Today was our day to see how technology is helping the kinds of families we have been visiting. We headed to a suburb to see 2 slum schools that have varying degrees of Computer-Aided Learning centers built by Pratham, the NGO whose shelter we visited several days ago. The first school had 2 such centers – one for pre-school through 4th, and one for 5th through 8th. Standing with the little ones I could have been in my son’s preschool – they sat at the same Little Tykes computer consoles and played games aimed at boosting their basic skills in math, reading, general knowledge and English. Rather than being canned programs, these were built by Pratham’s own programmers and specifically aimed at these kids. Their Jigar series and the tutorials they have built for Word, PowerPoint and Excel, which can be run in 3 local languages, allows students to self-teach if they are in an area where there are not knowledgeable teachers. Pratham operates in 17 states in India, and has “friends” branches around the US and UK.
After a yummy lunch at which we sang Michael Hendrickson “Happy Birthday” while he blew out the candles on his chocolate mousse, we headed to Pratham’s local office to learn about how they are using GPS technology in this context. We split into groups and went with a tech who showed us how to map a route using a handheld GPS. We then downloaded our data onto the office computer and created a map with precise longitude and latitude points and with landmarks and other text commentary included. Pratham has mapped 50 slums around Mumbai this way (an aside – 40% of this city’s residents live in slums – and there are 16 million residents – can you even imagine??) The purpose of the initiative is twofold – first, so that they can identify where families live and work on developing education plans for each child, on the “micro” level. The GPS allows them both to locate families and to guide families to local resources (e.g., the school is just 5 blocks away, there’s a clinic here, etc.) The second purpose is to allow donors to see precisely where their dollars are going – they regularly e-mail reports to donors with maps attached of the precise areas in which their $$ have been spent. Talk about donor transparency! Wow!
With all the technology we have at our disposal, it is wonderful to see such a dedicated organization using cutting edge tools to make a real difference.
Tonight the kids and other adults are going to the Hindi movie “Jhoom Barabar Jhoom”, which should be highly entertaining for them – even if it is in Hindi with no subtitles. I have stayed behind, and have asked them to perform the best musical dance sequence when they get back. Make sure you ask when you see them, too!
After a yummy lunch at which we sang Michael Hendrickson “Happy Birthday” while he blew out the candles on his chocolate mousse, we headed to Pratham’s local office to learn about how they are using GPS technology in this context. We split into groups and went with a tech who showed us how to map a route using a handheld GPS. We then downloaded our data onto the office computer and created a map with precise longitude and latitude points and with landmarks and other text commentary included. Pratham has mapped 50 slums around Mumbai this way (an aside – 40% of this city’s residents live in slums – and there are 16 million residents – can you even imagine??) The purpose of the initiative is twofold – first, so that they can identify where families live and work on developing education plans for each child, on the “micro” level. The GPS allows them both to locate families and to guide families to local resources (e.g., the school is just 5 blocks away, there’s a clinic here, etc.) The second purpose is to allow donors to see precisely where their dollars are going – they regularly e-mail reports to donors with maps attached of the precise areas in which their $$ have been spent. Talk about donor transparency! Wow!
With all the technology we have at our disposal, it is wonderful to see such a dedicated organization using cutting edge tools to make a real difference.
Tonight the kids and other adults are going to the Hindi movie “Jhoom Barabar Jhoom”, which should be highly entertaining for them – even if it is in Hindi with no subtitles. I have stayed behind, and have asked them to perform the best musical dance sequence when they get back. Make sure you ask when you see them, too!
We have seen lots of critters around, but today we added monkey on a leash and elephant trundling down the sidewalk to our list. Woo-hoo!!
Tomorrow, Bollywood!!
Tomorrow, Bollywood!!
2 comments:
Happy Birthday, Mike!
MGP
Thank you, Leigh, for publishing this blog. I have truly enjoyed reading it, seeing the photos and watching the videos of the Brooks group--looking forward to each new entry. I've passed it on to our friends and family as well. What an experience all of you are having! Stay safe and healthy--Catherine King
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