Sachin Joshi is the founder of Espalier Experimental School in Nashik. The school he runs is of a different kind. Students in his school don’t learn from conventional methods. They are engaged in live experiences, demonstrations and field visits. Their curiosity is encouraged.
Apart from the experimental school which started five years ago, Joshi and his team are also engaged in a number of social initiatives. ‘Education On Wheels’ is one such initiative under which Joshi and his team take education to the underprivileged and school drop outs. He has personally designed the van which has facilities like TV, computer, a small library among other things.
His model has been highly effective. The van automatically attracts attention and when children came in Joshi and his team followed creative methods of teaching. Initially they just sang so that children do not feel burdened and came back the next day. They also showed informative movies to children and discussed personal hygiene and cleanliness. To ensure that children followed what was taught to them, Joshi told them that if they don’t bathe they won’t be allowed inside the van. Small efforts like these made a lot of difference.
Completely immersed in his passion, hardly would he have imagined that his initiative will take him to address a session in World Forum for Democracy organized by the European Council and European Parliament in Strasbourg, France in from November 7th to 9th. The theme of Conference this year is ‘Education’ and Joshi will speak on ‘Democracy and Equality – Does Education Matter’. The conference will see 121 speakers from around the world speaking on diverse topics relating to the theme.
‘Education on wheels’ has now reached numerous cities and has special focus on girl child education. Joshi has also created a mobile application where in general people inform about the school drop outs. Joshi and his team then identifies the child and counsels the parents if need be to bring the child back under the umbrella of education.
