Google and TMS team up to drop some knowledge

On Saturday February 6th, The Modern Story (TMS) and Google teamed up to present a career day panel in rural India at Nalgonda´s Andhra Pradesh Residential Boys School.  The school, which is a boarding school for primary education, is an all-Muslim government program 3.5 hours south of Hyderabad. 5 volunteers from Google spoke to children of all ages from 4-10th class about their experiences in India’s educational system and how they got to be where they are today. Sheik Mohammed, a Google Maps programmer, spoke about his life in Uttar Pradesh. He grew up in a household supported by a single mother without a father or future prospects. Sheik told the kids how a life of do or die motivated him to achieve in school. His advice came from his own experience that seemed to resonate with a lot of the boys in 8-10th class. He related to the kids how he never wanted to become an engineer just because everyone else did. Rather, he wanted to become an engineer because his fascination with computers led him to learn after school, outside of the classroom, supplementing his education.

Sheikh, Ioana and TMS students at Nalgonda for the Google Career Panel

The Google team arrived around 1:30pm and had lunch with the students. Afterward, the panel was held in front of the school’s maps of Andhra Pradesh, India and the World painted on a wall on the second floor next to TMS’s classroom. Using these maps as concrete images, the Google team talked about their work on Google Maps on-line. Many of these students are unable to type. Nor have they had any extensive experience on the internet. Few knew what Google was, but their imaginations were visibly sparked. The panel proceeded by talking about problems and common experiences in Indian education and attitudes toward learning, the exciting opportunities in India’s growing economy for jobs, personal anecdotes and fielding student questions.

The last part of the panel was a motivational period where Ms. _ spoke to the kids about their potential for growth, individuality, and encouraged them to ´fight for India,´ with a wink to our no-violence curriculum :). The event ended at 4:00pm with the kids sending us off with cheers and the Google team thanking the administrators for the opportunity, saying they would love to come again. We’ll be looking forward to working together in the future.