Knowledge
E-education buses doing the rounds of South India to teach computers to village kids
Don Bosco Institutions in Karnataka and EWB in Tamil Nadu have fabricated and operating buses which double up as computer labs. The buses run on solar power and have received enthusiastic response so far.
It seems quite a lot of classrooms across the country are growing wheels. 2 distinct set of people in 2 different states working on the same idea in isolation may seem too much of a coincidence. But this very thing is happening today in Chitradurga in Karnataka and Kadapakkam in Chennai.
The Chitradurga classroom on wheels is a refurbished bus fitted with desks and chairs to enable children to learn computers using laptops. In all, 10 laptops are provided to children from government schools for learning the basics of computers. The best thing about the bus is that all the electricity consumed by the bus is generated by solar panels provided by SELCO.
The brainchild of Fr Jose of Don Bosco Institutions, the E-education bus initiative started its journey in January 2012 with an intention of reaching out to a minimum of 10,000 children. It can successfully boast of having covered 60 schools and 2,081 children. Free training is provided to batches of 20 children each. Students of grade VI and VII are given preference.
“Even the response from teachers in rural areas is favourable. Government school teachers from various areas are inquiring about the programme schedule. We are receiving a rousing welcome everywhere we go,” he said.
When asked how are the children responding to the initiative, he said, “They are eager to learn and curious about the programme.” Julian also plans to hold a similar training programme for high school students, with netbooks installed with Internet. The project is funded by the Don Bosco institutions.
Across the border in Tamil Nadu, volunteers with Engineers Without Borders (EWB) decided to design a classroom on wheels for students of Kadapakkam, in collaboration with a non-profit organisation, TEWFI (The East West Foundation of India), that would travel around rural India to augment students' education.
While designing the bus, EWB ensured that everything inside the bus operated on solar power. They also designed the interiors to be ergonomically perfect to ensure the children enjoyed their learning experience. Our challenge was to make sure that even students in the last row could see the LED TV in the front,” A. Sarath Kumar, a final year Mechanical Engineering student. As a result the height of the seats in the back row was raised by a couple of inches.
After that, the work on the solar panels started. “Everything on the bus runs on solar power, and there is also a battery backup to ensure things function even at night. The design that was the toughest part,” Sarayu, a chemical engineering student, said.
TEWFI has developed a curriculum that teaches using animation and all children are given laptops. Once they are taught the concept, they work out exercises on their laptops,” D. Gokul, president of the Tamil Nadu chapter of EWB, said.
The bus, which was launched last month, has been travelling around Kadapakkam, and is being used by students from over 10 schools. Even as the first bus has been launched to teach school students, the team is already working on another bus that will use a hybrid engine. “We are looking for funding for the new bus, which will cost around Rs. 40 to 60 lakh. The initial project was donated to us by Satish Ramakrishnan, an IIT alumnus,” Mr. Gokul said.
EWB helps engineering students and professionals get together and develop socially responsible engineering solutions to everyday problems.
The team is also working on a project to provide solar power to a Corporation school in KK Nagar.