby with friends he met some boys from the slum in Fashion Street in South Mumbai and invited them to join his group. Within 6 months a rugby team was formed and within a year the team started competing in national tournaments.

It soon became clear to him that taking a child away from the squalor of his/her immediate environment to a mountain or a sports pitch meant creating a learning environment unparalleled in the child’s life. It was the thought of a ‘vehicle’ picking children up and taking them on a fantastic journey that gave birth to the name Magic Bus. For the children, the journey represented a new adventure to somewhere that was safe and packed with a lot of fun.

The core principle of Magic Bus is Sports For Development. India has the youngest population in the world and it is the youth who are critical for the development of communities. Sport is something that is close to young peoples’ hearts and through its inherent attributes of active participation, energy, empowerment and social inclusion it provides an ideal platform for working with youth and helping them recognize their power and potential.

Magic Bus is working as a technical advisory to a UNICEF program along with the UK sport and Indian ministry for Youth Affairs and Sport to take sport for development to communities across India in a project known as ‘ International Inspiration’.

Magic Bus also works with communities like Dharavi and slums in Mankhurd and Colaba, where the project  is headed by two local community coordinators. These coordinators are primarily responsible for sensitizing the community about sport-for-development and Magic Bus, bringing the children to sessions and further mobilizing community support.

The organization is working with NGOs in Mumbai who are child focused, supporting them to achieve their -objectives with children by integrating those objectives into the sports-for development framework. Magic Bus is also working with juvenile delinquents providing them the much needed space to express themselves and channelize their energies into more creative pursuits.

In Partnership with UNICEF , Magic Bus is implementation a training for trainers programme where they train primary education teachers in Sports for development.

Interested to know more about Magic Bus? Visit their website at http://www.magicbusindia.org/.
There is just so much happening out there!

Twenty one year old Amol Pashilkar attempted his SSC examination in the year 2004-05. Unfortunately, he could not clear his examinations; he passed only in English. Since his confidence levels suffered a blow, he found it very difficult to reappear. After a four year long gap, in 2009, he took admission in Milind Night High School. With his renewed focus, could he clear the examinations?

Amol got 74% in his SSC. How did this drastic improvement come about? Amol could leap forward in academics because of the extra classes conducted by a Maharashtra based social organization that goes by the name Masoom. Masoom works with night schools in Mumbai, with the aim of improving academic performance of night school students.

Masoom is the first organization in Maharashtra to run a comprehensive intervention program for night schools. Masoom offers a unique approach to planning and implementing a comprehensive program for night schools based on their different needs. Masoom’s strategy for sustainable change is to work in the spirit of partnership with all major stakeholders in the education system. Because of Masoom, many like Amol could complete their education. Their interest in studies increases tremendously.

Tracing the beginnings

Nikita Ketkar, the founder of Masoom, stumbled upon the idea of helping night schools back in 2001. She was working in the civil services and was appointed on a project to identify child domestic workers, in the night school of Mumbai. Nikita adds, “I came across students who were largely self-motivated. They worked during the day and would attend classes in the evening. Nobody was forcing them to school. They came because they wanted to learn. It was sad to see that justice wasn’t being delivered to their aspirations.”

Masoom - Basic Science Concepts taught in a night school

In 2006, Nikita further undertook research related to problems faced by night school students, under the Pukar Scholarship. Based on the findings, she decided to do something about these issues. She resigned from office and founded Masoom in 2008, her entire research team by her side. To facilitate learning for night school students, Masoom has developed a three pronged approach:

1. Providing Infrastructure such as computers, Science laboratory apparatus, mathematic kits, library books, notebooks, educational charts, workbooks and worksheets, teacher training material, Braille textbooks and audio-visual material

2. Capacity Building by organizing training sessions and workshops for teachers, parents and students, vocational guidance for students, counseling, extra curricular classes such as Life skills, yoga, meditation

3. Advocacy: Masoom works closely with all stakeholders and intend to act as an advocate for all issues concerning night schools

Since night schools are run from 6:30 to 9:30 in the evening, most of these kids come after long hours of work. By providing meals, Masoom ensures that they can study more efficiently. Nikita adds, “We want to build not just academic strength but also employability. Many students who earlier had to study with an empty stomach could not focus. Now we provide meals. The kids call it ‘nashta’ as sometimes it is the only meal they have in the day.”

Sports as part of the night schooling

Members of Masoom

In its own unique way, Masoom has touched the lives of many students, growing from just two schools to now ten. There are courses called the ‘bridge courses’ that help drop outs overcome gaps and at the same time, there is facility of psycho counseling for students with learning disabilities. They also help link students to government certified computer courses, for which they have initiated scholarships for part funding. With such personal care and concern for holistic development, there are bound to be many many success stories like Amol’s.

Visit Masoom’s website here: http://masoomforu.org/

In most of our homes, in some corner, packed inside cardboard boxes, we have toys that lay unused and useless.  Have you thought that they could bring joy to the life of children who never had toys to play with? Take them out of those boxes, wrap them up and send across to Toybank – you’ll feel a silent satisfaction sweep inside you.

Toybank is about gifting toys to those children who have been deprived of so many things, let alone the ‘luxury’ of toys. Agreed there is poverty and misery around, but can we afford to have children around us growing up unhappy? Shweta Chari, a young and energetic Electronics engineer, found a calling inside her and decided that she will bring fun and play into the lives of disadvantaged children. She founded ‘Toybank’ with an honest vision of placing a toy in the hands of every child in India and the world.

Shweta and her team of volunteers at Toybank started off gathering toys for street children in Mumbai. The very innocence of this initiative attracted fabulous response from people. Toys started flooding in and Toybank gift wrapped the donated toys with love and placed them in the hands of these kids. It might seem like a simple toy gifting idea, but there is an enormous mental, emotional and creative development that these toys trigger. Toybank started noticing that the kids were slowly opening up, began to feel important and wanted, and started expressing themselves better. Most of all, they had something that they could say was their own – a strong sense of belonging came along. As they grow, like we all remember some toy or the other that we played with, these children will also have a special toy to remember.

As Toybank takes up the role of an angel, they are very clear about one thing – we are not doing any charity, we are just giving the children access to their right. It’s the right of every child to have an enjoyable childhood and grow in the magical and imaginary world that toys create for them. “We at Toybank think that we are all pieces of a large jig saw puzzle; some fulfill basic needs of food, clothing and education while some like us focus on bringing happiness through play into the lives of children. The day all the pieces are put in perfectly and the picture is crystal clear, will be the day Toybank can shut shop.”

In the last six years, Toybank has made it possible for over 8000 kids to own a toy for themselves. Going one step further, Toybank is also taking initiatives to sensitize privileged kids about giving and joy of giving. They go to various schools and spread the good spirit of Toybank. Now that they have toy banks in Bangalore, Pune, Delhi, Bhutan and in the UK, Shweta wants Toybank to make a difference to the lives of children in rural India.

It’s a simple and beautiful contribution – donate toys and make a child smile. Visit www.toybank.org or write to mail@toybank.org.

Walking on the heat-radiating Delhi road, I noticed a bunch of Government school children clad in their blue uniforms, aiming for the fruits on a ‘Jamun’ tree with stones. Their evening snack was happily hanging from the branches hidden by innumerable leaves growing in all directions. I wondered how these children managed their studies with hardly anybody at home to guide them. It is not that these children are any less intelligent than the children who are economically blessed, but it is just that they don’t the right kind of supervision.

The difference between the organization “People for Change” and me is that I simply thought about it while they worked on it. “People for Change” is an organization that conducts tuition classes for underprivileged children in order to guide them in the right direction and prepare them well for the future. The organization was founded two years back with mere five students in a play school’s building which was lent to them during evening hours. It is now situated in Dayal Bagh, Faridabad where they have an apartment to themselves, the rent of which is paid by one of the many donors. It has children from class third to tenth totalling up to a hundred students at present. They have recruited 2-3 teachers who help the students with their homework, prepare them for lessons in advance and also teach them various crafts like paper bag making, art, origami etc. An addition to the teachers there are a few college students who teach on a voluntary basis. The founders of this organization, Ms. Nellie Dhillon and Ms. Nisha Celly, also come to teach on a regular basis. They believe that it is only when the children get appropriate exposure that they will get encouragement to do better. In order to encourage the children to strive for excellence, the organization rewards the students who perform outstandingly well in their annual examination.

Education has evolved to become a blend of academic excellence and personality development. Working on these lines, “People for Change” conducts an annual function where all the children participate. In addition, they organize stitching, embroidery and other hobby classes during summer in the month of May. The aim of these hobby classes is to inculcate life skills in the children and to make maximum utilization of their free time.

“People for Change” would appreciate more citizens to come forward and help them in spreading education to the needy. As “People for Change” is an expanding not-for-profit organization, it needs more people to help their cause in any little way they can. Anybody willing is welcome to help in their mission to attain hundred per cent literacy. Details can be obtained at the following number: 9899401882

Education, we’ve always believed, holds the key to a progressive future. Currently, less than 50% of our children in the age group of 6-14 years attend school. The Right to Education (RTE) bill 2010 provides a necessary foundation for spreading primary education in the country, which should improve the percentage of children attending school. In absolute numbers, this bill could impact 35 million children who are right now deprived of education due to various reasons.

Aseema, a Mumbai based non-profit organization, is working with underprivileged children to provide them a nurturing and stimulating educational environment. By doing so, it aims to bring these children back into the mainstream of society.

Assema Montessori is a first of its kind center for street children in India. Established in August 2000 at Pali Chimbai Municipal School, the Montessori provides children with a firm education foundation.

In 1996 Assema started the Project Igatpuri for educating the tribal children of Awalkheda, a small hilly village situated 5 kilometers from Igatpuri.

The Better India caught up with Aseema and here is an interview with them:

Click here to visit the website and to know more about Aseema.

Libraries are as the shrine where all the relics of the ancient saints, full of true virtue, and that without delusion or imposture, are preserved and reposed. That is a famous quote by Francis Bacon.

Most of us who love reading cherish the time we spent as children in libraries scanning through books of various shapes and sizes with vivid covers and enticing titles. Libraries are the repositories of knowledge. But a large number of children are deprived of this wonderful experience; they don’t get to read which in effect does not inculcate in them the habit of studying.

AWIC, Association of Writers and Illustrators for Children, is a voluntary organisation working towards the promotion and development of literature for children in India. It represents writers, illustrators, librarians, editors and publishers. Founded by late K.Shankar Pillai in 1981, AWIC endorses the ethics and functions of the global organisation IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People), a non-profit which represents an international network of people from all over the world who are committed to bringing books and children together.

The various projects of AWIC include the following:

Children’s Library Project

Winner of the IBBY-ASAHI Reading Promotion Award, this project was started in 1983. Today 114 libraries in Delhi and across India have been setup under this voluntary scheme to promote reading. Each library is provided with free books. The project aims at making good books available to children who have no access to books .

Most of the libraries are managed by AWIC members on a voluntary basis. While most libraries function from the homes of AWIC members, some libraries have also been set up in parks, hospitals, railway platforms and slum areas for underprivileged children. Each year AWIC gives out one Best Librarian award and two Reader of the Year awards!

AWIC initiated IBBY library project – creating children’s libraries at Madi Village in Delhi (NCR), at Tezu in Arunachal Pradesh, at Jaipur, Rajasthan and Daman in Goa.

Literacy Project

In 1995 AWIC launched its Literacy Project and has published two Hindi alphabet books under its schemes, ‘Buy, Teach and Gift’ and ‘Teach and Gift’. Under the second scheme, AWIC distributes these books free in all Indian states, including remote areas where children have no access to good books.

Book Promotion

Book Promotion Cell promotes the cause of children’s books written by Indian authors by conducting book talks. Besides this, the organization participates in national and international children’s books fairs.

AWIC Book Therapy project

The Book Therapy Project is a particularly interesting one and was started after the 26/11 terrorist violence in Mumbai. It was started in order to promote the use of books to help children during those difficult times. Reading can be therapeutic; helping children come to grips with situations that create turmoil in their minds. Book Therapy helps children cope with such stressful situations, and even prepares them for further eventualities. Through workshops AWIC aims to train facilitators to administer book therapy and also develop books, including picture books and anthologies, which provide a healing effect to children.

If you have some free space in your home or office, you too can start a library for the underprivileged! For becoming a member of AWIC, all you need to do is download this application form http://www.awic.in/about-awic/AWIC-Membership-Form.pdf and fill it up and mail to the address provided in the form. 

This is the story of a land that was at one time lying ravaged, drought stricken and forsaken. It was a committed revolution led by a couple, Bablu Ganguly and Mary Vattamattam, which has now transformed this land into an agro forest habitat. The unproductive soil was rejuvenated, rain water was harvested, trees were planted, crops were cultivated and the entire land blossomed.

Timbaktu in 1990

Twenty years ago, Bablu and Mary set their foot on this barren land in the district of Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh. People had given up on this land, of which Bablu and Mary decided to buy 32 acres; probably the last thing one would expect from a young couple.

The spark that triggered this initiative was a book – ‘The One-Straw Revolution’, by a Japanese author Masanobu Fukuoka. The book carried a very special message on how humanity can live an enriching life hand in hand with the nature. Bablu and Mary carried this spirit and conceived their vision for this land that they called ‘Timbaktu’, meaning ‘Where the earth meets the sky’. Their aspiration was humble and they wanted to keep everything simple – get closer to the land and help it regenerate itself.

They knew there was potential in the land of Timbaktu which was once part of the rich and powerful Vijayanagara Kingdom. Its forests were considered to be the finest, its fruits were savored across the country and various armies fought to keep control of this once fertile land. But everything was destroyed by ruthless deforestation and use of environmentally damaging pesticides and fertilizers.

Over the years, villages in this region have been tormented by chronic drought, unproductive land, unemployment and poor infrastructural facilities. Bablu and Mary decided to build the Timbaktu land by engaging with the villages around and formed an NGO called The Timbaktu Collective. “Our vision is to stop the degradation of the land in Anantapur district and to find ways to reverse it. We want to green the hills and the land. We want to develop alternative lifestyles. Lifestyles that are sustainable and provide more liberty and happiness, than those based on exploitation. The farmers see their land degrade and the wells drying up, but they don’t know what to do, so they just continue their patterns of self-destruction. We want to find a path that leads out of this vicious circle, not without but together with them” – they say.

Timbaktu today

In 1991, the couple decided to put their first crop in the land of Timbaktu and as everyone around them said, the crop failed. That became even more instigating – Bablu went ahead and bought 7000 saplings. He and Mary brought farmers from the villages to build creative water harvesting structures ensuring that every drop of water was judiciously used. Seed dibbling and such traditional farming methods were practiced – and the colour of the land started changing. Timbaktu was transformed from a barren earth to a lush green forest. It’s heartening to see that birds, snakes and butterflies have come back to Timbaktu and a lost glory is reinstated. This is a true success story of eco-restoration and the experiment is being replicated with community support in a 10,000 acre waste land named as Kalpavalli.

The Timbaktu Collective grew to become a 105 member strong team who serve over 140 villages in Chennekothapalli, Roddam and Ramagiri mandals of Anantapur district. The organization runs two schools, one of which is a residential school for children from disadvantaged families. There is also a thrift credit system for the women which has now grown into a well established alternative banking system. Farmers in the villages are given training in organic farming methods and the Collective supports a Cooperative Society that assists the farmers in marketing their organic produce. With youth development, child rights activities, helping the disabled, cultural activities and many such programmes, the Timbaktu Collective has changed the face of humanity here.

Bablu and Mary stay in Timbaktu, in a house that is built with mud, built by them and built using things available in the land of Timbaktu. Their children studied in the school run by the NGO for the villagers. Their organization has made a difference to the lives of over 12,500 marginalized families. How much more purposeful can their lives get? How much bigger role models do we need to start doing our bit for the world around us?

Visit Timbaktu to know the true spirit of this land. Find information about them on their website www.timbaktu.org. Also, watch this video where Bablu and Mary take you through the 20 years of Timbaktu. You can also write to them at timbaktu.info@gmail.com. 

Spread over a vast area of 170 acres of rocky wasteland in Kuppam, a deprived rural area in Andhra Pradesh, Agastya International foundation believes that complete learning is a combined form of shiksha (education), samskara (values) and sansara (world). It focuses on transforming the critical and much neglected area of primary and secondary education of the rural masses in India, including children and teachers.

Agastya does this by bringing hands-on science education to the rural masses through the use of outreach programs like “Science on Wheels” (Mobile Labs), Science Fairs, Teacher Development Program and Young Instructors Programs. Agastya seeks to fill the gaps in the Indian education system that threaten its socio-economic development. The conventional Indian education system instills little creativity in children and teacher education is generally divorced from classroom realities. Agastya’s projects overcome these problems with their unique features which involve idea generation and testing through the Creativity Lab, creativity generation for poor and disadvantaged through interactive and engaging learning methods, learning linked to environmental goals, emphasis on developing behavioral skills and a close link between teacher education and the classroom system.

Agastya: Science on Wheels

If you ever hear Ramji Raghavan (Founder, Agastya International Foundation) speak, you would certainly hear him talk about the learning pyramid as he strongly believes in the fact that we learn about 5% of what is taught to us in a lecture, 10% of what we read, 50% of what we see and hear, 70% of what we discuss with others, 80% of what we experience and 95% of what we teach. Ramji Raghavan, a former NRI banker came back to India with a vision of providing education to poor children and teachers – education that would be the opposite of conventional techniques and this led to the birth of Agastya, named after Mahirshi Agastya, famous for spreading sacred knowledge to south India, as a charitable trust in 1999.

Agastya has started off successfully on the path of building a creative India of ‘tinkerers, solution seekers and creators’ that are ‘ humane, anchored and connected’ by impacting over 3 million children and 120,000 teachers from vulnerable and disadvantaged communities. The model is scalable and replicable anywhere in the world.

You can take a look at Agastya’s visual documentation here.

Website: http://www.agastya.org/