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Electronics and Information Technology ExpositionElectronics and Information Technology Exposition
e - Educatione - Education
Every child has the right to childhood
Dileep Ranjekar, Azim Premji Foundation April 26, 2005
Delhi
Azim Premji Foundation Technology Initiatives
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Opportunities: 16% of world’s population
34% of population below 15 years
Adding over 150,000 qualified engineers per year
Challenges Contributes to just 1.6% of world GDP
Human development rank – 125 out of 175 ranked
Among bottom 30% in the Governance Index
Paradigm change – “receivers of knowledge” “creators of knowledge”
Need a fundamental review of our education system
Opportunities and challengesOpportunities and challenges
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Schools: Implementation machines, not thinking
entities Culture - stressful and boring Low motivation and competence of teacher
(Pre and in service training)
Parent & community participation in schools non-existent
Learning: Equated with memorization (exams primarily test
memory recall)
All round development of the child ignored Systemic accountability for learning and
development of every child is missing Cannot be a first class country with second class education
Current vexations in educationCurrent vexations in education
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Children who are Critical thinkers
Creative
Team players
Well developed in cognitive, affective & psychomotor domains
Citizens who are just, humane and equitable
Education that is Individual
Interactive
Integrative
We needWe need
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Myth 1: Technology itself improves social lifeMyth 2: Progress in technology = progress of the society
Reality
• What Technology achieves for the society is important
• Only when technology is in the hands of the majority of the members in the society and they use it imaginatively for the well-being of the society can the society be called progressive
The focus must be on the application and not on knowledge itself
Myths about TechnologyMyths about Technology
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IT & EducationIT & Education
Long Term Global Access to knowledge Sharing of experiences and best practices Self paced and self based learning Virtual world of information Simulations Experiential learning Distance learning of high quality Special learning tools for the uniquely challenged IT will become a fundamental literacy for the world
Short Term
Attracting and retaining children in school Creating excitement in and around the school Joyful learning
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A Not-For-Profit organization with 140+ full time professionals and over 1700 paid field volunteers
Operational since Jan 2001
Funding through personal resources of Azim Premji
Partnership with Government in all programs
Vision:
“Significantly contribute to achieving quality universal
education as a foundation for a just, equitable and humane
society”
About Azim Premji Foundation About Azim Premji Foundation
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Outreach of the programs March 31, 05Outreach of the programs March 31, 05
Current approach in going to states – demand based
Accelerated Learning Program
(Concluded as of April 2004)
Learning Guarante
e Program
Computer Aided
Learning
Child Friendl
y School
Total
Reach**
States Karnataka Karnataka,
MP
AP, Chhattisgarh,
Gujarat,
Karnataka, Orissa,
Pondicherry,
Rajasthan,
Tamil Nadu, Uttaranchal
AP, Karnataka
AP, Chhattisgarh,
Gujarat, Karnataka, MP, Orissa,
Pondicherry,
Rajasthan,
Tamil Nadu, Uttaranchal
No. Of Schools 1000 3,400 6000 1,100 >11,000
No. of Children 70 K 680 K 726 K 240 K > 1.75 Mln
Paid employees 1000 600 40 75 >1,700
Teachers reached 4,000 10,500 11740 4,000 >30,000
**The total figures are appropriately discounted to accommodate overlap of programs in the same school
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e – Education Initiatives
OfAzim Premji Foundation
e – Education Initiatives
OfAzim Premji Foundation
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Make a significant contribution towards
realizing quality universal elementary
education
ObjectiveObjective
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Multimedia curricular content Child centric
Interactive
Self paced
Animation, games, play based
Local language
Fun based assessment tools
A leveraged model of content deployment Partnership with Government
Both in school and out school models
Local content development to develop creativity & excitement
Technology solutions to build capacity Education management in Government – through EMIS
Education functionaries, teachers & community members
Key initiativesKey initiatives
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Continuous, indepth interaction with teachers, educators
Identify topics that are Hard to teach, boring to learn
Fundamental building blocks for learning
Map on state curriculum
Develop content: Scope definition
Script
Prototype
Animation, music, voice, games to create joyful learning
Rigorous quality approval at each stage by a team of Pedagogists, child psychologists, educators
Final testing with children to get feedback
Content development - processContent development - process
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Content deployment - processContent deployment - process Role of the state Government
Express serious interest by understanding process at the Foundation
Dedicated academic team to review and validate content and translation
Dedicated team of master trainers to train teachers
Agree to create a monitoring system for effective deployment of content
Ensure that every child gets minimum 80 minute (2 periods) exposure per week to the content within the norms prescribed by the Foundation
Role of Azim Premji Foundation
Translation of content in the state specific language
Train master trainers of the state for teacher training
Provide a representative in the state to help the state to monitor program
Provide free content through master CDs
Carry out research to understand factors influencing learning, impact, quality feedback etc.
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Local Content Development - processLocal Content Development - process
Provide resources and leadership in schools to encourage children to develop content on issues of their choice to promote
Curiosity
Creativity
Passion to learn
An attitude to share learning
Provide an opportunity to children to interact with the community
Facilitate learning through activity based projects
Create a bank of locally created knowledge by children for dissemination schools across the region
Contests to identify the best efforts
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Education MISEducation MIS
First phase of MIS development completed
The Foundation is catalyzing successful implementation through
necessary modifications, training of personnel, recommending optimum hardware and
software requirements etc. Careful documentation of learnings
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Technology innovationsTechnology innovations
Objective
• Lower cost,
• Lower power consumption
• Lower voltage power
Solutions
•Three in one PCs
• Step up stabilizers
• Solar power packs
• Monitoring software (under test run in schools)
17Partnership: State level for content creation & District level for
deployment
Objectives for 2005- 06 (Quantitative)Objectives for 2005- 06 (Quantitative)
Description Status as of
March 2005
Objective for 2005-06
Content
Master titles
# of languages
Assessment CD
80
10
1
125
13
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Local Content program - In 5 states, in 250 schools
School coverage
Program launched
Launch in progress
# of States/ UT covered
10,211
6,000
4,211
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17,000
15
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Program monitoring systemProgram monitoring system
SCHOOL PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT - 10 POINT MONITORING
Sl. No. Parameters Yes = 1, No = 0
1 Are all the CDs available in the School
2Do Teachers accompany class children to Computer Aided Learning Center?
3 Have teachers viewed CD content pertaining to their subjects?
4 Are Teachers using/integrating CD content in their class room?
5In the opinion of teachers, does the CD content impact the learning of the child?
6Has content exposure @ two periods per week been provided to each child?
7Are the teachers equipped with basic computer skills to manage the centre?
8 Is the Head Teacher aware of CALC program?
9 Does the community support/participate in the initiative?
10 Do the children possess minimum computer skills to interact with the CD?
Effective program = score of min. 5 out of 10This system has now been extended to 5 States / UT
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Key Research FindingsKey Research Findings
Significant improvement in learning levels among children from teacher involved Computer Aided Learning schools
Schools where program is run without teacher involvement do not show much improvement in learning levels
In case of children with learning disabilities (external research by Spastic Society of Karnataka):
Most children showed improvement in visual motor coordination, social intelligence and non-verbal reasoning
Tremendous improvement in social behaviour, attention, language (verbal), communication and motivation
Positive impact in promoting reading skills
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• Infrastructure– Power, electricity– Cost– Connectivity, Speed
• Content– Excessive focus only on IT and not on subject matter content– Content in local context and language
• Urban mindset vs. rural reality/needs
• Robustness of the model– Sustenance– Maintenance and replacement issues– Ownership, participation of community
• Talent development– Leveraging on existing local talent– Building managerial / supervisory talent
e – Education – some challenges e – Education – some challenges