A Closer Look at e-Adhigam Initiative by the Government of Haryana

Learn about the genesis of e-Adhigam Initiative by the Government of Haryana, providing a digital leap to learning. With 5 lakh students receiving tablets for seamless online education, this initiative marks a significant step towards a brighter future.

The e-Adhigam (Advance Digital Haryana Initiative of Government with Adaptive Modules) project, introduced by the Department of School Education, Haryana Govt, aims to provide tablets to all students in grades 10th to 12th, enabling them to access learning materials that foster 21st-century skills and open up new opportunities. 

During the launch of the e-Adhigam Initiative, the Honorable Chief Minister of Haryana, Manohar Lal Khattar Ji, said, 

“Through e-learning, students in Haryana will emerge as global students”. 

He highlighted that the initiative originated from the challenges faced by many families during the COVID pandemic, while making a shift to online education. The e-Adhigam Initiative is contextualized to address these difficulties. Therefore, the tablets distributed to students will go beyond classroom teaching, offering information on global events and affairs.

Target of Implementing e-Adhigam Initiative

The nation set a goal for the year 2030. But, the Haryana government has set an even more ambitious target of achieving it by 2025. 

What is being done to achieve this objective?

The Haryana Government has placed a significant emphasis on the education sector. Out of the state budget of 1.70 lakh crore, a substantial amount of 20,000 crore has been allocated to the education sector. The Chief Minister emphasized the transformative power of education, stating that “Education is a powerful weapon one can use to change the world”, and quoted Nelson Mandela.

Scope of e-Adhigam Initiative

Initially, under the e-Adhigam scheme, approximately 300,000 tablets were distributed to students in government schools in Classes 10 and 12. 

The government then extended this e-Adhigam initiative to benefit 500,000 students in Classes 10-12. These devices are equipped with pre-loaded content, personalized and adaptive learning (PAL) software, and with 2GB of free data. 

However, it has been specified that Class 11 students will receive the tablets only after successfully clearing the Class 10 board exams and qualifying for the following academic year. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar Ji announced during the launch of the e-Adhigam Initiative at Maharishi Dayanand University in Rohtak that, starting from the next academic year (2023), all classes from 9 to 12 will be covered under the e-Adigham scheme.

What work has been done in the e-Adhigam tablet project by the Haryana government?

The School Education Department, Government of Haryana had been proactively researching and developing an implementation strategy for some time. Lessons learned from similar projects in other states of India indicated limited success, primarily when the program focused solely on distributing devices. Research findings also highlighted that the introduction of laptops posed a challenge, for example,  teachers-students found the interface of learning platforms to be alien and were not even aware of making use of it. Additionally, the high maintenance costs and lack of internet connectivity proved to be significant drawbacks.

Recognizing the need for a comprehensive approach, the department sought input from various stakeholders, including teachers, parents, and students. A successful roll-out required a holistic understanding of current practices and the barriers to technology adoption.

Consequently, the School Education Department devised a three-pronged strategy,

• Integrating a durable and secure device

Securing a resilient device was just one aspect of their strategy. The equal focus was on ensuring post-purchase maintenance, service, and on-site support through a dedicated field management team. The department integrated mobile device management (MDM) software, restricting access solely to whitelisted content. 

• Academic content delivered through an adaptive system

To meet the educational needs of students software was needed that enables high-quality academic content aligned with the school curriculum with navigation and access in vernacular languages. Additionally, interactive features such as quizzes, games, discussion prompts, and a repository of practice questions were integral. 

To achieve this, the School Education Department’s team collaborated with vendors who could curate freely available content from diverse platforms, delivering it through a Personalized and Adaptive Learning (PAL) platform. 

“Personalized and Adaptive Learning (PAL) stands at the forefront of educational technology in India and globally,  offering a structure where each student can carve out their distinct learning journey” 

This innovative software dynamically adjusts its content based on real-time student performance, offering insights into individual progress. Despite the Indian government issuing comprehensive guidelines on PAL in 2018, widespread implementation experiences were limited. 

Enter the “Edtech Tulna” framework, developed by IIT Bombay.

Through extensive consultations with experts from IIT Bombay, a comprehensive framework was established to assess PAL vendors across the board. The evaluation criteria encompassed diverse aspects, drawing from scores obtained in pilot studies within schools, as well as specific product and process features unique to PAL. A team of subject and technical experts was enlisted to evaluate the products. As a result, academic content for PAL in Hindi, English, and Social Science subjects has been developed at highly competitive prices. Vendor selection for additional subjects was also completed as part of the process.

• Internet data for accessing the content

The third component of the program focused on ensuring sufficient data connectivity, in addition to addressing hardware and software requirements. Therefore, govt. in its e-Adhigam initiative has provided each student with a reliable data plan of 2GB per day.

Apart from a three-pronged strategy,

Haryana’s e-Adhigam initiative places significant emphasis on acknowledging the role of teachers. This is due to the recognition that education technology interventions minimizing the role of teachers often result in poor modules, low student engagement, and a lack of incentive structure. Therefore, the School Education Department took special care to ensure that they provide comprehensive training to teachers until they become proficient in navigating and utilizing the fundamental features of the PAL Solution, including those designed for students.

Beneficiaries of e-Adhigam by the Government of Haryana

• Under this initiative, 5 lakh students have received tablets (preloaded with personalized and adaptive learning (PAL) software. They are also provided with complimentary 2GB of internet data daily. 
• The government has distributed tablets to 37,370 teachers to ensure they have access to online education. The tablets with teachers contain a specialized teacher module, facilitating virtual interactions with their students. 

The e-Adhigam tablet project by the Haryana Govt awards work to a Haryana Startup, iDream Education for the implementation of PAL

Through a two-phase tendering and evaluation process, the Department has selected three PAL providers for the Personalized Adaptive Learning platform on student tablets.

“iDream Education is among the three chosen providers who have been granted the opportunity to implement its iPrep PAL solution across its home state for the designated five subjects.”

In the e-Adhigam Initiative, Samsung tablets were distributed to every Government School student of classes 10th, 11th, and 12th in Haryana in 2022, with an integrated PAL solution for adaptive learning. 

iDream Education provided iPrep PAL for five subjects for grades 11 and 12 and is currently in use by students. As per continuous tracking, it has been evaluated that students who attempted both diagnostic and the final test in the subjects of economics, business studies, and geography showed improvement of 44%. 

If you can not measure it, you can not solve it!

• iDream Education provides customer support to students, and teachers, ensuring timely resolution of issues. 
• A central reporting dashboard deeply tracks the usage and learning outcomes data of every student. The reports are then shared daily with officials for impact assessment and tracking.

To Conclude,

Appreciating the Chief Minister for enabling tablets, the student expressed gratitude and said, 

“Thanks to Manohor Sarkar we have tablets in hand for learning and we are saved from setbacks led by the pandemic”.

 “With the availability of these tablets, we are not only able to study curriculum. In fact, now we are able to prepare for competitive exams as well,” said the students.

The Haryana Government has taken a strategic and well-planned statewide initiative. We anticipate that this project will enhance students’ learning outcomes throughout Haryana, preparing them to be a global student.

If in case you would like to know more about our digital learning solutions, visit our website, www.idreameducation.org, or write to us at [email protected]