Jaya Prakash Kommu, an IIM graduate, was approached by his relative for help to do his engineering project. This experience triggered an idea and in collaboration with his friends from IIM-Indore, launched Practease.
These young engineers turned management graduates realised that the root of the problem runs deeper, and decided to step in and correct it. Stalin Joseph, a member of the group says, “When I spoke to engineering students who joined the software company I was working for and asked them why they chose this despite having studied something else, they responded saying it was the only option available.”
“When we discussed these things, we felt the students are not guided properly with regard to career planning. So we decided to inculcate an interest in science from a young age,” he adds.
ADVERTISEMENT
Practease team aims at teaching students in school by conducting workshops on basic science projects. Sirish Krishna of Practease says, “We supplement the basic concepts with live demos in order to accentuate their learning process.”
Curriculum-based training
Practease provides two programmes — one being mapped to the curriculum and the other outside of it. In the curriculum-based plan they conduct workshops in schools explaining the scientific concept with hands-on training.
ADVERTISEMENT
Sirish says, “Schools are interested in our curriculum-based training as our models are not available in their labs.” Stalin says, “We demonstrate the working of a simple generator by rotating a simple magnet inside a copper coil that is connected to a light bulb. So when the magnetic flux is being cut by a current carrying conductor, electrical energy is produced to light the bulb. This way student learns in a practical way and understands better.”
Stalin says, “We have had positive responses from students and parents. One of the advantages of our projects is that we try to keep the models as simple as possible.”
The team says their target is to conduct 180 workshops which will cover 10,000 students across Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. Practease's future plans include seeking aid from the corporates to fund smaller and rural schools .