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.