Vedanta E Shiksha @ Schools Project

Description

The Central Govt. has taken the initiative to introduce Computer Education to Government Schools through the Computer Aided Learning Program (CALP) under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) Scheme. CALP is implemented by the Government in selected Government schools to benefit the students of classes 5th to 8th. The program aims at students using computers for learning core subjects: English, Mathematics, Social Studies and Science. The Vedanta E Shiksha @ Schools in keeping with the CALP aims at bridging the Digital divide by providing quality E-Content for regular subjects and E-Content for Basic Computer Literacy to rural schools across states in India. Training of Teachers on usage of the content and day to day monitoring of the program in also undertaken. This project begins with the Baseline Survey to understand the current status and is followed by an Impact Survey at the end of every year to measure the improvement. The project plans to reach out and benefit over 1 million children across the country by implementing the program across 10,000 rural schools by end of 2011.The project implementation shall provide additional benefits to both the participating School and its Children apart from the program objective. The additional benefits can be quantified & measured as stated below : Increase enrolments by showcasing the value in the education process Improve pass percentage in the Upper Primary School levels Decrease dropout rates from the Upper Primary to the Secondary School levels Implement an innovative and creative curriculum to reinforce concepts to underperforming children Provide a scalable teacher training process to support the overall education system

What do we deliver?

Digital Content, Teacher training, Computer books, and monitoring of the program.

Whom we deliver?

Govt. Department, Principals, Teachers, Students and Village education committee.

How is the project unique?

The E-shiksha project is unique since there is no other initiative that matches the scale or reach of the programme. The scale and program structure of the initiative support the Government ICT road map by optimal and effective usage of technology in the teaching /learning process in Government schools. The E-Shiksha project has successfully reached out to thousands of students in the states of Maharashtra, Gujrat, Goa, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Orissa.

Roadmap

Realizing the need for quality computer education and computer aided learning for underprivileged children and to bridge the gap, Vedanta Foundation started Vedanta E-Shiksha @ Govt. Schools project in 2004. Under this project the components of the services are providing pre and post survey/analysis, multimedia content for core subjects, multimedia content for basic computer education, professional development of teachers and effective monitoring of the program on a continuous basis. 1.Baseline Survey Background information on class size, school facilities, infrastructure and school performance data to be collected and analysed by Nielsen to arrive at the baseline data for the program. 2.Signage Board Signage of Vedanta Foundation program (Vedanta E-Shiksha @ Schools Project) and association with the Government of Orissa to be installed in all schools. 3.Multimedia Content Curriculum aligned rich animated content in core subjects to be installed in all schools across grades V X. Subjects covered are Mathematics, Science, Social Studies and English Grammar. 4.Professional Development Program for Teachers Training for 6 days per year in 2 phases of 3 day cycles. Assignment at the end of every training cycle to evaluate performance. a)Objectives Understand how students learn; Internalize the concept of authentic learning; Develop the skill of using higher order thinking; Improve technological skills; Build positive relationships with all stake holders. 5.Computer Books 100 computer books per schools for reference to be distributed. Computer books to focus on imparting basic computer skills to students. 6.Program Monitoring Coordinators deployed in schools to manage rollout of computer skills sessions and monitor the program on a monthly basis. Monitoring reports to be shared monthly to capture operational status of labs, E-content usage, computer skills progress schedule and managing relationships with stake holders. 7.Impact Survey Third party report on the overall performance of the program on a yearly basis. Vedanta E-Shiksha @ Schools project is a joint initiative of Vedanta Foundation and the Department of Education, Government of particular State; Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Orissa, Goa, Karnataka States Covered in Phase-I in the year 2009-10 States No. of Schools No. of Students Maharashtra 1631 195720 Goa 349 55840 Rajasthan 682 54560 Orissa 21 7940 Karnataka 250 30000 Total 2933 344060 Schools to be covered under Phase II by year end 2011 States No of Schools No of Students Karnataka 1750 210000 Rajasthan 3000 240000 Tamil Nadu 2000 240000 Total 6750 690000

Contact

Vedanta Foundation
Zarna Banerjee
Opp. Niranjan buildg, Corner of E rd, Marine Drive Mumbai – 400002
URL/Website – www.vedantafoundation.org