Students of the premier engineering college Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI),Matunga,have come up with an initiative to give school students a peek into the study of engineering. Starting from December 13,these students will organise Pratigya,a programme involving special workshops and sessions for school children based on engineering education and robotics. According to the VJTI students,through Pratigya they aim to make school children understand what engineering education actually is and to impart knowledge of elementary robotics and developments in technology. Jahnvi Jain,general manager of Pratigya,said,Pratigya was conceptualised with the intention of making technology percolate down from universities to the younger minds at the school level itself and inculcate in students the interest to understand and improve technology. Pratigya was started under Technovanza,an annual national level technical festival of the institute. However,the students and the organisers decided to continue it throughout the year. Technovanza 2011 is scheduled on February 4,5 and 6. Jain said,In the month of December,we are planning to cover only four schools as most of the schools are celebrating their annual day. Pragati is organised under Technovanza but it will continue throughout the year even after the festival ends. Pratigya will continue in three phases before Technovanza. The first phase will start with seminars and workshops in schools across the city from Ulhasnagar to Malabar Hill. In the second phase,students with exceptional projects will be invited to be part of exhibitions at Technovanza. And thirdly school students would be invited to visit technovanza as a school activity. Akshaye Shetye,a student of third-year electronics engineering and one of the organiser of Pratigya said,On December 13 we have organised a three-hour session at Atomic energy school in Trombay. The session will be interactive and would incorporate videos and presentations to make students look forward to learn and have fun with robotics. We hope our efforts will generate interest and curiosity for engineering and technology among these school students.
