RIVER wins yet another award

Rao and Rama were honored at the India Economic Summit on Monday 9 November in the presence of Anand Sharma, India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry, and Venu Srinivasan, President of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). They were declared, winners, of the "SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR" INDIA WINNERS - 2009. The results were announced by Prof Klaus Schwab, Founder,The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. This is the 5th edition of the award, which has been given annually since 2005, to individuals that have founded organzations that do not maximize profits, but benefit society or the environment.

Orientation Workshop Conducted at RIVER

Members of the Jana Kalyana Samakhya, Parvathipuram, Andhra Pradesh and PREM/PLAN, Koraput, Orissa participated in an Orientation Workshop at Rishi Valley. In this workshop, the participants were exposed to the basics of the MGML Methodology. They were taken to the satellite schools to see the Methodology being implemented. A very keen interest to further learn this Methodology was shown.

RIVER conducts a Designers' Workshop in Nepal

Team RIVER consisting of Padmanabha & Rama Rao, Raju Asirvadam, Tana Venu and Saidabee landed in Katmandu, Nepal to launch the MGML Designer Workshop over there. The 15 day workshop got off the ground on 01 June 2009. The workshop was being conducted by the Dept of Education, Nepal and was sponsored by ESAT, Nepal. Around 45 persons drawn from different disciplines took part. The participants were divided into separate workgroups and they instantly got down to the business of creating a new methodology of learning for the children of Nepal. The Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Mr Janardhan Nepal, in his encouraging talk, addressed the participants as 'Pioneers of Progress' in this new thrust in education. The participants lived up to that expectations and did create some tangible results which will take primary education in Nepal a long way if diligently implemented. (Click on photos to get a bigger image)

……….the Think Tank conceptualizes the material required

Working in five groups, one for each subject, the teams slogged hard to create Teaching Learning Material for Grade 1 & 2. Time was at a premium. A batch of material had to be prepared that was fit enough to be used in the Model School that was being set up. It was a race against time without compromising on quality. The teams did a fantastic job under pressure. (Click on photos to get a bigger image)