WHAT IS AGASTYA ? | THE AGASTYA DIFFERENCE | WHY IN INDIA? | GOALS & OBJECTIVES | IDYLLIC LOCATION

WHAT IS AGASTYA ?

Agastya is a movement led by entrepreneurs, educators, scientists, teachers and children to revitalize and transform primary and secondary education in India and provide an affordable education model that can be replicated anywhere in the world.

 

Through interactive high-impact grassroots education, Agastya aims to inspire and catalyze effective and widespread social development, innovation and leadership.

Management Team and Advisory Council      

The Agastya Model - Bridging an opportunity divide 
Agastya’s goal is to create an education dissemination model, which is affordable, scalable and replicable within and outside India - a model, which provides both depth in learning and breadth of coverage.

Agastya has consolidated its vision into the The Agastya Model described below. We believe the model is effective for disseminating quality education, cost-effectively to a large number of vulnerable, disadvantaged and at-risk children and teachers around the world. Key elements of the model are in place, but much remains to be done.

Agastya's education model is:  

  Scalable - impacts millions of children and teachers through high - reach channels like teacher education, mobile labs, science fairs and science centers.

  Innovative and creative – learning methodologies leverage different channels to spark curiosity, observation, assimilation and application skills.

  Sustainable - learning methods encourage questioning, sensitivity to the environment and community development

  Replicable – high-impact, low-cost methods are easily transferred and communicated across cultures and communities

  Collaborative - leverages partnerships, and encourages participation by government, private education institutes and community members

AGASTYA:

·       Addresses core primary and secondary education issues.

·        Impacts a large and broad student-teacher population

·       Supports the raising of education performance and standards

·        Benefits disadvantaged rural and urban communities  

Benefits of Agastya Model:

  • Hands-on science programs have reached over 2 million children and 70,000 teachers.
  • More than 200 science experiments, using low-cost tools, make learning fun and interesting.
  • Interactive rural science centers/labs foster learning and creativity.
  • Mobile Labs and Science Fairs take science to the village doorstep.
  • Young Instructor programs provide youth opportunities to teach other children and develop their communication and leadership skills.
  • Interactive student-teacher workshops enhance learning.
  • Model-making workshops deepen hands-on skills.
  • Reforestation programs are helping to regenerate local ecosystems.
  • Rural art workshops offer opportunities for expression.
  • Visits by urban schoolchildren to Agastya’s rural campus help to build empathy and understanding between urban and rural kids.

Agastya's Partners   

   
WHY IN INDIA ?

Indians are a global intellectual resource

With its large and diverse population, India represents a challenging, and therefore ideal, opportunity for generating transformative models in education. A model proven in India, can inspire global change and be replicated almost anywhere in the world.

 GOALS & OBJECTIVES

  • Propagate teacher education.
  •  Foster creativity, teamwork and leadership skills in Children.
  • Leverage cost-effective technologies to disseminate innovative, high-impact learning tools and methods.
  • Support sustainable development through rural communities and ecological regeneration.


 

Creative Learning Center

  • Provides teacher training and hands-on educational opportunities in a creative and interactive setting to thousands of rural children .
  • Takes education to remote villages in A.P. and Karnataka through Mobile Labs.
  • Conducts Science Fairs

Teacher Education Center (Launch date: dependent on funding)

  •  Provide innovative, state-of-the-art knowledge and skills to 2,500 teachers every year.

Agastya Gurukul (Launch date: dependent on funding)

  •  An international "Lab school" to foster innovation, integration between teaching and learning and create socially-committed leaders.

 Ecology and Cultural Center (Launch date: dependent on funding)

  • Help revive the ecosystem, and promote knowledge of Indian culture and philosophy.

GUDIVANKA, CHITTOOR DISTRICT - IDYLLIC LOCATION

The Agastya project is set in 172 acres of undulating terrain in Gudivanka, Andhra Pradesh (A.P.).  

Gudivanka is a "backward" region and has among the lowest rates of literacy in India. It is situated 2,200 feet above sea level with pleasantly invigorating weather all year round. Clean and refreshing air greet and rejuvenate the senses. A placid lake gives the location a picture postcard setting. 

Gudivanka is located at the intersection of three rapidly developing Southern states, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. It is connected by road and rail to the cities of Bangalore and Chennai. South of the Vindhya mountains Bangalore and Chennai have become key centers of information technology in India. A helicopter pad permits easy access by air from Bangalore and Chennai.  

The Agastya campus, which was a wasteland only 3 years ago, is being transformed into an ecology park. With the support of Agastya, Gudivanka is rapidly discarding its backward status and is emerging as a center for creativity-based education.  

 

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