Bharati Foundation is in talks with corporate partners for technological support and is in touch with many IT companies to support new tech requirements. It aims to rope in new tech tools to aid students in learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mamta Saikia, Bharati Foundation CEO, said their focus in the next few months will be on strengthening content, including online digital respository, bringing smart TV-based teaching into classrooms and further streamlining virtual pedagogy and processes. “On the education side, we are in discussion with corporate partners for technological support. We are in touch with many IT companies to support new tech requirements of teaching-learning in our schools, and hope some of those discussions will conclude in the next one to two months,” Saikia said.
The philanthropic arm of Bharati Enterprises, which was established in 2000, implements and supports programmes in primary, secondary and higher education as well as sanitation. The Satya Bharti School program, its flagship, provides free quality education to thousands of underprivileged children in rural India across six states. The Foundation will maintain its budget at about Rs 100 crore this year to support its existing programmes as also expenses around sanitization in schools, shift to online models of learnings, and other measures that have been necessitated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, it ensured that students under its programmes continue to receive education from home. And since March, Satya Bharti School teachers have connected with students through class-wise WhatsApp groups and voice calls.
Saikia pointed out that a major thrust has been to maintain classes for students by leveraging virtual medium, at the same time offering training for teachers to help them to adapt to tools primarily on their phones. She said about 75 per cent of students with smartphones shifted to online learning and processes, while the rest of the students were provided individual support through phone calls made by teachers to ensure that learning continued uninterrupted to the extent possible. Saikia said teaching-learning methodologies were quickly adapted for distance education.
