Biography of Alessandro Volta (18 February 1745 – 5 March 1827)

Scientist Alessandro Volta was born in Como, Italy, into a noble family. Alessandro Volta was the inventor of the voltaic pile, the first electric battery. In 1775 he invented the electroplates, a device that, once electrically charged by having been rubbed, could transfer charge to other objects. Between 1776 and 1778, Volta discovered and isolated methane gas. When Luigi Galvani’s experiments with ‘animal electricity’ were published (1791), Volta began experiments that led him to theorize that animal tissue was not necessary for conduction of electricity. Proof of this theory was the battery, which Volta invented in 1800. He built in…

The Pashtepada pattern

A two-classroom village school with colourful pictures painted on the walls. Children come to school unburdened by school bags on their backs. Inside, each learner works on her or his own tablet device. One student is solving a maths problem on her tablet, while two others watch a video on how a tsunami happens, and the precautions to be taken if one occurs. Here, a girl is playing an English nursery rhyme, to which she and her friend hum along. There, a little fellow poses, using his tab to take a selfie. Soon the teacher walks in, and begins the…

THIS MAN COULD SLASH PMC’S E-LEARNING BUDGET FROM RS 24 CR TO RS 4 CR

Sandeep Gund has set up over 45,000 e-learning schools at an affordable price, impresses Javadekar, mayor and standing committee chairman After Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) tabled its Rs 24-crore proposal for e-learning initiatives in its schools recently, which generated much noise, the civic body eventually managed to find a solution in its own backyard. It is looking to a former primary school teacher, who has set up more than 45,000 e-learning schools across the state for guidance; and if his know-how is put to good use, the corporation will save around Rs 20 crore. Sandeep Gund , a n Information…

In Maharashtra’s first digital zilla parishad school, no dropouts

The little hamlet of Pashtepada in Thane district often doesn’t have electricity, but the little zilla parishad school in the village is a humming laboratory of sorts, a projector hanging from the ceiling of a classroom, speakers mounted on each of the four walls, a pile of ‘talking’ Balbharti textbooks sitting on the teacher’s table and a WiFi router blinking nearby. In this hamlet located 90 km off Thane city, ever since Sandeep Gund (28) set up his ‘Child Theater Classroom’, the number of school dropouts has been zero. On the eve of Teachers’ Day, the villagers are happy to…

A Digital India initiative running on community backup since 2009

Much before Prime Minister Narendra Modi rolled out his government’s plan to digitally connect India, a school teacher in a tribal hamlet in Maharashtra had already set about on his own ‘Digital India mission’ — one that involves transforming the country’s rural schools into e-learning smart hubs where old-fashioned textbooks will make way for tablets and touchscreens will replace blackboards. And unlike the Centre’s big plan, which is pinning hopes on the industry sector for investment, this unsung hero’s dream initiative is almost entirely community-driven. For Sandeep Gund, 29, who teaches in a state-run Zilla Parishad (ZP) school in Thane’s…

A vision that changed Zilla Parishad schools of Maharashtra

Mumbai: In the remote village of Pashtepada in the tribal block of Shahapur in Thane district a digital school was born in 2009. It became the state’s first such school. The team behind this school have been going across the length and breadth of the state to replicate the idea. Seven years later, the idea has been replicated in over 15,000 schools, from Nashik and Nandurbar to Gadchiroli and Sindhudurg. Children were dropping out of Zilla Parishad schools. It was a matter of survival for these schools. They needed a brand to survive. The idea of making use of technology…

Pashtepada teacher makes history with solar-smart school

A primary school teacher in a small hamlet called Pashtepada, in Thane district’s Shahapur taluka, is hitting headlines. Sandip Gund, 27, has converted his small zilla parishad school into a “solar-smart school,” with no financial assistance from the government. Over 40 schools in Thane, Yavatmal and other districts have already replicated Gund’s model and have started offering digital shalas this year. His attempt is drawing attention even from other states and officials from Assam and Gujarat are in Pashtepada to study the ‘Gund model’. Gund’s school caters to just 25 students. Here, children don’t have to carry textbooks and notebooks….

Inauguration of MES BSM Atal Tinkering Lab by Honorable HRD Minister Shri Prakashji Javdekar