Learning Delight: Working with10K Rural Government Schools Spread Over 13 Districts of Gujarat

Learning Delight was founded in the year 2011. We are a start-up that aims to provide digital learning tools that can aid teachers and engage students in the rural and semi-urban areas. The idea came to us when we were exposed to the rural and urban education system, and noticed the stark difference between the two. There were significant gaps in teaching techniques in the rural areas vis-à-vis the urban schools, even though the curriculum as per the state board largely remained the same. We needed a software that could revolutionize the education in rural areas while tackling with the on ground realities, and that’s what led us to creating Learning Delight.

Learning Delight creates education tools that enable ‘experience based education’ in rural schools and is offered to communities by linking these resources to public or private resources. It is tailored to support needs of students and teachers in the rural areas. It is based on the premise of a 3-click principle, where a teacher just needs '3 clicks' on the computer to understand and use the software in classrooms. This caters to the problem of low technology know-how among teachers. Here’s how it works:

 We customize the content of the software by creating animation, riddles, puzzles and stories which are aligned to support teacher and class interaction. All this is based on the state board curriculum, hence making prescribed text books fun and easy.
 The software is imparted in schools through LCD screen installations in classrooms. Tailored to support needs of students and teachers in the rural areas, we maintain the project by offering technical and logistical support for every installation in a village project.
 Under the Computer Aided Learning (CAL) – we ensure that teachers are trained to optimize the CAL Programme. Our efforts have helped many teachers achieve success in classroom interactions after the installations and effective use of a government run programme.
 We bring accountability, efficient maintenance and measure performance for every installation. Through a dedicated helpline, teachers have a direct connect with the team at Learning Delight which they can avail for any response.There is huge gap between the usage of technology in rural areas and in urban areas.

BWDisrupt's Soumya Gupta talked to the team of Vandan Kamdar, Co founder, Parinita Gohil, Vice President, Marketing & Harshal Gohil, Co founder, Learning Delight.

Excerpts from the interview:-

How effective is it for the teachers and the students of those rural belts in Gujarat?
Children today don’t just need grades and high scores as part of their academic life, what they require is applicable and feasible education, and Learning Delight strives to fulfill this gap.
India’s rural education is vastly different from its urban counterpart not just in terms of infrastructure, but also when it comes to the keeping the students engaged in an effective manner. There were some obvious gaps in the market that we sought to bridge while coming up with a solution, such as:
• Language – Software available in the market was in English, the teachers had problems in grasping the language. They were more comfortable in the regional language
• Resistance to change in teaching technique
• Hesitance to use the technology
• No internet connectivity
To counter this, we developed the Learning Delight solution keeping these ground realities in mind:
 Our operating software is in the regional language. The UI, animation, riddles, quiz, etc. are also in regional language so that teachers don’t face any kind of language barrier.
 The Learning Delight software is incorporated with e-books that have audio, video, and images as appropriate, this enabled the teachers to use the software more effectively in the classrooms
 The software is based on the 3-click principal making the UI simple for the teachers to understand and use
 Learning Delight is an offline software, therefore we don’t need to rely on internet connectivity to enable digital teaching

Having addressed some of these issues has helped in easier adoption of the software by the teachers. They are more open minded once they use the software and realize how it actually helps them teach their students better and also helps keep the students engaged.

How do you manage your data and its accessibility?
Learning Delight is an offline software and is installed via DVDs in a school’s Computer lab, hence, we don’t rely on internet connectivity. Else, internally data is managed on our local server.

What challenges are you facing while digitalizing the rural education system?
We believe that grades and high scores are not a tool for learning; they are the end result. However, our education system puts more emphasis on getting good marks, as opposed to how much has the child actually learnt. This is particularly true in village schools, where children and teachers do not have access to the right teaching aids. At Learning Delight, we aim to overcome this challenge by incorporating alternative and fun tools for learning. These include animation, riddles, puzzles and stories that are aligned to support teachers and enhance the quality of student engagement - based on state board curriculum making prescribed textbooks fun and easy.

Another challenge was to introduce this new concept to teachers who were scared of the technology, who are basically just apprehensive to try something that they haven’t been exposed to before. We continue to convince them about the ease of navigation and overcome the idea that it is a cumbersome task.

When we designed the software our goal was to make it as easy to use as a mobile phone, as they were already familiar with that level of technology interaction. We had challenged ourselves; if they can’t understand the software in the first 15 minutes then we are not doing it right. I can proudly say, that across the 4400 schools we have implemented the software at so far, we have had teachers and students get accustomed to the software within minutes of using it and many a times without any help too.

How has been the teacher and students response so far?
In the last 5 years, the LD program has improved IT literacy in rural areas, striving towards closing the gap on the digital divide in the state. Our tools have also enhanced the interest of the students, increased school attendance and better learning among students, motivated teachers and empowered their teaching experiences enabling them to develop confidence while using digital tools.

How many schools and curriculum have you been able to cover under this initiative?
We started by providing solutions for Government Primary schools and have steadily grown over the last 5 years. Learning Delight is currently functional in approximately 10,000 rural government schools spread over 13 districts of Gujarat. Presently, we have covered Gujarat State Board Curriculum

Where would you take it further?
Gujarat alone has approximately 32,000 rural and semi rural schools in the state. We feel there is ample of ground to cover here over the next year. We also plan to extend our reach to neighbouring states over the next year, as an immediate target. Our ultimate goal, of course remains to empower each and every rural school in India with the Learning Delight software and support the government’s initiative to digitize rural schools all over the country We have also received a lot of queries from individuals who want to help out and sponsor schools. We will soon be launching a platform to facilitate such contributions.

What is the one thing that sets you apart from your competitors and what's your revenue model?
At Learning Delight, our goal is to provide applicable and feasible education to children across the country through technology, and we believe that this is a first of its kind initiative in rural India. Rural Education being a priority of the nation there is lot of work to be done in this sector. We don’t see anyone as our competitors but they are the ones also addressing the common issue of the nation. The thing that has really helped us was our understanding of grass root level requirement and bridging that gap with acceptable technological solutions. Therefore, we have incorporated alternative teaching aids such as animation, riddles, puzzles and stories that are aligned to support teachers and enhance the quality of student engagement – based on state board curriculum – making prescribed textbooks fun and easy.

What also sets us apart is that we have a very inclusive approach to rural education and our flexiblity and adaptablity and our primary focus has always remained aiding the teachers in their teaching process, as opposed to focusing on the technology in isolation. We encourage the involvement of non-government organisations in the area. We aim to empower schools in rural areas so we don’t expect them to pay for the software. Instead, we appeal to corporate-run CSR initiatives and individuals with a focus on philanthropy, and that’s where we generate revenues from.

What is/are the source/s of income to feed into this kind of programme?
For setting up our systems in the initial 5 schools, we were mainly supported by various large enterprises like Transpek Industries Ltd., Adani Foundation, Excel Crop Care Ltd., and others or individual donors to scale up the project. Last year, we started the project with Rotary International, Rotary District 3051 and 3060 to spread the Learning Delight project in 13 districts covering up to 10,000 schools. Since we obviously cannot depend on rural schools to generate revenues, we normally approach corporate run CSR arms or individuals who have a focus on philanthropy to fund the project. We are confident that we will be able to garner enough encouragement for our future projects as well.