Scaling up e-learning programs for underprivileged children

·        Children from underprivileged families often do not get good quality education. 

·        During the pandemic period most government schools have not been able to provide adequate educational support to students.

·        Access to technology is a huge challenge for rural children. While the children from well-off families have at least got access to online education and support from private schools, the children from under-resourced families and schools have not got such support.

• ·        Children from low income and marginalized families have suffered the worst neglect. With more than one year of school closure they are at a risk of losing interest in studies and getting trapped in daily wage jobs.

·        CLE conducts free, creative and good quality online learning programs for groups of underprivileged children in various parts of India. We started with 2 online courses in May 2020 and steadily increased to 23 courses covering over 200 children in 5 states of India by August 2021.

·        The first part of our solution is to get the children from disadvantaged families access classrooms and basic infrastructure to attend online classes such as internet and projection system. We do this by collaborating with local NGOs/social workers in various parts of India. The local NGOs arrange basic infrastructure and get the children to attend the classes. We (CLE) select teachers and conduct free online courses. The online classes are held live, i.e. teachers and students see each other and interact freely during a session.

·        The second part of our solution is to select teachers who know children's native language, are passionate about teaching underprivileged children, use creative learning methods, and commit time to teach a course for 5-7 months.

·        The third part of our solution is to organize regular exchange of feedback between students and teachers. Each student provides feedback about the course and the teacher. The teacher provides feedback for each student. This ensures that teachers focus on student's learning and use creative methods.

·        Over the next 12 months, we wish to scale up and reach out to 1000 children in various parts of India. We hope these efforts will help them climb out of intergenerational poverty.

Through our programs we wish to create the following impacts for the underprivileged children:

·        Reduce school dropouts.

·        Develop interest in learning and fill learning gaps.

·        Understand the basic subjects and skills, and communicate well.

·        Build a foundation to access better educational and economic opportunities, and thereby, improve quality of life.

At the same time, we hope to generate awareness among the parents/communities of these children. We hope that on seeing the effectiveness of our courses, the parents will encourage the children to complete school education and then pursue higher education. We are already seeing signs of such enthusiasm.

Here is an illustration of the impact of an eight-month online program that we conducted for children of a nomadic tribal community in collaboration with Vanavil Trust, Nagapattinam District,Tamil Nadu during 2020-21. The courses were in English and Mathematics. The kids enjoyed the classes and we could dissuade them from going for work. As schools remained shut, most of them used to work in the harbour as labourers. However, it was eroding their interest in pursuing education. Our online classes were instrumental in keeping children anchored to studies. Thanks to one of our teachers, the children began showing excitement about learning Math. This was a complete shift from earlier times when they wanted to run away on hearing the word 'MATH'.