Cool Running just took FLITE

When Covid struck, there was a distinct divide in the education systems. At first it was denial and disbelief, we just shut down and waited for things to open. Finally when we realised things were not going to open up as fast as we expected, the transition to online schools started & that’s where the difference became more stark down the middle. 

Most schools in India seamlessly (sic) went online, While this was happening in India, Bharat was going on another path, as many schools and children did not even have access to basic digital resources. We had schools doing one teacher on speaker phone with 5 children on one device.

Our mission has always been STEM Education available & accessible for all & while there is enough said on the importance of STEM, the need and its requirement for children to at least be introduced to it, forget getting affinity to it, becoming the next Jobs or Gates was a distant dream. 

 We were at pain with schools not being able to offer these solutions to all children with limited resources, together we explored different avenues of getting these programs across, but none were all inclusive and that’s where the buck stopped.

Cool Running’s –

Cool Running’s was a fun inspirational movie. The story about the Jamaican Bobsled team representing a country from a tropical climate which participated in a cold weather sport, at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta. There they quickly became a fan favorite largely because of their status position as the ultimate 'underdog'.

They did not officially finish after losing control of the sled and crashing during one of their four runs. After crashing, they famously got out of their sled and walked with it to the finish line to great applause. The team returned to the Winter Olympics again in 1998, 2002, and 2014.In 2000, the Jamaican bobsled team won the gold medal at the World Push Championships in Monaco.

The Jamaican Bobsled Team were pioneers in pushing Jamaica’s athletic presence in the world beyond their already established prowess in Track & Field Events. They also inspired several other countries to participate in events like Bobsledding and also others.

Our Own Cool Runnings – Smt P. N. Doshi Womens College – Ghatkopar When Dr. Asha Menon called us to understand how we can take these programs for their college, we were also not sure how and what capacity we would be able to do this. We have done this drill before and the odds were not in our favour, as while institutes are normally very keen to initiate such programs, its normal for costs / logistics and management inertia to stop things before we start.

However when we met Mrs. Meena Khetani, Dr Asha Menon and their team, there was a different energy in the air, there was something magical going to happen. There was real commitment to get something going for the students after this lost year.

We explained them about FLITE @iRobokid & then things moved quickly, we explained the curriculum and the benefits and also how it will benefit all the girls of the college. Yes, this is an All Girls college, of students of lesser affluent backgrounds. Yay !!Things clicked and we started. Over 3000 girls will be introduced to the wonders of STEM Education and also have an opportunity to understand more on different coding programs and languages over the next 6 months alone.

We always said, it will take one institute to make a difference as it took one bobsled team from Jamaica & this would be not be possible with the true leadership, vision and also desire to bring in quality learning for the children by the Management of SPRJ Kanyashala Trust.

Smt PN Doshi college has taken the leap to adapt a more technology enabled learning, capitalize on the low costs of internet and get access to a larger more decentralised form of education.

We may not get medals, nor appreciation but for sure this one college has set the ball rolling to be the inspiration for the others to follow and become cool running.