JOIN USCity’s govt school adopts smart learning classes
Learning is not just reading from books for these government primary schoolchildren at Annasandra Palya in East Bengaluru. Unlike their peers in other government schools, these students will log in to the virtual world and learn through audio, video and kinesthesia, thanks to Texas Instruments.
The company has converted the school into a virtual one through Youth for Seva, an NGO. The initiative will benefit about 90 students of class 4 and 5.
The smart classes include smart boards and projectors that enable students to acquire knowledge in a creative way.
“The textbooks of class 4 and 5 have been digitised and stored in a particular computer. The teacher will later utilise this to teach the students according to syllabus,” said Ranjith Kumar Rajeti, project coordinator at Youth for Seva.
He said it was too early for students of class 1 to 3 to learn from digital learning material. “It is not advisable to impose smart teaching techniques on small children. They might even tend to ignore the essence of textbook learning,” he said.
The students of the school are mostly from slum areas around the Annasandra Palya lake and other regions of Karnataka.
“It is in fact a dream for these kids to even sit in a smart classroom,” said Pooja Obalappa, principal of the school.
“When students learn through visual and audio techniques, they will easily grasp the subject. It is effective in subjects like science and mathematics whose content is purely illustrative,” he said.
The teachers were also trained to use smart boards and projectors a few weeks ago. The classes will be inaugurated on Wednesday during a formal function.
“The school has proper grills. The volunteers from the area have maintained the building very well. We have no fear of losing the infrastructure as there is no security threat as such,” said Ranjith.
The team has also implemented a similar project at a government school in K Channasandra.