Arvind Gupta - An Unsung Hero of India

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Heroes are an inspiration for everyone. Here, I will introduce you to unsung hero of India. An IIT Kanpur Engineer who quit his job at Telco and began teaching science to the children of India. When Arvind Gupta quit his job, his mother came to his defence stating ‘good, now he will do something noble with his life’. He has been inspiring generations of students to learn science with their own hands on ‘Tarang’, the DD show, since the 1980s.

Gupta, who started toy-making a decade before he appeared on the science show, has made 6,200 short films on toy-making in 18 languages in the last 35 years that are available on his website and YouTube, all to prove a point that science cannot be learnt by rote, mugging up definitions and formulae.


He is still working to make education more accessible. He has so far uploaded around 4,000 books and articles on his website. Even with his failing health, at present he is busy translating books in Hindi. He has already translated over 175 books till date,most of which he has translated himself.

Sudarshan Khanna, former chairman of education and research at the National Institute of Design (NID) in Ahmedabad, admits to have been inspired by Gupta’s "indigenous, innovative and freely available art".


Impressed by Gupta’s work, Khanna, in 2001, set up a toy innovation centre at the NID and followed by a full-fledged post graduate programme in toy and game design in 2002.

He also distributes CD’s packed with a massive collections of e-books and videos to the schools he visits. He has been recognized by organisations such as UNESCO, UNICEF, International Toy Research Association, Boston Science Centre, Walt Disney Imagineering and Research.



His popular TED Talk: Turning Trash into Toys for learning gives an insight into his work and philosophy. This talk was among the 10 best TED Talks compiled by Sir Ken Robinson and Sugata Mitra's 5 favorite education talks.

To take the DIY movement and learn science with fun, an organisation called TechShiksha runs Science, Electronics and DIY clubs across various locations in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. TechShiksha is an IIT Bombay Alumni initiative working with young innovators to create an atmosphere for creative learning and innovation throughout India.We believe that education should be more hands on and students should get a platform to discuss, create and build. Visit their website to acquaint yourself with the innovative courses they offer

To know more -

Techshiksha

Arvind Gupta: Teaching Science by Creating Toys from the Trash Can - The Better India

Meet Arvind Gupta, a toy-maker who proved science is fun

Arvind Gupta - Wikipedia

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