Ghosts trapped in jars, straw flutes, tornado in a bottle; the complexities of science can be simplified for children in a fun way and this is exactly what Agastya Foundation does. A Bangalore based foundation dedicated to hand on science education, their aim is to foster creative thinking among underprivileged children who do not have access to books and laboratory facilities. Agastya Foundation's Science Fair. Pic: Usha Hariprasad. Chairman Ramji Raghavan left an illustrious corporate career in 1998 to set up the Foundation, which has such eminent scientists like P K Iyengar (Former chairman of Indian Atomic Energy commission) and…
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Sixteen-year-old Hasina Begum, a student of Magadi Government Girls High School in Bengaluru is entering a crucial year in school, the tenth standard. This is just her third year in school. Hasina used to work as a domestic help before she was rescued by the Association for Promoting Social Action (APSA), a Bangalore-based grassroots community development organisation. Underprivileged children who study at APSA's Kanasina Shale, located in LB Shastri Nagar. Pic: Vaishnavi Vittal Hasina studied and prepared for her seventh standard exams at APSA's Dream School or Kanasina Shale, where formal education is imparted to child labourers and children from…
Read moreAshraff Unnissa of Alahalli vanished two years ago. So did Shanthamma, who was last seen in and around rural Yediyur. Then there's Geetha HR, who has clean vanished from her place of employment in Kodihalli. Pic courtesy: IIJNM All three are members of an elite yet dubious Karnataka club: Bangalore government school teachers with some of the worst absenteeism records in the state. They are gone, forcing their colleagues to pick up their long-forgotten class load. Never gone But in the twisted logic of the educational bureaucracy, they are not forgotten. Since their bosses in the district offices haven't purged…
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