Give a smile to 3000 slumchildren to attend school

Satya’s Success Story Inspires Others…

Satya (not his real name) is about 14 years old from Bhoi Sahi slum, Baramunda, Bhubaneswar. He is studying in Class-VIII. He has participated in the 10-days Film making training camp organized by Bakul Foundation in Bhubaneswar. Total 40 children from different organizations attended the Camp. In the film making camp, he was given training on photography. Then he did the role of the villain in the children’s film called “Smart Soch”. He was also the Cameraman of the children’s film “Tuta Tara” which was highly appreciated in the Bombay Children’s Film Festival. The film festival was organized in Mumbai for 3-days. Satya along with the other children visited different departments of film making in the Bombay Film Studio and gained knowledge about film making. The film “Tuta Tara” which was shooting by Satya got best film awards in direction, story and acting. The film was directed by a child “Ipsita” (not her real name) and the story was written by another child “Chinmayee” (not her real name), who was a child labour in her childhood.

Satya (not his real name) is a bright student of Ruchika’s Remedial Education Centre. He is not only very good in camera handling but also an innovative one. He has presented a project called “Save the village from Wild elephants” in the Science Exhibition organized by Ruchika Social Service Organization and his project got appreciations from all and sundry. 

Progress Report

Give Smile to 3000 Slum Children to Attend School

During this period, a major activity was conducted i.e. Science Exhibition by the Slum Children. Following is the report.

 The Science exhibition organised at Kalinga Bhawan, Bhubaneswar jointly by Kalinga Foundation Trust and Ruchika Social Service Organisation was an opportunity for children to apply the scientific method to conduct independent research.  Normally the slum children are deprived of these opportunity. It is observed that the children living in the slums have enormous potential on science and technology which is not recognised. If opportunities are given to them, we can surely create a number of scientists among these children.

 Sri Biju Pattanaik was a valiant freedom fighter and the Chief Minister of Odisha who always desiring to build a new Kalinga (Odisha) and inculcate scientific tempo among the young people.  He is considered as a pioneer of the industrial growth of Orissa and established a string of industries in mission.   In 1951 he established the Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science which is the first and only international prize in India for science. Presently the prize is known as UNESCO- Kalinga Prize. The prize is managed by Kalinga Foundation Trust, Bhubaneswar.

Ruchika Social Service Organisation has been working with street and slum children addressing their multifarious needs with interventions like education, sanitation, emergency assistance, etc. Development of scientific knowledge and skills among slum children it has been organising science exhibitions and other scientific activities in the state of Odisha . This is to popularise science among underprivileged sections of the society. 

In commemoration of  the birth centenary of this legendary leader, Biju Pattanaik,  a science exhibition   was organized jointly by both the organisations  on 25^th January 2017 at Kalinga Bhavan premises, Nayapalli, Bhubaneswar. This is to helps inculcate scientific temper among  children especially those live on the street and in the slums of Bhubaneswar and to popularise science among children.  

The main objectives of this Science exhibition are:

•  Promoting interest in Science and Technology among younger generation.
•  Encouraging scientific and technological creativity among students and inculcating a sense of pride in their talent.
•  Providing exploratory experiences, encouraging creative thinking and promoting psychomotor skills among school students through self designed models or simple apparatus.
•  Encouraging problem solving approach and developing appropriate technologies, especially for rural areas and integrating and applying scientific ideas in daily life situations.
•  Popularizing Science and technology among masses especially among underprivillaged sections and creating an awareness regarding its impact on socio-economic and sustainable development of the country.

In the exhibition, 49 science projects were demonstrated by 100 little scientists who came from different slums of Bhubaneswar. These children are provided with Remedial Education services at their slums to enhance their academic proficiency.

 The program was formally inaugurated by  Dr. Uma Ballav Mohapatra, Director, Science & Technology Department, Govt. of Odisha, in presence of Sri Prafulla Kumar Samal, MLA & Managing Trustee, Kalinga Foundation, Dr. Trilochana Pradhan, eminent scientist and former VC, Utkal University, Dr. S. K. Tamotia, Ex. Chairman, NALCO, Dr. Narayan Rao, Secretary, Ruchika and Sri Bhabani Charan Pattnaik, eminent freedom fighter, former Rajya Sabha M.P and President of KFT and Sri Prafulla Kumar Ghadei, former Finance Minister, Govt. of Odisha and Trustee, of the trust, Sri Bimal Das, Secretary of the trust, and Dr. Chittaranjan Mishra, eminent scientist of Odisha & Trustee, of the trust.  All the invited guests and visited the stalls and learnt the talents of slum children in the field of Science and technology.

 A meeting was organised on the premises which was presided over by Sri Bhabani Charan Pattanayak. At the outset,  Sri Prafulla Kumar Samal, welcomed the guests. In his address, he appreciated the efforts and creativity of the children and cited the examples of some innovative models.    He also mentioned that, Late Biju Pattnaik was an inspiration to the young people and was always augmenting new scientific experiments and innovations. To encourage scientific innovations in the world,  he was instrumental for founding UNESCO-Kalinga Prize and inception of Kalinga Foundation Trust in Odisha.

In his address, the Chief Guest, Dr. Uma Ballav Mohapatra,  said that we are living in the age of technology. From waking up from bed to going to bed, science and technology are playing a greater role in our day to day life. The world is now in our finger tips, and with a click of mouse we can access the news, views and reports from all over the world. The universe is going to be digital and science will play a key role in our life. Without learning science we will be considered as backward. So, to propagate science and its benefits this types of ‘science exhibitions’ are necessary. Children are the future of our country. So from early level we must give them opportunity to experiment and learn science. He also narrated some true stories of children from USA and Germany who have developed science projects like ‘talking between persons under water’ and ‘without helmet the vehicle will not start’.   

Dr. Trilochana Pradhan, eminent scientist and former Vice Chancellor, Utkal University, Odisha spoke about the contribution of Late Biju Pattnaik, former Chief Minister, Odisha to popularise and encourage science and technology in Odisha. He told the children to inquire and investigate in to something which is new to them. Why it s happening? What is the reason for this? When they will go inside the causes of the happening they will find something like Newton and Thomas Edison did in their childhood. If they have not experimented with their curiosity then we didn’t have ‘law of gravity’, ‘electric bulb’ and ‘camera’ in our life. They did the experimentation and succeeded to invent something very useful to the universe. So, he advised the children to do experiment and don’t lose heart if they fail once, twice or tenth time. Keep on trying and you will get success.

Dr. Narayan Rao,, Secretary of Ruchika thanked Kalinga Foundation Trust to help and support Ruchika to organize the science exhibition. He praised the hard work and endurance of  the children o f Ruchika. Within a short span of time,  preparing 49 science projects  by slum children was a herculean task but our children could succeeded to do it.

In their address, Sri. Prafulla Chandra Ghadei, Trustee, KFT and Ex. Finance Minister, Odisha and Dr. Chitta Ranjan Mistra, Scientist and trustee, KFT discussed about the contribution of late Biju Pattanaik to  popularisation of science and to the development and building of of Kalinga (Odisha) as a state. Both of them inspired the little scientists by their motivational addresses.

In his presidential address, Shri Bhabani Charan Pattnaik, admired and the efforts of the slum children and blessed them. He also thanked all the dignitaries present there for sparing their valuable times and make the program a success.   

Before concluding this session, Mr. R. P. Dwivedy, Program Manager, Ruchika express vote of thanks to all the participants, guests, media persons and special thanks to the little scientist. 

About 1500 children from near by slums of Bhubaneswar, school students from   Narayana English Medium School, Govt. Boys High School, Nayapalli, Nayapali Primary School, Nasiruddin High School, Nayapalli etc. visited the science exhibition with their teachers.   The little scientist explained them about the projects.

In the concluding session, Dr. V. V. Yadav, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Department, of Science & Technology, Govt. of Odisha was the Chief Guest. He graced the occasion and visited som stalls. Then he distributed participation certificates and prizes to the little scientists. He encouraged all the children participated in the exhibition and thanked the organizers to invite him to this exhibition.

Overwhelmed by the endeavour of the slum children, Dr. S.K. Tamotia, Ex. Chairman, NALCO, donated Rs. 4,000/- Sri Prafulla Chandra Ghadei, Stustee, Kalinga Foundation Trust donated Rs. 5000/- and Dr. Narayan Rao, Secretary, Ruchika donated Rs. 1000/- to the little scientists. Hence a total of Rs. 10,000/- was distributed among the 100 little scientists @ Rs. 100/- as prize money by Dr. S. K. Tamotia.

At last, Sri Bimal Das, Secretary, Kalinga Foundation Trust, Bhubaneswar expressed vote of thanks. He said this endeavour of Kalinga Foundation Trust and Ruchika Social Service Organistion would help popularizing  science in in the state.