THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Twelve-year-old Jesna Fathima was vacillating between teaching and medicine as a prospective career when she discovered: “If I do engineering, I can do a lot more things.” That thought didn’t just randomly arise in her mind, rather it resulted from the STEM camp organised in her school by the Centre for Learning Engineering and Sustainable Education and the department of education, under the University of Kerala.
Starting in 2023, the centre has been providing training camps in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) for students -- from Classes 7 to 9 -- coming from weaker socioeconomic backgrounds. Two camps have already been conducted in Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram, the second of which Jesna attended. The centre aims to organise more camps, one in each district within this academic year and end the series with a project exhibition.
At the camp, students were welcomed into a new world of breadboards, resistors, sensors, and Arduino, where they learnt and explored the basics of robotics, programming, and electronics. Five days of training later, the students were asked to identify real-life problems, solutions to which could be found using what they learnt at the camp. Their problems, ranging from drying clothes in monsoon to potholes on roads, were filtered and solved with the help of mentors.
The first camp, which was organised at the Government HSS, Puthur, in the first week of May, was attended by over 30 students. “We were already informed by the centre that they don’t need a set of outstanding students, but those who can improve through a camp like this,” said Pradeep B, a teacher with the school, who was with the students throughout the camp.
Finance Minister K N Balagopal also visited the camp on the final day. Thanks to the camp, the students who shied away from answering questions earlier have now started engaging in the class proactively, Pradeep said. Such camps remain the sole hope for students outside the proficiency belt.
The second camp was held at the Government VHSS, Thiruvananthapuram.
“The centre provides importance to girls from the marginalised groups through different projects,” said Divya C Senan, honorary director, Centre for Learning Engineering and Sustainable Education.