The Foundation identifies projects based on referral at the moment. Since this is a new initiative, the program has kicked off with couple of schools in the southern part of India.
Quarterly, there is a review on various referrals received. The selected member of the Foundation makes the decision on the next project based on the proximity of the projects and available resources. Currently the projects are funded purely by the Centena Group. The Foundation has a roadmap to open the projects for external donations and contribution from partners very shortly.
Our mission in the next 3 years is to include more schools into the program. We strongly believe in STEM based education system and we hope to reach out to as many children as possible.
However, this has to start by training the teachers so that they can deliver the STEM based curriculum in the selected schools. In order to increase the reach, the foundation provides free teacher training program to teachers in the selected schools. The training program provides a complete teacher centered support and advice for veteran facilitators. This is backed by a robust web based content sharing portal that has latest updates, videos and literatures on STEM methodologies.
For students, each session of STEM based courses contains cooperative learning activities. Every unit includes hands on experience and performance assessments completed by the teachers. These teacher directed activities are designed to augment the STEM content, provide opportunities for the whole class participation, and allow students additional time to review or complete unfinished assessments.