Bostik India Private Limited under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has launched a program Umang – Joy of learning in collaboration with ARCH Development Foundation to ensure the safe return of the children to school when it reopens by implementation of COVID safety guidelines and measures.
The programme also facilitates transformation of conventional learning to Digital learning by developing smart classrooms in 5 villages near their Jhagadia, Ankleshwar plant in Gujarat.
School closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a complete disconnect from education for the vast majority of children in the rural area. The government has recommended moving to online learning as a stop-gap arrangement to evade any disruptions in academic calendars. Technology and smart classrooms are not only transforming education in highly paid private schools, but it is gradually making inroads to government schools with the help of organizations working in the field of education.
To support this movement ARCH foundation is collaborating with Bostik India Private Limited. Through this initiative, Bostik India is supporting in development of Smart class and enabling safer environment for students.
Vipul Patel, Industrial Director from Bostik India says, While Smart Classrooms and Digital Learning have already made a way in urban educational setups, rural schools still rely on conventional teaching methods for their educations. Therefore, shifting from conventional pedagogical methods to digital ones is a must pre requisite for today’s education. Teachers, as well as students, require proper training and user-friendly platforms to make them acquainted with digital technology and support acclimatisation and handholding. He further adds – We have commenced this initiative with an intent to bring this much needed change. We also urge other organizations to be a part of this initiative so as to help create COVID safe environment for all students and support upgrading their knowledge & skills.
Today’s classrooms are in transition. Technology of all sorts is making its way into the classroom and offering new ways to engage learners, who are especially from rural backgrounds. Children, who are bored with the age-old monotony of learning will be thrilled and excited to watch, feel and learn in their new smart classrooms.
There is one more important dimension to the project Umang – improving the learning level of students through community classes. One complete academic year has elapsed in this manner, with almost no or little curricular learning in the current class. But this is only one kind of loss of learning. Equally alarming is the widespread phenomenon of ‘forgetting’ by students from the previous class – this is a regression in their curricular learning.
Sonkee Shah, CEO of ARCH Development Foundation shares – scenario in these villages is no different from any other rural area across the country. Before starting the program, it was important for us to assess the learning level of children to understand the level of regression and plan corrective measures for the same. As per the learning level assessment done by ARCH Foundation, there is a huge loss of foundational abilities such a reading with understanding, performing addition, and multiplication, which are the basis of further learning. These foundational abilities are such that their absence will impact not only learning of more complex abilities but also conceptual understanding across subjects.
Under the project Umang – educators from the local villages have been identified and trained for conducting community classes. The bridge course introduced by the ministry of education will be followed to restore the learning level of children. In addition to that, many competitions and small events have been planned to keep the motivation of every child high and fly.
Project Umang aims to promote a Joyful experience of learning to each and every child. It aims to make the students ready to join the schools when they re-open without having the fear of not having learned anything. This activity supports the children’s learning as a bridge that can connect them easily to the continuity of learning once schools reopen. To ensure that maximum students are part of this program various stakeholders like parents, teachers, and school management are also involved in this project to make it one big community-driven initiative.
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