Digitally Driven Schooling

Teaching digital skills improves lives of tribal youth

Teaching digital skills improve lives of tribal youth

Talasari, located 140 km from Mumbai, is a backward and a poor district of Maharashtra. It is home to tribal communities who are either farmers or migrant labourers. Poor education, lack of proper nutrition and healthcare facilities, and the resulting problems have left the area economically and socially backward.

L&T Public Charitable Trust in partnership with SAP India and Pratham InfoTech Foundation have implemented a Computer-Aided Learning (CAL) and Digital Literacy as a Life Skill (DLLS) programme in the area. The main objective of this programme is to Bridge the Digital Divide in Government schools and enable school children to experience technology and understand how to operate computers. At the beginning of the programme, a baseline survey of the schools was carried out to assess the number of students and facilities available. Parallelly, trainers (sancharaks) were recruited from villages and trained for 14 days to effectively teach the CAL and DLLS programme to the school children. Currently 82 sancharaks, four team leaders and a programme co-ordinator are appointed in the area.

CAL programme focuses on providing underprivileged children in the age group of five to nine, with access to Information Technology. Each centre has high quality hardware with educational software developed by Pratham, in various Indian languages. The programme is aptly designed around the school curriculum with a library corner that has numerous educational books in the local language. They also have a craft corner that enables children to learn their subjects through projects and the craft items that they prepare. Efficient computer instructors assist children in enhancing their day-to-day learning and skills.

The DLLS programme imparts IT education among secondary and higher secondary school children in the 10-15 years age group.

The programme focusses on teaching basic technological skills which are in demand today. The activities improve job skills of the students and expand the relevance and scope of their education, making them technically competent.

The programme allows bright students to periodically take the laptops home. This helps children invest additional time in learning computer skills, and teach other children living nearby. It enhances their leadership and training skills. These children are named ‘Young Instructors’.

CAL and DLLS programme exposed students to new and interesting technologies, improved quality of learning at schools and piqued student interest, thereby improving enrollment and reducing dropout rates.