Nexus of Good: Wings to digital dreams

It was in 2016 when I had just taken over as Secretary, School Education, Government of India. I had the occasion to visit a school in Pastepada, a village in the remote part of Maharashtra. I was pleasantly surprised to find that despite the absence of electricity supply, this two-room primary school had gone entirely digital. This effort of Sandeep Gund, the lone teacher in the primary school, was subsequently replicated in the entire state of Maharashtra through crowd-funding. The entire story is outlined in a chapter in my book, ‘No More a Civil Servant’. It is heartening to note that effort for setting up digital schools through crowd-funding is now being replicated in other parts of the country in the true spirit of Nexus of Good.

Each officer can make a difference. This is being amply demonstrated by Rishav Gupta—District Magistrate of a remote district in Madhya Pradesh. Credit to his efforts, ‘Mera School-Smart School’ initiative is being implemented for Primary and Middle Govt School students in which smart TVs have been installed in all the schools of the district, solely through crowd-funding and public participation. Class-wise and chapter-wise e-curriculum is created and implemented. Also, double lock systems, voltage stabilisers and waterproofing of smart rooms have been taken up to ensure sustainability of the initiative. Out of the target of 1,669 schools, 1,442 have been provided with smart TVs to date.

The beauty of this initiative is that all the stakeholders, like political representatives, NGOs, donors and teachers, were taken on board and regularly consulted to impart a sense of ownership. Class-wise and chapter-wise e-curriculum was developed and implemented. Electricity connections were provided to even the most remote schools. To ensure the longevity of the Smart Classrooms, measures such as double lock systems, voltage stabilisers, and waterproofing were implemented with the support of Gram Panchayats.

Cost saving is one of the underlying mottoes of the mission. The open-source content developed under ‘Mera School-Smart School’ is based on prudently selected YouTube channels in Hindi language. This is being imparted totally free of cost to government primary and middle school students. Usually, such content costs enormously when sourced through EdTech platforms like Byju’s or Unacademy, making such private Ed-Tech platforms financially inaccessible to rural students. The content is developed class-wise, subject-wise, and even chapter-wise. In this project, no cost is borne even by government schools, as the entire infrastructure is crowd-funded and the content is compiled by teachers themselves. The initiative has indeed bridged the gap between the education imparted in private and government schools through digital media.

The trigger for this initiative came from monitoring the extremely poor learning levels of primary and middle school students. Discussions with stakeholders revealed that this was on account of poor attendance in schools as well as due to obsolete pedagogical technique leading to monotonous learning. This led to the idea of imparting digital education in all government schools.

There were huge challenges to begin with. Crowd sourcing of infrastructure (smart TVs, stabilisers, JioFi internet) wasn’t easy. This was overcome through intensive interactions with industries, Public Representatives, local businesses, and NGOs. Muskan Dreams was one of the NGOs that played a critical role in the roll out of this project.

The impact of the initiative was there for everyone to see. The attendance in government schools witnessed a remarkable improvement. Television in schools was the primary attraction for rural kids. Many of them had not seen televisions in their lives.

The learning levels of students are showing signs of improvement, as the retention from education videos is more. Also, better insights into the complex concepts (like inside of an atom) are being gained.

Parents are becoming aspirational. Some parents contributed to repair the LED which was damaged by an election party during Vidhan Sabha elections.

Smart classrooms, mentioned in the brochures of elite private schools, are now available to underprivileged students of remote villages today in Dewas.

To sustain the programme, the following steps have been taken:

1. Donors are identified to provide smart TVs, stabilisers and JioFi devices to schools. Multi-level meeting and reviewing is done over nine months to ensure 100 per cent coverage of schools;

2. e-Content is developed and updated by local teachers. Orientation is imparted to all government teachers;

3. Gram Panchayats ensure that double doors are installed in all schools to prevent theft;

4. Class-wise, subject-wise and chapter-wise e-content has been developed and smart TVs have been installed in all primary and middle schools. Either using pen drives or JioFi devices, or using mobile hotspot, this content is being made available to students. With the help of Muskan Dreams, android boxes have also been provided along with curated learning content;

5. Time table for digital education is prepared for each class in every school, covering all the subjects;

6. e-Learning content is compiled in Hindi from carefully curated vernacular YouTube academic channels.

What is happening in Dewas is truly remarkable. A dedicated team under a visionary young Collector, Rishav Gupta, committed to the cause of education, has identified a serious issue in the district, and managed to find a sustainable solution to the problem. The model that he has put in place is replicable in the true spirit of Nexus of Good. As people with a philanthropic mindset are available everywhere, all that is required is their trust. They have to be convinced that their contributions would be utilised in the best possible way, and no siphoning off would take place. Rishav and his fabulous team are making it happen.

Views expressed are personal