Engg students set up smart classroom for tribal students

Kochi: Nearly 70 school and college

students

of Kunjippara tribal settlement in Kuttampuzha forest range were struggling to access online classes due to absence of electricity supply, poor mobile network and zero internet connectivity.

Today, they have a smart classroom at their only government school in the village, thanks to students of

Viswajyothi College of Engineering

(VJCET),

Vazhakulam

. The students, through their project ‘smart classroom among the woods’, set up a rooftop solar plant in the school to provide electricity and donated laptops and projector to set up a smart classroom. The tribal students can now access recorded videos of online sessions hassle free.

The project was implemented with the funding from Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. Around 15 students who are the members of IEEE Special Interest Group on Humanitarian Technology (Sight), a registered club of IEEE in VJCET, completed the project at a cost of around Rs.3.4 lakh.

Kuttampuzha forest range officer Libin John said Kunjippara tribal settlement is located deep inside the woods of Kuttampuzha and can only be accessed by crossing a river and travelling miles on bone-jarring tracks through the forest.

“The project had received the approval of forest department. Residents of the settlement have no access to electricity or any other technological developments. The smart classroom would provide an academic solution for more than 70 students from the area,” he said.

Project mentor Prabin James said the Sight group of VJCET submitted to IEEE the idea of implementing a 2kW solar power plant for the school which will power academically helpful electronic gadgets such laptop, sound system and projector.“The project was selected as one of the best project proposals in Kerala and also bagged a fund of Rs. 3,40,000 to aid the implementation of the project,” he said.

The project implementation was started in February 2020 under the guidance of professor Anish M Jose of electronics and communications department and under the leadership of final year student Albin Paul and third year student Ananthakrishnan S Nath.