Help rural children with special needs learn during the pandemic. Donate 100 tablet devices for 200 children

The Coronavirus pandemic and lockdown 2020 has had a deep impact on our education system. With all classrooms turning virtual students have fallen back heavily on technology for their daily classroom sessions. 

But technology-driven classes are not a reality for all students. Many live in rural areas without the presence of network, connectivity and even the means to afford the technology.

Our NGO partner Satya Special School Puducherry caters to 1000 children with special needs from both rural and urban sectors.

The school and all associated programs had to be paused. Special needs education is different from the education of other children in many respects. After about a month of the lockdown, they saw that many children had lost the academic and therapeutic advancements they had made over months. 

While they conduct classes online, it is not possible to reach children who may not have access to appropriate devices and/or internet. These are primarily children in villages in and around Puducherry. They are doubly disadvantaged, because of their economic situation and connectivity. 

The Project: 

Satya has long been developing and using content using digital devices for children, both in-house software and third-party software, for different disabilities. They implement these as in-school activities. 

Now, with the physical space of the school inaccessible, they want to bring the same technology to the children. 

Satya wants to start a lending library for the village children, with devices pre-loaded with sensory activities and speech therapy software. These devices will not require internet connections to operate and will be lent out to the children on a rotational basis. The village Public Health Centre will act as the library. Satya’s mothers will act as resource people and, where possible, as “librarians” helping other mothers to understand the software and how to use it. 

The software that will be uploaded will include IIT Madras-incubated Avaz, Blessed Angels and KAVI PTS, in addition to audiovisual instructions created by experts in Satya. 

The requirement is of 100 tablet devices, to be distributed across 43 villages, to 200 children, for a student: device ratio of 2:1 as of now. 

The Impact: 

Technology-based learning has a huge potential in special education. This project will help children with special needs to learn digitally, even in the absence of a teacher. It will help them move along the path of development.   

We envision that these devices will be used by the children even after the pandemic. 

Number of tablet devices needed: 100 (one for 2 children)

Cost: INR 12,000 per tablet

Total funds required: INR 12 lakh

Donate now to help rural children with special needs to continue learning during the pandemic. The target of this fundraiser includes the charges of the tablets along with the setup, administrative and promotional costs of making the fundraiser successful.