2500 students from 10 government schools having completed their first two real-world projects under the Kamarajar Port Limited – Rhapsody Foundation PBL programme — mentored by experts from IIT Madras and Syracuse University, were in for a pleasant surprise as Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, Tamil Nadu’s school education minister presented certificates of completion to them on Feb 19.
The first two projects of the North Chennai Project-Based Learning Programme — a CSR initiative by Kamarajar Port Limited in partnership with the Rhapsody Music Foundation were allocated a budget of INR 25 lakh by Kamarajar Port Limited.
A midline assessment conducted at the end of the first project shows schools improved by an average of 7.1 percentage points from baseline — with standout performers like CMS Ramanathapuram recording a 20.3-point gain, and CMS Kathivakkam, previously flagged for linguistic challenges, surging past the programme average. The programme, which is ongoing through the academic year, will have students completing several more project modules before a final showcase event. At the programme’s conclusion, top-performing students will be identified for scholarships and internship placements.
The Two Projects Students Completed
Project 1: Energy Management (STEM)
Mentored by Dr. Natarajan Gautam, Syracuse University, USA
Students became ‘Energy Detectives’ — using data analysis to map energy consumption patterns in their schools and homes, then building practical, actionable plans to reduce waste. The project introduced real applications of data science and AI in a context directly relevant to students’ daily lives.
Project 2: Creativity in Engineering — Foldable House
Mentored by Prof. Ashwin Mahalingam, IIT Madras
Students designed and built functional foldable house models — customisable, rapidly deployable structures suited to low-income and disaster-prone communities. Moving through a research–ideation–design cycle, students produced working physical prototypes using concepts from physics and engineering. This project was previously piloted under the Government of Tamil Nadu’s ‘Tamils for Tamil Nadu’ initiative in 2023-24, inaugurated by Minister Anbil Mahesh, where it produced measurable gains in critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
“Two projects completed. Many more to go. But already, these students are thinking differently. They are asking questions, making decisions with data, and building things with their hands. That shift in how a child relates to learning is what changes trajectories. We are proud of every single one of them.” — Anil Srinivasan, Founder, Rhapsody Music Foundation
At the heart of the programme is Rhapsody Music Foundation’s model of bringing the world’s best academic minds directly into government school classrooms. Students who would otherwise have no access to university-level expertise find themselves working under the sustained guidance of professors from IIT Madras, Syracuse University, Illinois Tech, and KREA University — not as a one-off interaction, but as mentorship woven across the arc of a real project. Rhapsody designs each module around problems drawn from the world students actually live in, evaluated against real-world criteria. The result is that a child in a North Chennai government school experiences the same quality of intellectual challenge — and the same sense of achievement on completing it — as a student anywhere else in the world.
The Year Ahead: More Projects to Come
Today’s certificate presentation marks the end of the first milestone, not the end of the programme. Students will continue working on additional project modules through the rest of the academic year, each designed around real-world challenges in STEM, artificial intelligence, sustainability, and civic problem-solving. All projects are mentored by experts from institutions including IIT Madras, Illinois Tech, KREA University, and industry professionals — and are delivered entirely in Tamil, NEP-aligned, and embedded within the school curriculum rather than added on top of it.
Programme continues through 2026 with further projects and a final showcase event.
