Impact assessment model for Agastya international foundation

Abstract

The Indian schooling system has evolved into learning “how to do” rather than “how to learn”. Moreover, in the government schools of rural areas, the quality of science education is diminished by inadequate access to science laboratories and lack of active encouragement of creativity and the development of skills. Agastya International Foundation is a Bangalore-based education trust whose goal is to transform the thinking of children and teachers at public and private schools through (hands-on) science education in India. Agastya has a sprawling 172-acre campus that impacts approximately 500 students a day1 . The campus has multiple Science Labs, a Model-making Workshop, Art and Ecology Labs, a Discovery Centre, and a Teacher Education Centre. These hands-on science programs are operated a hub-and-spoke model where hub is a science centre and mobile labs are spokes. The innovative Agastya model works to reshape the education system in India, which is characterised by rote-learning, high dropout rates, and student apathy. Through its science centres, mobile labs, teacher training, and young leadership programme, Agastya conducts a participative, experiential science education programme, which aims to make learning fun, spark curiosity and creative-thinking, and foster problem-solving and communication skills.