Students take to R&D to fix their problems in Khairatabad

Khairatabad: From developing magnetic buttons for shirts to making hands-free umbrella, an upcycled washbasin to a solar-powered cooling helmet, Inquilab Foundation is enabling students to find solutions for their own problems with science and technology.

Inquilab Foundation was founded in 2017 by Eshwar Bandi, Sahithya Anumolu and Vivek Piddempally, who were former colleagues at Teach for India, an NGO that offers educational services to low-income schools. With an aim to build a culture of innovation in government and low-income private schools to empower students to go beyond classroom education.

The foundation has now reached 28 schools, 1,350 children, submitted more than 3,000 designs and more than 350 prototypes. Inquilab has around 10 staff members who conduct design and innovation classes at around 30 government schools across the city and in five schools in Bengaluru.

Speaking to THI, Eshwar Bandi, founder of Inquilab Foundation said, "Teach for India changed my perspective on education. I began to realise why it was important to understand problems from the grassroot level and stop looking at education as something binary."

In the first four sessions, the team encourages the students to identify problems in their communities, which they call ideation. From the fifth session onwards, students start preparing their own prototypes.

He further added saying, "We provide them with tool kits that contain magnets, workbooks, batteries and small knives."

Innovations by the students

♦ Egg protector tray: Ibrahim from Government High School, Amberpet, along with his two friends designed an egg protector tray, as many in their school would steal the eggs during the mid-day meal. The sensor tray that would detect hand movements and therefore, no student can grab an egg from behind the tray while the teacher is busy distributing them.

♦ Walking stick for the blind that senses obstacles: Sagar from grade 6, Sri Siddhartha High School developed a walking stick that helps the blind people to detect obstacles through sensors. The sensors in the stick would detect any kind of obstacles and make the person aware of it.

♦ Magnetic Shirt: Arif, from Government High School, Amberpet, designed a shirt for his friend who is physically handicapped and found it difficult to wear shirt. The shirt includes magnets so that his friend could wear a shirt with one hand.

♦ Solar cooling helmet: Jayanthi from grade 8 of Government High School in Amberpet, designed a solar cooling helmet for the summers. The helmet has a mini fan and a torch.

♦ Low cost washbasin: In order to get rid of the plastic, Hari Priya and her friends at Social Welfare Residential School, Secunderabad, innovated upcycled discarded water cans to create a low cost washbasin. They used plastic water cans and bottles to create this washbasin