Place: Karnataka State-India

Introduction:

Schools in rural India are predominantly affected by lack of basic infrastructure, shortage of teachers, insufficient classroom space, and as a result lead to school dropouts and very low pass percentages.  Quality education in sciences and mathematics of which the rural children are deprived of leads them to be extremely disadvantaged as compared to their urban counterparts.  Thus, there is a need to empower neglected children in rural India through meaningful science education.

The Implementation:

Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organization in Karnataka had launched a massive project in 2010 to provide comprehensive science laboratories in several of the schools in adopted villages in Karnataka. This was taken up with active support of Indian Industry as part of their corporate social responsibility initiative.

Science Laboratories:

Science laboratories have been established in Government schools in the adopted villages which offer education up to class X.  A typical science laboratory contains experimental apparatuses, chemicals, models, demonstration kits and charts related to various subjects such as Chemistry, Biology, Physics and Geography.  More specifically, the science laboratory enables the rural school children to gain hands-on experience.  For example, the children are provided both the chemicals and the glassware needed to perform experiments in chemistry.  Another example is that of a small working solar cell which converts light to electricity thereby introducing the students to the concept of renewable energy.  There are models of the heart, lung and other organs which not only enlighten the children about the wonder of the working of the human body, but also teach the importance of health and hygiene.

The Impact:

This project was initially implemented in 15 village schools in the districts of Gadag, Dharwad, Bijapur, Bellary, Raichur, Mysore, Mandya, Hassan, Davanagere, Chitradurga, Dakshina Kannada and Bangalore Rural.  It is estimated that more than 1000 rural children have directly been benefited by this project.

Science Exhibition:

One such school in Kanavi village of Gadag district even conducted a science exhibition using the material supplied for the neighbouring village schools. This exhibition was attended by 550 students and 35 teachers from various schools in the vicinity.

This project was received so well in the Government schools that the Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisation decided to repeat this experiment and setup similar science laboratories in 14 of the Sri Sathya Sai Schools in Karnataka.  A total of 9518 students in these 14 Sathya Sai schools are the beneficiaries of this initiative.

Survey & Future Plans:

Many of the adopted villages have schools which offer education only up to Class VII. The children of such villages could not reap advantages of this project. Hence, a survey has been launched to identify the schools in neighbouring villages where the children of the adopted village go to continue their studies after Class VII. Some of such schools have already been identified and current efforts are towards setting up of science laboratories in those schools.

 Training of science teachers is a very important component of this whole exercise. There is a plan to organize training of teachers at the Talent Development Centre at the Kundapura campus of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

Future efforts are also focused on providing other infrastructure to these schools such as computers and LCD projectors to enable the use of digital content in classroom teaching and facilities such as toilets and solar photovoltaic-based lighting systems wherever needed.

Model Schools:

Another major activity planned for the future is to implement the Sathya Sai Vidya Vahini approach in these village schools so that the science education is provided in a holistic manner. The long-term goal is to develop these village schools into model schools that will provide not only quality education but also ‘Educare’ as emphasized by Sri Sathya Sai Baba, which will eventually act as a catalyst in the transformation of the entire village.

Author: Prof.R.V.Ravikrishna, State Coordinator (Techno Group), Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisation, Karnataka prof.ravikrishna@gmail.com

Project Coordinator: Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisation-Karnataka

Contact Person: Sri Nagesh G Dhakappa, State President, Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisation-Karnataka State, mail ID: 4sokarnataka@gmail.com

For additional info: admin@ssssoindia.org