EMPOWER & IGNITE THE YOUTH FOR A BETTER NATION

Gyantantra Udbhav: Transforming landscape of Education at high altitude  villages of Leh-Ladakh, areas that lie isolated and ignored for centuries due to problems of harsh terrain. 

Project “Gyantantra Digital Dost” uses Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to innovatively address multiple problems associated with the quality of education available to the poor in India:

• Poor level of teaching and lack of trained teachers
• Inconsistency in teaching while teaching difficult concepts
• Lack of motivation amongst children of the illiterate and the poor, to go to school
• Absence of practice and printed work books in the Government schools, that are a right of every child
• Lack of access to colourful storybooks, videos, and interactive multimedia learning content

   This unique virtual teacher was able to:

• Accelerate the learning process
• Raise the child’s reading ability to an age appropriate level
• Settle the child in an age-appropriate grade at the end of the intervention period
• Help children operate computers and use technology to learn at their own pace
• Utilize the computer lab to showcase various documentaries such as financial literacy, life skills workshops and educative presentations

  Impact of our Gyantantra Activities in the classrooms at Ladakh`s three schools Basgo , Likir & Tunlung  Villages.

 About the Villages .These small villages falls in Leh – District of Laddakh Region. Laddakh is known for high altitude and one the tough terrain in India where people live. People in these villages are from very humble background and survive through farming & seasonal tourism work. Many Children are first generation learners, very simple and quite ignorant of the outside world.

They know of the computers but had never seen one and Gyantantra – a technology based learning with colorful lesson plans made it easy to impress these children to engage and absorb knowledge.

 Pre-assessment was conducted for each child. This included oral and written tests which are for over an hour. The questions ranged from easy to higher grade level competencies. In the current period, pre- assessment for grade III, IV & V level children was conducted across the Govt. schools as well as Literacy India community centers.

 Apart from basic reading and arithmetic ability, attempts were made to measure the children’s ability to understand, express themselves, think critically and solve problems.

 As per the results of the pre-assessment there is a substantial gap between what they are required to know at a certain age and what they actually do.

 Even school going children are at least two grades below the level of proficiency that they are supposed to be.  In the Base Line (Pre-test), students scored overall 9% in Hindi, Maths & English. In the End line (Post-test) students scored 65% overall.   

 The Pre-Assessment was conducted for 76 students in 3 schools.

•  All 76 students secured D Grade in their Pre-Assessment

 After 6 months of teaching, Post Test was conducted for all the students. Some important findings of Post   Test when compared to the Pre-Assessment are:

 The number of students in Grade A has increased from 0 to 20 

• The number of students in Grade B has increased from 0 to 33
• The number of students in Grade C has increased from 0 to 17
• The number of students in Grade D has decreased from 76 to 6 

   The GDD pedagogy has helped:

• Students to explore their own ideas and build a robust knowledge on all subjects
• Effective use of technology and intervention for better learning outcomes
• Both students and teachers feel empowered to use technology in classrooms for better learning
• Teachers find a way to leverage technology for professional development

  Name: Maya  (Name Changed) Age: 14 Location: Leh  

“We don’t have TV at home but in school, I saw first time cartoons in computer. I like to do activities of Maths and watching interesting stories in  Gyantantra.”  - Maya’s words.

 Introduction: - 14 years old Maya studies in class VII in Government High School Basgo Leh, Ladak. Her father, Me Lamma, is a labourer in a village located in Nepal. Her mother is a home maker and as usual cannot help her children in studies due to lack of Education.

Pre- Evaluation: - The pre-test showed that she was a weak student as she had scored 25 out of 100 marks. Initially she was not able to get her doubts clarified easily. Her pronunciation and reading both in Hindi & English were big challenge.

Challenges: - Maya has two younger siblings. So, whenever her mother goes for farming in fields, she has to take leave from school to do household work. Due to this routine, her studies are affected, and she gets totally distracted from education. Sometimes she avoided going to school because she found pleasure in household work rather than doing school's homework. Inspite of all these facts, it is noted that Maya is an intelligent girl and, her grasping and learning ability is very good.

IMPROVEMENT AFTER INTERVENTION OF ‘LITERACY INDIA’

Education Checks: - After joining the Gyantantra classes, Bir Maya, today is a confident student. By regular counselling of Maya and her mother, , ‘Literacy India’ helped them understand the benefits of education.

Now, she has a fair understanding of the subject course and can read Hindi well. This achievement reflects positively on her personality as she is not a shy person anymore. She watches the animated stories of Gyantantra with great interest. Maya secured 85.5% in final assessment which is a very good improvement. This hard-working girl has shown tremendous progress in her performance within four months. 

Personality Improvement: - “ Maya” used to always sit in the last row in class as, she avoided confronting teacher. Her shy nature became an obstacle in her studies. After ‘Literacy India’s’ intervention, her weakness disappeared. Now she is a disciplined student sitting in the front row in class and always requests for doing computer-based activities.  

Now her favourite subject is Mathematics.

Parent’s observation: - Initially,  Maya’s mother attended very few parent-teacher meetings held in the school. Also, she didn’t show any interest in discussing about her daughter. But when we told her about Maya’s strengths in a positive way, she understood the importance of education.

Links:

• Education A Necessity To Reduce Unemployment
• https://hindi.thebetterindia.com/8852/literacy-india-gyantantra-digital-dost/

The youth and women in our society are in need of livelihood options. However, most often they do not have the means to get the required skill sets for the same, hence limiting their options.

Our Karigari Program helps to improve the status of Women / Youth in the society by providing them with livelihood options through vocational training in the areas based on beneficiaries’ preferences and aptitude.

Computer literacy offered at our centers allows beneficiaries to build careers in IT related fields like BPO Centers, Data Processing Units and lately in UID centers etc.  especially in the cities like Delhi, Gurgaon & Kolkata hence creating entrepreneurs. Also, the soft Skills Digitally empowers them.

Stitching, Embroidery, Beauty Culture, Block Printing, Tie & Die etc enables beneficiaries to get employment in the garment industry or set up their own stitching and tailoring units.

Vocational training in driving encourages beneficiaries to build careers as drivers in the automobile, transport and travel industry or seek self-employment as professional drivers.

Community-based skills like home kitchen gardening and organic farming empower them to sustain themselves in their community.

 The opportunities are created in the following manner:

• Step 1: Conduct a survey of the area and identify beneficiaries
• Step 2: Assess the skills/ trainings that will be most beneficial to them
• Step 3: Set up Support
• Step 4: Invite beneficiaries for an orientation session
• Step 5: Regular ongoing training until the completion of the program
• Step 6: Workshop on business development and motivational sessions
• Step 7: Support to set up business and provide ongoing support to sustain the business

What makes Karigari unique:

-The complete program is free of charge, with all equipment and raw material provided by Literacy India

- The beneficiaries are exposed to real life workshops at the center where the work is happening

- The involvement of Literacy India does not end with training. There are regular visits by coordinators to help the beneficiaries get jobs and start their own enterprise.

Stories from Ground 

Name: Suresh (Name Changed) Location: Rajashthan

Suresh( Name Changed), 32 lives in Binaganj with his two children, wife and mother 5 members in a family. The family livelihood depends on agriculture work but due to less land gradually it became difficult to manage financially. Suresh was becoming hopeless and was not able to find the way for the future. During Community mobilization, he met with the community mobilizer and agreed to attend the session.  He attended the Enterprise development workshop to start his own business under the initiative of SWAROJGAR “MY VILLAGE MY BUSINESS “.  After several workshops and understanding the business model, he applied for a soft loan and availed a loan to open a Provisional store. He is now generating income of Rs. 5000/- per month through this business. With income from this business, he gets some confidence and is now living a respectful life.

As told by Suresh “I am hoping for a better living for my family and brighter future for children through this business income as well as support for my agriculture work.”

Links:

• GYANTANTRA DIGITAL DOST
• Partners in good deed