Hi,
Growing up, Children’s Day for me was just a calendar date. It didn’t hold any special relevance for me and even my friends. In school, it meant the same stories, the same assembly being repeated every year. Nothing really changed much. By the time I reached college and work, the day had quietly disappeared from my life, leaving behind only an echo of its meaning.
Many years later, that idea resurfaced when I co-founded iDream Education with my partner, Puneet. Now, working closely with students, every Children’s Day brings with it the expectation to create content that truly resonates with our audience. This year was no exception.
But as I was thinking about what to write, I felt, shouldn’t every day carry the same relevance as November 14th?
In fact, every day should serve as a reminder of why we exist: to create solutions that children love, learn from, and that have the power to transform their lives.
In fact very early in the journey of iDream Education, I had come face to face with a story which still inspires me every day. Although I may have shared this with some of you, nonetheless, here’s the little story of Lalit.
Lalit was a grade 6th student when I had met him for the first time
His school was located just on the outskirts of the city of Rohtak and was like a typical government school, as they usually are. The govt of Haryana had conducted a State wide assessment to understand the learning level of the students and categorise them as “Saksham” and “not Saksham”. Lalit unfortunately was categorised under “not Saksham”.
He was put under a remedial learning program and he had to spend extra hours in the school as well. Both him and the teachers kept trying, but nothing really worked. His father at one point even considered letting his son drop out of the school.
His teachers were trying to teach him Grade 6th level concepts again and again without realising that that gap lay in junior grade concepts. Until fundamentals were cleared, it was unreasonable to expect Lalit to solve his grade level problems. He had lost complete interest in studies and no way forward was visible. The teachers had also given up.
It was at this point that with the support we received via a Corporate CSR, a tablet based Smart ICT lab was set up in his school. Like all students, he too received training on how to use the LMS, operate the tablet and access the educational content. Everything worked offline and was available in local language making it easy for Lalit to operate the device independently.
What these tablets did remarkably well was to eliminate the judgement from his life. Suddenly, there was no one who was looking at him all the time and questioning his every move. He could now learn as per his interest and as per his learning level. Whenever he did not understand a grade level concept, he was able to access content from junior grades and cover up his historical learning concepts. Teachers were also now better able to guide Lalit because they now knew where exactly he needed help rather than shooting arrows in the dark.
Eventually Lalit was above to cover up, he began coming to school regularly and his smile was back. The teachers were inspired too and his father abandoned the idea of dropping him out.
The last image I remember of Lalit was him running out of the school after the day break with teeth shining and a smile covering his entire face. When I saw him last, he had successfully moved to Grade 7th.
Watch this 2018 Children’s Day video, where he shares his journey and learning experiences with tablets, along with his teacher reflecting their thoughts
As the country marks yet another Children’s Day on 14 November, our commitment will be to treat every day as Children’s Day – a reminder to design with empathy, to support teachers with training and on-ground help, and to hold ourselves accountable to outcomes, not just deployments.