Inspiring Curiosity with Affordable Educational Solutions
It is said that children are born with curiosity and desire to learn about the world around them.
In relation to education, the United Nations describes the trait of curiosity as ‘the engine of academic achievement’. The guidelines from Government of India’s NIPUN Bharat mission also share this belief and heavily focuses on encouraging curiosity of young learners' with access to experiences that develop their communication skills, problem solving abilities, and understanding of the self.
All major bodies of the world agree on the importance of curiosity, so an important question that arises is where we stand in encouraging it in schools? As children spend a substantial amount of time in school for five to six days in a week, it has to be a priority across the board at every level.
However, this growth of curiosity which is required for all-round development is heavily challenged in schools, especially in rural communities, as teachers are unable to dedicate optimal time for teaching related tasks, the classrooms are filled with children from multiple grades and the number of teachers is less than required among other reasons.
To counter this, finding personnel can be difficult but technology can be a solution too. At Sampark Foundation, we noticed how children’s curiosity was stifled impacting their academic performance when they didn’t get required attention or were not taught in a participative manner. Even the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) specifically notes that it is impossible to teach subjects like science without curiosity and interest. Hence, it is important this issue is addressed at the root to help children shape a brighter future.
Our Efforts Towards Affordable Education
One of the biggest steps towards this goal was helping schools move away from traditional classrooms that were proving to be limiting to more engaging ones like our Smart classrooms. Our cost-effective innovations that form the core of smart classrooms allow for rapid scalability and sustain educational requirements of a child for a whole year at less than $1 per year.
These smart classrooms are equipped with audio-visual based learning materials like Sampark Smart TV which comes with pre-loaded songs, lesson plans, videos and question banks, all aligned with SCERT textbooks. When this device is paired with our teach-easy kits (a blend of physical teaching aids, board games and audio box), and a mobile app called Smartshala App it creates an environment where teachers are well-prepared to face students with well-planned lessons and teaching aids that support proper grasping of knowledge.
Twenty Years Of Sustainable Progress
As we ensured that we not only provided the devices (our six innovations) but means to operate them in full capacity to ease the process of learning. We conducted teacher training programs where common issues in the classroom are addressed and how our tools can be used as a part of solution. This drastically shortened the learning curve making the implementation swifter than it would have otherwise.
The results- children reported how learning was their favourite part of the day and they were finally able to ask questions in the classroom. A very fundamental necessity in the process of learning. Which was then met by appropriate guidance of teachers as they were less overworked and could interact more with the class, stating, ‘My students are more curious and ask more questions.’
Over the years, with the help of SPARKs (our dedicated team members and volunteers) who helped us spread the cause, we were able to create a positive impact on 1.69 crore children at 1.30 lakh schools across eight states of India. You can help us too by volunteering to be a SPARK today. The bright future of our nation calls for you! Reach out today to know more!