GANDHINAGAR, Feb 7: ConnectEd Technologies, a Mumbai-based EdTech social enterprise, and the Everest Kanto Cylinders (EKC), a manufacturer of high pressure gas cylinders, have jointly taken up an initiative to provide free online access to curriculum-linked educational content across Gujarat government schools.
The program, which is ideated and executed by ConnectEd Technologies aims to provide quality vernacular educational content to government school students, in a bid to improve learning outcomes, especially during the on-going Covid-19 pandemic, a spokesman for the ConnectEd Technologies said on Monday.
To begin with, more than 7,500 students from government schools in Kutch district will be provided with free online access to a web and mobile app platform. The platform contains quality educational content in local languages that is in-sync with the Gujarat State Board curriculum, and can be viewed online or downloaded onto a device for viewing later. Initially, the initiative aims to benefit students from Grade 9 and 10 across schools located in Gandhidham block of Kutch. Subsequently, the initiative will scale to students from other grades and regions of Gujarat.
During the course of this initiative, ConnectEd Technologies will coordinate with government schools to sensitise parents and students about the platform, and educate them on using any device at their disposal to access quality educational content. Furthermore, the EdTech social enterprise will provide school teachers with valuable statistics pertaining to content consumption by each student, thereby enabling them to push parents and students to meet learning targets that have been set by the school.
Currently, ConnectEd Technologies which specialises in executing large-scale, tech-enabled developmental projects aimed at government schools and the children studying there, has deployed such programs across 8 states in India, benefiting 1,50,000+ students. The spokesman said the aim of the organisation was to provide quality education and improve learning outcomes amongst children in the government schools. “Our efforts have been recognized for their innovativeness by the Government of India’s #StartupIndia program,” the spokesman claimed.
For the last 6 years, ConnectEd Technologies had been working with the Maharashtra Government on a funded campaign, named ‘EkShiksha’ which is linked to prime minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Digital India’ mission. Under the campaign, the ConnectEd had secured funds from renowned organisations like Reliance Industries, Hindustan Unilever, Sony Pictures, DHFL and Fullerton India amongst others to benefit more than 100,000 under-served students in Maharashtra through large-scale digitisation of government schools with e-learning infrastructure and tailor-made educational content, the spokesman said.
Speaking on the occasion of the launch of the Kutch initiative, the Kutch district education officer B N Prajapati said, “The recent surge in covid-19 cases led to closure of schools across Gujarat. In such circumstances, government schools and their students are in need of a parallel digital framework through which quality education could be served to the government school students. It gives me immense pleasure to announce this initiative for all our govt. school students. We are thankful to Everest Kanto Cylinders (EKC) and hope more organisations will come forward to support this initiative and ensure it benefits every student in Gujarat.”
Lavin Mirchandani and Lehar Tawde, Co-founder, ConnectEd Technologies, commented, “Entry of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, coupled with a rapid surge in cases, led to re-closure of government schools across India. This situation emphasises the need for a digital approach that makes quality education accessible to government school students in regional languages. We have been working in this direction since 2020, and are pleased with our association with Everest Kanto Cylinders (EKC), which marks our foray into Gujarat. We hope to scale our presence with support from authorities, EKC India and other organisations”
Pushkar Khurana, Chairman and Puneet Khurana, Managing Director, EKC, said, “At Everest Kanto Cylinder Limited (EKC), we have always believed in working for the betterment of our surrounding communities. While mounting our social response to those affected by the pandemic, we found it necessary to support a program that provides quality education to government school students, at a time when schools are shut. We are happy to see the response from government authorities and grass-root level educators, and hope this initiative improves learning outcomes & academic performance among government school students.”
(Manas Dasgupta)