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Brazil Experience

Brazil Experience

We (myself and Dr. Bedekar) had an opportunity to go to Brazil to participate in Mostratec, a science and technology fair held in the town of Novo Hamburgo. Famous for its shoe making industries, Novo Hamburgo is located in the southernmost state of Rio de Sul of Brazil. A technical school named Liberato has been arranging this event for the last 27 years. The students from VPM's Sou. A. K. Joshi English Medium School at Thane were fortunate to get invitation to display their project during the 28th Mostratec held from October 21 to 25, 2013. The young students studying in 9th standard came with a novel car that uses solar energy and runs on water. It was aptly named as hydro powered car. The working model of the car attracted the attention of Brazilian students, teachers and parents. They even impressed the judging panel that decided to designate it as an Outstanding Project. The students were given a certificate of Honorable Mention among the international projects displayed by students of 26 countries.

Over the past decade the Vidya Prasarak Mandal (VPM), Thane has made its name in international educational activities. It started arranging the visits of British teachers to India since February 2003. They came here to study the education system of India. The close interaction with the British education system prompted VPM to think of educational tours of Indian students and teachers to England. Started in November 2004 more than 10 educational tours have so far been arranged. More than 100 students and teachers have benefitted from this activity. It is still continued every year in summer vacations. VPM was fortunate to host the visit of members from China Association of Science and Technology (CAST) in 2006 and from Shanghai Association of Science and Technology (SAST) in 2008. On the invitation of CAST it is has been sending science projects for display in China Adolescent Science and Technology Innovation Contest (CASTIC) since 2007. Out of seven participations the Indian project has bagged the Outstanding Achievement Award on five occasions. Since 2012 it has started participating in Joint School Science Exhibition (JSSE) held in Hong Kong. Here too the project from Sau. A. K. Joshi English Medium School fetched the Most Visited Project Award. Participation in the science and technology competition in Brazil was the first experience for the students of VPM. On the invitation of Mostratec it was decided to send a project from Sau. A. K. Joshi English Medium School under the guidance of Dr. S C Agarkar, Dean VPMs Academy of International Education and Research. There was a little reluctance to begin with, as the distance involved was very much. But the Mostratec organizer encouraged us by providing free local hospitality and by sending requisite documents promptly for getting visa. Parents of both the students and the teachers from the school took a positive stand and it was finalized that a project must be sent to south American continent. It must be mentioned that the participation in Mostratec has been quite encouraging. Mostratec began as a local activity of Liberato Technical School. It soon expanded into the state activity and soon took the national shape. For the last ten years it has expended into an international activity attracting entries from far off countries. There were 412 projects from 26 countries that represented not only American continents
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Brazil Experience

but also Asia, Europe and Africa. The event was arranged in an Exhibition hall constructed by the Municipal Council of Novo Hamburgo. It has a huge display as well as parking space. Apart from school projects there were stalls by educational institutions and industries. It seems Liberato Technical School could attract the attention of many industries to this annual activity. In addition to putting their stalls they came out to give away awards to outstanding projects displayed during the exhibition. These industries, we were told, also come forward to sponsor the participation of Brazilian students in similar competitions held in other countries. We presently have a group called BRIC (Brazil, India, Russia and China). This is a group of fast developing countries in the world. There is so much to cooperate and learn from each other among these countries. Our experience of going to China for the last seven years and now Brazil clearly shows that they have realized the importance of science and technology in national development. In order to attract the young minds to these disciplines they have initiated national as well as international level competitions regularly. These efforts have fetched good dividends for these countries. In India too some efforts in this direction are being made. The science exhibition organized by National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and the Children Science Congress arranged by National Council of Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC) are two good examples. The central government has recently come forward with a scheme of INSPIRE to encourage young lads to work on their novel ideas. All the activities, however, desire a lot to make them really innovative in nature. This is a time to brood over the success of these activities and bring about changes based on the experiences of China and Brazil. Both China and Brazil are encouraging private participation without putting in any hindrances. Primary and secondary education is offered free. However, both countries have private schools. China and Brazil are spending more than 5 percent of their GDP on education whereas India is still around 3.8 percent of GDP. China in investing heavily in university facilities. This is giving them dividends in terms of a large number of patents and contributing heavily to international peer reviewed journals. Brazil is also following China model. For that they have set up huge exhibition pavilions even in state capitals. Emphasis here is more on quality than charity.

S C Agarkar Dean VPMs Academy of International Education and Research, Thane 8097274097

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