Advancing Girls’ Education through Tablet Based Learning

Meeting girls from the residential schools of Rajsthan was an inspiring experience for all of us. We came across many facts that we tend to ignore in the glare of city lights. Rajasthan, the 7th largest state in India, recorded the lowest literacy rate for women, only 46 % in 2018. With the increasing need for education, the literacy rate has improved. But still, many researches show that 37% of educated women had dropped out of school before completing 8th grade. Therefore, to provide quality education and better learning opportunities to the girls in the Bhiwadi district of Rajasthan. Union Government has set up Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya residential schools for girls of weaker sections.

Our journey of meeting these girls from residential schools in Rajasthan

Foundation Saint Gobain is an arm of Saint Gobain that designs, manufactures, and markets solar control glass, fire-resistant glass, and other various types of float glasses in India. From the proactive communication of project coordinators of Foundation Saint Gobain with teachers and students of schools. They found out that girls in residential schools struggle to understand practical concepts. They even ask their teachers to play videos of the content they teach to understand concepts better. This is when their team reached out to us to enable enjoyable learning content with the motto of making learning engaging and building a conceptual understanding of the topics taught.

Under this partnership, our team first conducted a need assessment survey based on the issues identified by Saint Gobain. We, in partnership with Sain Gobain Foundation, implemented iPrep Digital Library, a tablet based smart ICT lab in residential schools of Rajasthan. It is known as TabLab as it is a tablet charging trolley & storage rack setup with a tablet that can be used on a rotational basis by students.

Objective of implementing tablet based learning

To make learning enjoyable, easy, and engaging for students.

Project Components

• In TabLab, we provided them with 20, 7inch Android tablets. Earphones and a book-style protective cover were also given with each tablet to make learning hassle free.
• The tablets were preloaded with Hindi digital content on SD cards. Further, all the content for classes 5th to 8th of all subjects was in alignment with Rajsthan Board. All of this, to make the adoption of digital content easy and natural.
• DIY and other activity videos for practical learning. Further, to make learning holistic we also enable access to books on health, safety, sanitation, inspirational biographies, and much more.
• Assessment and MCQ style practice questions to boost the confidence of girls on topics learned.
• Reporting dashboard for continuous monitoring of learning in progress. Through this, teachers, principals, and project partners can determine how effectively girls are using tablets for learning. 

Project Impact

• Improved creative learning

When students got access to tablets and digital content they had wanted for a long time, they explored it to their maximum capacity. In a month, they explored most educational and activity videos to know the practicality of what they have been taught in the last few years. Additionally, all of them participated in activity day and prepared their own working models.

• Some developed a reading habit

Because of the availability of digital books on inspirational biographies, poems, stories, safety, sanitation, and much more, girls from the residential school of Bhiwadi developed a reading habit. One such girl from the school is Nisha, who we haven’t personally met, but while we were reviewing usage reports, we found out that between multimedia and digital books, Nisha has spent a staggering 63% of the time reading digital books. Before this, she did not have access to books, and her interest would have waned off, but with the availability of digital books on tablets, she is now exploring her potential to the fullest.

• Better Result

Because students now had access to all the types of content they were looking for, their involvement in learning increased. Moreover, girls started staying back in classes, learning from the content of junior classes. This improved their understanding of concepts they missed in previous years, resulting in an improved understanding of students and better results.

Thus, to ensure continuity in student learning, our team enables continuous support and coordinates with teachers and principals of Residential schools in Rajasthan regularly. 

If in case you would like to know more about our digital learning solutions, comment below or write to us at [email protected] 

idreameducation.org