Project Edu-Rath’ is an initiative of Maharaja Agrasen College with a driving theme of sustainable literacy amongst the deprived and underprivileged sections of society as part of its corporate social responsibility.
Quality education can act as a grand equalizer and is capable of lifting less privileged children by improving their chances for accomplishment as adults.
Due to shortage of resources and infrastructure and gaps in system, children from under privileged society are often at a disadvantage in school.
The idea of ‘Edu-Rath’ was conceived to bridge this gap by providing quality education by reaching out such needy children through participatory and interactive methods.
Under the project, prototype of a school is set up on a rickshaw ‘Edu-Rath’ with a vision to provide holistic education and support to the children of pavement and slum dwellers, and other disadvantaged families in the surrounding area of Maharaja Agrasen College.
The Initiative
A custom built mobile school is designed atop a rickshaw which is carried to the needy students so as to equip them with educational tools by overcoming the infrastructure and resources constraint.
The customized design of ‘Edu-Rath’ coalesce all the important components of a school and essentially comprises of three mobile sections.
Computer Literacy Section
To provide a cost-effective IT and computer literacy drive by training them in IT skills.
A custom built mobile computer lab designed atop a rickshaw shall be carried to the needy students so as to provide them the opportunity to train them in Information technology.
The customized design ‘Edu- Rath’ is fitted with laptops in customized cases so that they cannot be tempered with but still accessible to students.
Can be transformed into a 15ft wide classroom for teaching theory classes.
Provision of white board with projection facility.
Replete with all basic items including worksheets for various age groups, stationary items, laptops, battery and inverter for charging the laptops, running the projector, speakers and microphone, etc., required to conduct a class along with hands on training in Information technology.
The Laboratory Section
The Science Section was envisaged based on the concept that Laboratories are a core requirement in many domains, in particular in science education.
Innovatively designed keeping in mind the gap between classroom teaching of theoretical concepts and their applications in laboratories.
The teacher while teaching the concept will have an opportunity to demonstrate the practical aspect of it in the classroom itself.
Shall also provide an opportunity to integrate real time demonstration of scientific concepts with classroom lectures.
This section shall house a physics lab, chemistry lab, electronics lab, math lab and English lab apart from a basic science lab to generate the interest of students in science education.
The Books Section
Books are the number one educational tool as a book provides a child with valuable vocabulary, expanding their ‘word bank’, stimulates children’s imagination, develops social skills, offer the children a more wide knowledge and experience and enhance their curiosity for deeper subjects or abstract ideas.
The section equipped with general reading books so as to expose the children to the wonderful world of books.
Learning from the innovation
Innovation has been a great learning experience for the students involved in the project. It has not only helped students acquire the necessary skill of developing a product wherein work like nailing, soldering, cutting etc, were undertaken by the students themselves but also sensitized them towards the needs of the underprivileged. It immensely contributed to the working environment by making our students more responsive and considerate.
