Malur govt school sports smart avatar, thanks to city tech volunteers

From a dilapidated institution on the verge of collapse three years ago, the government model higher primary girls’ school at Malur, Kolar district, has now been transformed into one of the country’s best digitally-enabled institutions.

One School At A Time Inc (OSAAT), a Bengaluru-based NGO, has spearheaded the initiative to convert the school building into a posh-looking one fitted with advanced learning gadgets, helping the school bridge the rural-urban digital divide.

The smart school was inaugurated by Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh last week.

The 70-year-old institution with more than 300 girls studying in classes 1-8 has been the only affordable education centre for the poor and farmers in the 20-kilometre radius of Malur town. Although several private schools are mushrooming around the area, a team of nine dedicated and hardworking teachers has maintained the charm with a variety of extra-curricular activities.

Receiving a request from the school for help in 2018, the OSAAT team set out to construct a strong building ensuring safety and hygiene of the children.

“Our engineering team came up with a plan to construct a two-storied building with eight classrooms, two toilet blocks, an office room and a staff room,” explained OSAAT’s founder Vadiraj Bhatt. The NGO was set up in 2003 by NRI techies from the US.

Renovation cost

The team estimated the renovation cost at Rs 92 lakh, the NGO collected Rs 95 lakh by the time the project completed.

OSAAT’s project officer Sudheer Hullemane said: “So far, this is the largest project we’ve handled in India. Further, philanthropists, including Western Digital, Mitel and Keerti and Sneha Melkote from the USA, donated Rs 6 lakh towards gadgets and equipment for the school.”

Though the school was ready in March 2020, the formal inauguration had to be deferred due to the Covid-19 pandemic that created the challenge of teaching children via digital platforms.

“We distributed tablets installed with study materials and other content to students as part of our ODiSI-OSAAT digital school infrastructure programme,” Hullemane said.

“The 7th and 8th-grade students utilised the tablets to access online classes and we tracked their performance, and their learning metrics was stored in a cloud system to provide digital intervention if the child was spotted with a difficulty. Teachers were trained to handle digital tasks,” he added.

Kumar lauded the work. “We’ll consider OSAAT as the partners of the Education Department and will extend all support to the team in renovating schools across Karnataka,” he said.