This is a sample description for education. For the purpose of testing I will use the word EducationEducationEducationEducation.

Education

This is a sample description for Children. For the purpose of testing I will use the word Childrenchildrenchildren.

Children

Hemamalini Varadachari

Education is every child’s right and essential for the exercise of all other human rights. It promotes individual freedom and empowerment and yields significant development benefits. In a state like Tamilnadu, more than 98% children in the age group 6 – 14 are enrolled and attending school, as per the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), a large-scale nationwide survey. However, the same survey also points to the abysmal state in quality of education, especially for economically underprivileged children. We believe that this situation is mainly due to the prevalence of rote memorisation unique to Tamilnadu. When children learn by memorization as opposed to understanding, they develop a fear for the subject. Based on our extensive interactions and surveys, the two subjects that children are most afraid of are Mathematics and English. Underprivileged children in government schools are particularly affected as they do not get support at home either, as they are often first-generation learners. 
 Children assimilate concepts and skills as opposed to rote learning. When children learn concepts and skills as opposed to memorisation, they become confident learners. The Chudar School Program aims to shift the focus from memorizing facts to focusing on “skills” and “concepts”. This change was achieved by training teachers and creating a methodology that is lively and interesting to students. The key components of the program include •	'Train the Trainers' has been our core mission. We train the government school teachers, equip them with the needed materials and monitor them on their effective use of teaching methodologies. Change in teachers’ mindset to focus, teach and improve on students’ skill, will ensure recurring benefit every year. •	Content &amp; Methodology forms the core part of our solution, developed with the goal of engaging children and making learning meaningful. Well researched and ease of use materials for the teachers are provided along with graded worksheets to track and improve specific skills as well as practice worksheets that can be used for revision purposes.•	Concept-based learning with fun activities using well-researched activity kits and other learning materials•	Quarterly assessment to track children’s progress to measure the improvement in learning. 
 Skills are carefully chosen for the term as per the syllabus and children are assessed in the selected skills. Assessments are conducted twice (start and end of the term). Insights from the assessment are shared with the teachers in order to help them improve children’s skills. •	Skill improvement – each child, is declared with a min. of 2 to 4 skills •	Learning improvement of about 40% in classes where the teachers follow the principles outlined above

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CHAMPS (Chudar Action for Measurable Progress in Schools) 

While private schools were able to immediately transition to online education following the onset of the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown, underprivileged children and people of limited means faced an immediate disadvantage in not being able to continue their education. Due to limitations such as lack of laptops, high speed internet, and online education apps, government schools did not attempt to continue education online. The restrictions in place due to the pandemic have worsened the problem for poor children and has disproportionately affected them and has widened the learning gap between those in government schools and private schools. Chudar’s aim is to sustain learning and conduct online classes for these children so that when schools reopen, the children are able to continue learning and improving their existing skills and are not at a disadvantage compared to their peers in high end private schools. Although most of these students do not have access to laptops, high-speed internet and video conferencing apps, nearly all of them have access to WhatsApp through a smartphone. We have digitized our content into an easy form that students can understand. This content is delivered to them through tutors whom the children are already familiar with. 
 In in initial period of the lockdown, the focus remained on providing immediate relief to families affected in the form of groceries and sanitary kits provided to 500 families in Chennai and in nearby villages, masks stitched by local women distributed to 6000 people in the community, and 400 bottles of sanitizer made as per WHO guidelines. This was possible despite the lockdown due to our tutors who live within the community.While these relief measures were taking place, the content team started working on converting all the activities and worksheets into a digital format. We made several new short videos to explain concepts in sync with the syllabus. Zoom-based classes were ruled out due to unreliable internet connections, but WhatsApp proved to be an excellent means of sharing the videos and continuing online learning. Between June and September, 600 students have enrolled in the online classes conducted by Chudar. The students are divided into two batches across ten Chudar Center WhatsApp Groups. Classes take place from 5:00 – 6:00 PM every day. Furthermore, the government school program currently involves collaboration with 17 schools and reaches 620 children, bringing the total number of beneficiaries to 1200 children. 
 Chudar's aim is to sustain and continue online education for these children by creating and providing content in the form of worksheets, videos, assessments, and other learning resources. The number of schools and children reached has been growing rapidly, with hundreds of children enrolling each month. The long-term goal is to reach as many children as possible and to provide quality education for all, regardless of the availability of laptops and video-conferencing apps, while the next target is to reach 5000 children. Furthermore, the impact of the teaching imparted in schools must not be lost due to a prolonged pandemic-induced vacation. The aim is to ensure that children do not forget all that they have learned over the school year and also to continue their education in line with the recommended syllabus for the same. Additionally, the objective is to reduce and eventually eliminate rote learning as a means of education, and replace it with creative and conceptual learning that children will understand rather than memorize.

Providing Quality Education for Underprivileged Children during COVID-19

This is a sample description for Women Empowerment. For the purpose of testing I will use the word Women EmpowermentWomen EmpowermentWomen Empowerment.

Women Empowerment

Several studies show that most kids are enrolled in school, but learn very little. The ASER survey points out that of all children in the age-group 6-14, more than 99% are enrolled, but the majority lag behind in educational outcomes.This problem persists from primary all the way to high school and the National Achievement survey by NCERT has also showed that Std.10 children have very low competencies in Mathematics, English and Science. The problem affects children from disadvantaged sections, who are often first-generation learners. 
 We believe that that every child can learn well, given the right inputs and environment. As part of Chudar, we develop innovative educational content in Language, Mathematics and Science to help improve children’s learning. As a first step, we have started 5 after-school centers catering to poor children from Chennai’s slums. The key principles in our approach are:Focus on learning outcomesSkill assessmentsTechnology-aided learningCommunity contribution and participation 
 In each slum area, our centers have 3 local young women - (tutors) taking classes and reaching up to 50 children. The focus is on children from classes 3-8. We develop our unique content and methodology which is both synchronized to the state board curriculum and at the same time aids in learning concepts and skills. Our focus subjects is on Maths, Science and English – the subjects that most students find difficult in middle and high-schools. The impact from our initiative is evident as we evaluate the skills of our "Chudar scholars" from time to time. Children become much more confident and enthusiastic about learning once they grasp the skills, also, the Tutors (Local young women- from similar background) also find this beneficial, as our initiative empowers them, by training them in the skill sets, ranging from teaching, management, etc, this boosts their confidence and opens up doors to a brighter future for them.

Chudar

This is a sample description for Community & Rural Development. For the purpose of testing I will use the word Community & Rural DevelopmentCommunity & Rural DevelopmentCommunity & Rural Development.

Community & Rural Development

It’s a known fact that life as we knew before COVID 19 has changed drastically.  In a way, we’re all in this together as the virus does not discriminate. But the pandemic and the lockdown have affected the underprivileged worse than other and it has been all the more challenging for the poor children attending Government schools. Due to many limitations Government schools did not continue education online and this has put children studying there in an immediate disadvantage and widened the learning gap between those in government schools and private schools. Now, with the falling down of Covid-19 cases schools are all set to reopen. However, just reopening of schools will not get children back to "pre-Covid" situation. The huge loss of more than a year and a half has made it a daunting task to get learning back on track. It is all the more challenging because children have been promoted to the next grade, without receiving the inputs they would have usually received 
 Chudar with an aim to both sustain and improve education inputs, has been successfully conducting daily whatsapp-based online classes for these children during the past one and a half years. Our approach currently reaches 5600 children from poorer sections. Our unique methodology integrates content with assessment by making videos interactive and giving children an opportunity to check if they have truly understood, as opposed to memorization. We have digitized our content into an easy form that students can understand. Now that schools are set to reopen, we realize that there will be a justified need for in-person classes. However, it is not possible to completely go back to pre-covid approach, as the little gains from the past one and half years will also be lost. Therefore, we advocate a blended-learning approach, whereby digital content delivery will be combined with in-person classes to make learning truly effective. We will use this blended learning approach both in our community after-school centers, as well as in partnership with government school teachers who have wholeheartedly agreed to partner with us. In this model, we will short digital modules  beforehand to students so that they can get an idea of the concept before it is taught in class. The direct class will be a reinforcement and clear doubts that children have. For those children who do not have access to a smartphone, we will also arrange for tablets to access the content. 
 (1) Help bridge learning gap(2) Ease the transition to in-person teaching(3) Improve learning outcomes in Maths, English and Science(4) Provide confidence to children that they can get back on track

Blended learning Approach to Bridge Covid Learning Loss

One of the major problems brought to the forefront during the pandemic, is the digital divide between urban centres and rural areas in children. Children residing in urban areas had access to smart phones and the internet by which they could continue to learn using our digital educational materials, whereas their rural counterparts had to face lack of these facilities putting them at a complete disadvantage as the lock down extended up to a full academic year. This unexpected situation put the teachers too in a difficult position as they had to cope with teaching online and also modify the content to enable it to be presented on virtual platforms. This also meant that the teachers themselves become more tech savvy. Though the accesses to these facilities were common and easily available in urban areas, it is virtually non-existent in rural areas. In some cases, children, who had access to smart phone, did not receive any educational or learning materials online, to help them understand the topics mentioned in their curriculum, from their school apart from photos of the lessons in their text books. In other words, very little or no learning was happening due to lack of graded online content that caters to building the skills and reinforcing them. We found that children in rural areas practically lost 6 months of their academic learning simply due to the lack of access to technology and resource materials.  
 To address this divide, Chudar not only created r learning materials for middle school that were accessible easily online with limited internet in rural areas but also provided the much needed support to teachers on the method of content delivery as well as virtual class engagement of the students. We created avenues wherein children could get their doubts clarified as well as ask questions regarding the content shared. Thus making the sessions interactive rather than one-way instructions. We also conducted skill assessments to gauge the learning effectiveness and improve the competency levels in children. This also provided a road map for teachers to complete some of the most essential and crucial skills that are necessary for the children to progress to the next class. Here is a snapshot of the online content created to facilitate learning outcomes._____________Math___Science__LanguageSkills----------------11----------- 8 -------------4Videos -------------12----------- 8----------- 12WS/P----------------15----------- 7----------- 11Assessments ---12---------- 13-------------5*WS/P - Worksheets &amp; PuzzlesWhat we do: To start with, we identify government and aided schools in remote rural areas that are interested and in need of learning materials. Then to bridge the digital divide, we arrange for tabs to be given to children along with the necessary internet connections to access the online materials provided. We facilitate the sharing of the online learning content and interactions between teachers and students through class -wise WhatsApp groups. We orient the teachers on the skills to be focussed for each term, based on the curriculum prescribed by the Government. Then reinforcement materials by way of graded worksheets and workbooks are share with the students. We also monitor the progress through constant sharing of feedback from students and teachers as well as through periodic assessments after the completion of each topic.  
 As a first step we see more and more schools approach us for support as in many of these areas, no virtual classes have been happening in the past 8 months in many of the schools. Several teachers and head masters have shared that sharing the Chudar content and interacting with children through WhatsApp much easier than doing virtual classes with longer duration and limited internet facilities. This also increased the number of students participating in the WhatsApp group, The content design and delivery also ensured that the children’s skills were reinforced through motivation, without them getting bored. These concentrated efforts made by the Chudar team have been able to bring the rural children back to learning.Our reach to Govt. School has been increasing steadily from 17 schools in November to 36 schools by January with more requests on the way to support them. s. The table below provide the current list of schools, students and their access to digital content:______________________Urban____Rural____Chudar CentresGovt Schools --------------------17----------19------------------10Total Students ---------------1690 ------ 1765---------------1500Access to WhatsApp ------1202 --------646-----------------402We would like to extend our support to many more such schools and to implement this program in rural areas we would like to raise around 5 Lakhs to support 500 children for one academic year.

Improving access to digital education in rural areas

Chudar (www.chudar.org) is an initiative to improve the quality of education for middle and high-school children from underprivileged backgrounds.Education plays a key role in transforming our lives. Several studies have shown that most children are enrolled in school but they learn very little. The National Achievement Survey (NAS) for class 10, conducted by NCERT paints a dismal picture (TN scored only 30% in English and Maths which is below the national average). The problem affects the children from disadvantaged sections, who are often first-generation learners.Our vision at Chudar is that every child should assimilate the requisite knowledge, skills and confidence to face the future.We have set up 10 after school centers in Chennai, Tamilnadu (slum localities).We are also working with more than 40 government schools, which use our techniques and material. We currently reach 4000 children!

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