For far too long, R. Navin Kumar, a student of Corporation High School, Varadharajapuram, who will be going to Class IX, has watched the myriad civic and social problems in his locality with a sense of helplessness.
InitiativeNo more. For, he is now armed with a video camera and the training to shoot, edit and compile movies, thanks to the Digital Story Telling initiative undertaken by the Coimbatore Corporation in association with the American India Foundation (AIF). He plans to document the problems and showcase them.
M. Thirumalai, another Corporation school student who will be going to Class VII, is no longer dependent on books to perform practical experiments. Thanks to the QED (Quest Explore Discover) kits, he now explains the concepts such as ‘movement of diaphragm’ to his classmates.
K. Vasanthi, another Corporation High School student, finds that her concentration levels have improved dramatically, a significant factor as she approaches Class X. “After participating in the Smart Brain Class, I have been able to avoid distractions,” she says.
A significant factor in all these initiatives is that they have all been beneficiaries of the summer camp conducted during the annual school holidays, says V. Alexander, Regional Coordinator (TN), Digital Equalizer programme, AIF. Totally, as many as 340 students from Classes VI to X are taking part in the five-day training camps that will be held through the summer in batches.
Leisure activitiesThe objective of the summer camp, he says, is to increase participants’ self-esteem, enable group cohesion and educate students through leisure activities.
Further, Mr. Alexander says the Foundation also planned to conduct ‘Ignite Youth Learning Campaign’ between May 1 and 30 in partnership with technology company Dell.
Through this campaign, the Dell personnel will come to the Corporation schools and conduct a series of educational activities. Gardening and landscaping activities would also taken up in schools.
MoUThe Coimbatore Corporation had inked a three-year MoU (2012-2015) with the AIF to implement a ‘Digital Equalizer’ Programme in all the 10 high schools, 16 higher secondary schools, and one special school of the civic body.