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Welcome to the 2nd highest crowdfunding campaign for Education on Milaap (and most likely in India)!
When Bharat Learn’s first campaign ended in December 2017, more than Rs. 53 Lakhs were raised in crowdfunding. The generosity of our donors, took the campaign up there!
We are back now for the 2nd round, so we can not only CONTINUE the good work, but also EXPAND into more schools!
Quick summary & update of the program:
- India’s basic school education is in bad shape. In spite of intent, efforts & investments – learning outcomes are actually falling. This is essentially putting our ‘demographic dividend’ in danger. Clearly we lack a method to address our school education woes in India.
- And the size of the problem is globally unprecedented – the future of 24 Crore children is at stake, and there’s a shortfall of ~30 Lakh teachers.
- Bharat Learn has a solution that can address this problem at this scale – Smart Classes through their Film Based Teaching Methodology (FBTM®). An innovative methodology that integrates content & methodology to both, empower teachers & engage students. This solution has proven itself on the ground during last one year.
- The pilot for these Smart Classes in 10 Govt schools of Singrauli happened last year. And we are seeing dramatic progress, in this first year of the two year sustained program. While there has been an increase in student attendance, the most heartening part has been the sharp 2x improvement, seen in learning outcomes! Students are well on their way towards the 2-year targets set for the program :)
This year, as a testimony of their faith in FBTM®, Government of Madhya Pradesh has extended the MoU with Bharat Learn till 2021. The plan is to continue the program in the 10 existing schools.
Further, seeing the positive turnaround in education outcomes from the program, both NCL & NTPC are encouraging us to extend the program to another 10 new schools in the district!
Out of the total 2-year outlay of Rs. 172.41 Lakhs (our campaign goal), the program raised Rs. 67.41 Lakhs last year.
This fundraising was largely due to a crowdfunding campaign of Rs. 53.17 Lakhs, including the CSR funding of Rs. 36 Lakhs from PSU giants, NCL & NTPC.
The program needs the remaining Rs. 105 Lakhs this year, out of the 2-year outlay.
The good news is, we are starting with a signed MoU with NTPC for an additional Rs. 26.47 Lakhs. This 2nd round of crowdfunding is to help us raise the balance.
BASIC SCHOOL EDUCATION IN INDIA IS IN BAD SHAPE
The percentage of children in standard five who can do division has declined from 42.5% in 2007 to 26% in 2016 – which means 3 in 4 can’t.
The percentage of children who can read a standard two text has worsened from 53% in 2006 to 48% in 2016. This means every second Class 5 student in rural India can’t read the text of a class three levels below.
Ruby Rai made headlines last year when she termed political science as prodigal science, and claimed the subject involved cooking. Rai had topped the higher secondary examination in Bihar in 2016. Students like Rai are just the tip of what is probably a giant iceberg comprising poorly educated school students in India. The 2016 Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), which was released recently, vindicates this theory. A look at ASER reports in the last decade punctures the rosy picture vis-à-vis school education, which has been built from increasing enrolment. Here’s why.
The percentage of children in standard five who can do division has declined from 42.5% in 2007 to 26% in 2016 – which means 3 in 4 can’t.The percentage of children who can read a standard two text has worsened from 53% in 2006 to 48% in 2016. This means every second Class 5 student in rural India can’t read the text of a class three levels below.OF COURSE, A LOT IS BEING DONE!
It is not that the concern is not recognised within India. It is, in fact, a burning issue at every level of government and society and is drawing unprecedented intent, effort and investment.
- The Right to Education Act 2009 (RTE) mandating free and compulsory education for every child between the age of 6 and 14 was the surest evidence of intent that something needs to be done about school education.
- Between 2006 and 2013, public expenditure on school education increased from 2.2% to 2.68% of GDP and continues to increase even now. Besides this, more and more companies are spending their CSR funds on education, many upto 70% of their total CSR budget!
- There are more than twenty thousand NGOs working on the ground in areas of education and literacy.
All this intent, effort and investment has resulted in significant improvements in school infrastructure & other indicators.
And yet, it is the mismatch between learning outcomes and education spending trends in India that calls for serious action.The obvious question therefore is – When the intent is there, investment is made available and efforts are being made, then why are our learning outcomes not improving?
We seem to be missing something in the method.
BHARAT LEARN IS BRINGING IN THE MISSING METHOD
Bharat Learn is an initiative of Prakash Bindu Foundation, a registered trust, which has been operative in education domain for the last four years. Its existence comes from the concern towards surveys pointing out the declining learning outcomes for primary school students in India.
PROJECT NEEV: AN INTEGRATED MODEL FOR FBTM® POWERED SMART CLASSES
- NEEV (Hindi word for ‘foundation’) is a program for primary (class I to V) teachers and students to instil strong fundamentals.
- First chosen subject is ‘Mathematics’ - to impact one of the key areas where learning outcomes are weakening alarmingly, as also to counter the phobia about the subject that settles at early levels in the students.
- ~100 modules of Student Videos, Teacher Videos, Practice Sheets and Comics are being made ready.
- All FBTM® content has been created in Hindi – targeting 9 Hindi speaking states that represent 50% of all India population.
- More subjects to be added after initial implementation.
MOU signed with Government of Madhya Pradesh for implementing Project NEEV in 100 schools.
PROJECT NEEV @ SINGRAULI: THE EASTERN MOST DISTRICT OF MP
Why Singrauli?
As per Government oF Madhya Pradesh (GoMP) baseline survey of educational outcomes in government schools in 2016, Singrauli is ranked 50th out of 51 districts in MP. Singrauli stands at 99th place out of 101 worst performing districts in India on Education, Health & Sanitation criteria as identified by Niti Aayog in 2017. Singrauli perhaps needs Project NEEV the most.The 100 primary schools in Singrauli have been selected with the help and guidance from District Program Coordinator (DPC) & District Education Officer (DEO), and in consultation with funding partners. The selected schools are a mix of tribal, girls and co-ed schools.
Scope Of The Program
Content: All content aligned to curriculum of M.P. Approximately 100 modules containing Student Videos, Teacher Videos and Practice Sheets
Equipment & Infrastructure: 40” LCD TV or equivalent; Wi-Fi enabled computer and 600 watt solar support as required
Training & Handholding:
- Local office presence of Bharat Learn with 10 trained resources.
- Offsite classroom training workshops for all teachers
- Regular visits to schools by BL resources to handhold teachers inside the classroom.
- Quarterly seminars/convention of trained teachers.
- Baseline test/survey for learning outcomes – existing or fresh
- Periodic students tests to measure progress
WHAT’S UNIQUE IN THIS METHOD
It's the integrated operational model that works!
Bharat Learn’s sequence of interventions:
- Starting with orientation workshops for teachers.
- Getting the infrastructure in place – solar panels, TV, computer – and demo classes for the teachers:
- Teachers conducting classes on their own, with our staff constantly visiting the schools for hand-holding and measuring implementation.
SO, WHAT OUTCOMES HAVE WE SEEN FROM THE PILOT IN THE 10 SCHOOLS?
About 800 kids & 25 teachers across 10 primary schools have benefited from the program in the first year. While the student attendance has grown, the critical impact has been a 2x improvement in learning outcomes!The changes in the %ages of students, who are demonstrating having understood these concepts, from the Baseline survey to the End-line survey, speak for themselves.
If continued uninterrupted, the students are on their way to achieve two year targeted learning outcomes.
The teachers and district administration officials acknowledge that this is bringing transformative change in learning levels and students’ interest in mathematics.
Other transformational activities undertaken at these schools:
HOW CAN YOU BE PART OF THIS TRANSFORMATION?
You can contribute in all of the following ways:
- Make a contribution towards the campaign to help us bring Smart Classes to 20 rural Govt. schools & dramatically improve learning outcomes amongst these primary school kids.
- Start your own support campaign on Milaap to amplify the fundraiser.
- Share this campaign URL on your social media profiles.
Note: INR donations will receive tax exemption under section 80G. All Donors will receive the tax exemption receipts upon completion of the campaign.
If you, as part of a company, are interested to contribute from your CSR funds, please email us to at nitin@bharatlearn.org
