Sunderland charity launches Global Teacher initiative to bring education to children in the Developing World

The high-tech projector is powered by an extremely efficient solar panel and contains thousands of Maths, English and Science resources donated from some of the UK’s biggest education publishers including EdPlace and Hodder Education.

The Pod has been produced by Sunderland based charity, Global Teacher, which was formed by Chris Nutman. He was inspired to design the pod following research carried out as part of his dissertation while studying at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Chris,27, who hails from Sunderland, said: “My dissertation was about access to education in the Developing World and the fact globally, 15 per cent of people are illiterate. In Cameroon, on average one text book is shared between 12 children.

"Our mission is to educate one million marginalised students using the low cost, 3D printed, solar powered projector that we’ve created, named Pod. Exposure to education really does have the power to change lives.”

Publishing companies have currently agreed to donate their resources for free with components for the projector created by a low cost in house 3D printing production process.

Chris added: “We’ve created a movement in which publishers have been willing to donate their resources for free to support access to education around the world. The resources cover all ages, and while so far we a have focused on Maths, English and Science, we plan to broaden this to other subjects and areas of education.

"We are also going to develop different partners to cover the need for different languages.”

The official launch took place on Friday night (January 28) at The Beam in Sunderland and was attended by local and national businesses, publishers and dignitaries including the City Council's Chief Executive Officer Patrick Melia.

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Chris added: “The launch went really well and it was a great night. The main aim was to raise awareness of the product and start to raise £500,000 to sponsor the production of each £500 Pod.”

In April the charity plan to take the first Pods to Kenya to run pilot tests with local education providers and “by the end of the year” Chris hopes the Pod will begin to be rolled out to developing countries around the world.

He said: “I’ve suffered with my own mental health and found that reading and education really benefited me. It sparked a passion to want to do something good in the world.

"As a child, my grandfather always taught me to do what I can for others and I think this has really helped to form my moral compass in wanting to make an impact and do something good.”

The Pod has been launched with support from design pioneer Herman Miller, a furniture designer now part of the MillerKnoll collective.

Ben Watson, Herman Miller Brand President and Chief Product Officer at MillerKnoll said: “Design is about solving problems and making the human condition better. The Global Teacher program is a partnership among companies that believe access to education is inequitable, which can make it difficult for students to thrive and achieve their full potential.

"By working together, we can change the future for kids in under-served communities globally.”

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