MakerGhat's Newsletter: August '24 Edition
“Before MakerGhat sessions, our learning depended heavily on textbooks, which I didn’t find engaging. With the introduction of Hands-On activities and experiments, my enthusiasm for and understanding of Science has grown significantly…When we were doing the Spark Circuitry activity, it gave us an idea of what a series circuit can be. So I bought a few LEDs, some wires and batteries. With some help from my friends, I connected all the LED bulbs in a series by connecting them with the wire and copper strips. We made our DIY decorative lights, which we named “Litchu Lightings”! —Simran Padhan, Grade 9, Samlaiswari Nodal High School, Bargarh (Odisha)
Simran is among the many students who brought immense joy to the MakerGhat team. Her transformative experience embodies exactly what we strive to achieve – equipping students with problem-solving and collaboration skills while learning scientific concepts, and inspiring ambition and entrepreneurial thinking. It’s truly fulfilling to see students’ aspirations grow through our programs.
Our belief in nurturing employable and entrepreneurial citizens through hands-on making is substantiated by our on-ground impact measurements. We are thrilled to share that we have engaged with 6,00,000 students across grades 6th-10th, public colleges, and ITIs. Of these, 85% of them improved in science skills, 82% have advanced in problem-solving skills, and 87% have made significant strides in communication and collaborative skills. Further details of our programs and their impact are available in our Annual Impact Report.
As MakerGhat’s impact continues to grow, we are also expanding into exciting new programs and experimenting with innovative solutions. Here are some of our latest developments.
TN-IGNITE Incubator Program:?We recently launched a one-of-a-kind incubator program in collaboration with Dhanam Foundation, Schmidt Futures, IIT Madras, and StartupTN— aimed at supporting 10 young entrepreneurs from rural districts of Tamil Nadu. We had the pleasure of hosting them and hearing their pitches, which ranged from Solar Panel renting with Eco-coins, Sustainable Sanitary Napkins, to testing quality of fish using computer vision.
Over the next six months, these young innovators will participate in mentoring sessions, masterclasses, and prototype development, leading up to the culmination of their ideas in December 2024.
Statewide Expansions: We are excited to also work with the State Governments of Tamil Nadu and Odisha for the statewide expansion of our programs through the Namma Schools and Mo Schools initiatives. This opportunity allows us to extend our impact to 30,000+ schools, and build a movement of hands-on making in the state.
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College programs: In collaboration with Utkal University and its 450+ affiliated colleges in Odisha, we have initiated design thinking and system thinking workshops. Additionally, we are setting up entrepreneurial incubation centres, aiming to impact over 26,000 youth across the state. This initiative will empower young minds to think creatively and develop innovative solutions to real-world problems.
Tinkering Program in Rajasthan: We have collaborated with Piramal Foundation to implement tinkering programs aligning Project-Based Learning across 50 government schools in the Jhunjhunu district. The aim is to facilitate students' conducting primary and secondary research, identifying social problems in their communities, and collaborating and designing innovative solutions for solving the problem at hand. The program will impact 3,000 youth, 150 teachers, and 1,000+ community members. The youth from these schools have proactively chosen to work in the space of Menstrual Hygiene. Through our program curriculum, they have been empowered to come up with unique solutions that are affordable and at scale to resolve the issues they identify.
AI in Monitoring & Evaluation: Another exciting update is to our technology stack and approach to monitoring and evaluation. We have developed a WhatsApp Chatbot to facilitate data collection and feedback loops with teachers and students. This innovation will enhance our monitoring and evaluation processes, enabling our team to focus on longitudinal research and development in hands-on making and youth employability. We are excited to implement this tool in schools in the upcoming academic year, and it represents a significant milestone in our journey.
These wonderful opportunities to expand and achieve new milestones have been heartwarming. We welcome you to collaborate with us, or support our efforts through a donation. Join us in nurturing the next generation of problem solvers, innovators, and leaders!
MakerGhat believes in giving where credit is due. We would not have been able to scale our impact and explore a variety of programs to facilitate the skill development of 1.2 million youth in India without the support of our funders and partners.