Bharat e-Shiksha is a flagship initiative under BharatCares (social impact arm of CSRBOX) that aims to make quality education accessible with the initiation of hybrid model of learning to the underprivileged students.
We aim to improve the learning outcomes of the school children in their formative years from class 6th to 10th, especially from low-income communities. To achieve our goal, we develop innovative solutions in education, as well engage with the system to drive sustainable and positive impact.
We believe in using technology-based solutions like personalized learning through digital tools and in building a comprehensive pedagogical solution.
Under this initiative, we are supporting teachers and children in rural and remote areas and urban slums by providing content-loaded tablets or Smart TV to provide access to digital devices and mentored learning. The programme targets learners from government schools, with a special focus on classes 6th to 10th

Why e-Shiksha?
India has been facing an unprecedented COVID-19 crisis. This grim situation has adversely impacted all the facets of life, including the education of children. The situation has worsened majorly for the rural parts of India, which often goes invisible in the current times.
The ongoing pandemic and school closures make digital education an imperative. However, with the low penetration & lack of affordability of technology (internet connectivity and smart phones), a lot of children in rural as well as town areas are particularly at learning loss. This further aggravates the existing gaps in education equity.

Our Strategy:
The initiative aims to bridge the learning gap by setting up Digital Learning Centre, which runs under the learned guidance of a well-qualified, tech-driven teachers who acts as a catalyst of change in the domain of education in his/ her vicinity. Each Digital Learning Centre (DLC) has the capacity to cater 20-25 students who come from marginalized communities facing socio-economic challenges with lack of provision for online education and relevant academic resources. The student’s formation is in different batches from class 6th- 10th following the COVID-19 protocols.
The project has been initiated on the Policy implementation of New Education Policy 2020, dedicated towards digital learning.

Our Model:
These centres are providing curriculum-based education along with adaptive technology-based learning to over 300+ learners from marginalised communities. These centre use 3L approach for learning, that involves:

• Learning (L1): Teacher mentored and digital adaptive learning using tablets and smart TVs
• Lifeskills (L2): We impart a monthly 4 hours life skill program to the learners by interactive virtual sessions by domain expert faculties.
• Library (L3): Our centres are equipped with 100-150 books targeting learners of 11-17 years. We use storytelling sessions to create learners’ interest in reading and thereby improve their comprehension and critical thinking skills.

The following highlights are the facilitation areas of hybrid learning model of teacher and technology connect-
1) Daily based learning: 12 pre-loaded content digital-tablets consists of interactive videos, assessment sections, for the classes 6th- 8th, mainly for Mathematics, Science, English as per the Haryana State Education Board guidelines.
2) Life Skills sessions: A smart TV connected with interactive periodic live classroom system set up for life skills for the students.
3) Summer Camps: successful completion of 18 days summer camp with students.

The camp was organized and conducted as per 8 different themes:
i. Let’s learn to introduce yourself in basic English
ii. Creative story writing session (Hindi & English)
iii. Letter writing session (Hindi & English)
iv. Movie Day (Mindfulness session)
v. Indoor games including playful learning activities
vi. Physical exercise
vii. Yoga sessions
viii. Art and craft sessions

Our Presence:
We have been operating these centres in Jaipur (Rajasthan), Pune (Maharashtra), Ahmedabad (Gujarat) and Nuh (Haryana).

Monitoring & Progress Mapping Mechanism:
Parents are the key stakeholders in the entire process of making quality education accessible to the children. And therefore, they must be aware of the learning mechanism and the improved learning outcomes of their children.
To facilitate this process, we have started using WhatsApp for Easy Connect.
It not only gives weekly update to the parents about the progress and learning curve of their wards but also highlights the areas of improvement.
It also helps in maintaining the overall record of all the students and act as an platform to discuss and address the challenges.
We are also working on launching WhatsApp-based learning modules for reaching out to more children in rural and remote areas.

To tap on the qualitative learning periodic monitoring is conducted via assessments for the students as well as for the teacher by the SPOC of CSRBOX.