Partnership is critical in support of science education and citizenship activities in India

	Village children gather around an experiment to learn about water and environment.

In this interview, Ramji Raghavan, chairman of Agastya International Foundation, and Karen Lewis, director of the Agilent Foundation, discuss the partnership between their organizations in support of citizenship and science education activities in India.

Q: Can you provide our readers a little background on the Agastya International Foundation, its mission and goals?
Raghavan: Agastya was created in 1999 by a group of scientists, educators and executives. Its vision is a creative India - an India of tinkerers, problem-solvers and creators who are humane, anchored and networked. To achieve our vision we are catalyzing a transformation in primary and secondary education - away from rote-learning towards hands-on, interactive methods of learning -- to spark curiosity and the spirit of inquiry. In particular, Agastya focuses on disadvantaged children and teachers in rural parts of the country to provide hands-on science education, which is fun and of great value to both children and teachers.

Over the next ten years Agastya hopes to reach 3 - 5 million children and 300,000 teachers with its educational programs. Supporting this approach, Agastya operates 27 mobile labs and 9 science centers across the states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, reaching nearly 500,000 children and 10,000 teachers annually.

In addition, to promote sustainable environment practices, Agastya runs a major eco-restoration and environmental program on its 172-acre campus in Gudivanka, in the state of Andhra Pradesh. On this campus water harvesting and soil conservation measures have helped to transform wasteland into an ecology park which boasts hundreds of medicinal and other plant species.

	Venkatesh Valluri (left), president of Agilent India, and Ramji Raghavan (right), chairman of Agastya International Foundation, stand by the Science on Wheels mobile laboratory funded by an Agilent Foundation grant.

Q: Can you provide some background on the mission of the Agilent Foundation and its role in India and Agilent Technologies?
Lewis: The Agilent Technologies Foundation is a non-profit organization funded by Agilent that supports initiatives in science education around the world. Through grants, the Foundation supports pre-university hands-on science education programs with a focus on professional development for science teachers. The Foundation also supports university research at the forefront of measurement in electronics, chemical analysis and biological sciences.

The Agilent Foundation's philanthropic programs in India reflect Agilent's commitment to enrich communities in which it does business. Agilent India's grants team is a best practice in supporting grants that are aligned with government education initiatives, providing opportunities for employee engagement while integrating the critical role of Agilent's citizenship objective and practices into the company's commitment to the country as a whole. With the leadership of the Agilent India grants team, we are able to add real value in India through the grant partnership between Agastya and the Agilent Foundation.

	Karen Lewis, Director of the Agilent Foundation, presents at a recent philanthropic event.

Q: Why is Agastya's partnership with the Agilent Foundation and Agilent India important to its mission and goals?
Raghavan: There are several reasons why our partnership with Agilent and the Agilent Foundation are critical to our programs. First, Agastya's aims and objectives are aligned with Agilent's commitment to pre-university science education with an emphasis on underprivileged children and resource-poor regions. Second, Agastya's capacity to sustain its work depends on support from the corporate sector, high net worth individuals and foundations from around the world. Support from Agilent helps to fund, endorse and add visibility to Agastya programs over a sustained period. Third, Agastya is engaged in discussions with Agilent leaders on ways to create an innovation ecosystem. Such a partnership between a non-governmental organization (NGO) and a corporation is rare, but essential to produce breakthrough ideas for the benefit of millions.

Q: What are some of the specific grants and programs that the Agilent Foundation has worked on with Agastya?
Lewis: Through Agilent Foundation grants, Agastya is currently delivering two inquiry-based science and environmental education programs to children, teachers, and other adults in resource-poor areas of rural India.

One grant was provided for the District Science Rural Education program (DRSEP). Through this program, Agastya developed a Science Center coupled with a mobile laboratory, called Science on Wheels, for outreach across Kunigal in the state of Karnataka. Together, the Science Center and Science on Wheels mobile lab spark creative thinking and interest in science and the environment among disadvantaged children and teachers at rural schools through hands-on-learning methods.

A second grant helped fund the District Mobile Eco Lab/Environment Education Program called EcoDrive. This environmental-based mobile laboratory provides greater awareness of environmental issues, such as energy conservation, renewable energy, water management and harvesting, and soil erosion, as well as the critical need to act and implement nature-friendly practices.

Q: What has been the impact of the Science Center and mobile lab programs in India?
Raghavan: These programs, launched in 2007, together represent the first and largest hands-on science initiative in the area. Children and teachers from surrounding schools and villages visit the Science Center to do projects and experiments and interact with trained Agastya instructors while the two mobile labs take hands-on learning to the doorsteps of remote villages.

More than 33,000 children and 850 teachers have already benefited in important and different ways from the integrated program. Students are excited about learning science and are setting higher personal goals. Interactions with Agastya instructors and visiting scientists have helped break barriers and draw village children to science. As a result, students are more curious and questioning in class, and many have demonstrated improved unit test scores.

The EcoDrive program has raised awareness about the importance of restoring and conserving the local environment, and helped to initiate a number of community environment projects. These include, replacing a degraded forest with a natural forest, transforming 100 acres of degraded land through organic farming, planting a variety of heritage plants to improve bird nesting habitats, and identification of a unique habitat for 5,000 fruit eating bats. These efforts are gaining worldwide visibility as well. A British film crew recently visited Agastya to film a documentary titled 'Issues on Global Warming.'

Q: Other than being a good corporate citizen, why are such science education Foundation grants important to Agilent?
Lewis: Simply put, philanthropic investments such as these make good business sense. Corporate success in the technology industry is directly dependent on vigorous local environments. The Foundation's focus on science education, and partnerships such as the one with Agastya, helps prepare today's children to be successful future employees, customers, partners, and suppliers. In India, science education philanthropy creates the context that will allow technology companies, to be successful, competitive and flourish.