PROJECTS |
Envikal1
- Alamathi A rural education initiative jointly managed by Divine Mother Society (DMS) Trust and IIT Madras Students’ (1970) Trust. DMS Trust had been offering medical services to the village populace in and around Alamathi since 1992 through its medical centre in the Ashram situated in the Thiruvallore High Road, about 3 miles from Red Hills, at the outskirts of the city of Chennai. (Click here to know more about the activities of DMS). In 2000, the Trust wanted to expand its services to offer Computer Education to the rural kids with two PCs and Office software received in donation. |
Envikal2
- Hyderabad |
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2001
- 2002 The interaction between Secretary, DMS and IITM70 resulted in the start of computer classes in June 2001 for the students of class Govt. High School at Alamathi. To enhance the infrastructure, one new PC was procured from IITM70 funds, and Ford India donated two used PCs without much ado when we made our request. The center was named “DMS-IITM70 computer center”. Realizing the need for support for the students to perform better in the Public examination, coaching in curriculum subjects like Mathematics, English grammar and Science was also started. In the academic year 2001-02, over 100 students were benefited. At the end of the year, Mr. Selvaraj, the Head Master of the school, gladly acknowledged that his school secured 85 percent success rate in the examination, (compared to the 35% achieved in the previous year), thanks to the DMS-IITM70 initiative. |
2002
- 2003 During the computer training, it was observed that several kids had an aptitude for computer arts (MS-Paint) and it is possible to train them in Graphics subjects like Animation, Image editing, Desktop publishing and the like. So it was decided to organize courses for unemployed rural youth in addition to the training being offered to class 10 students. Two more PCs were procured from IITM70 funds. A certificate course on Computer Graphics was conducted in summer and winter for 2 batches of boys and girls numbering 17, who had completed class 12 and were yet to be gainfully employed. Candidates with aptitude for arts and crafts were chosen. The output from students exceeded expectation. One of them, Sasikumar, has designed and developed this website with technical support from Creative Desk, our partners in the initiative. |
Computer Graphics Course |
2003
- 2004 This academic year has started promisingly with about 80 students from the Alamathi School reporting for coaching classes on the inaugural day, June 14th. The number of teachers has been increased to 3 as it has been decided to cover Social Sciences, in addition to Math’s and Science. We plan to give more emphasis on English (Writing and articulation skills), as we realize that India, and particularly Chennai, is favourite destination for Business Process Outsourcers in years to come and rural youth could play a bigger role, given proper training and opportunities. |