Pratham Education Foundation

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Pratham 12:14:00 PM

Meet the Interns

Last summer, Pratham Education Foundation had the pleasure of working with 7 interns from various Universities outside India, who worked on different projects during their stay. Pratham interviewed each of these interns about their experience, points of view, impressions, opinions and insights. And we will post one a day.. so watch this space to know more about these interesting people and their exprerience in Pratham and India.

Shin Young Park

Shin is originally from South Korea and is doing her Masters in International Educational Development. She is currently in her 2^nd Year of the Program. Shin chose to work in India because she always wanted to explore the country. While writing her thesis paper she got interested in India and the education and caste system, specifically the inequality in primary education. When she first came to Pratham, she read and studied articles about the educational system and the Right to Education (RTE) Act and then even took a quiz. Shin’s role in her internship had been to put content together for the website regarding the RTE. She wanted to learn about the Indian education policy. Shin travelled to Hardoi in Uttar Pradesh to pilot tools for testing children. She got to really see the disparity, where what she studied on paper came to life on the field. According to Shin, there’s still a long way to go to rectify the education problem in India, but Pratham has taken a step in the right direction and it’s good to see that people are trying to rectify things to make the system work. Shin loved the thought of working in the field and though the living conditions were bad, she enjoyed the atmosphere of the village. Pratham gave her the motivation to want to work on the field and witness the factors affecting children, rather than merely reading theoretical models. Shin was living with an Indian family during her internship and she mentioned that they are like a real family to her where she has got to experience real Indian culture. She felt like India was another home.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Voices of Pratham

Pratham 12:32:00 PM

Celebrating Science

By Namrta Kaushal

For me, the word ‘science’ conjures memories of tedious hours sitting in a classroom, attempting unsuccessful efforts to keep my eyes open and trying hard to understand kinetic energy. I sat in that classroom and decided that science was indeed dull, useless, and irrelevant.

Recently I witnessed the science program run by Pratham in Lucknow. I always thought a child who reads science learns science. Well, that’s how I had learnt it. And I had no choice but re-think that opinion!