JOIN USSmart classroom ‘surprise’ awaits students at govt school
Impressive oil paintings on the walls that would strike a chord with children, a large screen, LED projector, and speakers.
These would surprise 102 students of a government-run school in Vellore, 140 km from here, when they return to their institution after the Covid-19 break as they will get to experience a smart classroom.
The Government Adi Dravidar (Scheduled Caste) Welfare Primary School in Alamelumangapuram, functioning since 1947, has students from underprivileged sections of different communities. The new facilities have been made possible due to the efforts of a techie-activist Dinesh Saravanan, who made better use of social media to source funds for the initiative.
After Saravanan approached the school headmaster T Anbazhagan and evinced interest in giving students a new experience through a smart classroom, the office room was chosen for the purpose. The room has undergone a complete transformation into a smart classroom by boasting of a LED projector, screen, soundproof ceiling, woofers, and speakers.
The smart classroom was inaugurated by Vellore District Collector A Shanmuga Sundram on Tuesday. The school currently has 102 students – 53 girls and 49 boys – and five teachers, including the headmaster.
“The smart classroom will be very beneficial to students as we can teach them using visuals. This has also been made easy now since all textbooks now have a QR code through which the materials can be downloaded and stored in a pen drive. Smart classroom, I am sure, will interest students more and enhance their participation,” Anbazhagan told DH.
The headmaster said he has plans to ensure that all students from class one to five get to receive lessons in all subjects inside the smart classroom at least once in a week. “We have drafted a plan. Once the school reopens, we will finalise the plan and ensure students get maximum out of the smart classroom,” Anbazhagan said.
Saravanan, who has been helping hundreds of people affected by Covid-19 lockdown in Vellore told DH that he began sourcing funds for the project in January and the project could have been completed by April if not for the Coronavirus outbreak.
“80 percent of the work was over in February, but Covid-19 lockdown spoiled all our plans. It gave me immense satisfaction when the district collector praised my efforts and said this smart classroom can be a model for many schools in the future,” Saravanan said.
Saravanan, an analyst with a US-based communication technology company in Chennai, Saravanan began his social service in 2014 after his brother passed away following a road accident.
He has so far distributed 18,000 saplings to households in and around Vellore. The software analyst also received recognition of sorts for his work in April when Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami took to Twitter to congratulate Saravanan for using his “free time” qualitatively to help the people during their tough times.