Societal platforms to power learning improvement at scale for secondary - limited or limitless potential

Group Submission Type: Pre-conference Workshop

Description of Session

The right to education in India goes beyond access, encapsulating a good quality education. While enrollment rates in secondary schools have improved over the last few decades, completion rates remain a concern. Progress towards quality education was already slow, but COVID-19 has had a devastating impact, causing learning losses in 80% of the 104 countries studied. Without additional measures, only one in six countries will achieve the universal secondary school completion target by 2030, an estimated 84 million children and young people will still be out of school, and approximately 300 million students will lack the basic numeracy and literacy skills necessary for success in life. (SDG report 2023)

The schooling models were reimagined to impart education to students without interruptions with many countries adopting hybrid learning models since Covid-19. The Government of India launched the Pradhan Mantri eVidya programme in 2020 to provide digital education through various platforms, including TV, radio, and online platforms. The Indian government's DIKSHA platform and National Digital Education Architecture (NDEAR) initiative focuses on creating a unified digital infrastructure for educational content, enabling better access to digital resources for teachers, students.

Studies suggest that technology has the potential to help teachers explain and model new concepts and ideas and improve assessment and feedback which are crucial elements of effective teaching. Using technology to support retrieval practice and self-quizzing can increase retention of key ideas and knowledge. (Research by Education Endowment Foundation)

Transform Schools (TS) aims to impact 20M children by 2030. Achieving an audacious goal like this requires an audacious solution that is scalable, sustainable and accessible to the last mile. Aligned to the NDEAR framework, TS is building a solution ‘Accelerated learning via technology” (ALT) – an open source inclusive blended programme to support middle and secondary school students to re-build foundational competencies, bridge learning loss and prepare for grade-level learning in schools by using tech to supplement classroom-based learning. Data generated from the platform will give administrators and educators access to real time interactive dashboards with actionable insights for targeted instructions and informed decisions. Findings from the ALT beta version with 6K students across three states, was that it helps students to bolster their learning, even during the school holidays and it helps them understand missed lessons and revise older lessons to prepare better for upcoming classes.

The shared vision of impacting large-scale learning using technology requires a collaborative approach. TS proposes to hold a pre-conference workshop where key players from the education ecosystem (Government, Civil Society, Academics, Researchers, Evaluators, EdTech organisations etc.) can share their experiences and lessons learned from digital interventions. Through the use of participatory tools and activity-based group work, the session will enable discussion on how we can ensure technology does not disadvantage children who do not have digital access and how it can be leveraged to support children better and improve the learning outcomes. This will benefit the larger audience to make informed decisions based on existing evidence on use of the existing societal platforms for digital education.

Sub Unit

• Pre-Conference Workshops, Book launches, and Visual Art Exhibits / Pre-Conference Workshop

Chair

• Pankaj Vinayak Sharma, Transform Schools, People For Action

Workshop Organizer

• Neetu Sahu, Transform Schools, People For Action

Presenting author

• Tanushree Narain Sharma, Transform Schools, People For Action

• Shraddha Jha, Transform Schools, People For Action

• Jenny Groot, Promoting Equality in African Schools PEAS