Teachers and Technology 2Ts of blended learning

Education is a key player in the socio-economic development of any nation. Education equips children with knowledge, skills and values and open an array of livelihood avenues for them in their future. By building an inclusive and robust education system, we can ensure that all children get equal access to opportunities needed for leading a better life.

The global COVID 19 pandemic has highlighted the fault lines in the educational infrastructure and put children living in the remotest pockets of the country at the epicentre of the disruption. They were severely hit when the entire education system was shifted online. It has turned upside down their learning process and engagement.

Access to digital tools to adapt to the new normal was the need of the hour but it also became one of the biggest challenges for the children from some of the underserved communities. Several issues such as hesitancy to use digital devices, poor network and internet connectivity, has paralyzed the growth of these school going children and left them disconnected from the digital world.

Education was side-lined while fighting for survival and this put millions of children’s future into dark, who don’t have access to digital tools. Thus, to address the digital divide, promote inclusion and to improve the learning outcomes, BharatCares has started a program- Bharat e Shiksha.

Bharat e Shiksha program aims to empower children from rural and urban communities of India by creating a network of Bharat e Shiksha Volunteers and establishing Community Digital Learning Centres. By leveraging the technology for education, it is an incredible step towards digital learning.

To make quality education accessible till the last mile, BharatCares has developed a hybrid model that involves the traditional mentoring from the teachers and access to digital devices like content loaded tablets and smart TVs to the children to improve their learning experience.

Technology and Teachers are at the centre of the intervention. By infusing technology in the conventional method of learning, Bharat e Shikhsa has built a comprehensive pedagogical solution that not only addresses the gaps in the education system but also improves the learning outcomes of the students.

The idea behind introducing the innovative hybrid approach is the belief that Teachers are and will always be of paramount importance in delivering education and they can never be replaced by technology. Their mentoring and inspiration are the essence of the overall development of a child. However, teachers have their own limitations and bandwidth and sometimes they might not be able to facilitate personalised learning according to each and every student. Here technology comes in and plays the crucial part to increase accessibility and provide personalised learning experience. It makes the entire learning process more engaging, interactive and fun.

Through 2T mechanism, Bharat e Shiksha envisages to revamp the ecosystem of education and create a roadmap to enable the children to continue their education.

Isha Sharma

With an intriguing academic background in Philosophy and Development Management, Isha is an alumnus of Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi and Indian School of Development Management, Noida. Being a development professional, she curates the content to communicate the impact of sustainable interventions and is currently playing a role of Senior Communication Associate at CSRBOX. Prior to this, Isha worked with Digital Empowerment Foundation to optimize the value chain of the handmade products of artisans across India along with developing various communication strategies to increase the revenue and improve the outreach of the organisation. She is a craft enthusiast who loves to discover and preserve the lost art forms.