agastya -- science education in Rural India

Went to a fascinating presentation by a former banker, Ramji Raghavan, whose foundation is working to ignite that creative spark in young minds of rural India. The video Ramji showed us can, at this point, tell you more about their work than I what I learned this afternoon. Watch it, if you have the time. Considering, that the venue was MIT's Media Lab, this has to be the money quote:

Some people think that distributing computers all over the countryside will revolutionize the world. I wish life were that simple.

As with all interesting initiatives, which hope to make an impact in a country as populous as India, Agastya works with the support of the government. Some IISc professors are also involved in the effort to educate rural teachers, who could easily feel threatened by this move to shake up science learning by making the process hands-on. Designing the right tools for teaching is a big part of this method: there is, for instance, a planetary system model carved by a local shepherd.

Also, see the Mobile Lab's driver-cum-educator in action. He has some magical story-telling prowess, the envy of a performer anywhere. He was one of the first people to sign up for the job and the foundation was just plain lucky in getting him.