How Tablets Are Changing Rural Education In Bihar

Despite the many positives of the digital age, the lack of digital literacy in rural areas has further disenfranchised India’s lesser-income youth. Bihar, in particular, constantly struggles with elementary school retention rates and often fails to provide an education that will actually benefit school children. That’s why the image of a bunch of school girls huddled around a tablet, learning about menstruation in the Munger district of Bihar is as a strange a reality as it is wonderful.

Although we are quick to call out our government when they do wrong, we are equally as quick to give them praise when it is in due order. i-Saksham Education and Learning Foundation, an initiative started by the Prime Minister’s Rural Development Fellows (PMRDFs), is now a for-profit non-government company incorporated in March, 2015. Their mission is to ‘bridge the gap’ between rural and urban areas by training local youth as community tutors in the “details of pedagogy, digital tools and English, and guides them to deliver quality learning.”

These tutors are called the Saksham-Mitras and they use low-cost tablets to teach students in rural India. i-Saksham sees tablets as a way to engage students, as once you have a student’s attention their academic retention drastically improves. The tablets are both crowdfunded and paid through self-instrument by villagers in the Munger and Jamui districts of Bihar.

Through andriod applications children can practise the alphabet, basic mathematics, and reading comprehension in Hindi and English. The tablets also help supplement regular assignments as the digital content on the tablets is synchronized with the State Board Syllabus. Courses on advanced mathematics, English, science and vocational studies have also been included to aid higher level students in their education.

According to a report by The Better India there are currently 40 Saksham Mitras, with a reach of 4,000 students across the Munger and Jamui districts of Bihar. Although i Saksham’s 2025 goal of “providing quality elementary education to 5 million poor children, skilling 50,000 youths to be community tutors, and 5 lakhs youth skilled in various vocational trades” is ambitious, even if they accomplish half of their goal the academic landscape of rural India will forever be changed.

Reach out to i Saksham here, if you want to create learning material, donate, mentor a child or volunteer in the field.