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When you arrive at any Isha Vidhya campus, you are well aware of its rural setting, but once you begin touring the school, the facilities within contradict that setting. Many of our amenities are unmatched locally, and each one aims to help our students thrive.

In this month’s newsletter, read about these facilities and learn how our students and teachers benefit from them.

Math Lab

While students learn math on blackboards and by solving sums in notebooks in their classrooms, using kits in the Math Lab once a week gives them visual and practical learning experience and helps them understand concepts clearly – especially in the primary section.

Kanmozhi, a teacher at Isha Vidhya Dharmapuri, says that the students are eager to learn in the Math Lab, and some of them understand and solve sums better there. For example, the multiplication table kit is handy for teaching 3–digit multiplication.

Science Lab

Our higher secondary students use the biology, chemistry, and physics labs for practical experiments in these subjects. We recently introduced the science lab to Class 6 students, and this experiment has encouraged us to teach all the secondary students in the science lab soon.

Jayanthi, of Isha Vidhya Nagercoil, scored a centum in science in class 10 and says the science labs always help her understand and assimilate concepts better.

Atal Tinkering Lab (ATL)

The Atal Tinkering Laboratories (ATLs) at seven Isha Vidhya schools are a part of the Atal Innovation Mission (Government of India’s flagship initiative) to foster curiosity, creativity, and imagination in young minds and instill skills such as a design mindset, computational thinking, adaptive learning, and physical computing. These labs are equipped with materials from different streams to facilitate STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) learning for the students from classes 4 to 12, and the activities are mainly hands–on, with nominal instructions from the teacher.

Nivehasree from Isha Vidhya Erode wants to work in the IT field and says she learned a lot about programming by using micro:bit in projects, and this will help her reach her career goals.

Digital Classroom

Over 70 per cent of our classrooms are digitally equipped – with an audio system, a projector, and internet connectivity. We also utilize these rooms for live online interactive sessions, especially with guest speakers.

Suganthi, who teaches English at Isha Vidhya Coimbatore, says her junior students are always attentive and motivated to learn in the Digital Lab. They enjoy learning with visual support, eagerly answer questions, and are intent on what’s coming next on the screen.

Computer Lab

Every Isha Vidhya school has 40 computers. Students begin using computers for special projects from class 3 – where two students share a computer. Initially, they learn subjects like basic math and digital drawing, and then gradually progress to higher–level learning.

Sudharshan, a student at Isha Vidhya Cuddalore, says his uncle has inspired him to pursue Computer Engineering and is happy that what he is learning at school will help him pursue his career goals.

Playground & Play Equipment

All our schools have spacious playgrounds for students from class 5 onwards. On average, we allocate three to five periods each week for athletics and group sports like volleyball and hockey.
Our primary school students avail of playground equipment like swings, slides, and climbers, which strengthens their muscles and vestibular systems, builds gross and fine motor skills, and helps them develop social skills, self–confidence, and independence.
Alagumuthu of Isha Vidhya Tuticorin says that efficient coaching from his P.E. teachers has helped him do well in sports, and he now aspires to become a national–level player.

Library

Our school libraries have around 7000 books each, comprising reference books, story books, biographies, magazines, etc. From class 6 onwards, students visit the library once a week as a part of their curriculum.
Isha Vidhya Coimbatore recently introduced a ‘Frequent Library User’ appreciation strategy for students from classes 7–9 to instill the reading habit, and many students received appreciation certificates at the end of the term.