Is School-In-A-Box the solution we need to improve education quality in Tribal communities of India?
Education is a necessity, part of our daily routine but for many, it is still a dream.
Recently recorded by the 2011 census, the tribal population of India is approximately 10.43 crores, of which 9.38 crores tribal people live in rural areas, and only 1.05 crores live in urban areas. Where the literacy rate of India stands at 64.8%, the same falls below the national average of 47.1% for the tribal population in the country. Clearly proving that there is a persistent and visibly large gap in education and literacy among tribal people and a substantial amount of work is required to bridge the gap and bring equality in education quality.
Where we are working on building virtual schools in the country, many of these tribal communities in remote areas are far away from getting proper electricity, let alone internet connectivity. The same goes for many government schools in rural and underprivileged urban communities where students faced a lockdown on their education during the covid-19 pandemic in India.
New India might need changes, but what about the population hailing from these places? Virtual school isn’t the solution, it can instead cause distraction and mislead the students because they do not know how to use the internet for their learning. All they know is social media, YouTube & Google searches.
During my trip to Pune last year, I got a chance to visit some schools which have relabeled themselves as “Model Schools”. These “model schools” are government schools with better learning facilities, and better than those fancy private schools we have seen & studied in. This model school consists of a working smart class system, best of internet learning materials like Quiz Academy, Khan Academy, PHET Stimulations, coding, etc, teaching-learning materials to understand maths in an interactive way, career counseling, and computer literacy course.
The best part was that the smart class device named “School-In-A-Box” doesn't require any internet or constant electrical power. The content itself doesn't require any internet connectivity, the SIAB server creates its own WiFi hotspot which can then be connected to any WiFi-supporting device i.e. the computer labs in schools.
This solution has completed the problem of “lack of internet connectivity in local areas” & “misuse of the internet by students”. School-In-A-Box creates a safe & secure learning environment for teachers and students to enhance their performance without any distractions.
These servers, School-In-A-Box are currently installed in 1970 schools, 13 community learning centers, 4 model villages, 7 residential tribal schools, and 2 tribal area hostels. That too is in the local language of the area for a better and quality learning experience. Currently available in 8 languages: Marathi, Hindi, English, Gujarati, Kannada, Bangla, Tamil & Odia.
The product and program come under a Jaipur-based ed-tech NGO, Moinee Foundation.
The organization has started its intervention in Tribal Schools & communities to bring quality education to them, currently working with Sahariya Tribe & Garasia Tribe. The start might be recent in these areas but it can grow more with the right direction and help.
