With supporters ranging from Google.org to UNICEF to the Clinton Global Initiative, Pratham is well recognized in the field of education and literacy. Set up in 1994, Pratham is India’s largest non-governmental organization focused on education for underprivileged children. Over the years, Pratham’s direct program (Learn to Read) has reached over 1 million children, with over 250,000 children being taught daily in over 40 cities. The organization’s more recently launched Read India program has reached over 33 million children in over 300,000 villages.
read more…
India currently has 0.6 doctors for every 1000 people. It ranks 124th in the world for this statistic, lower than Iraq and Pakistan. Moreover, according to the government itself, 67% of enrolled doctors do not show up regularly for duty. Another study suggests that 26% of rural hospitals in India regularly take bribes for general admission. While getting health care in India is not straightforward, the number of deaths due to easily preventable illnesses is astounding. For example, over 2 million children under the age of 5 die each year in India due to water born illnesses alone. Bridging the gap with basic health care information is part of the solution. In countries like the US, with high internet penetration, web sites such as WebMD and Revolution Health serve this purpose. However, India only has 50 million internet connections serving a population of 1.2 billion, making this a suboptimal distribution medium. By contrast, the country now has over 500 million mobile phone connections, with tremendous penetration amongst the rural poor. That’s where the social venture mDhil comes into play. read more…
Many who think they had the best of educations, particularly in science, will be forced to think twice after a visit to an Agastya science lab. Agastya develops independent science centers and trains science teachers to provide best-in-class, hands-on learning for students between the 5th and 10thstandards. Teachers from nearby schools can periodically bring students to these centers to get practical knowledge on a wide variety of science concepts. In addition, Agastya funds mobile vehicles, which takes equipment and science teachers to schools in the locality. Agastya is particularly unique, in that it has developed hundreds of innovative live science models to demonstrate scientific phenomena ranging from eclipses to gravity to redox reactions. The science models are designed so that there is absolutely no confusion about the concept. For example, to demonstrate an eclipse, a pulley system has been developed such that all elements (the rotation and revolution of the earth on their respective planes, the revolution of the moon on its respective plane) simultaneously move, but at the right proportion to each other. A steam engine has been developed with transparent glass casings so that the steam is visible and one can see how the pressure creates movement. Agastya International now touches over one million children in South India through its mobile labs and science centers.
