Vidyakansha reaching out to rural students across India

Vidyakansha, a non-profit organisation, aims at leveraging technology to provide quality education to rural children

Hyderabad: During the time of Covid-19 lockdown that brought education sector to a standstill, three friends from leading educational institutions came together to launch Vidyakansha, a non-profit organisation aimed at leveraging technology to provide quality education through highly qualified instructors to rural children.

Last year May, the three friends — ISB Hyderabad student, Aishwarya Mishra along with Arushi Verma and Vartika Chaudhary, former students of IIM Bangalore and IIM Ahmedabad respectively, came up with the idea of reaching out to the students in the rural side. And within months, their concept – Vidyakansha spread its roots and expanded its presence in Telangana, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Bengal and Gujarat.

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From its humble beginnings of five volunteers teaching ten students over WhatsApp, Vidyakansha now has grown and comprises 270 highly qualified volunteers who provide free, quality education over a technology platform to over 840 students in the five States.

Recently, the NGO partnered with the State government to transform digital learning in government schools. “We have signed an agreement with District Collector Krishna Aditya in Mulugu to set up smart classrooms in rural government schools. Our volunteer-teachers will provide quality teaching to children during school hours with support from school authorities and teachers,” members of Vidyakansha said.

The first phase of the pilot in Mulugu commenced and has been running successfully since February 1 in which Vidyakansha has set up six smart classrooms in three government schools, which are equipped with 12 laptops, speakers, projectors and modems over which the nearly 360 students of classes 9 and 10 receive free, quality education from Vidyakansha’s volunteer-teachers.

“In the second phase of our expansion, we hope to reach out to and transform education for more students in Mulugu as well as other remote districts of Telangana through our smart classrooms,” Aishwarya, Arushi and Vartika said.

The first initiative of Vidyakansha was an attempt to re-ignite the joy of learning amongst children in the Pakhrauni village of Bihar, which also happens to be Aishwarya’s hometown. A couple of classes with the students made the group realise weak academic and inter-personal foundation that festers children in rural India.

“To address such issues, we want to provide academic skills, practical knowledge and skill transfer between the brightest urban minds from tier-1educational institutions and children from the remotest villages of the country, leveraging world class technology platforms in partnership with industry leaders at Dell Technologies, United States,” the trio said.

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