Aequs Foundation Engages Curious Minds to

 Aequs Foundation Engages Curious Minds
to Driveaway Lockdown Blues

  Aequs launches Online Summer Camps for 6^th to 9^th class students making learning fun by engaging about 2000 children during the lockdown. Starts online coaching to help 10^th class students catch up with syllabus ahead of final exams.

Cooped up in their homes as they are, missing out on play and school due to the lockdown, scores of children in Karnataka’s hinterland are nevertheless making the most of their time indoors mixing learning with play, thanks to the Curious Minds summer camps run Aequs Foundation in the name of the Anasuya Melligeri Science Centre with the Agastya International Foundation.

 Children in the 6^th to 9^th standards have been logging on to the Curious Minds classes twice daily for sessions lasting 90 minutes each using either their parent’s mobile phones or computers to learn by doing activities that are fun and easy to carry out. The program focuses on ‘learning by doing’ where children are encouraged to experiment and gain knowledge through reflective observation.

 What used to be a typical classroom program went online this year due to the pandemic. But the impact has been tremendous with over 1800 students participating in the camps from Hubballi and Belagavi alone. Apart from the Google Meet sessions they also keep in touch with their instructors on 50 odd WhatsApp groups.

 “The objective of Aequs Foundation’s STEM program is to impart the fundamentals of science through an experiential learning mode and improve awareness and confidence among children and spark their curiosity and nurture creativity. Curious Minds is one of the programs run by the Aequs Foundation which seeks to positively impact communities in and around Aequs’ manufacturing ecosystems. Several projects like the Science Centre, the Mobile Labs, Science Fairs, and teacher training programs are geared towards this”, said Mrs. Mai Melligeri, Chairperson, Aequs Foundation.

 

 We are engaged with the Agastya International Foundation since 2017 for our STEM initiatives in and around Belagavi and Hubbali and Curious Minds is one among the many successful programs run by the partnership, she added.

 The program’s success can be gauged from the fact some of the children have gone on to successfully innovate with interesting concepts. For instance, 8^th class student Abhishek Hendarageri from the GHPS Ramapura in Dharwad district has innovated to use speed breakers to generate electricity. Similarly, Shivaraj Mulimani of GHPS Bandiwad, also from

Dharwad, has crafted an onion separator to make his farmer father’s life easy.

Significantly, the Aequs Foundation-Agastya partnership has also taken up the task of bringing up to speed some 600 students of the 10^th standard in the districts of Belagavi and Hubbali with their curriculum. These students will have to appear for their final examinations sometime in June soon after the lockdown is lifted.