SINGAPORE : It's a mobile IT classroom on wheels created by
students for students.
The Ep-Bus, an open double decker bus classroom, will make its
rounds visiting about 100 Singapore schools within a year.
But instead of seats, the bus is equipped with the latest in
digital photography gadgets.
And instead of ferrying passengers, it will drive the message of
volunteerism to 100,000 students.
The brainchild of ITE and polytechnic volunteers, the bus is used
to teach students about IT. The students will, in turn, use those
newly acquired skills to produce good photographs that will be
sold. The proceeds will go to charity.
The plan is to visit about two schools weekly over a one-year
period.
And Ep-Bus is already a hit with the first few schools it has
visited.
Delphne Tan, a student of Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary said:
"Normal classroom session is not boring but neither is it very
interesting because you can't move around. You have to sit at your
place and learn from the textbooks. But with this mobile classroom,
you are moving around when you are learning."
"It's the communication with volunteers. When they ask you a
question, you can answer in a more casual way. But if it's the
teachers, we'll get scolded if we give the wrong answers," said
fellow student Pratip Kumar from Kuo Chuan Presbyterian
Secondary.
Although the students are obviously having a lot of fun on the
mobile classroom, it took time to put it together.
The volunteers spent a year preparing it and in the process, ran
across some unexpected road blocks.
Said student volunteer Shuan Neo: "Because the bus is an open
roof-top concept and the LTA (Land Transport Authority) says there
is the weight problem - sometimes when you turn the bus, it might
overturn."
"And the number of people you can seat inside. These are some of
the regulations we had to tackle and resolve. For example, if the
bus moves, what happens to the printer inside."
The bus will also be travelling to Malaysia with student volunteers
to take part in Malaysia's National Day celebrations.
- CNA /ls