TEN LITTLE FINGERS - Arvind Gupta

BAREFOOT PATHOLOGISTSOften the school science curriculum is cut-and-dry and divorced from real life. It is no wonder thatsuch lessons are unable to sustain interest and capture the imagination of the children. A number ofexperiments have proven that when science curriculum’s are designed with the community’s needs inmind, then they spark a great deal of interest and are able to galvanise the community into action.Vigyan Ashram an NGO near Pune, devised a unique curriculum for ninth class girls. The girlswere trained to conduct blood, urine and stool tests by professional pathologists. They were alsotaught a course on food, nutrition, health and hygiene.These girls were then asked to visit all the village homes and examine the health of the children.They had to make a note of the number of children in every house. Also the age, sex, height andweight of the children. These girls also took blood samples of pregnant mothers and children.Whenever the haemoglobin count was found low, the patients were advised to eat green leafyvegetables and other iron rich foods. These girls gave the families simple tips on cleaning thewater. The girls periodically visited the homes and monitored the progress of their patients.The village families were very happy by the help rendered by these girls. Slowly these girlsbecame so skilled that soon they were doing simple pathological tests for the local doctors for afee!One day these girls will many and have their own families. They will be very conscious mothersand will pay a lot of attention to the health of their family.At present these girls are offering a great service to their community and at the same timelearning the rudiments of science in a very creative way.