Professor Dayal at the training

‘And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years’. Abraham Lincoln

At 68, white bearded with sharp eyes and a very quick and keen mind, Professor Saheb Dayal refuses to accept that because he is old, he cannot learn new things. As he says:

Age is a quality of the mind, if you have left your dreams behind, If your ambitions fires are cold, then you are old,

But he, an educationist at heart cannot be old because his desire to be a part of the changing scenario on the education front is a lifelong affair.

The former Dean of the Faculty of Education, Dayalbagh Educational Institute (Deemed University), Agra, Prof. Saheb Dayal retired in 1999 as Professor Emeritus.

According to the professor his university is his life. It is where he worked for more than 30 years. He was the Founder Member of the Faculty of Education there. As he says he has “lived through the period when there was a scarcity on every front” but now that the faculty had become technologically sound and is able to conduct long distance educational programs, he wants to be an active participant in the project. The only impediment and hurdle in the task being his inability to handle computers.

When he heard about the Intel® Teach Training program to be held in the Dayal Bagh University Campus for the teachers, he was very keen to join. With his indomitable spirit and resolute will, the Professor became the most successful and keen participant of the program. In his determination to be involved in the cause of education he was willing to learn and relearn everything he knew so long as he could serve his university and be a part of the change.

Everyday Professor Dayal, a dedicated environmentalist, would cycle down from his house in the vicinity of the university, so as to not to waste fuel. Thirsty for knowledge he was very clear that he would need special attention keeping in mind his “age and ability to learn.”

An enthusiastic learner, Professor Dayal attended all activities and even worked on a portfolio discussing problems of Global Warming. For someone who had never touched computers before, his work was exceptionally well done showing dexterity and commitment.

By the end of the training he was confident that he could now contribute as a technologically empowered member of the university. According to him, the training had brought about in him the change he had been seeking. He was thinking, working and learning new things. He looked “more confident” to his own daughter and felt that he no longer needed the support of his daughter or colleagues for his daily chores involving technology, like reading the news on the net.

Today, he is very happy to be equipped to be a part of the University’s ambitious Distance Education Program and feels that he can once again “contribute to the field of Education”. As an Emeritus professor in the Department of Education, he also goes to other universities as an expert in his field. The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. Alvin Toffler

India is an emerging economy; but the literacy rate is still below the threshold level at 75 %. Literacy is very important as it not only contributes to human development and poverty reduction but also brings about solutions to many problems. Literacy plays a prominent role in creating awareness on serious health issues like malaria, cancer, dengue, diarrhoea, polio.

Intel® works towards improving teaching and learning through effective use of technology and the educational environment. Through these initiatives Intel has not only empowered students by making technology as a platform for education, but also helped widen their perspective and enhance their vision.

Guruvarya Lalasaheb Patankar High School, Bopoli (Maharashtra) is based on a hilly area. It is very close to the Koyna Dam. The students come from different blocks to study in this school and walk for almost 5 kms everyday. Most of the students studying here are the first generation learners. The school arranges many activities with support from teachers to improve the quality of teaching and learning. They believe in developing skills amongst their students by implementing different projects. However, they probably did not envision the outstanding impact they could achieve with the Intel® Teach Program.

Touching the Bopoli Hamlet

Mrs. S.B. Jadhav, a science teacher with Guruvarya Lalasaheb Patankar High School, Bopoli, (Maharashtra) was trained under the Intel® Teach Program in August 2008. There are approximately 40 students studying in the school, around 15 girls and 25 boys.
After attending the program, Mrs. Jadhav shared the benefits of Project Based Learning amongst the students and other teachers of her school.

In Bopali Village, the pulse polio dosage is given to the children in the month of January and December every year. It had been observed that people in the village did not take it seriously. Hence the children would suffer. Mrs. Jadhav observed the same and discussed this issue with the students of Class VIII while she taught them a chapter on “Vaccinations” from their science text book. She decided to implement a project based on this issue.

When the project was discussed in the class, regarding the importance of polio dosage, students like Chetna Vishnu and Rakesh Ramchandra of Standard VIII, came with a suggestion, “Why can’t we go in the village and spread the knowledge about the importance of polio vaccinations?” These students were particularly sensitive about this issue as one of their fellow classmate Ajay is also a Polio victim. These students wanted to raise their voice and eradicate this disease from their village and neighbourhood.

Creating Awareness amongst the Villagers

Mrs. Jadhav asked her students to first conduct a survey in the village to find out how many parents have already given the dosage to their children. All the students agreed and divided themselves into groups. While conducting the survey they also planned to invite all the parents at a particular place where the students performed a street play highlighting the issue of Polio. This way they created awareness amongst parents a week before the date of Polio dosage. These students explained about Polio in detail and how it could affect children under five years of age. They told the villagers how the Polio vaccine could protect their child for life. During their survey, the students came to know that the Government did not reach the extreme outskirts of Bopali village which is called as Karad Taluka. Hence it was decided by the school Principal and teachers that students of Std. VIII would visit that area and minister the dosage. All the students were divided and sent to different areas where they gave dosage to 80 children in the entire village.

Polio Eradication in Full Swing

As per the Zilla Parishad officials, “no other program but Intel Teach has reached Bopoli Village.” After seeing the initiatives taken by Mrs. S.B. Jadhav and the way she implemented her project, Patan Zilla Parishad along with Koyna Education Society presented Shaikshanik Gaurav Puraskar to Intel Teach Program as the best Training Program implemented in the outskirts of Satara District.

"A good teacher is like a candle - it consumes itself to light the way for others."

Change is a tedious process which is resisted by many and it takes a lot of courage to let go the familiar and accept something new, but if we make the most of opportunities, change can help us to grow. One such person was Mrs. Rachna Agarwal, whose life went through a sea change when she was introduced to the Intel® Teach Program. This is a professional development program that helps teachers to effectively integrate technology into classrooms by promoting problem solving and critical thinking in order to enhance student learning. Till date, the program has trained more than five million teachers in more than 40 countries.

Mrs. Rachna Agarwal joined Government Girls Inter College Rajpur Road, Dehradun in the year 1998. She was very curious to know and understand the working of computers. There was a computer lab in her school and she would spend most of her free time, in the lab. Mrs. Agarwal being a Science and Maths teacher always wanted to teach her students in such a way that they would understand the subjects easily and find them interesting at the same time. At that time there were no arrangements made by the school or education department to provide their teachers any kind of training regarding the use of computers.

During the year 2002, finally her dreams came true, when she was selected for the Master Trainer's course under Intel® Teach Program. This program was a great experience for her and it entirely changed her as a teacher. The training inculcated in her the desire to come out of her traditional and monotonous ways of teaching. She was now totally motivated to do wonders in this field. After the training, Mrs. Agarwal was made to train her colleagues and that really helped her in revising what she had learnt. It was a memorable experience for her and she now wanted to use technology in an effective way in her classroom.

Mrs. Agarwal soon realized that Technology Aided Learning (TAL) was a wonderful tool. The students, who were afraid of subjects like Maths/Science and used to run away from them, now started taking keen interest in these subjects. Students in her class started working on the projects which were assigned to them. The use of computers in teaching increased the student attendance.

One of the projects that Mrs. Agarwal took up was on "Waste Management". Students under her conducted a survey to find out various types of waste and ways to manage them. Awareness program was conducted for villagers, highlighting how this waste material can cause lot of health hazards to human life. Students worked to counter this menace by demonstrating the ways how the waste from different areas can be collected, disposed and converted into useful materials.

While working on projects, there was a great change in the students. These students were now learning quickly, effectively and in a much better way. Working in groups and that too on computers brought changes in their personality. Now their communication skills, confidence as well as their understanding of the topic increased. The confidence and interest was so strong that in on 26th January, 2006 Mrs. Rachna Agarwal's students excelled in The Aarohan Contest which is organized yearly by Intel & Uttarakhand Government. As a part of the contest her team prepared a model for the 57th Republic Day Parade at Dehradun. The Model was not only appreciated but it also won the third prize.

"The Intel® Training was a great experience for me as it entirely changed me as a teacher, it motivated and inculcated in me the desire to come out of my traditional and monotonous way of teaching." - Rachna Aggarwal

The use of technology in the classrooms has created a deeper sense of interest among the students. Their outlook towards studies changed completely. Students also learnt the use of Internet and educational software to enhance their learning. Once again the "Intel® Teach Program" has proved to be highly beneficial for students as well as the teachers.

Intel® Initiatives in Mumbai Garbage dumps are not a pleasant sight. Rotting vegetables, food leftovers, meat and bones, plastic, paper, glass, cloth, one doesn't want to go near at all. Yet, all of this comes everyday from millions of our homes and commercial establishments.

The problem of garbage disposal has assumed such gargantuan proportions that civic authorities alone cannot tackle the volume of garbage discarded. Today, it threatens the environment, our health and portends civic unrest.

It is in these concerns, that visionaries like Mrs. Dharmadhikari have managed to make a difference. Mrs. Jayashree Dharmadhikari a teacher at the Chogale, High School Borivali (east), Mumbai, was trained under the Intel Teach Program. Empowered with her new found knowledge, she pioneered a futuristic project on "Wet Garbage Management", with students from her school.

Her work has made her a paradigm, on how technology helps not only in enhancing teaching and learning but also in successfully dealing with social issues.

In 2007, Intel® Teach had organized a training in Malad, Mumbai. Mrs. Jayashree Dharmadhikari was an outstanding participant and drew the attention of the Intel Teach Team for further training and guidance.

After her training she was keen to implement project based learning in her classes in school and encouraged the students to take up a project on "Wet Garbage Management".

She divided the students into groups and their first step was to do intensive research on the topic from the internet. Next, the students undertook a survey on the problems of waste management by asking friends and neighbors in their colonies to fill up a questionnaire which they had designed on the computer.

Their results were most disturbing. While in 2008, Mumbai would be generating about 9,000 tonnes of garbage, and every nuclear family about 4-5 kilos of garbage every day, only 0.5% of its people were aware or dealing with the problem of managing the waste.

The biggest problem with this mammoth amount of garbage was finding ways for disposing it off.

What were once dumping grounds around Mumbai, have today become resettlement colonies because of increase in population. For people settled there, these dumping grounds have become very hazardous to health. Paucity of space in the city had also led to there being very, very few low lying areas, close enough to the city to dump the garbage.

The garbage was now overflowing the city and threatening its people as an eyesore, an ominous weapon for the serious, deadly epidemics it could cause. The research was scary and clearly asked for some action to be taken.

To their amazement, the students found that the answer to their problem was actually very easy. By ensuring that households have absolutely no wet garbage to give to the garbage collector each morning, one would have already addressed a major chunk of the problem. Instead, this wet garbage could be used effectively.

It could nourish flower beds and pots, and kitchen gardens. Papayas, pomegranates, coconuts, sugarcane, betel nuts, roses, lotuses, ferns, house plants, leafy vegetables, tomatoes and chilies could all be grown healthily in treated wet household waste.

Using no soil whatsoever, and using organic garbage (which causes no stink) treated with a specific type of bio-culture, one could not only cultivate a bountiful garden, but also effectively deal with the garbage generated.

The students organized a "Morning March" for social awareness about "Wet Garbage Management". They made flyers on the computer, with information on how harmful garbage is to the environment and distributed it in their colonies.

Their fliers had the following table which showed the life of the garbage we throw away and how much harm it causes to the environment because of it"s slow decomposition.

Waste items Time for decomposition Vegetables/fruits/waste food Paper bags Wood pieces Cloth bags Shoes and sandals Iron sheets Aluminum sheets Plastic bags 4-5 weeks 3 months 6 months 10-15 years 15-20 years 50-100 years 200-250 years 1 million years

Their work impressed and made aware the people in their colonies. Everyone felt the need to work towards a cleaner Mumbai.

The team participated in the Bal Vigyan Sammelan organized by Marath Vidnyan Parishad, Chunabhatti in Amravati where they described "How to Manage Wet Garbage" with the help of a presentation. Their project won second prize.

Teaching had suddenly become a serious business of dealing with community related, real life issues. After 17 years of teaching, Mrs. Dharmadhikari feels that she has more satisfaction today than ever before. She attributes all her success to the Intel® Teach Program.

Her colleagues, who had earlier felt that implementing PBL in their teaching was a laborious job, are today eager to work on projects in their own classes.

The biggest beneficiaries of this have been the students. As leaders of tomorrow they have learnt to deal with real life problems and to find effective sustainable solutions.

Wordsworth, a famous poet had said that "child is the father of man" and these young students are finding answers to problems which the world today had failed to.

Intel® Education Initiatives in Punjab

" Looking back, I feel that enrolling for the program with two of my teachers was one of the best decisions I made as a Principal. Ever since then, there has been no looking back!" Ms Vinender Tiwana, Principal (St. Soldier's International Convent School, Mohali)

In the spring of 2000, the Coordinator for Intel® had contacted us for Intel® Teach Program, "Master Trainer's Course". As the Principal, I felt very apprehensive about the training since we possessed only six computers in the school. The training, I knew would also prove to be tough since we had a hectic school routine and the training would be after school hours.

It did prove to be tough and often we would reach home only after it was dark. During those days I sometimes wondered if I had made the right choice.

Amazingly, this feeling passed. Initially the training had seemed tough to us but by the end of it we were confident and eager to implement our training in school.

Technology Aided Learning (TAL) seemed to have given a completely new dimension to our curriculum. We began by sharing our training with 10 teachers each, in three batches.

To our delight, we found that we could use our new found knowledge both innovatively and creatively. The best was that the students loved the new ways of teaching.

We changed the syllabus and lesson design booklets of the school, including in them student assignments and teaching methodology using ICT. During the summer vacation we trained new recruits in the latest edition of the 'Teach to the Future program'. A practice that we follow even till today.

Two of our teachers even went on to win the PBL contest conducted by INTEL® in 2003 for their creativity in teaching, which was an excellent morale booster.

The road to increasing the I.T infrastructure of the school had till now been a bumpy one since the school management was not very enthusiastic about Information Technology. It was only with continuous efforts from our side and the zeal of our new computer faculty, Ms. Gurmeet Kaur that we were able to change the outlook of the school management.

The results of our efforts were also becoming visible. St. Soldiers was winning interschool competitions. We even organized an I.T Park at the 'Edu Fest' (School's Exhibition).

We had the management's complete support by now and with their help, Networking and Broadband were installed in school. A DLP projector was purchased for Seminars, Workshops and Functions while another one was installed in the Multimedia Cum Activity Centre.

In 2006, we were able to set up our dream project, an I.T Resource Room. A formal TAL period in the weekly time table for every subject made implementation of ICT easy. With a portable K-yan and specially designed screens the Smart Classrooms became operational. An Office Management Software, two laptops and a combo machine followed.

Our school records became fully computerized. The School's Annual Report was prepared as a presentation given by students during Annual Functions.

Our I.T stall at the School's Fete- Vibes' 07 which was inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Punjab, Mr. Prakash Singh Badal was adjudged the best. The I.T fever seemed to have hit the entire school and had resulted in healthy competition among teacher and students.

Ms. Sarita Manuja an ICT enthusiast, had been very encouraging all through and had played the role of our mentor. In 2004 she founded KOSHISH, an M.T Club under the aegis of INTEL®.

St. Soldiers became a member of the core committee of the club, which consisted of a group of like minded schools interested in integrating technology with the school's curriculum.

The club provided an opportunity and an out let for our enthusiastic teachers and students. TAL fortnights, KOSHISH Carnivals, PBL Contests, Teacher Workshops and Computer Awareness Program (CAP) during the Summer Vacation became regular features of the school's agenda year after year.

The club with regular inputs from INTEL® courtesy their Coordinator, who continues to be responsible for involving its member schools in a host of activities.

As an acknowledgment of our involvement, we were asked to form a Mohali Cluster of KOSHISH. In May 2007 the Cluster was inaugurated with 10 schools as its members. The same year we held the first ever Mega Techno fest for Mohali Schools - BYTES - 07 while the Techno Fest has been included as an annual feature of the school.

As members of KOSHISH we have been holding the Computer Awareness Program (CAP) during every summer vacation. Each year a group of student volunteers sacrifices a part of their vacations to teach different sections of the society under the guidance of their teachers. Community service was performed for Mothers and Grandparents in 2004 and for the underprivileged in 2005, 2006, and 2007.

The most special one was held this year for special children from Vatika - a school for the Hearing and Speech impaired. It proved to be a unique experience for our students.

The 2nd of August, 2007 was the proudest day for our school. An official call from the Department of Communication and Information Technology, New Delhi, informed us that our school had won the ‘Excellence in Computer Literacy Award' from the State of Punjab for 2007.

We were elated, celebrating not an award but the journey we had undertaken for becoming a techno savvy school.

And we were so proud to have reached our goal.

It is said that you if educate a boy you change his destiny, but if you educate a girl you change the destiny of a family.

Malnourishment is the single biggest cause of all dreaded illnesses. Poor quality of food and imbalance in proportions, results in lack of energy, failing health and inability to fight diseases. Especially among women trying to make ends meet.

This is the story of two little girls Tukai and Swati. Poor and under nourished yet their little hands brought about a big revolution.

Students of the Ananda Ashram Balika Vidyapeeth a government aided High School in Kolkata, West Bengal, they came from economically challenged families. Everyone pitched in and yet there was never enough. The quality of food was never important as long as you got something to fill your stomach with.

Tukai’s father distributed lunches in offices while her mother worked in a factory. She, her brother and her sister were in school. Swati’s father was dead. Her mother worked unflaggingly in the little sweetshop which was behind Tukai`s school, making just enough to feed the family of four.

In such a scenario, food was an unchanging routine .Mashed potato, dal, and rice were Tukai’s and Swati’s families’ normal and regular menu. They used to take Rohu or Katla fish once in a week and chicken or mutton once or twice in a month. As they could not buy a fair amount of fish or mutton, Tukai’s and Swati’s mothers would serve most of it to their families, usually depriving themselves.

At the sweet shop, Swati’s mother served only fried ‘samosas’(cutlets)  and coloured sweetmeats. Most of the times the oil was old and she would know it was bad for the children. But she neither knew any better, nor could afford anything else.

At this time Tukai and Swati were introduced by their teachers, to the training provided by the Intel Teach Program. The chapter on nutrition they were doing in class was done as a project with them.

The teacher gave them a chart where caloric values of certain food items per 100 grams (approx.) were written and asked them to check whether all of their family members were getting a balanced diet. They were required to go online and  calculate how much their family members needed, after making a chart of their daily food intake and the kind of work they did.

The result revealed that 25 students in the class were below weight and many mothers were suffering from malnutrition, because they were not getting a balanced diet.

A group of these students including Swati and Tukai wanted to take their research further. With the help of their teacher, they decided to look up alternative foods for their diets. They wanted options which would not bring about a change in how much they spent but provide them with higher food values and a balanced meal.

Swati even looked up healthy options for the food her mother served because she found out that old oil if used again and again could be very harmful for children.

After two weeks of extensive research the girls were ready with diet charts for the entire family. These had low cost options but with higher food values.

They had exchanged the fish they used with small and less costly fish which are equally good in nutritive value. Small shrimps, small crabs are very rich in calories, proteins, fats and minerals. Spending the same amount of money they would now be able to take fish or shrimp or crab (one non veg. item) four days a week.

They included green vegetables, soya bean chunks, minced soya been and mushroom in their menu. Instead of taking red meat once or twice a month, they decided to have an egg or a banana for breakfast everyday.

Tulkai and Swati’s printed these programs and gave them out to their teachers. They could also be used by other families. The teachers were very impressed by their efforts.

They decided to showcase the efforts of these girls to all the students in the school and their parents. The girls would act as dieticians and give options on how to plan a meal with low cost food but with higher food value so that everyone could get a balanced diet.

The teachers distributed their programs to all families in the school and even used them at home.

Many families benefited from their work. After two months the students did a follow up and repeated the exercise of finding calorific intake. They found food value in homes (all 63 of the families who had followed it) had gone up and their intake of vitamins and minerals had increased by 36%.

Returning from school Tukai and her siblings used to take puffed rice but now they mix roasted ground nut in it. They said they feel energetic for much longer in the evening.

Tukai’s mother who used to fall sick very often is feeling much healthier. She puts it down to her changed diet. She has also learnt that the watery byproduct of whey or yoghurt has nutritive value so instead of throwing it away she consumes it for breakfast which she never had before.

Swati’s mother followed it up for her little shop also. By increasing the price of her sweetmeats by a meager 10% she was able to buy fresh oil everyday and improve the quality of her sweetmeats. This increased her clientele by 35%.

Intel had managed to touch lives in an innovative way. Not just the lives of two girls who benefited from the training , but of generations who would benefit in future.

The mountains of Nilgiri crowns South India with splashes of blue nurturing the Toda community. This tribe rarely peeks out to the world nor do they entertain any external interference. This may be one of the reasons for their social or economic backwardness. Primarily pastoral, the tribe’s main source of livelihood is buffalo herding.

The high rate of illiteracy is one of the key issues restraining the community’s overall development. It eventually led to many social evils such as child marriage that is rampant in this tribe.

Responding to this, Intel® Teach took up the challenge of educating the children of the tribe. Besides equipping the Toda community children with the 21st century skills such as information literacy, creativity and critical thinking, Intel played a pivotal role in fostering girl child education and eliminating child marriages from the community.

Intel® Teach paves the way for Toda empowerment

The person who gave shape to Intel’s vision of spreading literacy among the Toda children was B Sharada Mani. She has been teaching in the Panchayat Union Middle School in Nilgiris district for the past six years.

As a teacher, she was drawn towards the plight of Toda girls. Well aware of the social evils prevailing in the region, she felt that the girl children of Toda community not only required education but a way to escape their looming fate.

It was Intel® Teach that provided her with the opportunity to help address the concern. Using Project Based Learning Method (PBL),she involved her students in doing research on social evils like illiteracy vis-à-vis child marriage. It exposed the students to the 21st century skills while working on a project that involved a local issue. The girls were initially shying away to be part of the project; they gradually opened up and spoke about their miseries. The boys had stepped in as they also did not want child marriage to hamper their community’s progress.

Students led the effort against numerous challenges

A section of the community was averse to the proposal of girl education after a certain age as it interfered with their custom of child marriage. To address the concern, the students reached out to the villagers and made them aware about the vices of child marriages. They had painstakingly showed them the information they had collected through their research. The students even did not loose their hopes when a few villagers destroyed their posters. They rallied relentlessly and were able to convince them as many of them were victims of child marriages and did not want the future generation to have the same ill-fate.

The project saw success when one such child marriage was stopped by angry protests outside of the temple. The community head was impressed by the efforts and said “the pupil’s force of creating awareness using the PBL would pave way for better tomorrow”. As recognition of the school project, he donated a piece of land to be used as school playground.

“At the beginning of the project, I didn’t imagine that it would have such a huge impact on the community. My intention was to involve the students using the PBL method and create awareness on the social evils. But now, I am happy for having accomplished this with the help of my own students for the Toda community,’’ says Sharada. The Principal of the school applauded the project and said, “this program has helped to identify the hidden skills and talents of these students”.

The Toda tribe was living in the dark ages and had not realized the need to educate girls. Intel® Teach led the social transformation enabling education for girl children in the Toda community. The tide finally seems to be turning towards empowering the lives of Toda

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The government dispensary had not been in use for many years. The door hung crooked from the hinges, banging shut as the wind blew. The streets were littered with garbage while mosquitoes swarmed over the stagnant water.

Children and older people usually scurried through the village streets holding their noses in disgust, disturbing the flies which buzzed over the garbage mounds. The few cyclists, who dared to cycle through the slush and filthy water on the broken roads, were usually cursing by the end of it, as their cycles wobbled dangerously.

This was the scene Alpa Biju, a school teacher in Delhi Public School, Bopal, viewed from her bus window everyday, on the way to school. During the monsoons, they would be up to an hour late because of the water logging. She felt sad to see that in a world where people struggled for literacy and awareness, this small village called Bopal, near Ahmedabad, had still not been able to solve its problems of cleanliness and sanitation.

Ms. Biju had recently trained with Intel® Teach on enhancing education through technology and her training had made her aware of the power and reach of technology. Today, while the stink made her cover her nose and mouth in disgust, her mind was excitedly devising a plan, where she could use her training to benefit the villagers.

She had to work on a global community sustainability (GCS)project with students of class 8 and it occurred to her that if they worked on issues of cleanliness, sanitation and hygiene in the village, they could spread awareness and also bring about a desirable change.

Ms. Biju discussed the idea in class and found that all her students were very keen and enthusiastic. They were all inspired to work towards a change. Together, they decided to make a presentation on the computer, working collaboratively to show not only the ill effects of the lack of hygiene and sanitation, but also what needed to be done.

The students divided themselves in groups and while some planned out banners to make people aware of the dangers of an unclean environment, others did a lot of research on the solution to their problems. Working innovatively, they sourced out similar problems in other villages and learnt from the solutions that had been developed.

Technology was a powerful tool in their hands. It gave them the power to reach the entire village and through the audio visual means of the presentation they were sure to attract attention. In their presentation they had highlighted the danger of malaria, cholera and dengue and other diseases that could spread because of the lack of sanitation.

With the help of their school principal Mr. Sunil Trivedi, the students fixed up a meeting with the professors of the C. N Vidyalaya, Ahmedabad who detailed for the villagers in the local language, the threat facing the community because of lack of hygiene and sanitation in the village.

Next, the students met the members of the Ahmedabad Municipal Council(AMC). In the interview, they addressed to the AMC officials the problems facing the villagers and asked for solutions.

The students then took these interviews to the Panchayat. They held street plays to bring to peoples notice what they could do to fight the lack of hygienic surroundings in the village.

A place that should have been pollution free air had not been left clean enough to live in.

The students’ efforts made the Panchayat wake up. The local people also realized their own apathy in dealing with the problem and started to work with the students.

The village elders took the initiative and called up the officials of the AMC to ask for regular disposal of garbage. The villagers also asked for a doctor and nurse to be assigned to their village dispensary. After many years the dispensary would start functioning again.

The students’ commitment to the cause had achieved the desired results.

Ms Alpa Biju was very proud of her students efforts. Eight months have passed since then. The village sparkles brighter and cleaner than ever before. There is no garbage to be found littering the roads. Villagers no longer pass by with a cloth over their nose and mouth. Cyclists sail smoothly over the roads, feeling pride in their cleanliness.

In fact, Alpa Biju and her school children also reach school on time.

For their efforts their school was selected as the Ambassadors to Australia representing Indian Centre for Environmental Education. The technology that had empowered her had touched the community. It had created changes which would last and always be cherished.

Providing a platform for the challenged.

Srinu cannot walk or run like the other children in his school. Most of the ten years of his young life have been spent standing on the side lines and gazing wistfully at the world. Like thousands of others who are also challenged, he has never been part of the mainstream because society considers him a burden.

35.9% of the disabled in India are children in the 0-19 age-group. They lead a life in the gray zone - a place of neglect and isolation often mistakenly interpreting nature’s cruelty as their ‘bad karma’ or fate.

Left behind, neglected and unwanted they wait anxiously, frustrated, for one chance, an opportunity to make them equal.

Ms Sreedevi Mahapatra was a dedicated teacher with a long track record at the Jawahar Navodyay Vidyalaya, Kommadi, a residential, co-educational residential school in Visakhapatnam. Srinu had just been admitted to her school. His disability made him apathetic to work and most children kept away from him.His eyes looked like they were losing the joy of living.

Having worked with children for so long, Ms Mahapatra’s heart went out to Srinu. But sympathy and pity she knew were easy options; instead she asked herself what she could do to enrich his future.

She strongly believed such children needed to be made a part of mainstream education and trained with skills that would make them employable later on.

Her training with Intel Teach made her feel empowered. It had reinvented learning and teaching practices for her. She felt she could innovate education and bring it to Srinu’s fingertips if he could not go to it.

Ms Mahapatra also held that other students needed to be sensitized to the physically challenged. She decided to work on a project on special children with her students.

Under her guidance, the students visited the Training Center for the Physically Challenged at Madhurwada, and the Visakha School for Blind. After interacting with the children there, they developed a presentation for their school outlining the challenges of the handicapped.

Srinu meanwhile, was proving to be very adroit on the computer. He was enthralled by this special opportunity to be one with the class. He worked for long hours and was soon outdoing everyone else. Where earlier his class mates had never taken cognizance of him, now they would come to him asking for information which he had looked up on the computer asking him for help in their work.

Srinu’s dragging feet which had earlier made the children snigger at him now did not seem to affect them. He could now be seen with the others smiling at the same jokes. They would of course be walking slower to accommodate him.

Ms Mahapatra felt a deep satisfaction with her work. Integrating technology into education through the Intel Teach Program she had opened up a new vision of life for Srinu. The training groomed him with skill sets which would help him be a part of the 21st century workforce.

Her project on the physically challenged, based on the Project Based Learning Methodology of Intel Teach, had reaffirmed her belief that their education could be stream lined with ease if normal children could be made aware of their needs.

Srinu was made a class monitor to recognize his efforts.

He might be just one of the thousands of physically challenged children, but he is shining example of how they can adapt in society if given a chance. Recent research has shown that computer/digital technologies can help children who are challenged learn and communicate better. We at Intel dream of such a day when all challenged children in India will receive the same focus in education. We are proud to have made a beginning.

Under its education initiatives, Intel provides technology and training support to institutions such as the SOS Children's Villages of India, India Sponsor Foundation, Agastya Foundation, Special Olympics, and the Bangalore Central Prison. The Technology Training and Job centres for Special Children set up in Bangalore and Mandya focus on enhancing learning and creative abilities among Special Children besides training them on job skills.

As part of Intel motivated initiatives, a former Intel Master Trainer, Lalitha Bilgi runs Swayam , a Parent Support Group based in Bangalore. It is an education outfit that works towards educating and empowering children with special abilities. Swayam is engaged in a slew of activities with an aim to make learning fun for special children. Here, they are trained to perform their chores independently. The teachers and parents try to make them communicate through paintings, drawings, songs and most importantly with computer applications.

“A machine has value only as it produces more than it consumes - so check your value to the community”

We live in a world with a prevailing ethic of’ I have mine; you take care of your own’. Despite this prevailing fact, there are people and organizations like Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan, Jubileehills, Hyderabad who transcend all barriers and knit people together. The hallmark of this school is an approachable and dynamic principal Mrs. Rama Devi, who believes in the school ideal,” Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam”, the world is one family . Having inspired by the motto of the school,” Aa no badraaha kartavyo yanthu vishwatahah” which mean, “Let noble thoughts come to us from every side”, she has launched several projects for the underprivileged children. Some of her major projects include,’Donation of artificial limbs and walker, Adoption of rural schools, Annual funding for girl child’s education, Nutrition program for slum children and many more. The Principal involves the entire student community in each project, which enables them to imbibe some human values.

Having born and brought up in a middle class value oriented family, she had painfully noticed handicapped children and vendors on the road struggling to earn their bread and butter to fulfill their basic needs. Whenever her car stopped at the signal, she made it a point to buy something from them and gave them money costed along with the candies or chocolates lying in her car .A small gesture of her love had brought a lot of happiness on their face. She was touched by their joy and smile. Having provoked by the incident she started pondering over. “If people were born without limbs or lost them in an accident, how would they walk or live a normal life?” She grieved for their helpless lives which had resulted in one of her major project,’Donation of artificial limbs and walker’ through the organization called,’Sweekar Upkaar’.

She motivates her students to make many items like diyas, candles, rakhis etc during their SUPW period, which are sold to the children and parents of the school. Money earned from these items is sent for this noble cause. Children who win cash award in different competitions and exams donate that money for the organization to buy artificial limbs for children of poor farmers and drunkards. This has been going on since a decade and the students of BVV School who witness the handicapped children feel and understand that the loss of limb is one of the greatest challenges an individual may ever have to face.

Being an educator, she makes the teaching fraternity and students’ community to understand her philosophy that the uneducated, unaware, and unemployed these people will have nothing special to improve but to waste their efforts in wrong doings. As largely being ignorant, illiterate, unemployed, and unaware on socio-economic developments, the plight of these village children is as worse as orphans. Their future seems to be very blurred, as there is no hope for them to equip and develop themselves economically, socially, and politically. They need to equip and prepare themselves for the changing needs of the nation.

The moral weapon, the education will shape the community with good behavior, good attitude, enlightened future, good culture, visionary and creative approaches and leadership qualities. It will also keep the community away from wrong doings and embracing the path of impurity. Therefore, Mrs. Devi has adopted schools in the villages like Nakhalapalli and Shabarnapuram who are being taken care throughout the year.

Children of class 7th and 8th visit the students of the village Nakkallapalli once in a year to educate them and create awareness in them about many things. The school chalks out a complete program for them to carry on for a day in a year. This includes teaching the village students especially introducing them to language English, health and hygiene, art and craft and some games to entertain them.

The drinking water available in the village contains floride due to which their teeth turn into yellow. Students of BVV School educate the village children about this problem and give them tips to avoid the same by including lots of curry leaves and gruel made out of cooked rice. Mrs. Rama Devi makes it a point to distribute laddus made out of groundnuts and jaggery with high nutrient value, which is a remedy for the yellow teeth. She motivates her students every time to donate stationery items like unused notebooks and books, pencils etc. The school also buys sports items like cricket set, carom board etc for the adopted school. Once all the children were given stainless steel plate to maintain the uniformity during the mid day meals. They were also distributed the bundle of uniform cloth. Computers were installed in schools to initiate computer literacy among them. The uniqueness of this program lies in providing them all the necessary facilities as per the need arises every year. Infact, BVV school children feel that the students of this rural village are part and parcel of their life. Therefore, this program, by having committed to this noble cause is seen as an innovative effort. She also distributes saplings to all the children and encourages them to plant, water them, and nurture the same. Children who are taking real care of the plants are rewarded by her at the end of year.

Another important project carried by her team is Nanhi Kali project, annual funding of girls’ education. She says that social traditions and deep-rooted religious and cultural beliefs are most often the barriers to expanding girls' educational opportunities in many countries around the world. Understanding the barriers to girls' education, she along with the entire school works to reduce the obstacles to education for girls. According to her, investment in girls' education is the single most effective way to reduce poverty. Each year 10 students of BVV sponsor the education of 10 girl students. The education per child costs around 18,000 Rs.Students volunteer themselves and the resources are sent to the organization Mahindra and Mahindra who in turn determines the eligible candidates according to their parameters. The principal and students are updated about the adopted girls’ performance and their annual report cards are being received by the school. The impact of this program was very well indicated when a student named Anusha left the school but insisted to continue her sponsorship for the particular girl adopted by her. She stated,” How can I stop education of the girl whom I’ve adopted her.”

Another project which has been going on in her school premises since 2001 is adult literacy. The students of class 6th and 7th are involved in this program as per the timetable. During the zero period students, teach bus drivers, conductors, and ayahs of the school.

Child to Child, Nutrition Programme goes through out the year for the students of Vivekananda School in the slum. Mrs. Rama strongly believes that every human being especially children have all the right to live a dignified life, free from hunger and deprivation. This project provides children access to healthy diet. Each day protein rich snacks are provided to kindergarten children of this school. This program has enabled to regularize the students’ attendance. It has also inspired the children to learn and educate themselves. It has been revealed by the school authorities that the strength of the school has started increasing due to this program.

The school also pays attention to the health of staff at grass root level. A free general medical check up is being provided to them. They are sent to the doctors’ clinics who are parents of the school, for free regular check ups.Nutritionists also visit the school occasionally to talk to them about healthy life. They are distributed ragi once in a year.

At Bhavan’s, they attempt to provide students with a sound education that goes beyond bookish knowledge. School is enabling them to instill confidence and a sense of achievement through these community based projects for underprivileged children. Mrs. Rama Devi believes in making the world a better place with the help of her school. She is counting on the good will of those who believe in human dignity and want to help the school in its quest and lend their hand save the human race.

Changes always have at their helm a visionary. Such is the story of Ms. Lakshmi Suryannarayan, the Principal of The Olcott Memorial High School (OMHS).

Located in Besant Nagar, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, the school is in an area, which comprises of the rich and the very poor. While some lived in palatial bungalows, most of those who attended this school, didn’t know where their next meal was coming from.

Ms. Lakshmi took over as Head teacher of Olcott, She was very distressed to see, that in a town which boasted of a high level of education, this little school had children who lived well below the poverty line. They belonged to the socially under privileged sections and were burdened not just by poverty, but also class discrimination.

The school, though a part of the Olcott Education Society (OES), an International Organization run by the Theosophical Society (TS) was completely dependent for its funds, on the goodwill of philanthropists and donors from the world at large.

Right from the beginning, she understood that in order to empower these children she had to give them not just an education, but also an introduction to practical skills which would sustain them and help them generate an income.

Ms. Lakshmi had the ideas, the enthusiasm and the dedication but she had neither the resources nor the funds. She also knew in her heart that this education was the only way these children could fight against the social discrimination of their class.

She needed a window to the outside world.

It was at this juncture that Intel® Teach offered to train a few staff members as Master Trainers provided the school had computers. The Principal saw this as the opportunity she had been waiting for. Even though, she had only one computer in her school at this time she succeeded in managing to get the rest.

Olcott High went on to receive ‘The Intel Award’ for exemplary use of resources for 2002. Over a period of 4 years from 1999 to 2003 they not only introduced more computers with multimedia packages but have also trained about 50 teachers. They also received a cash award of Rs. 1 lakh.

Ms. Lakshmi’s vision led her on from there. She introduced an English Language Lab with the prize money, by buying a computer linked to a big screen television, and headphones for listening to English stories read out from books, films, language games and phonic exercises. She strongly believed that a working knowledge of the English language was an essential component for bridging the digital divide.

The school’s efforts were now being publicly appreciated and the local newspaper carried many articles praising them. Not only did they receive approval from the community but also received computers as donations from as far as Japan.

Olcott High, was now also able to introduce technology assisted learning (TAL) of subjects as a tool to help teachers and students. Digital Lessons were made available from resources available in the market. These were made easily available to teachers for preparation for their classes. An Audio Visual room with low cost projection equipment was also provided

The change which began slowly has now geared up to a revolution.

The teachers are delighted with these resources at their fingertips. Great improvement has been seen in the students too. Learning is no longer restricted to repetitive revision techniques but through relevant audio-visual learning experiences.

Today, the children have an Internet connection in the library for gathering information and research. A Computer Lab is functioning with 5 computers for the last year in the kiosk model. Due to their regular exposure to the computers, the children are not afraid of handling machines. A few of those who passed out in the last few years even took up a career in computers.

As part of the school’s attempt to bridge the digital divide they are in the process of setting up a full fledged Computer Lab with old and new computers that have come as donation.

Students are proudly handling projects using technology for parent’s health education programmes, anti alcohol, tobacco and drug abuse.

An Alumnus ran a marathon in the US to benefit the school and collected US $2000 to upgrade school infrastructure.

Determined to keep working ahead, Ms. Lakshmi along with the school Alumni and the teachers created digital lessons for a project called ECTAL (http://www.ashanet.org/chennai/projects/tal.htm*).

Today Olcott stands aloft as one of the best schools for underprivileged children. Undoubtedly it is because of Ms. Lakshmi's indefatigable efforts and hard work. In her usual humble manner, she views her work as a challenge, a mission. To provide, for all her students "gainful employment and the ability to perform well outside the school campus".

"A huge monster like formation rose out of the Puttenhalli Lake, causing a sensation. It turned out to be unscrupulously dumped sewage and industrial waste. The water body is stinking. Puttenhalli is just one case…"

- Friday, June 14th, 2003. Excerpt from a Regional Language Newspaper.

Geethapria felt troubled and unhappy as she raised her head from the newspaper she had been reading. The Puttenhalli Lake was what her house overlooked and for days they had been seeing the dump rise to the surface like an ancient demon come to life. Worse still, they had been smelling it too.

People had stood around and talked but nothing seemed to be happening. The Lake lay before her shimmering and quivering in the sunlight. It seemed, as if it was greatly troubled inside.

She remembered one evening, a few years before her grandfather’s death. They had been sitting near the same window. Her grandfather had been telling her stories about his past. How they used to swim in the lake, how beautiful and clear the water was then. He had said in those days the city had 260 lakes. But now just around a hundred of them were barely surviving, and only half of them were real water bodies.

Unfortunately, according to what she had just read, nearly 90 per cent of Bangalore's lakes were on the verge of extinction. The dissolved oxygen content of the water in the city's lakes had gone below the desired level and most of the lakes were infested with weeds. Garbage collected from houses went there too. In fact the ‘Dhobis’ also did their washing there. It was a convenient dustbin for children to throw packets of the chips they ate.

Pristine had been replaced by ugly. From being a lake, it had turned into a filthy tank of water. Her grandfather had expressed his sadness over it right till his end but her father, like all other people busy in making a living used to give it a disgusted look and drive right past it. The spirit of the Puttenhalli Lake seemed to be dying. It was ailing and she felt it was calling out to her to help it breathe.

As she cycled to her school the Government High School, Police Colony, her mind was swirling with these thoughts. In school, her friends Mahesh and Vijaya shree who also lived nearby, seemed equally troubled at the plight of the dying lake.

In break they read up on it. What they read stunned them. It was the plight not only of their lake, but nearly all the lakes of Bangalore. “Nearly 90 per cent of Bangalore's lakes are on the verge of extinction and the dissolved oxygen content of the water in the city's lakes has gone below the desired level of 4mg/lt due to organic pollution, a study conducted by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) has revealed.

In the last period, her teacher Ms.Vinutha G walked in carrying the same newspaper Geethepriya had read in the morning. Geethapriya looked up with interest. Her teacher told them she had been training under the Intel® Teach Program. Under this, she was required to do a project (PBL methodology) with the children in her school. She had been reading the paper and felt they could do a project on the Lakes of Bangalore. With this project they could not only be collaborating as a team, working and learning together but also be heard on an issue they felt strongly about.

In fact she was very keen that they voice their opinion on the lakes of Bangalore since she felt it was a way to prompt some action from the government and make the public aware.

‘Are any of the children interested?’ Geethapriya excitedly raised her hand. Interestingly, so did more than half the class. Suddenly the class was a babble of voices. Apparently the topic the teacher had chosen was something most students and their families felt strongly about but didn’t know what to do.

Intel it seemed had provided them a platform. Not only to work collaboratively but also to fight for a cause that concerned the community.

Geethapriya Mahesh and Vijaya shree felt elated. There seemed to be a glimmer of hope. Walking back, Geethapriya wanted to tell the lake spirit to be strong and hold on, tell all the Lakes to have hope. That, they would help. But it seemed too tired, like the spirit was sinking fast.

Next day the students were allotted groups. They had to assume roles and interview people then submit their reports. They had decided to target 4 lakes in Bangalore. Kengeri Lake Sankey Lake, Herohalli Lake and the Puttenahalli Lake.

They began by visiting the Pollution control board, the Lake Development Authority and collecting information on the history of lakes in Bangalore. One group visited the lakes to study the environment and collect the water samples. These were then given for a quality test at TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) Lab. Another team visited the Centre for Ecological Sciences IISC Bangalore and collected information and guidance from them.

Within the next two weeks they did a lot of research online and interviewed people. After school, they would stay back and look up facts on the internet and also type out reports of their work. In their final report, they concluded that the environment of the lakes was very debilitating Industrial effluents were let out from the industries into the lake with out filtering, which made the surroundings very dirty .Domestic Garbage sometimes even idols are immersed in the lakes. All lakes had a foul smell emitting from them. Further, encroachment, disfiguring by brick/tile industries, waste disposal activities and bad management threatened the very existence of these lakes, thereby posing a serious threat to the flora and fauna supported by them.

After compiling their report the team, led by their enthusiastic teacher decided to make a multimedia presentation by incorporating pictures and statistics of their research. This would also have their suggestions on how to rejuvenate what was being systematically destroyed-The Lakes.

Feverishly, the children worked on their presentation over the next two months. They had also begun mailing their plea to all the people they knew.

The aim of their presentation was to make the public aware and also provide practical suggestions on how to protect and conserve the lakes. Simple steps like cleaning up the garbage around the lakes, planting more trees around the water front would go a long way in restoring the natural beauty of the lakes.

In conclusion, their presentation pointed out how the wetlands of Bangalore were of vital importance. They alone could sustain the floral and faunal diversity of the city. Most importantly they were an integral part of the history and identity of the city. This project was shared with the other teachers and students of their school and with the officials from Pollution Control Board, Lake Development Authority, and Centre for Ecological Sciences IISC Bangalore, TERI Lab. The project was deemed creditable work and greatly appreciated. Even people like her parents were now keen that something should be done to save the lakes. They were especially impressed by the effective use of technology.

The children had struck a chord. The project was showcased at different functions and competitions. The students were invited by “Haseeru Useeru” an NGO, to present and explain the presentation to their staff. Their efforts were greatly applauded.

These children from a small school were now big news. Regional newspapers had covered the laudable work done by them. In recognition of the impact they were making they were requested to present their work at the GETIT conference to be held in Bangalore.

Geethapriya felt confident that now her lake would survive. Something would be done. People had sat up and taken notice. They had made a difference.

That evening as she passed by the lake, the gentle breeze blowing over her, seemed to thank her from the spirit of the lake. Like the genial spirit seemed to be once more watching over them with a big smile on his amiable face.

If technology and human endeavor can change the plight of a few lakes, why not the others???

There is a Puttenhalli lake around all of us.....

Collecting water samples from different Lakes     At the GETIT conference   Coverage in Regional Newspapers