BIOCON FOUNDATION LAUNCHES ‘CHINNARA GANITHA'
Bangalore, Sept 21, 2006
Biocon Foundation today unveiled a unique math self help book ‘Chinnara Ganitha’ in Kannada for Standard 1 & 2 in a joint collaboration with Mcmillan India Limited. The book aims to make Math fun for children by replacing rote learning with a clear understanding of basic math concepts –such as numbers and simple math operations.
The book was launched by B S Yediyurappa, Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Managing Trustee Biocon Foundation and CMD, Biocon Limited at Huskur Village today.
Talking about the initiative Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said, “Biocon Foundation has outlined an integrated outreach strategy with the aim of identifying and implementing projects that will impact the social and economic scenario of the country. The foundation has a strong commitment to promoting education, especially among underprivileged children. We believe an excitement for math, if encouraged at an early age, will go a long way in helping students cope with challenges on the subject in later years.”
The program will first train trainers comprising of school teachers and postgraduate social workers to tutor small groups of children to use the books. Rani Desai, COO, Biocon Foundation said, “We aim to target 20,000 school children in Kannada medium government schools in the first year of the program, in a phased manner. We will assess the children’s math comprehension levels before we start the programme and follow up at the end of one year, in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the programme. We will ensure that the training and tutoring programme is running well in each school before we move to the next school.”
Chinnara Ganitha has been written by writer and teacher Prathima Rao who teaches physics, computer science and mathematics at Baldwin Girl’s High School, Bangalore.
About Biocon Foundation
Established in 1978, Biocon Limited is India's premier biotechnology company. Biocon and its two subsidiary companies, Syngene International Pvt. Ltd. and Clinigene International Pvt. Ltd. together with its Joint Venture Company Biocon Biopharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd. form a fully integrated biotechnology company, specializing in biopharmaceuticals, custom research, clinical research and enzymes. With successful initiatives in clinical development, bioprocessing and global marketing, Biocon delivers products and solutions to partners and customers across 50 countries. Visit us at www.biocon.com
For further information contact:
Paula Sengupta/Gayatri Appaya
Biocon Limited
Tel: +91 80 2852 3434
Fax: +91 80 2852 3423
Email: paula.sengupta@biocon.com
gayatri.appaya@biocon.com
