Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (SVYM) is a registered voluntary social service organization working amongst the rural and tribal masses in the southern state of Karnataka in India for the last two decades and more. The organization mainly works in the areas of health, education and community development and has projects across the state of Karnataka. More information can be had from the website at www.svym.net

The organization has been working in the field of education for the last 18 years amidst the marginalized rural and tribal communities and amongst the urban poor for the last year. The experience gained by the organization shows that the rural children are generally unable to cope in maths, English and science education. The organization today works amongst nearly 500,000 school going children spread across 6 districts of Karnataka. These children mainly attend Government schools wherein the infrastructure and quality of teaching facilities is lacking. Moreover the teachers are not adequately trained in teaching science. One of the reasons for the children underperforming in science has been the lack of proper laboratory facilities and knowledge of easy-to-do and local science experiments amongst the teachers.

SVYM would like to handle this problem by setting up a mobile science lab. This lab will be set up on a vehicle which will travel to the schools on fixed days of the month. A trained science teacher/Demonstrator will accompany this lab and experiments will be performed in the Government schools. These experiments will be low cost and locally contextualized for the easier understanding of the students.

SVYM will help mobilize support to procure the vehicle from local sources. This is expected to cost around Rs. 1 million. (US $ 23000)

Support is now sought to modify and equip the vehicle and furnish the same with different science experiments. The vehicle will have solar panels on top and generate the electricity required for the experiments. Support is sought for setting up the mobile science lab and running the same for at least 6 months. Further support to sustain the program will be generated locally and from other sources.

The following activities are planned:

Procurement of the vehicle

Workshop of science teachers and finalization of experiments to be conducted

Modifications and equipping the vehicle

Procurement of models, science kits etc

Recruitment and orientation of personnel

Finalization of schedules and commencement of mobile visits to schools

During the first 6 months, the vehicle will visit schools in the districts of Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Bijapur, Bagalkot, Raichur and Bellary. The vehicle will remain in each district for one month and cover at least 24 high schools in the district (1 per day X 6 days X 4 weeks). A total of 144 schools (7000 children) will be reached out under this program over the 6 months.

After a study of the 6 districts, 24 high schools in each district will be identified. With the help of local science teachers and resource persons a list of experiments pertaining to the existing school curriculum in the physics, chemistry biology & life sciences, water & sanitation, Health & hygiene will be prepared. This will be done as part of a workshop involving as many stakeholders as possible.

Before any school is visited adequate publicity will be created locally and all nearby schools will also be informed. Students from surrounding schools will also be encouraged to visit the high school where the mobile lab will be parked.

The calendar of activities is as below:

Month	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Procurement of the vehicle	+	+
Workshop of science teachers and finalization of experiments to be conducted	+	+
Modifications and equipping the vehicle		+	+
Procurement of models, science kits etc		+	+
Recruitment and orientation of key personnel			+
Capacity building in teachers			+		+		+
Finalization of schedules and schools to be covered under the program			+	+	+
commencement of mobile visits to schools				+	+	+	+	+	+
Monitoring and Evaluation				+	+	+	+	+	+
Documentation and reporting				+					+

The budget requirements for the project are: Total project period of 9 months

Conducting of the Workshop (5 days for 12 persons) Rs. 45,000

Modifications and equipping the bus (incl. solar power) Rs. 100,000

Operational/Admin expenses Rs. 6,000

Costs for experiments Rs. 60,000

Travel expenses @ average of 1000kms /month @

Rs. 15 per km Rs. 90,000

Per diem expenses for 3 persons @ Rs. 100 per day

per person for 24 days a month for 6 months Rs. 43,200

Awareness generation/Publicity Rs. 9,000

Personnel costs

Science teacher/Demonstrator (Rs.5000 X 7 mths) Rs. 35,000

Driver (Rs.3000 X 7 mths) Rs. 21,000

Helper (Rs.2000 X 7 mths) Rs. 14,000

Contingency/miscellaneous Rs. 9,000

TOTAL Rs. 432,200

Approx. 9823 US $ @ Rs. 44 per US $