Intel Teach helped increase awareness among the students at MESCO Grades

regarding health concerns affecting their community

MESCO GRADES is a school in Hyderabad, established in 2002, under the aegis of MESCO (Muslim Educational, Social and Cultural Organization). The mission at MESCO Grades is to offer value-based, 21st century education that helps create independent, right thinking individuals who combine service with excellence. The school attempts to offer opportunities for greater exposure to technology and new tools of learning, and provides its students life skills to help them develop healthy minds for healthy living.

MESCO Grades believes that the foundation of a good society rests in a good school system with holistic knowledge and inclusive education. Its vision is to help its students become self-possessed, well balanced individuals, with strong emphasis on values, the Islamic way of life and a sense of service to oneself, one’s family, community and nation.

The school gives importance to adult education, girl’s education, computer literacy for students, teachers and parents. It also has term-wise projects based on Intel Teach’s Project Based Learning. The time table has been revised to integrate technology in learning. The school promotes science fare projects, emphasizes community education, gives career counseling and guidance, and conducts regular skill-building workshops for stakeholders of the school. It strives to achieve all round development of the child (religious, moral, social, physical, intellectual and cultural).

Challenges

The school is located in the old city of Hyderabad, which has the lowest literacy rate in the Muslim community in particular, and among others in general. The community faced several challenges. These included illiteracy, problems of health and hygiene, poor living standards, periodic communal riots/violence in the neighborhood, poor connectivity to life outside the locality, language barriers, indiscipline, and lack of awareness of changing trends of living.

The school saw low attendance of students. It found that this was due to ill health. A few brainstorming sessions revealed that poor diet, unhealthy eating habits and poor dental care were the key factors behind the ill health of the students.

Solution

Hence, a project focused on health and hygiene was the need of the hour. This project would need to address issues like quality of food, dental hygiene, and the effects of smoking and tobacco on health. It would also have to cover the role of vendors and that of the Narcotics Department. It would also focus on what students brought in their lunch boxes, bring awareness about low cost diet recipes, and highlight malnutrition and health hazards.

The school creates the impetus

The school, in collaboration with the MESCO Diagnostic Centre, took up various initiatives under Intel Teach’s Project Based Learning to promote awareness on nutrition, health and hygiene. It organized an awareness camp for parents and students on health and hygiene and conducted free health checkups. The school also provided measures for rehabilitation. First aid kits were made available and teachers were trained in administering first aid. The school also formulated a regular medical check-up plan for the students.

The students build awareness

The students fulfilled their responsibility to the community through several activities. They conducted surveys in the neighborhood for unhealthy practices, and gave public speeches on good food, exercise and living habits. They put up charts on the effects of food on health. The students also distributed brochures containing recipes for low cost and nutritious food.

The students organized public awareness camps on the silent killers—smoking, tobacco and gutka. They also conducted cooking/salad-making competitions, seminars on eating etiquette, nutrition, healthy/unhealthy foods, and workshops on healthy habits. They worked on the promotion of nutrition in diet, held social awareness camps on peer pressure for drugs, and enabled counseling sessions for teens on negative peer pressure.

They performed role plays on healthy habits, and presented skits on addictions. They also made PowerPoint presentations on admissible (HALAAL) and inadmissible (HARAAM) foods, and laid down the basic rules of hygiene for parents for being on the school premises.

Infrastructure enables the project

The school has a computer lab with LAN and WAN facility, and Internet access. The students also got access to cameras, a scanner and a printer. The school also has a mass communication system including an LCD and overhead projector. There is a research lab for student presentations. The school also has a library with magazines on nutrition and health issues.

The school and students have been conducting regular follow-up sessions to ensure that the knowledge stays with the community. On weekends, students visit homes in the neighborhood to conduct surveys on the right health practices. Periodic social awareness camps on health hazards are held. The MESCO Diagnostic Centre conducts free medical checkups as well. Surprise checks of students’ lunch boxes are carried out frequently. The school also holds seminars on health issues at all Parent-Teacher Meetings, and stays in touch with the parents and community through a newsletter.

Intel Teach’s Project Based Learning Program

MESCO Grades is one of the schools participating in Intel Teach’s Project Based Learning Program. The Intel® Teach Program is aimed at improving teacher effectiveness through professional development, helping teachers integrate technology into their lessons. The program promotes students' problem-solving, critical thinking, and collaboration skills. Having reached 1.3 million teachers in India and training more than 7 million teachers in 50 countries, Intel Teach is the largest, most successful program of its kind.

Impact

As a result of the Intel Project Based Learning initiative, students have become health conscious. They have prepared multimedia presentations on various health issues. The school premises are now free of people consuming unhealthy/inadmissible products like pan, gutka, cigarettes, etc.

With the growing awareness in the community, MESCO Diagnostic Centre has agreed to conduct annual medical checkups for parents, students and people living in the neighborhood of the school.

MESCO has begun providing medical coverage to its students. The school has proposed to have medical consultations and checkups done at subsidized rates for parents of the schoolchildren. A free medical camp was also organized for parents.

The school now has a medical kit. Teachers now browse for information on nursing and other aspects of healthcare. Students have become self-learners in making first aid kits and in are passing on the learning to their parents. Parents have also become conscious of the nutritional value of the food they send as lunch for their children.

The community is on a journey of accepting the lessons on food and hygiene.

The huge impact is really on the overall development of the students. They now know how to do research on a particular subject, acquire the knowledge of abstract topics. They have learned to face challenges, developed social behavior and etiquette, and are turning into good learners and master creators. They can work in teams, discuss, analyze, relate, survey and compile their work. They have developed the skills to observe, understand, draw and display.

“We Learnt”

“With Intel’s Project Based Learning approach we have learned to interpret the problems with the community and find solutions for them as well. The students have developed a scientific attitude towards the learning process. They have also become conscious of their responsibilities towards the community. The different procedures we adopted for teaching-training paved the way for the success of the project.”

Iftikar Ahmed ,MESCO Grades

"Earlier I used to put a thumb impression on my child's Report Card. Now, after the Intel-Mesco Literacy drive, I am able to put my signature on the Report Card. I am proud of my child who brought a change in me."

Hamsamma ,mother of Srinivas (Class VIII, MESCO Maheswaram School)

"I am an auto driver and I used to eat Gutkah (Tobacco). After the Intel-Mesco project on health and hygiene, my little daughter asked me to stop eating it. It struck my mind, and since then I have stopped. Now, I am also telling my fellow auto drivers to do the same."

Abdul Hasan ,father of Shafia Begum (Class VI, MESCO Mustaidpura School)

“What We Would Like to Do Next?”

“We propose to spread these awareness programs to neighboring schools for implementation. We will meet the Government Narcotics department to discourage vendors from selling inadmissible food stuff. We will request the police and health departments to stop/restrict such shops from being within school zones. We also intend to take up this project on a bigger scale.”

Iftikar Ahmed ,MESCO Grades