ABDF

• Project Completed!
• Location: Batticaloa, Sri Lanka
• Recipients:1,100 students, 9 math teachers
• Objective:Set up a math lab
• Final cost:$175 US

Hindu College’s main building.

Project Director Bennett Hinkley was recently approached by his friend Suhi, a guy who had just taken his Advanced Level math exam. (The A-Level is an annual national set of exams used to determine eligibility for university.) Suhi was a graduate of Hindu College in Batticaloa and had come up with the idea of creating a math lab at his alma mater in order to promote math studies among undergraduates. In this he has teamed up with Mrs. Lingusthavam, the head of the schools’ Math Department.

Meet Mrs. Lingusthavam, head of the Math Department.

The room for the math lab was only just being cleared out, cleaned up, and undergoing a light refurbishment (painting, etc.) and was going to be furnished with leftover furniture from other classrooms. The one thing it really needed, Bennett was told, was one or two display cases / countertops along on wall. Could we have one constructed? They already had a design and estimate: for the equivalent of $150 we could construct a three shelf, sliding glass front cabinet.

Always looking to stretch rupees, Bennett took Suhi furniture shopping, just to get an idea of what was generally available and for how much.

The first cabinet arrives on campus.

We commandeered several students to move the cabinets.

While exiting from on shop, they noticed a nearby eatery that was going out of business; on the street in front were two glass display cases exactly matching what the math lab needed. Needless to say, they were snatched up and taken to the school. Together they cost a bit more than the cost of constructing one. What a deal!

The two display cases were exactly what were needed and fit into the room perfectly.

Suhi had approached ABDF less than a month before the end of this years’ season, so project funds were getting low. However, ABDF has offered to help Hindu College next year. The school is one of a small group of second-tier schools in Batticaloa that are making an effort to reach top status; thus we are happy to support their efforts at bringing better math education to their students and look forward to working with Suhi and Mrs. Lingusthavam next year.

Project Update - March 30, 2010

The glass cases we gave to the lab are used and exhibit to store student projects

Today I stopped by Hindu College were we had assisted at the end of last years’ season. Mrs. Lingusthavam has done an AMAZING job with the math lab. True, I visited the day after the end of term exams (so there are students in the pictures), and so the room was looking spic-n-span, but even so I could tell she’d put a lot of work into the place. Many of the tools and teaching aids used in the lab were constructed by the teachers themselves from tin, wood, and paint; a marvelous example of can-do using limited resources. Congrats to Mrs. Lingusthavam!

The teaching tools are all hand-made by the teachers

Outside the lab doorr, a math lesson for all to learn