Challenging the Limits of Learning
TAU measures the human mind against the yardstick of a machine
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Although we’re convinced that baby is brilliant when she mutters her first words, cognitive scientists have been conducting a decades-long debate about whether or not human beings actually “learn” language.
Most theoretical linguists, including the noted researcher Noam Chomsky, argue that people have little more than a “language organ” — an inherent capacity for language that’s activated during early childhood. On the other hand, researchers like Dr. Roni Katzir of Tel Aviv University‘s Department of Linguistics insist that what humans can actually learn is still an open question — and he has built a computer program to try and find an answer.
“I have built a computer program that learns basic grammar using only the bare minimum of cognitive machinery — the bare minimum that children might have — to test the hypothesis that language can indeed be learned,” says Dr. Katzir, a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (where he took classes taught by Chomsky) and a former faculty member at Cornell University. His early results suggest that the process of language acquisition might be much more active than the majority of linguists have assumed up until now.
Dr. Katzir’s work was recently presented at a Cornell University workshop, where researchers from fields in linguistics, psychology, and computer science gathered to discuss learning processes.
A math model in mind
Able to learn basic grammar, the computer program relies on no preconceived assumptions about language or how it might be learned. Still in its early stages of development, the program helps Dr. Katzir explore the limits of learning — what kinds of information can a complex cognitive system like the human mind acquire and then store at the unconscious level? Do people “learn” language, and if so, can a computer be made to learn the same way?
Using a type of machine learning known as “unsupervised learning,” Dr. Katzir has programmed his computer to “learn” simple grammar on its own. The program sees raw data and conducts a random search to find the best way to characterize what it sees.
The computer looks for the simplest description of the data using a criterion known as Minimum Description Length. “The process of human learning is similar to the way computers compress files: it searches for recognizable patterns in the data. Let’s say, for instance, that you want to describe a string of 1,000 letters. You can be very naïve and list all the letters in order, or you can start to notice patterns — maybe every other character is a vowel — and use that information to give a more compact description. Once you understand something better, you can describe it more efficiently,” he says.
Artificial intelligence for answering machines
His early results point to the conclusion that the computer, modeling the human mind, is indeed able to “learn” — that language acquisition need not be limited to choosing from a finite series of possibilities.
While it’s primarily theoretical, Dr. Katzir’s research may have applications in technologies such as voice dialogue systems: a computer that, on its own, can better understand what callers are looking for. A more advanced version of Dr. Katzir’s program might learn natural language grammar and be able to process data received in a realistic setting, reflecting the manner in which humans actually talk.
The results of the research might also be applied to study how we learn to “read” visual images, and may be able to teach a robot how to reconstruct a three-dimensional space from a two-dimensional image and describe what it sees. Dr. Katzir plans to pursue this line of research with engineering colleagues at Tel Aviv University and abroad.
“Many linguists today assume that there are severe limits on what is learnable,” Dr. Katzir says. “I take a much more optimistic view about those limitations and the capacity of humans to learn.”
Reference Link
http://www.aftau.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=13753
Mathematics simplified in beads
By Karthik Madhavan
Coimbatore, India.
| Abacus can help visually challenged master the subject |
Use of abacus has helped in bringing
mathematics in to focus
‘ICEVI is ready to provide training in abacus
to anybody who is interested’
— Photo: S. Siva Saravanan
Maths made easy: Abacus can be used to solve multiple problems.
COIMBATORE: Conquering numbers is no joke. The numerophobics will vouch for it. And so will the visually challenged.
Be it learning addition, subtraction or any other basic operation, the visually challenged have always found the going tough. For, mathematics is not a subject that can be memorised and written.
It is not true, counters M.N.G. Mani, Secretary General, International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment (ICEVI). The visually challenged can easily learn and master the subject by making use of abacus and Taylor Frame.
“Abacus is an excellent tool to learn mathematics because it helps in more ways than one,” says Mr. Mani, who has not only taught mathematics but also authored a book on how to teach the subject to visually challenged students.
“Abacus is tactile in nature, contributes to the development of mental arithmetic, increases speed, has a reference point, to which one can return in case of error in solving a problem and can be used to solve multiple problems.”
He says the use of the abacus has helped in bringing mathematics in to focus, for, for long teachers neglected the subject.
Special education
“Until integrated education was introduced in the 1980s in schools, special education teachers were not taking mathematics and abacus seriously because they, perhaps, believed that the subject cannot be taught to the students,” Mr. Mani says.
R. Srinivasan, a visually challenged retired professor of English, recalls that he was not taught abacus during his school days.
One of the reasons for teachers feeling so was that they had not mastered abacus and did not know how to teach mathematics using abacus, Mr. Mani says.
To solve the problem the Rehabilitation Council of India amended the special education teacher training syllabus.
It introduced abacus in the syllabus and ensured that those who passed out with a special education certificate had the knowledge to use abacus.
Today, special education courses have at least 12 hours dedicated to methodology of teaching mathematics to visually challenged students.
Once the teachers learnt to use abacus they were able to impart the skill to the students, says Mr. Mani.
“It is good that the teachers to-be are learning abacus but they should not learn it in theory but in practice as a skill development programme.”
Enquiries with special education teachers, however, reveal that it is not taken seriously and that only a few institutes are keen on teaching the use of abacus to the teachers to-be.
Mr. Mani says the ICEVI is ready to provide training in abacus to anybody who is interested.
Reference Link : http://www.hindu.com/2011/01/20/stories/2011012051020200.htm
Courtesy : The Hindu
IIT-M to aid research on innovative projects
IIT-Madras will soon have an inter-disciplinary ‘Centre of Excellence’ that will showcase and facilitate research on innovative projects in embedded systems, VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration) design and enabling technologies by fostering partnership with various industrial players, Kamakoti Veezhinathan, Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT-Madras, said here on Tuesday.
He was speaking at the inaugural session of the 24th international conference on VLSI Design that, along with the 10th international conference on Embedded Systems, seeks to facilitate discussions on designing embedded solutions for emerging markets in infrastructure, energy and automotives. Over 100 researchers, designers and industry experts will present their views on various aspects of electronic design automation and embedded systems that underpin the semiconductor industry. The three-day conference will also witness discussions on the challenges faced by India’s growing VLSI sector. VLSI is demand-driven, and it is necessary to draw the attention of young engineers to opportunities in this area, said Professor Kamakoti, who is co-chairing the conference. “Instead of training students of engineering to be ‘industry-ready,’ engineering colleges should equip them with the fundamentals of design and engineering, that would help them understand processes better,” he said.
The shortage of skilled faculty in the specialised fields including circuit design and VLSI is a serious concern, he added.
The conference will include technical paper sessions on latest research and embedded tutorials, industry presentation sessions, panel discussions, design contests and industrial exhibits.
While discussions and deliberations will focus on technology, manufacturing, markets, applications, finance and policies, the workshop on Reliability Aware System Design and Test (RASDAT) on Thursday and Friday will delve into the issues of data compression techniques, reliable computing, VLSI circuits and partitioning algorithms.
Stanford University professor Thomas H Lee said that the best is yet to come in ‘Embedded revolution.’ “The increasing pervasiveness of microprocessors in all walks of life including communications, consumer care, industry, defence and health care shows that they are very much in the fabric of our existence, but just invisible,” he said.
Reference Link
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Chennai/article1033172.ece
Courtesy
The Hindu
How Design Can Get Kids On the Path to Tech Careers
“Education is the point at which we decide whether we love the world enough to assume responsibility for it… And education, too, is where we decide whether we love our children enough not to expel them from our world… nor to strike from their hands their chance of undertaking something unforeseen by us, but to prepare them in advance for the task of renewing a common world.” –Hannah Arendt
Her name comes up in almost any discussion about transforming education: Dr. Stephanie Pace Marshall. Dr. Marshall is the founding president (1986-2007) and president emeritus of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA), an internationally renowned, publicly funded residential high school (10th to 12th grade) that emphasizes a curriculum in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
Dr. Marshall’s first mandate in developing the concept for this decidedly new learning experience was: “Let’s not call it a school but rather a ‘center for inquiry and imagination.'” When IMSA’s funding was in jeopardy, Dr. Marshall legendarily brought her students to the Illinois state capitol and set up classes in the rotunda. There they conducted physics and chemistry experiments, spoke Japanese and Russian, staged a scene from a Shakespearean play, and met with legislators. IMSA’s funding agreement was rectified. With STEM education a U.S. priority and increasingly seen as the means to competing with developing giants like China and India, I asked Dr. Marshall about the opportunities and challenges we face in advancing STEM learning.
How can the entanglement of design and education move the unmovable object — i.e. the established, staid institution of education?
I love this question, because it seeks to get at the core of design and its role in helping to co-create an educational system worthy of our children. I would amend it slightly however, to ask: ‘How can design both enter into and perturb a new conversation about education so the system becomes disturbed enough to begin living into their desired future now?’
“Design enables us to redefine who and how we now want to be.”
I am not a credentialed designer, but as a leader I have always been mindful of the power of design to evoke changes in perception, attitudes, experiences, and behaviors by helping to change the relationships, patterns, and shape of the system. For me, designers are storytellers. They speak a patterned and relational language, and they use it to create environments and experiences that change the system’s neural network and the traditional dynamics of who and how we move, think, and behave, within a particular place. Design invites us to navigate a new narrative, to alter the map and landscape we have traditionally traveled, and to be different and belong differently to a place. Design enables us to reclaim spaces and behaviors that may not have been accessible before and redefine who and how we now want to be.
Design enables us to encode our stories and create our maps. It makes our covenants visible, and it illuminates our beliefs and values. And when this happens, when design enables our children’s, teachers’, and system’s inventive genius to flourish, education will change.
Sometimes there are moments in human history that seem to beckon awakenings. They perturb us to reevaluate our beliefs, assumptions, and reigning cultural stories. They challenge us to synthesize and integrate seemingly disparate forms of knowledge into new relationships, new patterns, and new theories. They invite us to invent new language, new rules, and new structures. They call us to create and live into new stories of possibility. The ancient Greeks called this time kairos, the “right moment.” It is a time when reality embraces possibility.
What were the key ideas and goals behind creating a learning community like IMSA?
The idea of a residential secondary institution for students talented in mathematics and science was proposed by Nobel Laureate Leon Lederman. This was in the fall of 1983 and his vision was a response to the perceived national crisis in developing STEM talent. But as we know, the crisis persists. The achievement level of U.S. students on internationally benchmarked standardized tests in science and mathematics remain dismal and the needs of our nation’s most talented youth remain unfulfilled. Traditional models for educating academically talented students in STEM (Advance Placement courses) have not been able to nurture our next generation of STEM researchers, innovators, leaders, and inventors.
[Dr. Marshall talks to a student in a science class.]
From inception, IMSA sought not only to develop decidedly different scientific minds, but also to develop a decidedly different residential learning community — one that was nurturing and innovative, and one that instilled a sense of stewardship, and an obligation to give back. As a dynamic teaching and learning laboratory, IMSA continues to evolve, yet the roots of our founding ideas and goals remain. Here’s what they were and still are. The ‘IMSA idea’ means:
1. A collaborative partnership between diverse stakeholders — education, science, research, technology, innovation, business, and government.
2. Serving as a catalyst and laboratory to stimulate excellence in STEM teaching and learning.
3. Multi-dimensional admission criteria for identifying STEM talent and potential beyond a standardized test score.
4. An innovative, advanced and “uniquely challenging” curriculum designed by IMSA faculty that integrates the habits of mind of science and mathematics with those of the arts and humanities. Advanced placement (AP) would not be the content or driver of the curriculum.
5. Personalized learning opportunities both on and off campus for independent study, research and mentorships.
6. Formal interaction with some of the great minds of our time.
7. Developing deep disciplinary and interdisciplinary expertise and integrative ways of knowing and experiencing the interdisciplinary nature of science by solving complex multidisciplinary problems.
8. Learning experiences designed using current research on the learning sciences and how we learn.
9. Commitment to treat each student as if he or she is capable of significantly influencing life on the planet.
10. Embodies the following programmatic commitments: distributed expertise with students and teachers serving as co-learners and collaborators; fostering integrative habits of mind; designing competency-driven, inquiry-based, problem-centered, and integrative curriculum; experiential and technology embedded instruction; student-driven inquiry and research; flexible time structures to align with and support curricular and instructional goals and the commitment to share our learning, practices, processes, materials and models with educators and schools in Illinois and beyond.
Why did you feel so strongly about not calling IMSA a “school”?
It was very clear to me that whenever you say the word ‘school,’ it conjures up mental images and models of our experiences and behavior in a place — and accompanying that ‘place model’ is a kaleidoscope of memories and emotions about how that place looked and worked — how we felt in it, what was rewarded, celebrated and expected, and who we were supposed to be as learners in that place. Unfortunately, many of these mental models of how we should learn in school are completely at odds with how real learning happens and how it’s demonstrated in the real world. False proxies for learning often erode our children’s vibrant intellectual and creative potentials because they diminish the excitement of real learning and discovery. Everyone knows that finishing a course and a textbook does not mean achievement. Listening to a lecture does not mean understanding. Getting a high score on a high-stakes standardized test does not mean proficiency. Credentialing does not mean competency. Our children know it, too, yet it persists.
From IMSA’s inception, I knew that if we called IMSA a school, I would spend most of my time explaining what we were not instead of what we were. I would be telling people what we didn’t do rather than what we did do.
Years ago, a wise colleague told me to be careful because what you call it becomes what it is. This was a powerful caveat — calling ourselves an academy and a ‘teaching and learning laboratory for imagination and inquiry’ stimulates questions that enable us to have the conversations we want to have. All transformation begins in language. I did not want IMSA to be confined within a school story because that narrative would have been far too small for our imagination. You simply cannot create new maps from old stories.
Reference Link
http://www.fastcodesign.com/1662937/how-design-can-get-kids-on-the-path-to-tech-careers
Courtesy
Mansueto Ventures
[Images courtesy Illinois Math and Science Academy]
The power of ‘convergence’ In white paper, MIT scientists discuss potential for revolutionary advances in biomedicine and other fields.
A new model for scientific research known as “convergence” offers the potential for revolutionary advances in biomedicine and other areas of science, according to a white paper issued today by 12 leading MIT researchers. The white paper, presented Tuesday morning at a forum hosted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), says that the United States should capitalize on the trend of convergence — which involves the merger of life, physical and engineering sciences — to foster the innovation necessary to meet the growing demand for accessible, affordable health care.
“Convergence is a broad rethinking of how all scientific research can be conducted, so that we capitalize on a range of knowledge bases, from microbiology to computer science to engineering design,” MIT Institute Professor and Nobel Laureate Phillip Sharp, one of the report’s authors, told the AAAS forum.
“It entails collaboration among research groups but, more deeply, the integration of disciplinary approaches that were originally viewed as separate and distinct. This merging of technologies, processes and devices into a unified whole will create new pathways and opportunities for scientific and technological advancement.”
Sharp and the other MIT authors say that convergence offers the potential for a “Third Revolution” in biomedicine that may be as profound as the two life-science revolutions that preceded it: the breakthroughs accompanying the development of molecular and cellular biology, and the sequencing of the human genome, which has made it possible to identify the genetic foundations of many diseases.
Convergence also provides a blueprint for addressing the country’s future medical and healthcare challenges, which will only increase as the population ages and diseases such as Alzheimer’s become more prevalent. However, federal investment in biomedical research is critical — “and a smart investment if we are to keep our biomedical research the finest in the world,” said Sharp. As an example, he cited NIH investments in heart-disease research, which average $4 per year per American and have helped to cut the incidence of fatal heart attacks and stroke by more than 60 percent since 1975.
A new model
The report, “The Third Revolution: The Convergence of the Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Engineering,” noted the impact that convergence is already having in a broad array of fields.
Just as advances in information technology, materials, imaging, nanotechnology and related fields — coupled with advances in computing, modeling and simulation — have transformed the physical sciences, so are they are beginning to transform life science. The result is critical new biology-related fields, such as bioengineering, computational biology, synthetic biology and tissue engineering.
At the same time, biological models (understanding complex, self-arranged systems) are already transforming engineering and the physical sciences, making possible advances in biofuels, food supply, viral self assembly and much more.
The report gives particular focus to biomedicine, a field that is already being transformed by convergence. At MIT, for example, scientists are using nanoparticles to transport time-release anticancer drugs directly to cancerous cells, developing drugs that fight diseases without damaging healthy tissues and cells, and improving new predictive models of disease.
Recommendations
The report says providing adequate financial support and a well-organized focus within NIH for convergence research are key to the success of the convergence model, as is encouraging investigation that crosses existing research boundaries. Among the report’s other recommendations are establishing a convergence “ecosystem,” which would build connections across funding agencies; reforming the peer-review process to support interdisciplinary grants; and educating, expanding and supporting the next generation of convergence researchers.
Other MIT speakers at the forum included Robert Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT and a winner of the Millennium Technology Prize and the National Medal of Science; Paula Hammond, the Bayer Professor of Chemical Engineering; and Tyler Jacks, director of the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT and the David H. Koch Professor of Biology.
Commentators at the forum included Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg of the Food and Drug Administration; Thomas Kalil, deputy director for policy in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy; Dr. Alan Guttmacher, director of the National institute of Child Health and Human Development at NIH; and Dr. Keith Yamamoto, professor and executive vice dean, University of California-San Francisco School of Medicine, and chair of the Coalition for Life Sciences.
Reference Link
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/convergence-0104.html
Courtesy
HT Media
Obama's special envoy hails Super 30
‘Super 30′, which provides free coaching to underprivileged Indian Institute of Technology aspirants, received praise from United States President Barack Obama’s special envoy Rashad Hussain, who termed it the “best” institute in the country.
“Super 30 is the best institute in India and an example of change, a dream which U.S. President Barack Obama harbours in the field of education, irrespective of caste and creed,” Mr. Obama’s special envoy to the Organisation of the Islamic Conference said here.
“In India wherever I have gone, I find it the best thing I have come across.”
After meeting students at the institute, the envoy, accompanied by officials of the U.S. Consulate in Kolkata, said he was overwhelmed by the academic atmosphere on the campus.
The institute, which was recently featured by Time magazine as “the best school in Asia,” has the distinction of all its 30 students making it to the prestigious IITs for the third consecutive year.
“This is a very good beginning. People irrespective of caste and creed are living like members of a community. And back in the U.S., I will discuss the experience of ‘Super 30′ and ‘Samman’ and explore if anything could be done there,” Mr. Hussain, an Indian-American whose father hailed from Bihar, said. Mr. Hussain visited the ‘Samman Foundation,’ which provides healthcare services to rickshaw pullers, their family members and the unorganised migrant labourers, on Saturday.
He assured the students at the institute, founded by mathematician Anand Kumar, that he would convey their invitation to Mr. Obama to visit them during his coming India visit.
The Obama administration was committed to bringing social harmony, just as it was maintained under the roof of ‘Super 30,’ he said.
Mr. Anand Kumar, who himself could not pursue higher studies abroad due to poverty, has been giving full scholarships, including travel and stay, to a select batch of 30 poor students since 2002.
Altogether 212 of the 240 ‘Super 30′ students have cleared one of the country’s toughest exams during the last eight years. Discovery Channel had also made an hour-long documentary on the institute.
Reference Link
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article559325.ece
Courtesy
The Hindu
India unveils Rs 1,500 tablet PC
New Delhi: India unveiled a Rs 1,500 (around $ 30) tablet PC designed specifically for students.
“If more companies decide to manufacture a similar device, prices will come down automatically,” Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said after unveiling the low cost-access-cum computing device here.
The device would be made available to students in 2011.
When the ministry floated the concept of a low cost laptop some years ago, officials said it would cost Rs 500 ($ 10). It will now cost about three times the initial projections.
The ministry expects the prices to drop to Rs 1,000 ($ 20) and reach Rs 500 ($ 10) as innovations are introduced.
The device, no bigger than a conventional laptop, is a single unit system with a touch screen and a built in keyboard along with 2GB RAM, Wi-Fi connectivity, USB port and powered by a 2-watt system to suit poor power supply areas.
“This is real and tangible and we will take it forward. Sun will rise for the Indian students in 2011,” he said.
The ministry also invited private players to produce similar low cost computers.
“When we started the project, the response from the private sector was lukewarm. Now many are willing to join the innovation,” Sibal said.
The ministry started its efforts by holding discussions on this concept with a group of experts at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Madras and IIT Bombay, a ministry official said.
The low cost tablets will be distributed in institutions by the HRD ministry. The final price will depend on the transportation cost.
“We will give some subsidy on the device. As far as transport is concerned, if the transport cost in less, the government can bear that as well,” Sibal added.
Reference Link
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/india-unveils-rs-1500-tablet-pc/127289-11.html?from=tn
Courtesy
IBNLive.com India
Bank adopts girl students
It extends financial aid up to higher education level
For bright future: S.Jeyaram Moorthy, Assistant General Manager, SBI, Regional Business Office, Puducherry, giving away assistance at Manjakuppam branch in Cuddalore on Tuesday.
CUDDALORE: The State Bank of India has been extending financial assistance up to higher education level under the Girl Students Adoption Scheme, according to S. Jeyaram Moorthy, Assistant General Manager, SBI, Regional Business Office, Puducherry.
Class I to Plus-Two
He was speaking at a function organised at the Manjakuppam branch of SBI here on Tuesday to give away cheques to 20 girls studying from Class I to Plus-Two. It was in keeping with the vision of SBI Chairman O.P. Bhatt that banking practices should be combined with social responsibilities the bank had launched the scheme, he said.
As per the dictum that “educating a girl was equivalent to educating the entire family,” the bank was supporting girls in their education. With proper encouragement, girls could excel in their chosen fields and win laurels, Mr. Moorthy said.
During a recruitment for clerical posts in the bank held recently, women candidates constituted 70 to 80 per cent of interviewees. It indicated that given a chance women can outnumber men in all spheres, he said.
R. Nandini, a beneficiary, said that but for the bank’s help, she would not have continued her studies. She vowed to obtain State rank in Plus-Two examinations to make the bank proud.
N. Selvam, a parent, said that when he was finding it difficult to meet the educational expenses of his daughter, the bank extended timely help. Sivakumar, Correspondent of Saraswathi Vidyalaya, said that many girls were dropping out of school owing to financial constraints. The SBI’s gesture would help them stay on course to complete their schooling and even go for higher studies.
Senior Branch Manager of the Manjakuppam branch K. Govindarajan said the scheme that made its advent in Kolkata in 2007 was extended all over the country in 2008.
Mandatory
It was mandatory that every SBI branch adopts at least one girl student and the maximum number of beneficiaries was left to the discretion of the branch manager concerned.
The bank would monitor the educational performance of the students but not stop the aid if anyone of them did not make the grade. The three branches—Manjakuppam, Thirupadiripuliyur and Old Town—were thus extending assistance to the tune of Rs. 1 lakh to the students, Mr. Govindarajan said.
K. Venugopal and K.Chelladurai, Senior Managers of Thirupadiripuliyur and Old Town branches, were present.
Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/07/21/stories/2010072151130300.htm
Courtesy
The Hindu
A ray of hope for labourers' children at Secretariat site
Sarva Siksha Abhiyan officials take survey of migrant workers
Over 100 labourers’ children at site estimated to be out of school
Separate classes will be conducted for children in their mother tongue
— Photo: V.Ganesan
BACK TO SCHOOL?SSA officials interact with children of migrant labourers at the construction site of the new Secretariat Complex in Chennai on Tuesday.
CHENNAI: R. Sunil, a 12-year-old child of migrant labourers at the construction site of the new Secretariat Complex, has been out of school for the past two years.
“I want to go to school. But I have lot of friends here to play with and I am happy,” said the little boy, wearing an innocent smile.
He was denied the opportunity to go to school after completion of Class IV, as his parents had to leave a backward district of Orissa in search of better job opportunities.
V.Parvathy, another child, said she had not gone to school after completing Class IV in Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh.
Children such as Sunil and Parvathy had a ray of hope on Tuesday, as officials of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) carried out a survey of children of migrant labourers who are working on the construction site of the new Secretariat Complex. They would soon sit for classes and learn in a medium comfortable to them.
Over 100 children of the labourers of the construction project were estimated to be out of school.
The survey was undertaken to conduct non-residential bridge course for the children of the migrant labourers, said A.Ponnammal, CEO, SSA-Chennai.
“We have planned to conduct the non-residential bridge courses near the construction site for these children,” said R.Parameswari, District Coordinator, SSA-Chennai.
Separate classes would be conducted for the children in their mother tongue, she added. The children would be taught in Telugu, Oriya, Hindi and Bengali.
Contractors of the project said that most of the migrant labourers were from West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar.
“Admitting these children in schools of the city is not possible because of the language barrier. Moreover, their parents may have to move to another site anytime. We will work on educating the children till they stay in the city,” said S. Annamalai, an official of SSA.
Officials said that a chunk of the parents were reluctant to reveal details to them. Some of them even prevented the officials from entering the tenements to talk to the children. Some children fled the area on seeing the officials.
“Collecting details from the children and parents is challenging,” the official added.
Mobilising teachers to conduct non-residential bridge courses for these children in their mother tongue is yet another challenging task for these officials, but they said they would try their best in the interest of children.
Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/07/15/stories/2010071550540200.htm
Courtesy
The Hindu
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