IIT-Hyderabad is witnessing a frenzy for a particular fractional credit course these days. Reason: The august presence of Missile man and former President Dr.Abdul Kalam as the faculty member.
Dr. Kalam is teaching the course which goes by the name “Empowering 3 billion”. He took his first class on Tuesday. It was a big hit as the student thoroughly enjoyed the tete-a-tete . In the class, Dr.Kalam waxed eloquent about the importance of being “a unique you”. He urged the students to utilise their potential to the optimum so that India could become a developed nation by 2020. He encouraged them to dream and to work hard towards realising that dream.
Innovative ideas and interaction mark the inaugural class
The students were divided into 10 teams of 12 members each and asked to give presentations over Providing Urban Amenities to Rural Areas (PURA). The chief topic of discussion was his vision 2020; his dream for making India into a better country.
The class saw interesting solutions coming from the students. One team proposed an online voting system through which people could cast their votes using their Unique Identification Numbers. They were of the view that many educated people who have access to internet do not cast their votes because they do not want to go to the polling booth. This system would ensure that educated India votes for its democracy.
Another presentation was about interlinking villages for local energy generation that would guarantee self-sufficiency in this sector. Dr.Kalam sat through the entire presentation of 10 hours and spent good time with the students.
The students too were elated to interact with him as a lecturer. Most of them said that they liked the session and were completely bowled over by the scientist’s humility.
Notably, the institute had received unprecedented response from the students when it was announced that the classes for the course will be taken by none other than Dr.Kalam himself. Almost 700 students had applied for the course but in the end only 124 were lucky enough to grab a seat. Significantly, no one knows the method of evaluation for the course but are enjoying it to the hilt.