IITM Pravartak & Asha for Education, Chennai provide platform for rural Govt School Students to showcase talents

IIT Madras Pravartak Technologies Foundation and Asha for Education, Chennai are providing a platform for Rural Government School students to showcase their talents through events called ‘RTC Impressions’. The event highlights the students’ confidence, creativity and problem-solving skills through well-researched projects and engaging presentations.

These students are beneficiaries of the Rural Technology Centres (RTCs), which are being run by IITM with Asha Foundation with a focus on providing tech education to high school students in remote and rural areas.

The two organizations plan to expand their operations with three new RTCs be inaugurated in February 2025 in Uthukottai, Thirupatchur and Thirutani of Thiruvallur district. Asha and IITM Pravartak are already jointly running 9 Rural Technology Centers (RTCs) during the 2024-25 academic year.

‘RTC Impressions’ event was held on 13th February 2025 at IIT Madras Research Park in the presence of Chief Guest Prof V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, the driving force behind Rural Technology Centres, and Special Guest Ms. Doyeon Kim, Head of International Partnerships, Code.org, an international non-profit organization and educational website.

Competitions were held for the students in the following areas, which were judged by 12 judges from the industry and academia. 

• Basic Digital Literacy
• Basics of Programming
• Web Development
• Physical Programming
• Animation using JavaScript
• Media Editing

Addressing the Prize Distribution Ceremony, Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director of IIT Madras, said, “Our expectation from the RTCs was to provide a platform for students to have opportunity for innovation and out-of-box thinking. There are many social problems, requirements in agriculture, advances in language, which can be overcome by trying out new ideas and we wanted to facilitate this for rural children through the RTCs.”

Having experienced the competition and spending the whole day in seeing the event, Ms. Doyeon Kim, Head (Global Partnerships), Code.org, said, “I was truly inspired by the creativity, problem-solving, and presentation skills of all students. Their diverse projects, covering topics from Indian culture to community applications, highlighted them as creators of technology, not just consumers. The quality and innovation in their work were remarkable.”

IITM Pravartak Technologies is a Section 8 Company housing the Technology Innovation Hub on Sensors, Networking, Actuators and Control Systems. It is funded by Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, under its National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems and hosted by IIT Madras

Asha for Education is a worldwide action group formed to catalyze socio-economic change in India by educating underprivileged children. Asha Chennai has been working to improve government school in Tamilnadu and in furthering Computer Science education through various programmes.

Behind every successful project at RTC Impressions are the dedicated teachers who mentor and guide students through the learning process. Their efforts in fostering curiosity and critical thinking have been instrumental in shaping these young minds.

Project-based learning at the Rural Technology Centres is not just about technology but it is about developing essential life skills. The RTC Impressions proved that when students engage in hands-on learning, they build confidence, communication skills, and a passion for innovation.

While instructions are provided for two-thirds of the course, one-third of the course is dedicated to project work where the children create a presentation or software program of their own.

RTCs operate in underserved remote rural areas. These centers are paired with a Government High or Higher Secondary School located close to the RTC. Teachers from the RTCs teach the school children in classes VI to IX basic digital literacy and basics of programming. They are encouraged to attend advanced courses in the RTCs. Children from other schools in the vicinity (including private schools) get to take these advanced courses for free. Each RTC teaches about 80 students per semester

The group uses advanced block-based programming tools such as ‘Scratch’ from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and ‘Blockly’ from Google to teach programming. Three of the courses Web Development, Physical Programming, and Animation using JavaScript are taken from the CS Discoveries course created by Code.org.

The Key Outcomes envisaged by the RTCs when they were started in 2022 include:

Use new technologies without any fear and with confidence.

Provide the children a space where they can experience new technologies with instruction and guidance from teachers.

Develop their computational thinking and design thinking skills which will help them in all their other endeavors.

Provide them an opportunity to express and enhance their creativity by involving them in interesting projects.