I want my Blackboard back!
by Sibabrata Choudhury, Aveti Learning
As it is most places in India May and June are the hottest months in India when schools are shut down for the annual Summer breaks. It is the time for the children to take a break from studies and visit relatives or just enjoy the mangoes. However, students in in Grade 9 and 10 find the holidays good time to keep up with the revisions and complete the courses in preparing for the upcoming Exams.
Getting back to school…many questions
The year 2020 has been totally different, since Schools were closed for normal classes since March when the Covid-19 cases started emerging in the country. Everything has turned topsy-turvy, for students and teachers alike. Schools are closed and classes suspended leaving students with several unanswered questions…
“How will I study and complete my class subjects?”
“Will I be able to appear for my exams in School?”
“When will I again go to my School and meet my friends?”
In Odisha, an overwhelming majority of children are taught in the local vernacular language — Odia follow curriculum aligned to the Odisha School Board. Usually children have the option to study in Government managed Schools or they opt for low cost private schools that charge a nominal fee to meet administrative expenses. Parents are preferring private schools because of teachers’ dedication. So far as I have travelled within Odisha, I have not come across any high cost premium school offering learning in Odia language. Apart from this there are also some free residential schools either managed by the State Government or charitable organizations.
Children also have the option to study in schools with English as the primary medium of teaching and follow curriculums prescribed by CBSE. These are the State-run schools such as Kendriya Vidyalaya, Navodaya Schools (one in each District) and more recently the Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya (one in each Block). In addition, there is a wide array of privately managed schools that cater to a range of fee structures. For the privileged few who can afford the digital solutions, education did not stop for them during lockdown.
What about the students who cannot afford the expensive solutions? For instance, millions of students were without the basic reading material — textbooks!
Studying during lockdown: adapting to COVID-19
Immediately after lockdown was announced, Government of Odisha stepped in and made a humongous effort to ensure doorstep delivery of school text books to millions of students spread across the state. Availability of school textbooks is a contentious issue and not everyone is fortunate to have textbooks to study. It is an issue debated every year in primetime news by policymaker and intellectuals without any solution in sight.
When lockdown was announced in March 2020, how did schools cope with the sudden closure of schools amidst the lockdown?
# Some schools which had the infrastructure and necessary equipment started online teaching programmes for the students either through online platforms or own school networks;
# Resourceful teachers recorded lesson videos and sent it across for students through digital communication networks;
# Teachers share lesson plans with students and asked them to study on their own at home;
# Students are instructed to study lessons and watch lessons on YouTube or other such channels recommended by their teachers.
# The Ministry of Human Resources in collaboration with premium institutions has initiated the telecast of lessons through dedicated TV channels.
No doubt, teachers and school administrators have been trying all out to address the situation in being creative and trying out many approaches to reach out to students. Not every approach is perfect or can be adopted for all, challenges and shortcomings abound. The challenge for educators is compounded when students are spread across far flung villages and small towns with limited resources. Whatever measures teachers adopt, there is no comparison to listening to the reassuring live voice of a teacher behind the pictures played on a computer or mobile screen.
Affordable digital learning for students learning in Odia language
For thousands of such students around Odisha, Aveti Learning has been a saviour during this Covid lockdown period. Aveti has been streaming weekly live sessions for students who study in local vernacular language: Odia. The sessions include interactive learning lectures, video lessons, quiz programs as well as assignments to students.
In the last three months, Aveti YouTube channel has reached 2.3 million views with a subscriber base of 44000, a near doubling over the past three months. At 3 live sessions every day we have streamed over 200 live lessons during this period with a combined viewership of over 251,000 hours of video lessons that is equivalent to 5580 classes. In the last three months, students have attempted over 25000 class exercises on our App. that includes 2200 descriptive type essays.
Of late there has been debates in various circles around online lessons and its effect on children. It is difficult to predict at this moment what proportion of students have really benefited from the online lessons and which is the best solution. I am sure technology will evolve and teaching methods will evolve and we will learn from our experiences. At Aveti we are learning every day and innovating in our endeavor to add value for the countless children.
In Odisha, where many students are not privileged to stable internet connection or own a laptop of their own. Not every child has access to a smartphone or is able to afford an internet package. Added to this, many villages are yet to be covered with 4G Mobile connectivity. Over the past decade, Aveti Learning has experimented different solutions in different locations in Odisha.
For students without internet connectivity, Aveti lessons are bundled in a Magic Box that is powered through a power bank and can perform in absence of internet connection. A key feature that we fulfil for teachers is the assessment feature available through the Aveti Learning App. Delivering quality teaching for students while assessing learning outcomes of children is a complex task. With 48000 subscribers of the app, we at Aveti Learning are committed in this prolonged journey.
Considering current trends, online teaching and app-based learning is going to be the new normal. It remains imperative how quickly we adapt to the challenges and create working solutions for various field level scenarios. School lockdown situation has just given the impetus towards designing effective and inclusive solutions.
Together we shall overcome!
