Educate Girl Child for India’s Development – Captivating Stories of Meenal Kashyap & Ms Geeta

There are reports and several studies to substantiate that girls’ education can transform nations by reducing social & gender inequality in education & strengthen the economy. 49 % of countries have achieved gender equality in education but only at the primary level. Poverty, violence, and gender-based bias continue to be the prime obstruction to girls’ education. There are families in India who are still investing in boys’ education and are neglecting it for the girls. Even in the 21st century, it is evident that countless young girls in India are still denied education, employment and equal rights compared to boys. 

But is there a way forward, and do we have a ray of hope?

There certainly is, and it is evident from our experiences while working with government school teachers and students across the country. If we give girls access to quality education, change is possible. If we empower the teachers with digital tools, their contribution to nation-building can multiply many folds. 

To celebrate the Contribution of Women and Girls, we are bringing to you two such stories from many we have been a part of. These stories have inspired us to continue with our work. We hope that they will inspire you as well. 

Read more to know the compelling story of Meenal Kashyap and Ms Geeta Bhati

Story of Meenal – Rising high above the mountains 

Meenal is a student from Govt Girls Sr. Sec School located in Lakkar Bazar in Shimla. Last year she was selected at the district level Science Exhibition where her model won a prize in Science subject. Meenal now wants to pursue Science in her higher education. But, that was not always the case.

Until iDream Education got an opportunity to set up a TabLab (Tablet based Smart ICT Lab) in her school. Two things have happened since that day.

1. With no dependence on the internet, students in Lakkar Bazaar school could access digital content and learn whenever they want
2. Students got access to different types of engaging learning content such as video lessons, stories, poems, inspirational biographies and interesting project videos.

There was a sudden shift in how Meenal could now learn. After attending her regular classes, Meenal began spending most of her time on the content given on the tablets from the ICT lab.  Seeing her enthusiasm, her teachers did not stop her, and she got support from her parents as well. 

One content type which caught her attention was the project videos. These are DIY videos through which students can create working models using materials easily available around them. She could now see what she was learning in action, which intrigued her. She could now understand concepts better and thus began her journey of experiments and exploration. Which eventually led her to create a model that won her a district-level award, a feat recognised by the Education Minister who visited her school and personally congratulated Meenal and her school. 

It makes us so happy to see that our work at iDream Education has helped spark a dream in one more girl. We wish her the best.

Story Of Ms. Geeta

Ms Geeta is a teacher from Prathmik Vidyalaya Salempur Gurjar in Noida, UP. She gained 1st place in the ICT competition organized at the state level for making the best use of the Tablet-based Smart ICT Lab setup, which we had implemented under the partnership with Asian Paints. 

Ms Geeta is a motivated teacher who believes in investing all her energy in students’ best learning. 

One to one interaction with Ms Geeta inspired us to a whole new level. She specified her beliefs that motivates her to do her best. She mentioned that the biggest influence of students is their teacher; therefore, I aim to show kids everyday examples to relate to their everyday learning.

She says that implementing the ICT setup has strengthened her will to improve learning for students in rural areas. “The setup has become my source to present examples of real-life”. Specifically, the video lessons; helps me demonstrate the example of every topic. The visuals have helped me improve interaction with students, and I can now understand student perspectives better, which I feel is the key to quality education, said Ms Geeta. 

After getting recognised at the state level, she wanted to learn more about the ICT setup that could help her increase the interaction, results, and engagement. She also mentioned that learning should not stop, not for students, not for teachers; it is something we all should chase all our lives. 

Every student needs a teacher like her

• Ms Geeta is an Opportunist who supplemented the traditional to tech inclusive teaching approach in a few training days.
• Her curiosity to engage students in digital content amused us, as she loaded us with ample questions like how to track student usage reports? How to reload video lessons? And many more such questions. Her questions were proof of how curious she was to engage students in digital content.

Ms Geeta is the educator we all need to upscale education in rural India. Her zeal to teach in the best way and track student involvement in studies is applaudable. We feel blessed to educate teachers who possess the passion but are still confined due to a lack of accessibility to the right resources. 

At iDream education, we enable equal learning opportunities for girls and boys. We work to invest in the present and future equally. Therefore, we enable:

• Enjoyable offline digital content in different forms like subject wise lessons, books, and experimental videos to make learning enjoyable and exciting 
• In addition, we give access to videos on life skills and a digital book library with stories, poems and inspirational biographies for holistic learning
• To ensure each student’s learning in a non-judgemental way, we facilitate content in Hindi, English, and other local languages 

If in case you would like to support girl education in India, write to us at [email protected]. Further, You can also leave your comments below, and we will be happy to get back to you. And if you have any similar story or a case study to share with us, please let us know. It would be wonderful to learn and continue to improve the experience of our students and teachers.

EMPOWERING LEARNERS