Digital Dost

“I took a few children I met on the street to our office and tried to teach them. We found that although their distraction levels were high,they were interested in technology,mobiles,computers,etc. And if you tried to teach them something through that,they responded very well,” says Singh. Literacy India,which has been educating underprivileged children since 1996,designed Gyantantra Digital Dost—a comprehensive computer-aided educational package that provides primary education. “Every child has a right to read and write. Education needs to be made more accessible to all and certainly to those who belong to the underprivileged sections,” Indraani Singh says.

Gyantantra was officially launched on February 2 by Literacy India in Delhi but the NGO had been testing it with children at all its 23 learning centres across India. “It took time for us to build the content but the results so far have been encouraging. Gyantantra will also help us reach out to students in remote areas as well as children who have no choice but to start working at an early age. If they have a desire to learn,they can benefit from it in night classes after they finish their work,” Indraani Singh says.

Gyantantra teaches language and mathematics through songs,stories,interactive activities,experiments,etc. It also educates on the importance of saving money,casting a vote,health and hygiene. It makes children aware of socially relevant topics such as sexual harassment by family members or friends and drug addiction. “Through digital content,children find it easier to learn concepts. It is interactive and all the significant issues are addressed in the form of stories with various sound effects so that it becomes more interesting.”

Gyantantra is available currently in Hindi but work is going on to extend it to other languages.

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