Revive Education during COVID-19

While remote learning became the only option to keep the education system running during the pandemic and multiple lockdowns, the problems of power outage and unstable network posed significant challenges in rural settings over and above the efforts required by teacher and students to transition to online models of learning. You contribution of ₹750 can go a long way in countering some of the common challenges of remote learning for over 1000 children. This will enable sending offline modules and learning materials to children as well as provision of e-learning devices to deserving students.

The thought of skipping school and studying from home has always sounded exciting to students — until the outbreak of Covid-19. With the country going under extended lockdown, schools were advised to continue educating students through virtual lectures or portals using open online courses. 

Shifting education to a completely virtual mode was not a cake walk even for schools in urban areas; and in rural areas, the problems are manifold. The major challenge of remote learning in rural schools as compared to urban ones is disparity in access – from electricity and stable internet connection to availability of computers or smartphones.

Though teaching with e-learning content is not a new phenomenon to our teachers at Shree Raj Educational Centre, conducting a virtual class was a completely alien concept to the isolated villages in Sudhagad Taluka.

In the absence of education, there was a risk that Covid-19 would undo years of progress if these under-privileged children were made to pull out of school and take up agriculture or odd jobs.

We had to explore how teachers could stay engaged with over 1000 children, who were now in their homes, spread across 95 remote villages, in a region that has just 15% internet coverage.

Despite these overwhelming challenges, our teachers - with their never-give-up spirit and passion for learning - have learnt the online teaching process and have reached out to every student studying in our school.

Depending upon facilities available with the student’s family or neighbours, different modes of online learning are selected and explained to them.

Students who have access to smartphones have been taught to use Zoom. Where network is a hindrance, the teachers create videos and send them through Whatsapp, so that students can download them elsewhere and study them later. This also works for children whose parents are away at work and access to a phone is available only at night.

Students are given activities that they can do with things commonly found at their homes. Sending homework and taking open book exams are all through Whatsapp.

We have also introduced Google Classroom to students from higher standards who have got accustomed to online learning. This tool is helping the teachers save time, stay organized, have more impact in the virtual classroom and seamlessly communicate with students.

Yet, there are many students who do not have access to smartphones or internet.

To spark the interest of a child sitting at home, and for those who do not have access to smartphones or internet, we plan to send offline content like printed assignments, worksheets, activity sheets and reading material. This would help them stay connected to school and teach them to apply their academic knowledge in day-to-day life. 

This will also be immensely useful to pre-primary children to keep them engaged and enhance their cognitive and fine motor skills - something they cannot learn through online videos.

Mobile phones will be provided to deserving children who have internet coverage but no mobile phone that they can use.

We will be providing free textbooks and notebooks to all 1000+ children in addition to online and offline teaching.

We are committed to the learning, growth and development of each student. Our teachers are continuously trying new, self-directed ways of learning to help expand students’ horizons.

A donation of INR 750 can cover remote education expenses for one student per month. We seek your hearty support in this initiative by supporting as many children as possible and helping us build strong response capabilities on-ground.