With its online learning platform designed for rural areas with no internet connectivity, the company is improving learning outcomes with new-age interventions
Gungun Kumari lives in one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Jharkhand’s Bokaro district. Her parents own a small shop selling daily rations. One would assume the free state school she goes to nearby is ridden with absent teachers, a lack of incentives and low standards. Instead, Rajendra High School stands apart.
A tall, rusted gate gives way to an expansive grassy turf around which the school’s classrooms are built. Inside one classroom, Sanjay Kumar is teaching his students about concave and convex mirrors. A rectangular device sits atop his table. Think of it as a mini computer with content rolled into it. The computer doubles up as a projector with speakers, beaming content on to the classroom’s pale white wall, converting it into smart wall. Kumar pulls out a pen from his kurta pocket, taps on a drawing tool on the projection and sketches out the mechanism he is trying to explain to his pupils. He talks animatedly, asks his pupils questions, and challenges them with follow-up questions when they answer. His enthusiasm for teaching—and the pride he takes in it—is as refreshing as the green turf outside, visible through the classroom windows.