Bigger, Better, Bolder

A new chapter in Afcons’ association with Ashramshala unfolded last year with the introduction of the Chotte Scientist programme. The purpose of the programme, besides other skill-development initiatives, was to step up our focus on advanced learning in order to transform the tribal children into more versatile human beings.

The Chhote Scientist initiative, especially, was introduced to pique the scientific curiosity of the children with live experiments, demonstrations, and, modelling. Seven Afconians had volunteered in the first programme, in 2019, to mentor the tribal kids. With the event making an indelible impact on the children and their teachers, enthusiastic Afconians made it a point to make 2020 bigger than the previous year. As many as fourteen Afconians volunteered to participate in this unique ‘learning’ programme.

The Preparation

The three-day programme typically begins with a day-long workshop, where the volunteers are introduced to the curriculum and experiments. Tips and tricks are shared on how to communicate with the children. The volunteers are encouraged to not only perform the experiments, but also speak in Marathi, the first language of the students.

The mentors get a week between the workshop and the training day to prepare. Lunch breaks are sacrificed, and, so is sleep. During this time, the mentors scour through online resources, borrow science books from their children to prepare and simplify the concepts. Their aim is to transform the 40-odd children into confident individuals with sound scientific concepts.

The Mentoring

For the second consecutive year, Afconians didn’t cease to amaze with their innovative teaching methodologies. While some teams played kabaddi and antakshari to break ice, others introduced the concept of cue cards to help the children speak with flair in front of the audience. With more mentors, and, experience earned from the previous year, the experiments and demonstrations were more advanced and better planned this year.

The Result

With the number of volunteers doubling, more children benefitted from this initiative. The feather in the cap, for the second year in a row, was an Afcons’ team winning the first prize at the event. By sustaining and adding value to this programme, the Chotte Scientist Knowledge Ambassadors, from Afcons, made a meaningful contribution to a local community that is otherwise cut off from the glitz and glam of city life.

You can watch the video of all the action at Ashramashala in the Box Office section of the newsletter.