History is a mystery for many. The dates and names are far too many to remember and the abstract descriptions of one conquest after the other, pretty hazy and vague. What if the same history is brought alive in the classroom and outside? Students finding themselves surveying the huge forts and taking the same steps, that say, a king took a long time ago? Not under the guidance of a teacher but by themselves! That would be fun to say the least and that was what students of a school had on Sunday, thanks to a graduate of the International School of Business (ISB).
27-year-old Kaushal Bhalotia, founder-CEO of My IndiEye, an ISB incubated venture, has first offered the global positioning system (GPS) enabled video tour of the Golconda Fort, in collaboration with the APTDC, for tourists last year. Now, he has decided to reach out to students of schools, both private and public, in Hyderabad and three other cities, Agra, Mumbai and Delhi, to help them appreciate history better.
“We conducted a half day in-class session for students of Class VI and VII using our audio-visual documentary on the Golconda Fort and then, took the students to the Fort where we conducted a treasure hunt for them based on its history,” said Kaushal Bhalotia.
According to him, the city’s heritage sites and monuments have a lot to offer in terms of learning. “We have developed an engaging immersive visual content around heritage sites with the aim of getting the next generation hooked to history and appreciate our rich culture, value systems and heritage. Our program combines the best of multiple learning mechanisms like reading, listening, watching and experiencing making the learning process for students fun and effective,” explained G Vishweshwaran, co-founder, My IndiEye.
The programme was conducted in collaboration with the Rockwell International School. Kaushal Bhalotia said international schools were evincing a keen interest in this programme but added that he was keen on roping in private and public schools. “I am ready to offer the service at subsidised rates for students,” he said, adding that this was his first field trip with students in Hyderabad. He explained that the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) mandates study of heritage education and had even issued a circular to this effect. Kaushal is approaching all CBSE schools in the city for a start.
How does his programme work? Each student is given a GPS demonstration and he/she has to go around the heritage building trying to unearth the treasure buried at different places.
A touch screen Google Android-powered device, it offers a wide range of options like credible and authentic content that award-winning historians and film-makers have documented, dramatic re-creation of historic events, animated stories with dialogues and sound effects and archival videography. The highly flexible device also allows users to customize content based on the time available to them.