These village students travel the world digitally

The other day we had this delightful experience of watching the class 4 students of the Vidya Mandir Yadavwadi zilla parishad school in Kolhapur district of Maharashtra interacting with a class of students in a public school in Vietnam through a large hi-tech LED smart screen. Sakshi Shivsharan, one of the students, wove the beauty and romance of the Taj Mahal. And she could see the Vietnamese students listening to her in awe.

“I enjoy these interactive sessions with students from other countries. They want to know about our culture and we are curious about theirs. The fun part is that we are miles apart yet close because of the digital world,” Sakshi later told us.

Yadavwadi is a village, 235 km from Pune, and the parents of the students studying in this school are mostly working at construction sites as daily wage workers. Sakshi and her fellow students have not physically seen places beyond 150 km of Yadavwadi. But virtually, they have travelled thousands of miles, to countries like Vietnam, Taiwan, Romania, and even the United States.

A teacher in the school, Ravindra Kedar, is the architect of the initiative. Called Beyond Borders, the programme uses a 73” screen, a Windows system, Android applications, web camera, wi-fi connection, sound system, and educational apps.

Kedar connects with schools from other countries through social media, and once a month an interaction is organised. Sometimes, it takes Kedar two months to plan a virtual interaction. “We send a proposal to their social media handle and after a lot ofdeliberations they agree to join the interaction. We share an agenda where the first five minutes are an introduction to both schools and pinning them on the world map for the understanding of the students,” he says.

Initially, it was just a plain white screen, with a normal projector. Kedar had to assemble all other connectors like laptop, and internet. The initiative yielded good results, and students developed a lot of interest in the class. The word spread across the taluka and more students wanted to join the school. Attendance swelled.

This success encouraged the schoolmanagement to install the 73” smartscreen. All they had to do then was to start the screen and they were connected to the world wide web.

The students from each country share interesting facts about their region and country, and also sing and dance in the 90-minute session. Several students said they have learnt new life skills. Their English language speaking and writing skills have improved.

Ranjeet Shivsharan, the father of a student studying in the school, appreciates the teachers for thinking creatively. “Our children now do not want to miss a single day and are highly motivated and confident while interacting with anyone around,” he says.

Sanjaysinh Chavan, CEO of Kolhapur Zilla Parishad, says the school even organises virtual interactions with eminent personalities, which give great inspiration to the students.

The school had 334 students in 2018, and that number has now swelled to 534. That success encouraged the school recently to propose installation of more screens. Each smart screen costs Rs 1. 75 lakh. Kedar says the district collector believed in the programme and sanctioned funds for a screen each in all 12 classrooms. “The school is completely digital now,” he says.