Mission CompLit - Complete and Computer Literacy

Problem

Computers have been flooding in faster than ever before in schools, with a view to promote digital literacy amongst children. In particular, at Simdega, there are more than 300 computers available in 62 schools of the district, out of a total of 69 schools. There are about 300-400 children enrolled in these schools and even though there are computers, no classes were being conducted because of a lack of learning resources and subject experts. Lack of computer education also affected the job opportunities of the youth. 

Solution

To address this issue, the Aspirational District Fellow in collaboration with the district administration signed an MOU with ‘Computer Shiksha’, a Delhi based organisation that works towards bridging the digital divide in the country. Their mission is to provide computer knowledge and training with passion and commitment, to deliver value in the form of computer trained people, to help in the skill development of those who are not computer literate.

It was decided to partner with ‘Computer Shiksha’ because the organisation’s approach is holistic and free of cost. They provide NGO’S/government schools with the full ecosystem so that they can deliver computer education effectively to their children. They aid in arranging required hardware, offer support for maintenance of this hardware, provide in-house developed Self Learning Videos along with bilingual Trainer’s manuals, offer online monitoring of the live classes on Internet/WhatsApp, provide assessment services, train the trainer, and award certificates.

The teaching model of ‘Computer Shiksha’ is unique as it provides real teaching like environment in a virtual class setup. The facilitator has to simply play the audio-visual learning tutorials, which gives step by step instructions through an ongoing dialogue between students and teacher in the tutorials.

So far, Simdega has been able to start computer teaching classes in 30 schools. ‘Mission CompLit’ project got wide appreciation not only from teachers, parents or communities, but also from the MP/MLAs, who finally saw computers getting utilized in the schools. They have further extended their will to support the project by providing more computers and projects. Simdega indeed has launched a revolution to bridge the digital divide, by trying to assure ‘Right to Computer Education’ to all.

Source : Public System Strengthening in Aspirational Districts