Knowledge on wheels

Vidynan Vahini is a laboratory on wheels. This ‘Phirti Prayogshala’ goes to village schools within a radius of 50-70 km of Pune,carrying all kinds of equipment,foldable tables and even an electricity generator,to give students a hands-on learning experience of Science. It was started in July 1995 by mathematicians Madhukar and Pushpa Deshpande,settled in Wisconsin,USA. Currently,a group of volunteers looks into its working.

At Malkhed Village,the Std VIII class of 30 students,waits with baited breath for the Physics lesson to begin. The students know that the lesson will no longer be about a teacher scribbling away on the blackboard. The plastic balls,the bucket of water and the other paraphernalia that they saw being carried to class assured them of some serious fun!

One of the students,Yogesh Deshpande says,“I had never thought that learning about the laws of atmospheric pressure would be so much fun. Also,it was good to know that Newton also dozed off with books under a tree. Now when my teacher scolds me for sleeping on the last bench,maybe I can tell him that I am on my way to becoming the next Newton!”

Though chances are that Yogesh might get punished for that cheeky retort,even his Science teacher,Chandake Pandit agrees that children learn much faster on this day. “For the students of Std X,who have to appear for practical exams during the SSC board exams,it makes a lot of difference to actually perform experiments,test acids and bases,identify gases,detect halogens,and set up an electric circuit all by themselves to understand the Ohm’s law.”

Another teacher in the school says that since most students come from families of farmers and have to work in the fields after school,the concept of homework just does not work. Their learning is limited to the classroom as even their parents don’t have the awareness to tell them to revise lessons at home.

Ashok Prabhu,who was earlier the head of information technology at a bank,has found that teaching these kids is quite a challenge. “The first step was to learn all scientific jargon in Marathi as most of the schools that we visit are Marathi-medium unaided schools. Simplifying concepts to the level of school kids and making the classes interesting at the same time was the second step. The idea is to change the attitude towards learning science by making it fun.” And fun it is – whether it’s learning about the structure of the eye and the ear via slide shows in the classroom or watching videos on the structure of carbon and various types of snakes in the blue bus of Vidynan Vahini.

In the last 15 years,this initiative has reached out to more than 950 schools and they’re ready to travel new roads. Schools in Aurangabad are next on the itinerary and we’re sure the students will wait for them with the same anticipation.