Agastya International Foundation (Agastya)[1] is an Indian education trust and non-profit organization based in Bangalore, India whose mission is "to spark curiosity, nurture creativity and instil confidence" among economically disadvantaged children and teachers in India.[2] A team of scientists, educators, and entrepreneurs led by Ramji Raghavan founded Agastya in 1999.[3] Agastya's founders include the late K.V. Raghavan, former chairman of Engineers India Limited and Dr. P.K. Iyengar, former chairman of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission. Agastya runs hands-on science and art education programs in rural, semi-urban, and urban regions across 19 Indian states. It is one of the world's largest mobile and hands-on science education programs catering to economically disadvantaged children and public-school teachers.[4]
| Industry | Education |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1999 |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | India |
Key people | Ramji Raghavan (Chairman) Mahavir Kumar (Managing Trustee) Rakesh Jhunjhunwala Alok Oberoi Dr. V. K. Aatre H. N. Srihari Adhirath Sethi Vidya Shah Utpal Seth |
Number of employees | 1500+ |
| Website | www.agastya.org |
Programs
editCampus Creativity Lab
editAgastya has a "Campus Creativity Lab" located on a 172-acre campus in Kuppam, Andhra Pradesh.[3][5] It houses science and art centers, including among other labs an astronomy center, a planetarium, a center for creative teaching, an innovation hub, a science model-making center, and the Ramanujan Math Park, an open-air ecology lab. The school has 800 teachers and 280 night school volunteers.[3] The campus welcomes over 650 children every day from 8 to 10 schools,[3] additionally, teachers from seven Indian states are trained here.[6]
The school has cumulatively reached over eight million with around 1.5 million children every year apart from 2.5 million teachers.[3] In 2016, the school had a ₹300 million ($4.1 million) annual budget, 850 employees, 138 mobile lab-vans, 50 labs on bikes, and 60 science centers spread around the 172-acre main campus in Kuppam.[3]
Other educational programs
editAgastya's programs across India are also delivered by over 190 Mobile Lab and iMobile Lab Vans, 90 Lab-on-Bikes and TechLaBikes, 100 Science Centers, and nearly 700 night village school centers. It has trained over 30,000 Young Instructor Leaders (peer-to-peer teachers). Through its Young Instructor Leader (YIL) program begun in 2007, the foundation promotes and nurtures children of exceptional ability to learn.[3] The program became a game-changer for many students, for example by teaching children to boost their organizational prowess and develop their decision-making skills. It also has encouraged many students to overcome stage fright.[3]
The foundation operates mobile labs that cover village schools in and around the district, thereby enabling children to perform experiments by themselves.[3] As of January 2020, Agastya has directly reached over 12 million children (50% girls) and 250,000 teachers from vulnerable and economically disadvantaged communities. As a charitable trust, Agastya is funded by Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) engagement and donations, governmental funding, and individual donations. In 2010, Agastya signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Karnataka state government to establish core science activity centers in five districts in north Karnataka.[7] The foundation conducted a science fair in Bihar in 2012 which reached out to 24,000 students and 1,100 teachers through a bequest of the Late Mr. Abdul Kalam (Ex-President of India) to sponsor a program in Bihar.[3]
One of the organization's central aims is to develop student curiosity in the world around them and to launch them on a path of lifetime discovery and understanding.[3]
Activities
editAs a result of the COVID-19 outbreak (2020) Agastya has provided online training for public school teachers in over 15 states, and has helped students set up science labs at home.[8]
Awards and recognitions
editAgastya won the Google Global Impact Award in 2013[9] and was ranked among the top 100 global innovators by The Rockefeller Foundation Next Century Awards.[10] In 2016, Agastya's founder Ramji Raghavan received the Deshpande Foundation's Sandbox Catalyst Award from Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus and the Innovation for India Award from the Marico Innovation Foundation.[11]
In 2019 Agastya received an Andhra Pradesh State Green Award for its work to regenerate the ecosystem of its 172-acre campus, which is documented in the book, 'The Roots of Creativity'.[12] In 2020, Agastya was featured in the book, 'Seven Sutras of Innovation' by Nikhil Inamdar, as one of eight organizations in India that as "start-ups to scale-ups are transforming India". As the organization's efforts have gained recognition around the world, it has been approached by well-known educational organizations for experiments in educational innovation.[3] The project-based learning program, for example, was started by Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in Massachusetts with Agastya.[3]
References
edit- ^ Saha, Devanik (12 September 2012). "Fostering Innovation and Creativity in Rural India: Agastya Foundation". Huffington Post. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
- ^ Agastya in Forbes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Pulakkat, Hari (10 January 2016). "How Agastya International Foundation is creating tomorrow's leaders in rural India". The Economic Times. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
- ^ "Education World Article". Archived from the original on 27 May 2012. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
- ^ "Agastya Science Center: Education and Hope from a Fountain of Knowledge". Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
- ^ "'Agastya Foundation' - A Knowledge Hub For Village Students: ETV Report". YouTube. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
- ^ "Agastya International Foundation | Who Are Our Partners". www.agastya.org. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
- ^ "Agastya helps govt school students set up science labs at home". Livemint. 6 July 2020.
- ^ "'Google.org Impact Challenge India 2013". withgoogle.
- ^ "'THE ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION NEXT CENTURY INNOVATORS AWARDS". opportunitiesforafricans.
- ^ "'Aha moments". chinadailyhk.
- ^ "'The Roots of Creativity- Ecology at Agastya by Agastya International Foundation - Issuu". issuu.