India for the past year or so has been rapidly moving towards a more digital age.
True that we have advanced in technology and science, however regular schools and colleges still teach in the basic and traditional manner without incorporating new technology or learning methods, even more so in schools present in Tier 2, tier 3 cities and rural India.
But I have noticed that in the past couple of years, there has been a rapid and urgent wave of new policies and schemes which are pushing India and its citizens to go digital.
This idea was more firmly cemented when I saw Samsung’s Smart Class initiative video on YouTube.
If you want to, then you can see the #SapneHueBade Video Here:
A Bit of Background
If one does not know of it already then I would like to inform that in 2013, Samsung and Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti started the Samsung Smart Class initiative.
With this initiative, they have managed to digitize almost 373 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas across rural India.
In my opinion that is no small feat, and I actually feel that this is a pretty great way of helping rural parts of India that do not have easy access to technology in order to develop, understand and embrace the changing world.
The #SapneHueBade Film
If you thought that the story shown in the video was just a marketing tactic, then you would be wrong my friend.
The video is based on an actual true story, that of Sadanand Ugale a student from Maharashtra, who with the Smart Class Initiative got a chance to travel to Australia and represent India at the International Science School in Sydney.
Only 15 students got the chance to go, Sadanand and what more, he was even awarded with a scholarship for his research by The School of Physics and The Physics Foundation within The University of Sydney.
Right now, Sadanand is preparing for his SSC exams and believes that he still has a long way to go.
The video in that regards presents the dual sides of the parents and the kid in a very straight forward and great manner. It puts forth the wariness of the father of all this modern and thus unknown education, but at the same time makes it clear that this new method is not something to fear.
The success of Sadanand is evidence enough that this kind of teaching is not just making a difference, but letting kids from rural areas accomplish many things that were restricted to them before.
Signing off I would like to say, it is great to see that slowly but surely the digital gap between the rural and urban India is decreasing and initiatives like #SapneHueBade and Samsung Smart Class are contributing towards that in a very effecting and positive manner.
It is only a good thing as, kids will now get a chance to learn how to operate and use technology in a more modern and interactive method, which would also help to simplify more complicated concepts so that students can better understand.
In doing so we would allow them to compete at an equal level with their urban peers, creating a better and progressive youth therefore taking India to new heights.
This initiative has a very feel good quality to it along with really bringing about a change in people’s lives and makes me optimistic that kids from rural places will be able to better accomplish their dreams.
Other Recommendations:
http://edtimes.in/2016/08/solar-powered-virtual-school-set-up-in-a-village-near-kolkata/
http://edtimes.in/2015/06/the-world-and-high-school-one-and-the-same-2/
