Nexus of Good: Unlocking the future

In India, various learning enhancement programmes, or remediation programmes, have been introduced at the district, state and national levels as an approach for bridging the learning gaps among students, aggregated over the years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Various studies have shown that this approach is not very effective in catering to varied learning levels, and can actually exacerbate learning losses. An emerging global practice to effectively and equitably close the learning gaps is ‘learning acceleration’.

The pursuit of ‘Education for All’ has been a fundamental goal of Indian education policy from the very initial days. Solving the problems on a large scale for students with different socio-economic backgrounds and unique style of learning is complex and demands deep innovation.

Instant teaching can potentially connect students to live teachers over 1:1 video classes whenever they want, even at 4 am on Sunday morning. And it does that in under 60 seconds.

Students can connect as many times as they want for as long as they want, for any subject. There is no waiting time or queue, irrespective of the number of students. Every student gets the right amount of support at the right time — a concept called ‘learning acceleration’.

Learning acceleration and 24x7 instant-teaching

Learning acceleration is the process of getting students ready for their new grade-level learning without holding them back for their pre-existing learning gaps. Past concepts and skills are addressed, just-in-time, in the purposeful context of the new learning. Studies have shown that:

1. Students who participated in accelerated learning programmes completed 27 per cent more lessons than students who took part in remediation;

2. Learning acceleration has been particularly effective for students from low-income families;

3. Learning acceleration is an effective tool to help students catch up with their grade-level learning.

Sampurna Shiksha Kavach

Filo introduced an innovative learning intervention by providing tech-driven learning acceleration to students in an effort to bridge the learning gaps in schools and support learning recovery in partnership with Dumka District Administration, Jharkhand, Government of Bihar and Government of Rajasthan.

Learning-acceleration has been implemented by providing 24x7 instant access to live teachers to every student covered under the project in partnership with Filo. More than 3.4 lakhs students from rural regions get 24x7 access to 60,000 teachers through 1-to-1 live two-way interactive classes.

The programme has gathered accolades across the country and has been awarded the prestigious National Award for e-Governance 2023 and G-20 DIA Award by Government of India.

Key aspects of the programme

● Filo platform facilitates on-demand live learning sessions with experienced subject experts to help students get a strong grasp on foundational concepts;

● AI-driven technology identifies learning gaps among students and provides appropriate support;

● It provides 24x7 one-on-one student-teacher live virtual interaction in less than 60 seconds;

● It imparts personalized learning, focusing on providing 24x7 access to live teachers;

● It focuses on providing student-centered learning approaches to further improve existing learning outcomes rather than providing access to curriculum-centered digital learning resources;

● It enables customization of live sessions in regional languages, making it more accessible to students;

● It generates employment in local regions for 50,000+ educated youth as tutors;

● It has AI/ML-driven technologies to match students’ queries to appropriate teachers.

Proprietary AI algorithms (5 patents awarded in India & the US) invented at Filo are based on the emerging concept of learning acceleration — the world’s most advanced technology that provides 24x7 instant-teaching to students that connects students to live teachers over 1:1 video classes whenever they want, round the clock, 365 days. One-to-one live learning sessions with subject experts helps students identify their learning ability for a particular topic and provide required learning support just at the right time (when a student feels stuck) to accelerate their learning.

The AI/ML technology-driven matching algorithm is used to respond to students’ queries and connect them with appropriate teachers. Students are matched to the right teacher from a pool of more than 60,000 teachers, speaking more than 10 languages, based on immediate requirement of the student, student’s educational profile, student’s local-social context, past preferences, teacher’s expertise in different academic and pedagogical fields and their own local-social context.

Impact of the programme

1. Improvement in passing percentage in Board Examination (Academic Session 2022-23): The average pass percentage of the district for Grade 12 science students is 67.1 per cent, whereas pass percentage for schools under the programme in the district is 78 per cent. Around 99 per cent students studying on the instant platform passed the examination. All the District toppers including Rank 1, Rank 2 and Rank 4 are studying on the Sampurna Shiksha platform.

2. The evidence from Impact assessment of Sampurn Shiksha Kavach in Dumka District (a remote aspirational district in Jharkhand) led by district administration in collaboration with an ex-World Bank consultant showed:

✼ An overall improvement in academic performance by 14 per cent in mathematics.

✼ Building up of equity in learning for students from socio-economically and educationally disadvantaged backgrounds:

i. Students from rural regions have shown 12 per cent improvement in performance, whereas control group students showed a decline by 15 per cent;

ii. Low-income families: students from low-income families (<10k per month) improved their overall performance by 12 per cent whereas control group students saw a decline of 12 per cent;

iii. SC/ST categories: ST category students showed 24 per cent improvement in scores, whereas control group ST students showed a decline of 25 per cent;

iv. Female students have shown 18 per cent improvement in performance;

v. First generation learners have shown remarkable improvement of 21 per cent in their performance.

✼ Helping students overcome non-linear learning gaps by bridging their foundational learning gaps while also enhancing their overall understanding of the topic.

✼ Reduction of high-risk students who struggled to obtain passing scores and has seen a transformational rise in the number of high-performing students.

More than 3.4 lakh school students from Aspirational District Dumka are connecting to subject experts (who also understand the regional language). The programme also provides accessibility to quality learning for competitive exam preparation at their doorstep.

At the same time, the programme opens up employment avenues for more than 60,000 young graduates who possess a passion for teaching. More than 30 per cent educators on the platform are females working from home, financially supporting their families. More than 75 per cent of educators belong to the age group 18-25 years.

Google, Indian Education Awards, and International Glory Awards have bestowed Filo with titles like ‘Best Learning Platform’, ‘Best Education Startup’, ‘User's Choice Award’ etc. G20-DIA & MeitY have showcased Filo as the most innovative Indian startup in the education category, and gave it the National Award for e-Governance 2023.

What has been achieved by Filo under the inspired leadership of its co-founder, Rohit Kumar, is truly commendable and presents a wonderful example of Nexus of Good. This model can be replicated and scaled in other parts of the country

Views expressed are personal