A Harvard Team Brings an Educational Outreach Program to Life in Manipur, India

February 20, 2019
2019 PSIL Group Photo

The South Asia Institute published an online piece about the inaugural PSIL program. Here's the link to the full story: 

https://mittalsouthasiainstitute.harvard.edu/2019/02/harvard-educational-outreach-manipur-india/

"I was born there, I work here — and they’re two very different worlds. I’m trying to bring those two worlds together." -Dominic Mao

Dr. Dominic Mao, a Lecturer in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University, is originally from Manipur, Imphal — a state in the extreme northeastern region of India. Recently, he set out to create a program in Manipur that would engage high school students and college-level teaching assistants in a Western-style educational format. With funding from the Mittal Institute, the Science Education Department at FAS, the Asia Center, and local in-region parties, the Program for Scientifically Inspired Leadership (PSIL) was created. Ultimately, Dr. Mao’s vision led a team from Harvard University to Don Bosco school in Manipur for one week during the 2019 wintersession to deliver the program’s curriculum to local high school students.

“Most initiatives happen in the western part of India, and I wanted to set up an education outreach program in a part of India that people don’t tend to go to. [Imphal is] one of the poorest states in India, and the region has been under political conflict for many years,” Dr. Mao explained. “As a result of conflict, the education system gets hit the hardest. If you have any kind of political instability, the state shuts down, and that eats into school time. If you don’t have opportunities, growth gets limited.”

Dr. Mao and his team set out to break that pattern, visualizing ways to provide Manipur’s high school students with the foundation to create new opportunities for themselves.

Here's the link to the full story: 

https://mittalsouthasiainstitute.harvard.edu/2019/02/harvard-educational-outreach-manipur-india/