With the amplified focus on Quality Education and Sustainable Development, the Indian Government has strategized to ensure girls and boys have equitable and quality primary and secondary education, and young women and men receive affordable quality technical, vocational, and higher education. Even as flagship Government programs like ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’, ‘Skilling India’, and ‘Beti Padhao Beti Bachao’ drive this agenda, challenges remain at the ground level. It is important that the civil societies and corporates come together to complement the Government efforts with value-added educational initiatives for the aspirational young India.
The traditional approach of long lectures and taking notes has lost its effectiveness in today’s technology driven education system that makes learning a better and exciting experience. It fits in strategically in the quest for improving Education Quality – as part of these School development in Government schools.
Smart Class is an innovative way to facilitate students in better and efficient means of learning with the audio lessons, video presentations, amount of knowledge material for a topic along with internet facility to explore more, learning is now increasingly an interesting experience for the children. Smart Class keeps students’ expectation in the subject higher and has helped them develop better Interest in the subjects.
Reaching Hand is doing its bit in the Educational Space by partnering with nearly 250+ schools in Karnataka and 10+ schools Pan-India. Our ‘My School’ (Namma Shale) initiative reaches more than 50,000 children, unlocking access to Quality Education through Smart Schools, Digital Libraries, STEM Learning, Computer & Science Labs, Career Guidance, etc. “My School” (Namma Shale) program involves adopting Govt Schools and engaging with them to facilitate technologies, methodologies, and techniques to enhance learning quality bringing them on par with standards prevailing in private schools. Reaching Hand is implementing additional curricular activities to develop their skills for the next level.
The objective of ‘Government School Improvement Program’ is to convert underdeveloped rural and urban Government schools into Model Schools so that they are at par with the best run city schools in terms of infrastructure, academic performance and quality education. This would encourage children to attend the school regularly and thus reduce dropouts and improve their performance.encourage children to learn at their own pace while exploring their creative potential.
Provide teachers training in partnership with other organizations to “Empower today’s teachers to be equipped to meet the expectations of the current generation.” It brings forth value education, life skill education and experiential learning, equity in educational standards, to augment the teaching-learning process. It enhances the accountability of the teachers and garners interest in students who regularly skip classes and improve attendance. focusing on upskilling teachers to get them well-versed with digital infra and hi-tech technology.
Experience from the on-going project
Ø Digital Class Setup (Interactive touch panel Boards) installed in 20+ schools In Karnataka and Delhi
Ø Each school is provided with one smart class equipment, which is installed in a classroom for usage by different classes
Ø With Smart Class facility gaining quick acceptance amongst the children and teachers, Schools are managing the demand for its usage, by making different Grade classes use them by taking turns
Ø Teachers use Smart Class as a supplement to classroom teaching. Based on this, we can conclude that the overall experience from the 1st phase of the ‘Smart Classes ‘initiative has been successful by encouraging students to get adapted to the digital world.
Key Activities of the Project:
Ø Providing the complete Digital setup (Interactive Touch Panel with syllabus content for 1st to 10th Std
Ø Providing Trainers for the school and TTT programme for existing Teachers
Ø Conducting Child Domain Development Programs like Sports Events, Academic quiz competitions
Ø Volunteering programs to develop the children’s skills
Reaching Hand, with our years of ground zero experience, has our presence in the grassroot communities of rural and urban Karnataka. From our study, it was found that once the schools resumed, the students’ interest in studies dipped. The intervention of the interactive boards was intended to transform the entire outlook of Education.