On March 5th, Melli Annamalai Ph.D, addressed the Rotary Club of Nashua, regarding her program on Science Education in Government Schools Mysore District. Melli was born in Chicago, moved back to India at age 4 and now is in Nashua. Melli is currently working on increasing education options in India. She is a firm believer in education.
Her program on Science Education in Government Schools Mysore District, highlighted the problem with public education in India. She informed the club, that all children live within 1 mile of a public school building, and the government supplies free uniforms, meals and textbooks. The underlying problem is the cycle of teaching/learning at these public schools. The second problem is no libraries or science labs. Public schools have not always providing avenues for critical thinking or learning, they have promoted memorization. Then the cycle is repeated.
Through the efforts of introducing the “scientific” method/process students as well as teachers are beginning to make strides in education in these schools. There is fierce competition and drive to have kids attend private schools with better teaching methods. This program, that is funded by companies such as Oracle and non-profits, has been able to provide a mobile science lab to allow some hands-on learning and get kids excited about education.
I might add the van was sponsored by Rotary Club International. The latest is providing a mobile library to offer more access to a wider variety of books, that kids can sign out and further their learning experience.