26Sep 2024 by Thinksharp Foundation No Comments
Rural Education in India: Equipping Children with 21st-Century Skills for a Brighter Future

Rural Education in India: Equipping Children with 21st-Century Skills for a Brighter Future

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India, with its vast diversity, faces a unique challenge when it comes to rural education. While urban areas are gradually advancing with access to technology, better teaching methods, and skill development, rural education still grapples with outdated systems and a lack of resources. However, for India to truly harness its demographic potential, rural children must be empowered with the right skills, especially those aligned with the 21st century. The State of Rural Education The challenges faced by rural students are multifaceted. Limited access to quality education, outdated curriculum, shortage of trained teachers, and insufficient infrastructure are just a few of the hurdles. These challenges leave rural students at a significant disadvantage, especially in a world that increasingly demands not just academic knowledge but a variety of skills to succeed. In…
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25Oct 2023 by Thinksharp Foundation
School libraries are the primary source of knowledge for students

School libraries are the primary source of knowledge for students

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Some people are of the opinion that libraries are necessary for school students, while others think that libraries are not of much importance for schools since many other resources are easily accessible to students. The fact that school libraries are not the only source for accessing books by students because there are many digital libraries made accessible to them. Even though digital libraries and government libraries are made available to students, the primary source and most comfortably accessible libraries are school libraries. Other government and digital libraries can be of good help to students, provided that students have free access to renting and reading books for a particular period. However, school students spend about 6-7 hours in school, and hence to upskill themselves they may need a school library with…
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16Jun 2023 by Thinksharp Foundation
Importance of reading and school library

Importance of reading and school library

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Libraries are a great place to be at. Ever wondered how much power this place holds in our lives. As kids of the last generation we were not so much unaware of the importance of this place in our lives. It's only after growing up and taking up  higher studies that we realise the paramount importance of this place.  Also, do we all remember how many books we ever issued from a school library ? In the digital age as well, we can't simply replace books with the tabs and PDF versions of the books. Remember as young school going children, we  would wait for the day when books would be distributed in the school and the smell of the new books, the fun of putting covers on them. All…
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17Aug 2022 by Thinksharp Foundation No Comments

CANVA FOR GOOD: How a group of student-teachers imparted 21st Century Skills to youth

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Education and skill development has a very large influence in breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty. However, there is an absence of market-oriented curricula in educational institutes and lack of quality vocational training which makes it difficult for students to be equipped with relevant skills demanded by the market. According to a report by UNICEF, more than 50% of young people in India will not have the requisite skills for employment by 2030. Hence, youth has to be equipped with 21st century skills to gain employment in the future. Canva for GOOD is an attempt by a team of TribesforGOOD students composed of Ruchita Nair, Harivansh Rathi, Krishang Goel, Krish Patwari and Gatik Yadav. They conducted a 5-day workshop for students from government schools in rural Maharashtra with the objective…
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20Feb 2022 by Thinksharp Foundation No Comments

Education inequality in India

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Growing up in metropolitan or capital cities, most of us don't realise that rural areas actually spread over a much larger area of land. To imagine that India, with a population of 1.39 billion, has upto 65% of the citizens living in rural areas is shocking as it is. However, to make matters worse, even today, almost 37% of these children do not attend school. In fact, these numbers have been steadily on a rise since the Covid-19 pandemic began. Since the country shifted to online schooling, it is also arguable that the quality of education has deteriorated as well. It is without doubt that there are numerous NGOs working to tackle this issue - conducting online classes, providing academic resources and access to technology. Collectively, they have helped millions…
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30Jul 2021 by Thinksharp Foundation No Comments

What is the state of computer literacy in rural India? A case of Government Schools in Maharashtra

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[caption id="attachment_979" align="aligncenter" width="840"] Computer Mitra program by Thinksharp Foundation[/caption] Summary E-learning, youtube, emails, Zoom, Google meet, screen share, Google drive- Who isn’t aware of the new lingos that came into our everyday language after 2020? From preschoolers to doctorate students everyone is dependent on digital devices to learn, grow and socialize. There are multiple factors contributing to computer literacy among school students including the curriculum, infrastructure, tutors, evaluation system etc. This study focuses on determining the computer literacy level particularly among Government school teachers in rural Maharashtra. The research was conducted by the Young Changemakers - Diya Dhyani, Satchidanand Radhesh, Muhammad Asjad, and Lakshya Arora from TribesforGood for Thinksharp Foundation in order to establish adequate systems to better Computer Education in the state of Maharashtra. Through the study, there…
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24Mar 2021 by Thinksharp Foundation No Comments

School Chale Hum – Bridging The Education Divide

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“School Chale Hum!!” Just a phrase is enough to take us back to the early 2000s when its melodious tune made us enjoy a delightful sense of euphoria. That marked the beginning of “Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan”, a nationwide program launched by The Government of India to ensure universalization of primary education. It was pioneered by late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, which went on to become the 86th  Amendment to the Constitution of India. It made Free and Compulsory education a fundamental right for each and every child in the age group of 6 to 14. As an outcome, the total enrolment in elementary schools rose from 18.79 crore children in 2009-10 to 19.67 crore in children in 2015-16. The number of Out-of-School children reduced from 1.34 crore in 2005 to 60.64…
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02Feb 2021 by Thinksharp Foundation No Comments

Homeschooling by Thinksharp Foundation during COVID-19 pandemic

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Problem Statement As a result of COVID-19 India was put into lockdown where all isolation and remote means of communication were mandated for all citizens. Amongst them, the student body of rural India confronted severe complications in respect to their education. Most students had little or no access to technology which further disbaled the chances for an online homeschooling system thereby creating a gap in their learning. Since most of the students come from low income families the chances of them dropping out of school and taking up menial jobs to support their families is higher. Furthermore, there was a potential concern that the students who dropped out would not enroll in the school system again. Solution ThinkSharp Foundation’s solution to the following problem was to provide homeschooling programs -…
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23Jun 2020 by Thinksharp Foundation No Comments

Education experts speaks on innovative, progressive education to improve rural education in India

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Think sharp Foundation is glad to summarise our recent activity of Facebook live sessions conducted in this blog. So far, we conducted 10 Facebook live sessions with various experts who talked on subjects educational described below: Mr.Sharad Machale ( Headmaster, secretary Baramati Taluka Teachers Association) - Challenges and solutions for education sector during coronavirus pandemic. He spoke on challenges to run schools during and after Covid-19 pandemic. He focused on maintaining social distancing in school, hygiene, student- teacher interaction, sports activities and more. To listen more -https://www.facebook.com/ThinkSharpFoundation/videos/547419039533267/ Mr.Ananda Aanamwad ( Teacher Zilla Parished School, Malyan, Dahanu, Palghar, district level technology trainer and guide also state level KINO awardee winner) He spoke on available technology for online learning for students and teachers. He also provided list of educational apps and resources available…
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06Jun 2020 by Thinksharp Foundation No Comments

India education divide – rural education come to a standstill during lockdown

corona, covid-19, CSR JOURNAL, digital class, digital education, Uncategorized
[caption id="attachment_942" align="aligncenter" width="840"] zoom session at Z.P School Ghore budruk, Haveli, Pune[/caption] Coronavirus Pandemic has made world come to a standstill. Even though it has been 3 months of lockdown, there is not complete recovery or change of situation. Every industry including education sector has stopped working. Considering that there is no immediate vaccine or treatment in near future, the option we are left with is to face the situation together and find creative and effective solutions. Usually in India the school reopens in June every year after summer holidays. However, considering this Coronavirus pandemic, restarting schools will aggravate the situation. But, on the other hand, keeping schools closed and children locked at home is also not a solution. Already the disruption of examinations and schools has affected children's…
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