IIT Delhi starts training CSC's Bal Vidyalayas educators on 'design thinking'

IIT-Delhi Monday started training educators of Common Service Centres’ Bal Vidyalayas which aims to upskill educators in using various technology in classrooms to make learning enjoyable for students and delivery of education impactful.

In the first of the series of the training workshops on “Design Thinking for ICT enabled Bal Vidyalayas in rural India” was organised in the IIT-Delhi campus. A team at IIT Delhi has also developed Augmented Reality (AR) based content as per the learning outcomes outlined by the NCERT.

“In 2020, we started with the new initiative called CSC Bal Vidyalaya to provide technology-based quality education for pre-school children, particularly in rural areas. What differentiates CSC Bal Vidyalaya from other schools is that they use technology to motivate the child to become an independent learner. We have partnered with IIT Delhi to train our Bal Vidyalaya educators in using technology for classroom learning through Augmented Reality based content and various Apps,” said CSC Managing Director Dr. Dinesh Kumar Tyagi. CSC is an SPV under the Ministry of Electronics & IT.

“Across the globe, curricular and pedagogical attempts are underway to prepare children for the 21st century with relevant contemporary skills. India has also made its move through NEP 2020. However, there is much effort needed to implement the core philosophies of universal value based contemporary education at the ground level as detailed in NEP. This workshop is one such effort to help the facilitators of CSC Bal Vidyalayas to develop technology-based creative classroom activities for children,” prof. Jyoti Kumar of the Department of Design, IIT Delhi, said.

The training session was attended by educators of more than 225 CSC Bal Vidyalayas from Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Tripura, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Punjab. CSC Bal Vidyalaya is a flagship initiative of CSC Academy. Currently, 1,548 Bal Vidyalayas with over 2000 educators are functional in 28 states.