The motto of the Air force is to serve the nation with commitment and honesty just as God Krishna had served the cause of humanity. A similar aspiration made Satish Sangwan, join the field of education as a teacher in the Government High School, Dhaur, Jhajjer, Haryana, after his retirement from the Air Force. He wanted to dedicate his remaining years to the betterment of his country.

His faith in the Air Force motto –to work for a strong and secure future of the country because a country’s progress and its survival depend on a well educated and skilled future generation, had served him well in all his years of work. His desire, when he took up the job of an educator, was to impart those skills to his students that had developed in him during his years with the Air Force. He knew these skills would help his students become leaders in the 21st century.

What hampered his dream, however, was the lack of facilities and resources. He felt he had the vision for a brighter future for his students but the lack of infrastructure was something he could not battle with, on his own.

Then In 2007, Intel launched its World Ahead program in Jhajjar, Haryana and his school, the Government High School, Dhaur was chosen as one of the schools to benefit from the program. This proved to be a dream come true for Mr. Sangwan. Under the program, state of the art computers were provided to the school with internet connectivity and an international training curriculum that trained teachers to integrate ICT (Information and Computer Technologies) into their teaching methodologies.

The ICT skills that Mr. Sangwan gained provided him with ample opportunities to further his vision. Over the next year he was able to use his energies to spread the adoption of an innovative approach to education and show children the benefit they accrued from a 21st century education.

Not only did it make learning more enjoyable, creative and productive, but also helped the children gain an amazing amount of confidence. They worked with great enthusiasm using project based learning which involved collaborating, researching, critical thinking and then finding solutions by themselves and finally presenting their work innovatively using multimedia. This process, new to them, motivated their creativity, built their problem solving skills along with boosting their confidence and improving their skills of communication.

Mr. Sangwan’s determination provided education to the small village, gave the inhabitants an international perspective and children the faith that they were not left behind and could achieve as much as any child from a city.

With support from the principal, Mr. Sangwan was further able to overcome all the hurdles that came in the way of a smooth ICT integration in the school system.. He persuaded the principal to let all the children in the school have a computer period and ensured that ICT integration became an integral part of classroom teaching.

The State Government supported their cause by providing a back up system to all the schools where the Intel World Ahead program had been initiated. Mr. Sangwan and his Principal soon had this system installed thereby ensuring that the children never had to worry about loss of power and connectivity in their computer period.

This initiative further helped the computer period became a focal point of all school activities and parents too, impressed with empowerment of their children, ensured that they did not miss even a day of school.

“ICT has certainly come as a welcome sign in this rural setting. Now, students don’t think of missing the school which has certainly improved the attendance and also has helped in countering the drop out rate. Most importantly, ICT is helping in developing in our students’ skills like research, creation of new knowledge and enquiring which the essence of learning  Satish Sangwan, Teacher Government High School, Dhaur, Jhajjer

The beauty of what Mr. Sangwan and the Intel World Ahead program built, lay not just in ICT integration with the school education system but also in the important role it played in furthering the understanding that the need of the hour was a 21st century education. In order to get ahead and create a ‘world ahead’ for themselves, the children have to be equipped with technology skills.

“My cousin in the city is a software engineer and I can become the same now thanks to the Intel World Ahead Program and learning ICT skills in my school under the guidance of Mr. Sangwan”.  Master Vipul Rajan, class VIII student

The community as a whole underwent a change in their perception towards education. In a place where farming and agriculture was the main occupation not too long back, today children talk about becoming lawyers, teachers software engineers and doing their MBA’s. Exposure, awareness and infrastructure has created an opportunity that will take this little hamlet towards progress.