Verizon India, IIT-Madras to train rural students

IT major Verizon India has inked a pact with the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, to provide opportunities in the field of engineering to students living in rural areas. According to the program '1Lab-1School', IIT-Madras is connecting top graduate laboratories to high schools of rural Tamil Nadu, a press release said. The initiative is fully funded by Verizon India as part of its commitment to empower rural communities.

The '1Lab-1School', in its second year, has covered over 800 students of 20 schools from Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram and Vellore districts. "1Lab-1School program stands apart for its potential to transform science education in India in the long run," Verizon India MD Kalyani Sekar said. "We are confident that the program makes quality science and technology education accessible for hundreds of children," she said. Under the initiative, mentor groups from IIT-Madras Research Labs comprising students of MS, MTech and Ph.D and faculty from the science and engineering department would adopt rural government higher secondary schools.

"A total of 20 research lab of IIT Madras has been connected to 20 rural schools since June 2018 with over 150 graduate students from the institute having trained over 800 students in the ninth grade," IIT Madras project lead and associate professor, department of applied mechanics, Pijush Ghosh said. "We would like the higher education community to take up such models and implement them in schools in their regions so that together we can contribute towards the betterment and future of children in rural India," he said.

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