Kozhikode
The National Institute of Technology Calicut (NITC) has launched a project to develop the 50-year-old Chenoth Government Lower Primary School in Chathamangalam grama panchayat as a model village school, under the Central government project “Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA)-2022”.
The mission of Unnat Bharat Abhiyan is to enable higher educational institutions to work with the people of rural India in identifying development challenges and evolving appropriate solutions for accelerating sustainable growth. It also aims to upgrade the capabilities of both the public and the private sectors in responding to the development needs of rural India.
The Chenoth School, in the vicinity of NITC, primarily caters to children belonging to families from nearby settlements mostly of low income communities and weaker sections of society. The school has been experiencing issues related to dilapidated physical infrastructure, lack of a children-friendly learning environment, lack of appropriate supporting systems to facilitate quality teaching and skill development of the children.
The UBA cell established at the NIT Calicut has suggested proposals to upgrade the school for ensuring quality education to the children.
The project, initiated in March 2022, proposes to develop an academic master plan for transforming the school as a centre of excellence at the village level, fostering the holistic development of the children as well as the community. The scheme envisages mainstreaming the children to the formal schooling by exposing them to the nuances of science and technology with the help of human as well as technical resources of the NITC.
Developing a children-friendly learning environment, setting up of a science clinic, conducting workshops and training programmes to enhance the learning levels of the children, offering technical solutions and support systems to improve the scientific and technical knowledge of the children and providing computer education to bridge the digital divide are the immediate priorities identified by the UBA cell.
Strengthening the capacity of teachers by introducing advanced teaching and learning systems and empowerment of the parents of the children for better community development have also been identified as the long term goals.
Prasad Krishna, Director of NITC, launched the activities of the UBA cell for 2022 on the school premises on Wednesday. Chathamangalam grama panchayat president Gafoor Olikkal inaugurated the function.
