Students from ‘rural training centres’ show their skill in coding

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Students working with materials under the guidance of a teacher. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

When Iniyasri, a school student from Uthukottai in Thiruvallur district, learnt that she would be making a visit to IIT-Madras this month, she could not contain her joy. She was one of the students to be selected to make a presentation that would reflect the digital and computer literacy skills that she had acquired with the help of the Chennai chapter of voluntary organisation Asha for Education.

“Last time, I was not selected to come to IIT, but this time I made it,” says Iniyasri, who is now learning Scratch at a rural training centre (RTC) run by Asha. She showed off her newly acquired skills with a project on the universe at a competition where students from 13 RTCs across Tamil Nadu participated.

Volunteers at Asha Chennai have worked steadily to bring the RTC programme to this point. The programme that started with just two RTCs in 2022 has now grown into a thriving initiative reaching nearly 1,200 students. The RTCs provide free six-month courses for students from Classes 6 to 12. While every centre begins with digital literacy, students can progress to programming, web development, robotics and AI as their skills develop.

Students from Asha’s rural training centres make presentations at IIT-M Research Park.

The excitement of the students, most of whom were from government schools in villages, could hardly be contained within the walls of Raman Hall in the IIT-M Research Park during the competition. Rather than allow the high-pressure environment to dampen their spirits, the students confidently showed their projects to the experts who had come to judge the event. The 18 judges included professionals from Amazon, Ford, Accenture, Cisco, Wipro and several start-up companies. Professors from Rajalakshmi Engineering College and BITS Pilani were also among the judges.

This round in the State capital saw students from 13 centres submit 482 projects across digital literacy, Scratch programming, web development, physical computing, robotics, media editing, JavaScript animations and AI. Of these, 64 projects were selected for presentation at IIT-M. The projects reflected both the students’ technical learning and their everyday interests. Scratch projects included games, science topics and environmental themes. Students working on websites tackled subjects ranging from agriculture to food delivery management. Robotics students developed ideas such as cleaning robots, pollution detectors and smart agriculture systems.

Volunteer Rajaraman Krishnan, who has been with Asha Chennai for over two decades, said that students have been so engaged with the programme that many have continued attending the RTCs over the years. One of them is doing an internship with Asha Chennai now, he added.

Jayavel, one of the judges, said, “The students were impressive, not just because of what they had built, but also because they had learned and understood their projects well and were able to explain their ideas clearly.