RightStart 2025

Rightstart is Asha’s annual teacher training program, bringing together educators from all our locations for a five-day event at IIT Madras. It’s a chance for teachers to learn, grow, and connect while participating in engaging training sessions. For new teachers, it’s an introduction to the larger Asha family and an opportunity to build meaningful bonds. The event concludes with a lively closing-day celebration, making it a memorable experience for everyone.

You may view the photos here.

Organizing

Asha has been holding this event at IIT Madras almost every year since its inception in 2003! IIT Madras granted us the permission to hold it in their campus this year as well. With more than 150 teachers and staff attending the event, many travel from locations outside Chennai. This necessitates the use of hostels for the teachers and staff to stay over. Since the students were vacating the hostels only by 19 May, we planned for the event to be held from 22-26 May, 2025.

We booked for the teachers to stay at the student hostels, men at the Krishna hostel and women at the Swarnamukhi hostel. Breakfast and dinner were organized at the IIT mess and lunch for all was organized at the training hall. This year 127 women and 19 men stayed back at the hostels. Other teachers and staff travelled to and from their respective locations during the period.

Like the last few years, the sessions themselves were conducted at the Vanavani school auditorium inside the IITM campus. Here is the list of sessions that were scheduled for the 5-day event:

Day 1 & 2 – Math Session by Ms. Meena Suresh and Ms. Kalavathi

Ms. Meena Suresh has been training Asha teachers for several years, making a significant impact on their development. She has been an integral part of our Rightstart events since 2014, earning the trust and appreciation of our teachers. Her engaging training sessions have fostered a strong rapport with our teachers, who find her methods both effective and approachable. Due to the success of her training techniques, she remains a valued and regular presence at Asha trainings.

The two-day session by Meena Mam focused on key mathematical concepts and effective teaching methodologies. The training covered fundamental topics such as shapes, numbers, place value, and the four basic operations. Teachers were guided through common mistakes teachers typically make while teaching these topics and strategies to address them effectively.

Additionally, the sessions delved into upper primary-level topics, including fractions, the Pythagorean theorem, LCM and HCF, as well as rational and irrational numbers. Through interactive discussions and problem-solving exercises, participants gained valuable insights into making math more engaging and accessible for students.

The training equipped teachers with practical approaches to enhance their teaching, ensuring a stronger understanding of mathematical concepts among learners.

Day 3 – Science session by Ms. Purva Bhatter

Ms. Purva has been a dedicated trainer with a long-standing association with Asha teachers. She has traveled to our projects in Thoothukudi, actively contributing to the training and development of Asha teachers.

A 1.5-day training session, engaging teachers in hands-on science experiments and interactive learning was conducted by Ms. Purva. The session began with ten experiments, including studies on pendulum mass and length, as well as measuring leaf length using a Vernier caliper with each group consisting of five members. Participants carefully observed each experiment and documented their findings.

In the afternoon, teachers were assigned a task to create a project in Scratch based on the experiments. Group sizes were adjusted, with a maximum of eight members per team. The next morning, teachers presented their projects, and all participants took part in evaluating them. At the end of the session, three outstanding projects were recognized and awarded prizes.

Day 4 – Stress Management by Ms. Manimegalai

Ms. Manimegalai conducted an engaging stress management session, beginning with fun activities to set a positive tone. She introduced the concept of stress, its impact, and effective ways to manage it, ensuring interactive participation from the teachers.

During the session, she explained different types of stress and various techniques for relieving it. To make the learning experience practical, she introduced a newspaper activity designed to help release stress. She also played music and guided participants to follow movements from a video, creating an enjoyable and relaxing environment.

The session provided teachers with valuable tools to manage stress effectively, both in their personal lives and classrooms.

Day 5 – Karadipath by Ms. Preetika Venkatakrishnan

The Karadi Path team, consisting of six members—Mr. Arokiya Selvaraj, Ms. Aswini, Ms. Prithika,Mr. Siddharth, Mr. Poovarasan, and Mr. Dhilipan—conducted an engaging and interactive training session for teachers.

Ms. Preetika Venkatakrishnan ,COO & Head of Innovation at Karadi Path Education Company led the session, beginning with fun tongue twisters to help teachers improve articulation and pronunciation. Mr. Siddharth then introduced an open-ended story through mime, encouraging teachers to explore multiple possible endings. This exercise was aimed at developing creativity and storytelling skills.

The session concluded with a lively Music Path activity, where Ms. Prithika guided all the teachers through an immersive experience. Additionally, the Karadi Path team shared valuable insights on using imagination in storytelling to enhance student engagement.

Day 5 – Closing Ceremony

The valedictory ceremony at the end of Rightstart is a showcase of talent, where teachers take the stage to sing, dance, and act with enthusiasm. Having prepared for weeks, they seize this opportunity to unwind, celebrate, and express their creativity.

Beyond the performances, the closing ceremony holds special significance for Asha, as it honors teachers and staff who have dedicated five or more years to the organization. Long service awards are presented to employees who have reached milestones of 5, 10, 15, and 20 years, recognizing their invaluable contributions.

This year, two staff members marked 20 years with Asha, one celebrated 15 years, three completed 10 years, and 19 reached the five-year milestone. Their dedication fills us with immense pride, and we are grateful to have such committed individuals as part of our team.

Beyond the Training

After a day of engaging training sessions, our teachers took some time in the evenings to explore the local sights. They visited serene beaches and the Velankani church, enjoying moments of relaxation and fun.

]]> https://chennai.ashanet.org/news/2025/08/rightstart-2025/feed/ 0 https://chennai.ashanet.org/news/2025/08/infrastructure-assessment-report-april-2025-2/ https://chennai.ashanet.org/news/2025/08/infrastructure-assessment-report-april-2025-2/#respond Thu, 21 Aug 2025 18:17:56 +0000 https://chennai.ashanet.org/?p=7302 Read More]]> Asha Chennai conducted a study of the computer infrastructure at all supported middle, high and higher secondary schools in Tamilnadu. Here is the report.

Infrastructure Assessment Report

By Rajaram (April 2025)

In April 2025, Asha Chennai had its teachers going to Middle, High and Higher Secondary schools do a basic infrastructure survey of the facilities available at the schools. This report captures the information from this survey.

Background

The government has been setting up HighTech labs in all high and higher secondary schools. Starting this year, there have been talk (and action) of setting up HighTech labs in all middle schools as well. Through our various programs our teachers regularly visit a few hundred of these schools to teach computer science. We had our teachers collect details about these schools. Here are some general details before we talk about the specifics from the survey.

Government has been setting up HighTech labs at High (6^th to 10^th stds) and Higher Secondary (6^th to 12^th) schools. Almost all the High and Higher Secondary schools have a HighTech lab. These were installed sometime in the 2023-24 academic year. Therefore these labs are about 1.5 years old at the time of this report.

They have announced that these will be setup at all Middle (1^st to 8^th) as well by the end of the year. Here is some general information about the HighTech labs.

HighTech Labs – Infrastructure

These typically comprise of one server and ‘N’ clients. Most of the ones we have seen come with 10 or 20 clients. The clients and the server are connected through a wired LAN. The thinclients do not have any persistent storage. Then cross mount filesystems from the server and boot from that. The server has persistent storage which is shared across the clients. All of these run versions of the BOSS Linux which is a distribution of Linux developed by Indian government.

The software available on the servers seem to be controlled through some central command based in Chennai with little or no control at the school level. The schools do not have root access to the servers and therefore cannot install any new applications or make any other changes to the server.

Wired broadband connection comes to the HighTech lab and all the clients and the server can connect to the Internet. The server also has a projector and a printer connected to it. Backup power is provided to all these machines using a UPS. Sufficient chairs, tables benches etc. are also provided at the HighTech labs.

HighTech Labs – System Configuration

The servers at the HighTech labs all have the following configuration.

Processor Intel Xeon(R)CPUE1220V6@3.00H2x4

Memory 15.5GiB

Disk 966.2GB

And the clients have the following configuration.

Processor Intel celeron(R)CPUJi800@2.41GHz*2

Memory 1.8GiB

Disk 5.8GB

It looks like both the processors are quite old (more than a decade) but the HighTech labs were installed just a little more than a year back.

The clients have a 18” screen, an audio jack and a USB.

HighTech Labs – Maintenance

The main problem with the HighTech labs seem to be with the maintenance. We have often seen schools with problems which do not get addressed for months and months. There seems to be some mechanism to maintain it at each district but it is not functioning too well especially at remote schools. Further the local teachers do not seem to be confident in maintaining the system. Sometimes the Cross mounted storage is not visible in some clients. It is not clear if local troubleshooting can be done to fix these simple problems. Common problems are,

• Storage doesn’t work.
• Some clients do not start properly.
• Network doesn’t work.
• UPS power backup doesn’t work.

Many of the Higher Secondary schools have a dedicated Computer Science teacher who handles the CS and IT courses for the 11^th and 12^th standards. Occasionally schools also have a part time computer teacher typically to teach computer science for classes 6 to 10. Some bigger middle schools also have these part-time computer teachers. Besides these many of the schools these days have a staff appointed by Keltron (funded by the government but program implemented by Keltron). These staff’s responsibility is largely administrative. They help the teachers in this schools as well as primary schools around this school in entering various data required by the government (EMIS data for enrolment and attendance, creating Aadhaar cards for the students, marking curriculum progress in various subjects etc.). These teachers together usually are responsible for the HighTech lab.

HighTech Labs – Usage

Another major problem with the HighTech labs is that these are heavily used. Two major uses of the HighTech labs are for taking various tests especially for classes 10 to 12, and for a language laboratory program which gives them English listening practice over the computer. Oddly 11^th and 12^th std Computer stream students do not seem to be using the lab as much as we thought they would.

In bigger schools with multipe sections for each class, often scheduling the HighTech lab is a problem. Also because it is required for various programs run by the Education department itself, they are afraid to give it to an external organisation like Asha. If there are problems in the lab, the government programs will then suffer.

Another minor problem is the in some schools the furniture is chairs which makes it awkward for multiple children to be using these systems at the same time. Benches would make that mode of usage easier. And with 10 or 20 clients in the lab, one terminal per student is also not feasible in most classes.

Survey Findings

The survey was conducted in Middle, High and Higher Secondary schools that are served by Asha. A total of 241 schools were surveyed.

Availability and Functioning of the Labs

As of the end of 2024-25, HighTech labs were not available in any of the middle schools. At high and higher secondary schools labs were available in all but one high school and were for most part functioning. However in about 85% of the schools with no HighTech lab, a new lab is expected by the new academic year. In all these school some work related to the

Most of the HighTech labs had either 10 clients or 20 clients. Some 4 schools alone had a 15 client configuration. As per the teachers’ subjective report, the labs were functioning about 93.7% of the time and about 95.1% of the clients were functioning.

Power Situation

We did not collect data on how frequent power cuts are at the various schools. But anecdotally we know that there will be at least half a school day of power cuts in a week during any one of the days. Here is the information on the availability of UPS backup for the HighTech labs.

Again anecdotally, the UPS batteries are often not maintained properly and the power backup provided by the UPS varies widely. They usually have between 1 and 2 hours of backup power.

Broadband at the School

Even without the HighTech labs, most of the schools have been provided by a broadband connection. But sometimes the broadband connection is not functional.

Our teachers also measured the upload a download speed of the network at each school. Note that this was just done one time during school hours at each school. Therefore it is not intended to be an accurate measurement.

Median Download Speed 53 Mbps

Median Upload Speed 50.48 Mbps

There is a wide range of values here ranging from under 1 mbps to 300 mbps!

Other Computers at the Schools

For most part the HighTech labs are the only computer facilities at government schools. The following chart shows other computer facilities at the school. However as these are schools supported by Asha, we have donated computers to the schools which is shown in the second chart.

A lot of the schools conduct our CS education programs using computers donated by Asha.

Computer Teachers at the Schools and Usage of the Labs

Availability of the lab doesn’t always mean that we can use the lab for teaching computer science. HighTech labs are used for spoken English lessons, for practice tests for all classes etc. We asked the teachers how easy it is to get the HighTech lab for teaching their Computer Science classes. Note this was done with the 97 schools with functional HighTech labs.

As you can see at about 38% of the school it is impossible or difficult to get the labs!

And what about teachers to teach computer science. Here is information on the availability of computer teachers at the schools.

Fulltime computer teachers are almost exclusively available only at Higher Secondary schools. This is because Computer Science as a stream has been available for 11^th and 12^th std students for several decades now in Tamilnadu. Even parttime computer teachers are also mostly available at Higher Secondary schools. Few are available at High schools and even fewer at middle schools.

In Conclusion

HighTech labs are recent additions and a step in the right direction. Given that all these schools had no computers before this, this represents a huge progress in the infrastructure at the schools. All High and Higher Secondary schools have these labs and all middle schools should be getting one shortly. It provides a platform for launching a Computer Science program at the schools. In bigger schools getting the time of the HighTech lab is a challenge. Government has plans of providing these schools with multiple HighTech labs. We are not sure when this may happen.

For now, Asha approach (thanks to tremendous support from Amazon) has been to provide these schools with some computers of our own whenever the HighTech labs systems are not usable/available. While the number of computers provided is still small (4 computers including the teacher’s for a class of 30), we also hope to keep improving on this.

As Asha has been doing, the CS curriculum at these schools will need to work with multiple students sitting at a single computer. Even in the best of circumstances we are still looking at 2 students per computer.

The power situation at the schools also means that laptops or tablets with their own batteries are probably a better solution than desktop computers (like the HighTech labs). Further the network availability also poses a challenge. This is also improving significantly over time and may soon not be an issue. For now Asha relies on locally available contents. But inability to install new software on HighTech lab systems has posed a challenge for us.

Finally in terms of teachers, full-time computer teachers are typically available only at Higher Secondary Schools and these teachers time is typically not available to teach 6^th to 9^th std students as we have been aiming. Even part-time computer teachers are not present in most middle and high schools. Therefore Asha has been focussing on training and brining on board other subject teachers. Where available we have also been able to effectively work with the parttime computer teachers.

Uniform Distributions – June 2025

(by Rajaraman Krishnan – Volunteer at Asha Chennai)

Asha does not provide uniforms to the students as a part of the budget for all our school support projects. We take this up when we have some excess funds and are able to provide this extra. We have found this to be extremely popular with the students, teachers and even parents. We had last distributed uniforms to the students back in July/August 2023. Here is a report of that distribution. That time we distributed the uniforms only at our Sangamam, Pearl and Thulasi projects. This year we expanded that to reach all our SPRINT schools in Tamilnadu.

Our Previous Uniforms Still in Action!

We distributed a red and grey uniform back in July/Aug of 2023. Prior to that we had distributed teal and grey uniforms back in early 2020. But due to Covid these got distributed only in 2022 in some of the schools. Even then, by 2025, they would have been at the very least 3 years old. But every now and then, we still see these Teal uniforms. In April 2025, when we went to distribute laptops from a company (Synamedia) to PUPS and GHS Thirupatchur schools we saw the kids wearing both our Teal and Red uniforms!

The uniforms that we gave had been of good quality and have remained very popular among the children and the schools. While the uniforms given by the schools barely last the full year, our uniforms are comfortably lasting more that 2 years. The red uniforms are still worn at all the schools one day a week. Here are a couple of pictures KaradiPath classes at Narayanapuram and Rajapalayam from this month, August 2025.

Uniforms for 2025

In April 2025, we took the decision to provide uniforms for the children at all our projects in Tamilnadu. As we were very satisfied with the quality of the uniforms provided the previous two times, we went to the same vendor, Shanmuga Apparel, and asked for uniforms of the same quality as the previous times. As this is a charitable cause, they also offered to give us the uniforms at the same cost as in 2023! Shanmuga Apparels were given orders for Sangamam, Pearl, Cauvery and Poorna Vidhya. Thulasi project also went back to the same vendors as last time – a self help group based in Thiruvannamalai and at the same cost.

After a quick vote among our teachers, we decided on the same dark-grey colour for the pants and bright yellow for the T-shirts. One major change this year was in what we provide to the girls in middle schools. Based on requests from our coordinators and Head Mistresses, we had been giving them a white chudidhar set. This year, in a sign of changing times, we realised that the girls (and teachers) also preferred T-shirt and pants instead of the Chudidhar sets!

We placed the orders in April and one tailor from Shanmuga Apparels came to the schools to measure the sample sizes of children. From these samples they came up with the range of sizes for each class. They usually erred on the bigger side so that the children can wear these dresses for a couple of years.

Note that we placed the order for classes other than the first standard as the final numbers for the first standard admission as well as other admissions as well as srudents leaving the school will be known only by July. The uniforms were delivered to us in June and we immediately distributed it to all our projects. For our Cauvery and Pearl projects, Shambuga Apparels packed it by the school and sent it by parcel to our office. Our coordinators received the parcels and distributed the uniforms. At Sangamam and Poorna Vidhya, they directly distributed the uniforms to the schools. The uniforms at Thulasi are yet to be delivered/distributed. The extra order for the first standard students are also yet to be delivered/distributed.

Distribution at Project Sangamam

Uniform distribution kicked off with joy at Asha-supported schools this June! We reached 145 schools across all our project locations—and at Thiruvallur alone, 3,390 students from 84 schools received brand new uniforms. At Thiruvallur Shanmuga Apparels delivered the dresses directly to the schools along with our project staff on 19^th June, 2025 and completed by 30^th June.

I was also able to participate in the distribution at Kosavanpalayam. Here are some photos from that distribution.

Our project coordinators and teachers visited each school, hand-delivering the uniforms and sharing moments of excitement with students. It was heartwarming to see classrooms brighten with children dressed in cheerful yellow. Their smiles made every effort truly worthwhile. Here is a video from this distribution.

Distribution at Project Pearl

Shanmuga Apparels delivered the dresses to our Project Pearl office on 16^th June. These were already separated by schools. Our coordinator Murugan delivered these uniforms to the schools from 19^th to 26^th June. BEO and other officials also participated in the distribution at some of the schools.

Here is a video from this distribution.

Distribution at Project Cauvery

Shanmuga Apparels delivered the dresses to our Project Cauvery office on 18^th July 2025 and the dliveries to the school were completed in the next few days. The Project Steward Ms. Komalavalli also participated in some of the distributions.

Here is a video of the distributions.

Distribution at Project Poorna Vidhya

Shanmuga Apparels delivered the dresses directly to the schools in late June. On July 1^st, the stewards for the project Mr Sriram and Mrs Kastui visited the schools and distributed the uniforms. Here are some photos from the distribution.

Here is a video of the distributions.

The uniform distributions were covered by local press at all the locations. Here are some articles from Thiruvallur.

Here is some press covrage we got at our Pearl Project.

Here is some press covrage we got at our Cauvery Project.

Remaining Orders

The orders for the 1^st standard children as well as the extra uniforms required has been placed for Sangamam, Cauvery, Pearl and Poorna Vidhya projects. At Thulasi the first batch of uniforms themselves are to be distributed by the end of the month. The extra order are also being placed and they should also be available shortly thereafter.

Asha Impression Pearl – 2025

We generally hold a separate Impressions event for students at Thoothukudi. Since students from primary participate in the event, managing the travel and accommodation gets a little difficult even with Project coordinators and teachers pitching in. Instead of the students coming to Chennai, Asha volunteers and judges travel to Thoothukudi for the competition.

Project Work and Selection

Students from Thoothukudi submitted an impressive 359 projects in total. Of this, 224 were for Presentation, 134 for Programming and 1 for physical computing. Out of this, 17 projects in Presentation and 10 projects in Programming were selected for the final competition.

Organizing the event and Competitions

The event was held at Panchayat Union Primary School (PUPS) Koovachipatti. Asha has been supporting PUPS Koovachipatti since 2019.

All the judges for the event travelled specifically for the event from Chennai. Four of the judges were volunteers of Asha. Three of the judges were employees of QBrik, a company that has been supporting Asha and specifically the Pearl project for a number of years. The judges arrived in the morning and were welcomed by the Pearl coordinator, Mr. Murugan and Asha teachers. The competition was held in 2 classrooms, with Mr. Rajaraman, Ms. Sreetha, Mr. Shiva and Mr. Pavan judging the Presentation competition and Asha volunteers, Mr. Venkat, and Ms. Pushpaleela and QBrick’s Ms. Harita judging the Programming competition.

Many of the schools’ Head Mistresses were there at the event cheering their team on! It was a pleasure to see the involvement from the schools.

Prize Distribution

The competitions ended by evening after which the prize distribution session was organized and winners declared.

Venkat and Rajaram spoke about Asha’s effort towards Computer education and about the Asha Impressions event. The Headmistresses of Koovachipatti and a couple of other chipped in to recognize and thank the support provided by Asha at their schools.

Sreetha and Haritha, then spoke about the quality of the competition and how they enjoyed seeing the great projects by the children. Then they declared the winners of the Presentation and Programming competitions respectively.

Winners of the Presentation Competition-

Winners of the Programming Competition

Asha Impression 2025

Find more photos from the event here.

Asha Impressions is an annual competition conducted for students participating in Asha’s SPRINT program. Through this initiative, Asha supports over 170 primary and middle schools in Tamil Nadu and 15 schools in Uttar Pradesh.

In addition to providing subject-specific teachers in English, Math, and Science, Asha has progressively expanded its focus to include early computer education. Today, even students in 1st and 2nd standard are introduced to the fundamentals of computer usage. Students in 3^rd standard are encouraged to explore creativity through TuxPaint which is a child-friendly painting software.

By 4th and 5th standard, students are introduced to computer organization and begin working with OpenOffice, a free, open-source office suite that includes tools for documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. 6th to 8th standard students take their learning a step further by navigating the Internet and engaging in introductory progr

amming using Blockly and Scratch.

Recognizing that computer science is best learned through hands-on experience, Asha requires all students to submit their own projects at the end of the term. Students in 4th and 5th standard create presentations using OpenOffice Impress, while those in 7th and 8th standard develop creative projects using Scratch.

Inspiring Through Opportunity and Recognition

To provide a platform for the students to showcase their efforts, we organize Asha Impressions which acts as a motivator for students to do better.

It not only provides them with a stage where they compete for the first place before external judges, it also is an opportunity for them to travel outside their villages to locations like IIT Madras or the Amazon office! Students who visit these places once, are doubly motivated to do better and return the next year as well.

Project Work and Selection

The project work runs from January to April, serving as an important component of the students’ annual computer science curriculum. Projects submitted by the students go through two level filtration, once by the Asha teachers and then by Asha volunteers.

This year, 120 schools from our project locations in Thiruvallur, Thiruvannamalai, Thiruvarur, and Chennai submitted entries—contributing over 800 projects across OpenOffice Presentations, Scratch Programming, and Physical Computing!!

From the 800+ submissions, a total of 31 standout projects—comprising 16 in Presentation, 11 in Scratch Programming, and 4 in Physical Computing—were selected for the final showcase held at IIT Madras on 28 April, 2025.

Organizing the event

Last year, Asha Impressions event was held at the Amazon office in Chennai. Since Asha’s ACE Impressions was held at Amazon in March, 2025, hosting another event so close in time was not workable. So, we decided to host the Impressions at IIT Madras campus.

We approached IIT Madras hoping to get something like the Vanavani auditorium. IITM asked us to use the Central Lecture Theatre (CLT), which can seat about 400 people. This hall is often used for important events at the institute and has welcomed famous professors and even Nobel Prize winners. It was a proud moment for Asha to have our students present their work on such a respected stage.

We organized breakfast and lunch for all the teachers, staff and students at the Nilgiris mess. Required permissions for our entry of our vehicles and staff was taken in advance.

The Competitions

The completion at the Centre Lecture Hall was conducted in two halls. The main hall was assigned for the Presentation competition and the smaller hall opposite was reserved for the Scratch Programming and Physical computing competition. At the beginning of the session, the judges were briefed by Mr. Rajaraman Krishnan, Volunteer and Coordinator at Asha, about the grading parameters.

The Presentation competition was judged by Mr. Arjun Shankar, Mr. Renganathan Sundaram and Mr. Dhanashekar.

Students presented an interesting mix of projects about air pollution, games, Natural disasters, Scientists, Unavu Kalappadam, Wonders of the sky, Story, Division etc. The children presented in teams of 3 or 4 with each taking turns to present their subject. They freely interacted with the audience when required and answered questions posed by the judges with confidence and humor.

In the hall opposite, the Scratch Programming competition was evaluated by Ms. Srividhya Kailasam, Ms. Purva Bhattar, and Ms. Gomathy.

One by one, the students presented their projects, each bringing a unique concept and approach. The judges displayed keen curiosity, engaging with participants through insightful questions and challenges. They tasked several teams with real-time tweaks to refine their projects and demonstrate improvements on the spot. While some teams adapted impressively, others found the modifications a bit more difficult to implement. Nevertheless, the judges were thoroughly impressed by the diversity and creativity evident in the range of student submissions.

The Physical computing competition was judged by Mr. Ponkumar and Mr. Nagraj.

The students displayed projects on topics like Birds V/s towers, Drip irrigation, Smart room and water tank. The students also created and brought in models to explain the working of their projects. The judges were impressed with the innovation and insights they had to offer.

The participants broke for lunch around 1 PM, after which the competitions resumed. Scratch Programming and Physical Computing wrapped up earlier in the afternoon, while the Presentation segment continued until 3 PM. With all events concluded, the judges stepped aside to deliberate and finalize the winners. Following the tea break at 4 PM, everyone reconvened for the much-anticipated prize distribution ceremony.

PRIZE DISTRIBUTION

Mr. Rajaraman and Mr. Venkat addressed the students and spoke to them about the competition, congratulating everyone on their performances. The judges then declared the winners of each competition. The winners are as below-

Presentation Competition-

Programming Competition-

Physical Computing Competition-

Asha Impression Pearl – 2025

We generally hold a separate Impressions event for students at Thoothukudi. Since students from primary participate in the event, managing the travel and accommodation gets a little difficult even with Project coordinators and teachers pitching in. Instead of the students coming to Chennai, Asha volunteers and judges travel to Thoothukudi for the competition.

Project Work and Selection

Students from Thoothukudi submitted an impressive 359 projects in total. Of this, 224 were for Presentation, 134 for Programming and 1 for physical computing. Out of this, 17 projects in Presentation and 10 projects in Programming were selected for the final competition.

Organizing the event and Competitions

The event was held at Panchayat Union Primary School (PUPS) Koovachipatti. Asha has been supporting PUPS Koovachipatti since 2019.

The judges arrived in the morning and were welcomed by the Pearl coordinator, Mr. Murugan and Asha teachers. The competition was held in 2 classrooms, with Mr. Rajaraman, Ms. Sreetha, Mr. Shiva and Mr. Pavan judging the Presentation competition and Asha volunteers, Mr. Venkat, and Ms. Pushpaleela and QBrick’s Ms. Harita judging the Programming competition.

The competitions ended by evening after which the prize distribution session was organized and winners declared.

Winners of the Presentation Competition-

Winners of the Programming Competition

ACE Impressions V2 at Amazon

You may view the album here.

Asha’s ACE (Asha Computer Education) program was inaugurated in October 2023 with 52 government schools in Thiruvallur. The initiative aimed to empower school teachers with foundational computer education, enabling them to deliver Asha’s 1-year computer science curriculum in their respective schools.

As word about the program spread, in 2024, the ACE program expanded to Thoothukudi, Thiruvannamalai, and Villupuram districts. In Thiruvallur, 24 schools expressed interest in joining the second phase of the program. In Thoothukudi, 13 schools were finalized; Villupuram welcomed 11 schools; and Thiruvannamalai brought 5 schools on board.

This new group of teachers were trained in Asha’s enhanced 2-year computer science curriculum, and the group came to be addressed as ACE V2 (ACE Version 2). However the program could start only by mid August due to delay in government permissions etc. We removed a few items from the curriculum and worked with the teachers to crunch the curriculum into the available time.

ACE V2 Impressions – Project Submission

Just like in ACE V1, student enthusiasm for project submissions remained strong in ACE V2. We received an impressive 470 projects from Thiruvallur, Thoothukudi, Villupuram and Thiruvannamalai districts. Given that the project timeline coincided with the close of the academic year, students had limited time to devote to their work amidst exam preparations.

In a touching display of commitment, both students and government teachers volunteered their vacation time to return to school and continue working on their projects. Their dedication and passion were truly inspiring and a testament to the impact of the ACE initiative. They finally submitted their projects by 10^th May, two weeks after the end of their exams!

The first level selections were done by fourteen of our teachers and Lead teachers, where they finalized 60 projects. These projects were then reviewed by Asha Project coordinators and volunteers, Mr. Rajaraman and Mr. Venkat. They chose 17 projects which would have the opportunity to present before external judges and win exciting prizes! The quality of the projects was found to be very good and it was a difficult task to filter just 17 from the lot. Here is the breakup of projects submitted as per geography-

The announcement of the project’s selection lit up the atmosphere at the chosen schools. At PUMS Kadambai, Kilpennathur, the moment turned heartfelt and symbolic as the Headmaster and teachers honored the selected team with saplings—living emblems of growth, gratitude, and a future rooted in promise.

Organizing The Event

Amazon gracious agreed to host the event once again at their office in the prestigious Brigade World Trade Centre in Perungudi, Chennai. Since ACE V1 was hosted at Amazon, the team was familiar with the event requirements and flow. Asha’s team contacted Amazon and the GREF team, who helped arrange the venue, food, technical support, and volunteers. The date for the event was set for 21 June, 2025, Saturday.

The teams from Thoothukudi travelled overnight with the students and teachers, and reached Chennai early in the morning. Since the travel time for the team from Thiruvanamalai was nearly 4 hours, they started very early in the morning the same day. All teams were scheduled to report at Amazon at 8 AM. While teams from Thoothukudi and Thiruvallur reached on time, the vehicle from Thriuvanamalai got caught up in morning traffic and reached only by 10.30 am.

The Amazon team helped everyone get their visitors pass after which the volunteers guided everyone to the 20^th floor where packed breakfast was kept ready for all staff and students. After breakfast everyone assembled in the common area for safety briefing by the GREF team. The students were then escorted to the 18^th floor where the presentation competitions were to be held.

Competition – Presentation

Mr. Rajaram spent some time briefing the judges on the grading parameters. One of the judge, Ms. Joan Mary had also judged the ACE V1 Impressions. Since the teams from Thiruvanamalai had not arrived, teams from Thiruvallur and Thothukudi were sent in to start the competition. The first presentation was by the school Vengathur Kandigai who presented on the topic, Tamilnadu symbols. The teams were seated in rows as per their order and went on to present one by one.

The judges were requested to keep the time limit of each presentation to 15 mins, including time for Q&A. Since the students had been informed about the time restrictions while they created the projects, most of them managed to complete within the time limit.

The presentations by the students kept the judges engaged as the students used variety of ways to make their projects interesting – Games, songs, riddles, role playing and boldly enacting movie dialogues. The judges focused on asking questions not only about the content but also the new techniques used. The students were asked to make changes to the content, or move content or images around, they were asked to recreate some interesting transitions as well, which they did, sometimes with ease, and sometimes a little stumped or a tad confused.

Since the room allotted could not accommodate all students owing to fire safety mandate, as each team finished their presentation, they were escorted out to the 16^th floor where Asha RTC teachers and Amazon volunteers kept them engaged in showcasing project work by RTC students and other electronic gadgets. Even though it was a Saturday (non-working day at Amazon), the volunteers showed up in good numbers and were extremely helpful in managing the children throughout the day.

Before heading out, the teams paused for a quick snack break at the Amazon mini-cafeterias. Friendly staff members guided them in choosing their preferred beverages—Horlicks, Boost, tea, or coffee. They also took a moment to snap a few photos and engaged in relaxed conversations with their teachers and friends.

We broke for lunch around 1 PM after which the competition continued. The students presented on a wide variety of topics like Math quiz game, Payanam (Journey), Circuits, Assam Forest, Seven wonders of the world, Global warming, Chess etc. The competition finished by 3 PM, after which the judges took some time to discuss and arrive at the names of the winners. All children and staff were requested to assemble at the 20^th floor again for the prize distribution ceremony.

Prize Distribution

Prize distribution at Asha events is rarely a solemn affair. Instead, it’s filled with laughter, lively chatter, and an atmosphere of ease and joy. We make a conscious effort to keep the ceremony light-hearted, knowing that students are often weary from early morning travel and the excitement of the day’s activities. As such, the program is kept brief and brisk.

Amazon volunteer Ms. Preeti graciously took on the role of master of ceremonies. Her vibrant energy and warm, humorous exchanges helped the children feel comfortable and engaged. During the event, she invited teachers and students to share their experiences at Amazon and the ACE Impressions, prompting cheerful conversations and heartfelt reflections.

Asha volunteer and project coordinator, Mr. Rajaraman, then addressed the gathering. He extended an invitation to the government teachers participating in the ACE V2 program to share their experiences—both teaching computer science and engaging in the competitions hosted at Amazon. Their reflections added a meaningful layer to the event, highlighting the impact of the program on both educators and students.

The judges were then welcomed on stage to share their experience evaluating the event. They spoke with admiration about the students’ impressive capabilities—especially considering most had only begun their computer science journey just ten months prior.

The judges noted how the students not only grasped the foundational concepts but also ventured far beyond textbook material. Many had independently explored additional tools and features through platforms like YouTube and integrated their findings into their final presentations. From ideation to execution, the projects showcased the students’ creativity, initiative, and resilience.

As a token of our appreciation, the judges were presented with handmade gifts by our teachers and students. In a particularly delightful moment, our teachers insisted that the ‘Fairy Wings’ be gifted to Ms. Mary Joan.

Amidst enthusiastic cheers from the audience, the judges took the stage to announce the winners. While three awards had been planned, one team captured the judges’ hearts with their compelling content, confident delivery, and standout presence.

Moved by their performance, the judges introduced a special recognition— ‘The Judges’ Favourite’—which was proudly awarded to GGHSS Ettaiyapuram (Thoothukudi) for their project Famous in Our District.

The third place was won by PUMS Ganalapadi (Thiruvannamalai) for their project Circuits. They bagged INR 1,00,000 for their school and took home gifts, medals and certificates.

The second place was awarded to PUMS Singarajapuram (Thiruvallur) for their project Payanam wining prize money of INR 1,30,000.

The first place was awarded to GHSS Melsevalampadi (Villupuram) who wowed everyone with their “Assam Forest” project — taking home smartwatches, medals, certificates, and a prize money of ₹1,60,000 for their school!

GHSS Melsevalampadi was then given the stage to present their project before all the students, teachers, volunteers and staff present.

After the vote of thanks was delivered, the students received their goodie boxes from the Amazon team and boarded their vans to head back home. The entire event was seamlessly organized, and the Amazon volunteers were incredibly kind and attentive to the children. We extend our heartfelt thanks to Amazon for being a steadfast partner in our journey towards expanding computer education.

ACE Impressions at Amazon

You may view the album here.

In October 2023, Asha signed a MOU with the state education department and launched the ACE (Asha Computer Education) program. The goal of the program was to train 52 government middle, high and higher secondary schools to teach a one-year Computer Science curriculum. It aimed at empowering them to teach computer science at their schools directly. You may read about it here – ACE Program Inaugurated. Initially the program was kick started in Thiruvallur. We named this ACE V1.

The next year, in 2024, we launched the ACE V2 in 53 more schools, offering a more extensive, two-year computer science curriculum, and expanded our geography to Thoothukudi, Thiruvannamalai and Villupuram, in addition to Thiruvallur. Currently, the ACE program has been running in 105 schools with 107 government school teachers trained by Asha. You may read about it here – ACE V2 Inauguration

Submission of Projects

Like every Asha computer science (CS) program, the curriculum dedicates 1/3^rd of the term to Project work. Students are encouraged to come up with their own ideas for the projects in consultation with their teachers. As this was the first time we were looking at projects from a program taught not by Asha teachers but by government teachers, there wasn’t much expectation with respect to the projects. But, like always, children managed to astound us!!

The quality of the projects was at par and some even better than those of our other programs. Considering the lesser number of sessions and time taken by the students to learn the contents of the curriculum, it was an incredible show of perseverance and talent!

We received 373 project submissions from all the 52 government schools!!

Asha lead teachers did the first level filtering of the projects and Asha volunteers, Mr. Rajaraman and Mr. Venkat did the second round of filtering. At the end of this, we had selected 17 projects to be showcased before external judges for Asha’s first ACE Impressions.

Organizing the event

Since this was the first event for the ACE program, there was a lot of enthusiasm amongst staff and teachers. The ACE program is funded by Amazon under its Amazon Future Engineer program. We approached Amazon to provide us their office as a venue for the event. Usually we host Asha Impressions at Amazon, but this being ACE’s first event, we found it necessary to host it at a nicer venue.

With Amazon confirming the venue, the date for the event was set for 19 March, 2025.

When ACE was launched, Asha had committed to awarding prize money totaling ₹4,20,000 to the winning teams, to be used for setting up computer labs at their respective schools. The students who are part of the winning teams would also be receiving small prizes. We bought water bottles for 3^rd prize, school bags for 2^nd prize and smart watches for the 1^st prize winners.

Day of the Event – Competition

The event was scheduled to begin at 9.30 am. The students and teachers along with Asha staff arrived very early around 8 AM. Packed breakfast was organized for all in the Amazon cafeteria. Everyone had their breakfast and assembled on the 20^th floor for security briefing by the Amazon team.

Once the judges arrived, Mr. Rajaraman took some time to brief them on the judging parameters. Since we had to make sure to keep time, each presentation would be given 15 minutes including Q&A. The judges were requested to maintain the time strictly. We calculated that 17 presentations at 15 minutes each would take up 4 hrs and 15 mins. We planned to end the competition by 3.15 and proceed to prize distribution.

The presentation competition was held on the 18^th floor. Amazon has organized a team of volunteers who escorted the students to and from the rooms. Since only 100 people in total could be accommodated as one time due to fire and safety requirements, the teams who were scheduled to present first were brought to the 18^th floor. Rest of the students were divided between two conference rooms on the 16^th floor where Asha’s RTC teachers showcased projects by RTC students in one and Amazon volunteers showcased Amazon tech like Alexa in the other.

The judges were handed the score cards and presentations began around 10.15 am with the first one by PUMS Aranvoyal on Indian freedom fighter and politician Mr. K. Kamarajar. One of the student has dressed up as Kamarajar adding their creativity to their presentation. The students were seated in the order of their line up and it proceeded from there. As the first set of 5 teams finished their presenting, they were moved to the 16th floor and the other students were brought in to the room. We managed to keep the number of students to 130 with this ongoing rotation.

As the competition proceeded and the children who completed their presentations were escorted out, they took some time to help themselved to the beverages on offer at the floor cafeteria. The children enthusiastically picked mugs and choose amongst the wide array of drinks on offer. Some chose to have tea/coffee, others picked soup or boost. They had a good time operating the machine and marvelling at the entire organization of the space. They took pictures with their teachers after which Amazon volunteers kindly escorted them to the other floor.

We broke for lunch at 12:30 pm. A packed meal consisting of chapatti, vegetable kurma, gobi fry, veg biryani, raita, and gulab jamun was arranged for everyone in the dining area on the 20th floor. The competition resumed at 1:40 pm, by which time the 9th presentation of the day had just concluded. The next group of students took the stage, confidently presenting their projects and responding to the judges’ questions. Once all the presentations were completed, the judges deliberated to decide the winners.

While the presentations were underway, the Auxohub team visited Amazon to observe the event and interview both government and Asha teachers. Auxohub is conducting an independent evaluation of Asha’s initiatives across all our projects. As part of this, they have visited our Rural Technology Centres (RTCs), met with school Headmasters, and engaged in in-depth conversations with our teachers and students. We look forward to receiving their evaluation report soon.

Prize Distribution

While the judges were contemplating on the winners, all the students had to move to the 20th floor for the prize distribution event. The children were buzzing with excitement and chatter. Mr. Rajaraman started the session by talking about the conception and impelementation of ACE which had culminated in the first ACE Impressions. He then invited ACE Government teachers, Asha teacher and HMs to talk about their experince of the ACE program over the year. The teachers took their time talking about different aspects of ACE.

Mrs. Gayatri Narasimhan from Namme School Namma Ooru Palli (NSNOP) gracefully accpeted our invitiation to the event and spoke words of encouragement to the students.

Mr. Kumar Parthasarathy from Amazon was a Chief Guest for the event and he talk to the children about the importance of learning Computer Science. We then invited one of the judges, Mr. Bala Vijay to annouce the winners of Asha’s first ACE Impressions. There were shouts and cheers as the winners were announced-

3rd place – GHS Atimacheripet, winning prize money of INR 1,00,000

2nd place – PUMS Nallatur, winning prize money of INR 1,40,000

1^st place – GHS Murukkampattu, winning prize money of INR 1,80,000!!

As we wrapped up the event, the judges and guests were presented with handmade gifts as token of our gratitude.

Our thanks to all the judges of the event-

1. Ms. Ramya KA

2. Mr. Vimal Anand

3. Mrs. Joan Mary

4. Mr. Bala Vijay

Judges’ Testimonials

Mrs. Joan Mary – It was my privilege to be a panel member for the presentations delivered by students from various schools. I was impressed with the confidence and energy each team brought with them.  Most of the teams were able to answer the technical, content related questions which shows their enthusiasm, efforts and time spent to learn and create the presentations in a creative way. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole event by learning through the innovative thinking of these young minds. Kudos to ASHA team for creating such a positive impact in future generation!

Mr. Bala Vijay – First of all I would like to thank my leadership and Asha for giving me an opportunity to be a judge for these amazing 17 projects that got shortlisted from about 250 projects originally submitted. I thoroughly enjoyed the presentations, the ideas and thoughts behind each of those projects. One thing I liked about these was that the students presented these projects with more joy and passion and not with fear. This clearly shows their readiness and depth of knowledge in the content and the technicalities of getting it done over the tool, in this case ppt. Kudos to the teachers and Asha who were the root that held this whole tree of event and I am sure these students would emerge with flying colours as was their presentation. And I was glad to witness the Corporate Social Responsibility that Amazon as a company holds. All the best and keep up the great work!!

500 Laptops Donated by Amazon – December 2024

Over the years, Amazon has been a supporter of Asha Chennai’s efforts in bringing computer education to rural students of Tamil Nadu. Under Amazon’s AFE project, Asha has been the running the Primary and Middle School project, Explore project for high school and the ACE (Asha Computer Education) program that works towards empowering government teachers to teach Asha’s 1 and 2 year Computer science curriculum, reaching more than 35000 students in nearly 500 schools. Despite the many laptops provided, we often face a storage in schools owing to high number of students and possible damage/ deterioration of the machines over time.

In December 2024, Sama Digital Foundation handed over 500 laptops donated by Amazon to Asha For Education, Chennai. The 500 laptops were first checked by Sama and then dispatched to Asha.

The laptops were received at Asha’s project office in Thiruvallur on 9 Dec, 2024. The laptops were checked by Asha’s system admins –

1. Laptops were first checked for any physical damage in transit (None found)

2. Installed OS: Originally Linux, later replaced with Windows

3. Installed supported applications: Asha Kanini, GCompris, Tux Paint, OpenOffice, Tux Typing, and more

4. Laptop internal cleaning was done when required

While none of the laptops needed to be condemned, we faced minor issues-

• 4-5 laptops had minor trackpad and keyboard issues

• 1 laptop had an SSD issue which was replaced

• 5 Dell laptops were received with HP chargers

• 15 laptops were secured with an admin password for boot access

Out of 500, 170 laptops were sent to the Chennai office which were cross checked before being sent to our other projects in Thoothukudi, Thiruvanamalai, and Thiruvarur.

LAPTOP DISTRIBUTION

The laptop distribution began in late January 2025 across our project schools and completed by March. Our project coordinators, accompanied by Asha teachers, visited schools to hand over the laptops to the Headmasters and government teachers. Additionally, spare laptops were used to conduct assessments in ACE schools and have been distributed once the assessments completed.

Asset Management and Tracking

Effective asset management is crucial for ensuring accountability and optimal utilization of resources. This report outlines the process for tracking and verifying laptops assigned to schools under the Asha project.

1. Asset ID Allocation – Each laptop is assigned a unique Asset ID, which is directly linked to its serial number.

2. QR Code Generation – For efficient identification, a unique QR code is generated and printed for each Asset ID. This QR code is then affixed to the respective laptop for easy scanning and data retrieval.

3. Asset Tracking Process – Upon deployment, the laptops are sent to schools, where Asha teachers facilitate the tracking process using the following steps:

• The teacher scans the QR code on the laptop.

• The scanned data is transmitted to the server, which retrieves and displays the relevant asset details, including:

• • Asset Type (Purchased/Donated)

    

  • Brand & Serial Number

  • Assigned Project name

  • Input Fields:

    • End-user name

    • Status (Working/Not Working/Issues)

    • Comments (if any)

    • Photo (in case of issues)

    • Registered email ID and mobile number

4. Periodic Verification – To maintain asset integrity and accountability, verification is conducted as follows:

• Biannual Full Asset Verification: A comprehensive verification of all assets is carried out twice a year.

• Event-Based Verification: An additional verification is conducted when an asset is transferred or returned.

5. Condemned Assets – If an asset is deemed or condemned, this status is updated in the system to reflect its condition and prevent further allocation.

Implementing this structured asset tracking and verification system ensures better accountability, streamlined management, and improved efficiency in resource utilization. The integration of QR code scanning with real-time data retrieval enhances the transparency and reliability of asset management within Asha.

Project Sangamam – Thiruvallur

Project Pearl – Thoothukudi

Project Thulasi – Thiruvanamalai

Project Cauvery – Thiruvarur

Project PoornaVidhya – Chennai

LAPTOPS IN USE

The laptops provided to the schools are being used by students. Here are some photos-

MEDIA REPORTS

We received some media coverage for the laptops distributed. Here are some articles-

TESTIMONIALS

PUPS Kosavanpalayam Teacher: I am a teacher from PUPS Kosavanpalayam. We received laptops for our school from Amazon through Asha for Education. The children are enjoying learning computer science. Earlier, since we had only a few laptops and many students, not everyone could use them. But now, all the children are able to use the laptops and learn. Thanks for Amazon and Asha.

Head Mistress of Government High School, Thiruttani Union, Murukkampattu – We have been part of Asha’s computer training program (ACE) for the past one and a half years. The laptops given by Amazon helped us provide good computer training to our students. Even though our students come from a rural area, we took part in the competition organized by Asha. Out of 52 schools, our students’ projects were selected for the (ACE Impressions) event. We are very proud that our school won both first and fourth place in the competition held at the Amazon office. Because of this, our school received support worth ₹1.8 lakhs. We are very thankful to Amazon for gifting smartwatches to the first prize winners, which made our students very happy. We also sincerely thank Asha for giving such valuable opportunities to students from poor, rural backgrounds.

Mr. Vijayaraman, Government and ACE Teacher at GHS Komakkambedu– I have also been working as an ACE teacher at this school for the past year. ASHA has been giving us excellent training every month, and all our doubts were clearly explained during the sessions. As part of the training, we were required to submit projects by students. For this, Amazon generously provided us with three laptops. During the same time, our school’s high-tech lab had stopped working, so these laptops were a great help. We needed more laptops for the 15 student groups. When we informed ASHA, and they quickly arranged five more laptops through Amazon. In total, we received eight laptops. Using laptops was a new and exciting experience for our students. They were thrilled to use them, and it made a big difference. The students became very involved in the projects and worked with great interest and speed. They even said they enjoyed this laptop-based work more than regular subjects. We are truly grateful to Amazon; without the laptops being provided at the right time, we wouldn’t have been able to complete so many projects or make it to the final round. We sincerely thank both Amazon and ASHA for giving our students this valuable opportunity.

Headmistress of Panchayat Union Primary School, Kuppammal Chatiram – Amazon has generously donated laptops to our school and also provided a well-trained ASHA teacher to teach computer education to our students. The ASHA teacher is teaching computer, giving individual attention to each student and helping them practice regularly. As a result, our students are now able to create presentation. This teaching has been provided to all students from Grades 1 to 5. The students are also learning to draw using the computer and can even change the font to Bamini (Tamil). We are very happy to see our students learning computer skills. Thanks to the laptops donated by Amazon, computer-based education has become a reality in our school. With the excellent guidance from the ASHA teacher, some of our students were selected to present their work and will be going to Chennai to participate in a (presentation)competition. They are well prepared. We sincerely thank Amazon and the ASHA teacher for their support.

PUMS Thazhavedu – Amazon has donated four laptops to our school. The students are showing immense interest in learning through laptops. Every day, right from the start, they eagerly ask for the laptops. I usually tell them, “Finish your studies first, then I’ll give you the laptop.” Interestingly, a topic that used to take them one hour to learn, they now finish in just 30 minutes — just so they can have more time with the laptops! They even use the computers to search for answers to their doubts. Thanks to the laptops, their talents have grown tremendously. Nowadays, they are even ready to submit their own projects. Once again, I sincerely thank Amazon for this generous support.

LIST OF SCHOOLS WHERE THE LAPTOPS HAVE BEEN DISTRIBUTED