Central University of RajAsthan

Yash Meena (MA Economics)

2020mae015 (Roll no.)

E-SCHOOLS

‘Strategy paper on appropriate integration of technology into all levels of education

Problem Analysis
India being the second most populous country and on its way on being the first has its own
demographic challenges. Quality education to the undeserved communities is one of the
foremost problem that India has been facing for long. Education being a fundamental right is
still being denied or isn’t accessible by a majority of children. With implementation of Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan for more than 2 decades which caters to more than 200 million
demographic, quality education is still a dream for many. In the times of Covid when the
education system is being sustained by technology, the elite and the well off with the aid of
tablet, smart phones and laptops are safe in their homes pursuing education, on the other
hand the underdog or the students of undeserved communities have been completely cut off
from school or any sort of academic infrastructure which they were provided with.

Stakeholder Analysis

“Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of

progress, in every society, in every family. – Kofi Annan.”
The three major stakeholders here are:
I. Students of the underserved communities
II. Families of these students
III. Our country
Any emphasis on education will always be an understatement, it is what transforms an
animal into a ‘human’. The gains from investment in education is reaped not only by the one
indulging in it but also by their families and by the generations to come. Through education
people become more aware and perform the most simple of tasks in more efficient manner.
The tasks can be as simple as buying groceries from the neighbourhood shop or helping
their families in agricultural activities or in any of their livelihood work.
A country’s most important resource is its human resource. Any investment in them will
only reap benefits either in the long or short term. These students will be the leaders of
tomorrow, and to ensure a better and brighter future we need to make sure the children
are made capable to carry forward the baton.

Evaluation of options
The future as we know today will be technologically dominated be it education or any other
aspect for that matter. It has already made its way into the basis of our livelihood. Focusing
on the boons of it, it can help us achieve universal literacy and education. Children of today
are already well versed with technology than many adults. And those who are not, we need
to teach them how.
The following are the options through which we can attain our said goal:
I. Re conceptualizing classrooms with technology instead of teachers.
II. Integration of devices such as laptops, tablets and smart classrooms into schools.
III. Providing tablets or laptops to students in rural areas.
Government has already done work towards point 2 and 3. For this policy implementation I
will be focusing on (i). Government after decades of work has been able to provide a school
or an infrastructure which can be substituted for school in majority of the rural and urban
backward areas. The focus of this analysis would be to build ICT rooms in the already
available schools. The labs will be equipped with tablets for every student through which
they will take their classes. The aim will be to minimize the direct involvement of teachers in
the classrooms, which is already very low. One of the major issues the schools in rural India
are facing is that even though the schools are there, the teachers rarely come to teach, even
if they do that is a couple of times in a week. Irregular classes are a regularity there.
The goal here is not to eliminate student-teacher interaction as no technology can replace a
good teacher and if it does, then it should. But the idea here is to make students avail all the
benefits of academia which is available online. All the books and the study material which is
available right out on the internet should be accessible by students. They should be able to
think out of the NCERT textbooks made available to them. They should be able to choose
and learn from whatever makes them comfortable and helps them understand. They
shouldn’t be bound by the same old methods and teaching styles which have been used for
generations. A holistic development is required which is made possible by the teachers, but
when one single teacher is not capable of all these, why not introduce many teachers to a
single student.

Choice of Instrument and allocation of Resources

The focus would not be on building new schools but to integrate the already existing
infrastructure with ICT labs. Most of the government schools which are present in the rural
areas are not that well equipped with libraries. Therefore, instead of stacking rooms with
books which have a high depreciation value, replacing them with E- library would be a step
forward.

Steps to be taken:
I. Integrate classrooms with ICTs. Instead of a single computer lab or ICT lab the focus
here would be to provide every student with one tablet.
II. An instructor would be present with students while taking online classes for any
subject related query and technical assistance. The biggest benefit here would be the
students are already present at the school and not their homes which will be better
to guide them.
III. The curriculum would be so developed that it imparts a holistic understanding of the
subject with focus on practical knowledge and innovation.
IV. As each and every teacher has a different teaching style, their focus on topics and
interests may vary because of personal prejudices and biases. The development of
curriculum would be the most important step here, as it would be the guiding force of
students.
V. With pre-recorded lectures and curriculum we can focus on things that are important
and relevant to present problems.
VI. Teachers are the most integral part of any education system, so removing them
would just be illogical and tampering to student’s development. Therefore, after
every recorded class students will be provided with a Q&A session with their
respective teachers. Which will help them develop their soft and personal skills.
VII. Students will also be provided with time to self-analyse and explore the topic which
they just studied, on their tablets. This time would help them explore their self-
interest and doubts relating to topics through different study materials which will be
available on their tablet. This may range from pre downloaded materials to a
monitored google search queries and searches.
The assessment and examinations would take place accordingly the given curriculum.
Innovative thought process, self-learning and exploring the topics according to their own
understanding of the subject would be the goal here.
Once again the aim here is not to replace teachers but to make students explore their
understanding and interests by themselves which is currently missing in our education
system. Students need to ask questions themselves and the role of the teacher/instructor
would be help them get to the answers.

Monitoring and Analysis

This step is the most important as it will evaluate the success of our said strategy. The
efficiency of the programme would be determined by how the students are evaluated. As
per the new curriculum the mode of evaluation will also change, it will be a hybrid
examination. Which would include a pen-paper examination which will have relatively less
weightage and also an assessment that will evaluate WHAT the students have learned and
not HOW MUCH. The assessment may vary from an oral presentation on topics to a project
which will be practical and relevant to the present scenario.
In the long term the focus would be to make students self-reliant so that they themselves
can explore opportunities for themselves. What our country lacks are jobs not
opportunities. Therefore we will help students identify these hidden opportunities that are
available by making them self-aware, self-reliant and curious.