Gift an education...Make a life !

Dear Patrons,

The talents and the skill sets of Isha Vidhya students amazes
every one of us more and more in each passing day!

We are glad to share that Harish from Isha Vidhya Nagercoil school
has won the first prize in the state level science exhibition, and has
become eligible for the National level competition!  It's worthwhile to
note here that Harish had earlier won the district level Jawarlal Nehru
science exhibition.

Honourable Ministoer for Education Shri. Veeramani, and the
District Collector appreciated his project, which is an induction heater,
which could prove very useful in containing the wastage in the
gold smelting industry.

It's a moment of pride for us that Harish is now eligible to compete in
the National level exhibition, to be held in New Delhi.

Here's the sharing from Harish in his own words! :

My mother's relative Raghu anna gave me the idea to do this project.
It's an induction heater.  Without the use of any fuel, it heats metal
within 10-15 seconds causing no pollution!  Raghu anna helped me
to make it.  My parents helped me in giving explanation of its functioning.

While making it, I felt very happy and proud and I wanted the whole world
to know about it!  I wanted this project to be of benefit to all the factories
so that pollution and fire accidents could be avoided.

When I got the first prize, I felt very proud and happy.  I thanked Raghu
anna, my parents and my teachers in my school in my mind.  It was
indeed a wonderful experience getting the first prize at the district level
and the state level.

It was my first attempt, and I enjoyed it a lot!

Harish K.S.
Standard VIII B, Isha Vidhya Matriculation School, Nagercoil
NGK - 0007/07

This is a testimony of what the empowered rural children are capable of,
when nurtured with the right atmosphere and approach!   And we are
happy that Harish's dream of whole world coming to know of his project
is getting real through Global Giving!

We take this opportunity to remind you that Isha Vidhya is pariticipating
in the December Global Giving fund-raising campaign to raise funds for the
laptops needed to be procurred for the academic co-ordinators of the
Isha Vidhya and the govt. schools supported by Isha Vidhya.

Academic co-ordinators play a very important role in the design of curriculum.
Here's a sharing by one of the academic co-ordinators in their own words on
their work:

Nandhini – Isha Vidhya :

As coordinators we are entrusted with ensuring quality in the support we
provide to schools, be it Isha Vidhya or government schools, we want to
provide intervention that is at par with the best. In order to do this we have
to do two main things, visit schools for monitoring and develop curriculum
when there is a need.

1. The school coordinators develop customized teacher manuals, student
handouts and worksheets that are linked to curriculum documents.
We support schools by developing curriculum that is at the level of the
students, most of the content in the government text books are either too
simple or too complex for the students. The coordinators assess the level |
of the students and develop content that is relevant, practical, useful and
engaging.  

2. We travel to schools to monitor the functioning of schools and observe
the quality of teaching. We then make a report by compiling the findings.
This report will help us determine

• If the school is functioning as expected.
• If the teachers need additional training.
• If the school is following the Isha Methodology.
• If the content is delivered the way it is to be delivered.
• If the content developed appropriate.

Access to laptops gives us the flexibility of time and space to carry out
our professional work. Using laptop has made an enormous difference
to the work we do and communication between us and the schools.
Laptops have become an essential tool for us, it helps us increase
efficiency in key areas such as analysis, research, content planning,
documentation, administration and reporting.

Working on laptops ensures that our planning and preparation is more
efficient. We routinely use laptops to do other important tasks such as
writing reports, recording student grades and monitoring progress. 

We encourage you to donate generously for procurring the laptops for the
co-ordinators, and help Isha Vidhya scale new heights!  We also encourage
you to share this message with your circle of contacts of friends, colleagues,
partners, classmates, etc, so that they come to know about the great work
that Isha Vidhya is doing!

Link to donate: http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/ishavidhya

Thanks & Best Regards,