The Covid-19 pandemic brought to the fore the digital divide in many sectors, particularly in education. Identifying these gaps and the need to promote e-learning for future learners, the Pune Knowledge Cluster (PKC) Friday launched ‘Teach with Tech’ for school students and teachers.
The project aims to create digital content aligning with the National Education Policy 2020, train teachers in using digital tools to improve the learning process, develop and impart skills, critical thinking and problem-solving abilities in students among others.
Speaking on the occasion, Professor Ajit Kembhavi, PKC Principal Investigator, said, “We are all familiar with the conventional learning methods involving physical classes, teachers physically teaching in classrooms and students taking notes in books. But the Covid-19 pandemic affected physical learning for many students in the absence of digital tools. But the pandemic helped introduce remote learning.”
“We have now launched digital learning project before there arises a similar situation. This is a step to help stay prepared and thus keep learning going. The project will also facilitate teachers to stay updated,” he added.
PKC has adopted five Pune-based schools where the pilot project will be introduced in the ongoing academic year. Using its CSR funding, Lenovo will support the project by providing tablets to the schools identified in the project.
Teach with Tech aims to conduct 100 sessions, 20 for each of the five schools, during the upcoming months. They target to reach out to 750 students and 250 teachers from Zilla Parishad schools in Pune in the pilot phase.
Pankaj Harjai, APAC Table head, Lenovo, said, ” Lenovo wants to enable and make education easier for teachers and students through technology.”
The five schools to benefit from the project include Modern High School, Shishu Vihar, Pune Vidyapeeth High School, Shri Shivaji Vidya Mandir, Nutan Marathi Vidyalay Girls High School and Baburao Gholap School. At the Shishu Vihar school, the project will be implemented for students of classes VI and VII.
The timely availability of tablets or mobile phones for learning has been a pressing issue for Marathi-medium schools, said a teacher from the Girls High School.
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