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Learning with Heroji at Pratham's Computer-Aided Learning Centres.
Heroji sports handlebar moustaches, a Peshwa topi and bandoliers across both shoulders. Sword in hand, the dumpy character enlists you in Shivaji's campaign to capture the fort -- all you have to do is tell him where to shoot, and he'll fire the cannon. Thirteen, the computer whispers. 7+6, 5+8, 10+3, the correct answers are scrawled all across the fort's walls, amidst many wrong ones. You choose. The cannon fires, and fires, and fires. "Dhat tere ki," he curses, when your calculations are wrong. Finally, you're through to the ramparts of the fort. "Har Har Mahadeo," shouts Heroji. The kids at Pratham's Computer-Aided-Learning (CAL) centres can't get enough of it. They're thrilled at this imitation of Nayan Mongia's sotto voce curses, picked up by the stumps microphone:Dhat tere ki. But it's the larger mythological metaphor of the educational game that really grabs hold of their imagination. Here's an interactive environment that they can really relate to, a story they know, into which they can immerse themselves -- so long as they can do a little math. Dr Madhav Chavan set up Pratham as a means of ensuring literacy for Bombay's disprivileged children: kids from the city's chawls, bastis, platforms and streets, who were falling between the cracks of its municipal schools. The model has been so successful that it is now being replicated in Delhi and Bangalore, as well as other Indian cities. Primarily funded by ICICI, the NGO has also set up computer centres in many of the city's schools, where these children encounter Heroji and many of his cyber-animated buddies. Educational games comprise just one of many possible educational applications of information technology. The genius of Pratham lies in demonstrating that this technology can be successfully used to motivate and educate India's disprivileged students. Find out more about Pratham's activities by visiting its website: www.pratham.org To support Pratham click here Contact: Pratham
Ground Floor, Gen. J Bhosale Marg
Nariman Point, Mumbai 400021
Maharashtra, India
Tel: 91-22-385 1405/385 1423/ 288 6975
Email:
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