Planting a Dream that Never Was through Digital Education
“I didn’t even know what the purpose of a computer was. I never knew there was more to technology than TikTok and WhatsApp. We have two smartphones at home but I only knew how to make phone calls, send messages, click photos and videos. But now because of the computer classes at school I know what one can do with a system. I can create MS Word documents, save and edit files and doodle on MS Paint now. I am told that computer skills can help me get a job in the long run”, says an excited 10th class student Anupriya Awasthi from Govt. Girls Inter College, Sarosa Bharosa, Lucknow. She is the youngest member of a family of six sustaining through the single income of their father, who is a security guard.
For millions of girls like Anupriya, digital education was not even a dream. One can only dream for things one knows about. In a country that struggles to provide basic education and literacy to its population, digital education is nothing but a dream waiting to be dreamt. But today, the girls of Govt. Girls Inter College, Sarosa Bharosa, can see that dream and more.
“I go to the lab every free period I get. It is so exciting to go home and tell my mother about what I learnt at the lab. Every day I learn something new. My mother proudly tells our neighbors how I can type on a computer. My family has only seen computers in shops and am the only one in my family who knows how to operate one” says Muskaan of class 12, now an ardent lover of computers. She is the daughter of a manual laborer and the eldest of her 5 siblings. Muskaan wishes to teach her younger siblings too but her bigger ambition in life is to be a lawyer.
Currently, Uttar Pradesh holds one the lowest female work participation rates in the country. According to Census 2011, Office of Registrar General, India, the national Female Work Participation Rate (FWPR) is at 25.51% while Uttar Pradesh is at 16.75%. Lack of employment opportunities, combined with social and cultural restrictions in women’s mobility contribute to these shamefully low numbers.
While dependency of work on digital technology is increasing day by day, low digital literacy among women further alienates them from joining paid workforce. Traditional school curriculums have not caught up with the needs of the current economy. Especially for students from economically and socially backward communities the infrastructure and opportunity to learn computer outside their schools is practically absent. Project DEW (Digital Education for Women) by RightWalk Foundation, supported by National Fertilizers Limited and Govt. of Uttar Pradesh is an attempt to bridge this gap between academic and vocational learning.
Project DEW aims to inculcate basic professional digital literacy among girls belonging to vulnerable communities in grades 6th to 12th of Govt. Girls Inter College, Sarosa Bharosa, Lucknow. The project imparts basic computer, Microsoft office, internet skills, designing skills and digital tools to equip them with digital life skills and help them become confident and self-reliant individuals. The project has been active since 1st August 2020. The schools were closed due to COVID till September and classes were operational in online mode over WhatsApp during that period. From October 2020, the teaching for some classes was in online-offline blended mode and for some in completely online mode. Come February 2021, teaching became operational and an online-offline blended teaching approach was adopted for all grades. A computer lab has been installed in the school with 15 computer sets, projector by HP and internet connection. The projector is used by the trainers for daily classroom teaching. The girls are learning to paint in MS Paint, type and format in Word, do basic analytics in Excel and are excited to showcase their newly acquired skills
For Reshma Khan and Jannat Ul-Firdaus, the two computer trainers employed at the school, the task of educating over six hundred girls is simultaneously challenging and rewarding. “We struggled in the initial days to catch the girls’ attention. Fear of handling a system combined with complete unawareness of its potential posed a twin challenge. But the girls caught on quickly! Now they are so excited to learn computers that they would come to the lab during free hours and lunch breaks. MS Paint and MS Word are their favorite. Students at junior classes show more interest in computers as academics have not gotten demanding for them yet. Classes 10th and 12th find it difficult to juggle between computer classes and board exam pressures. So, it is better to start teaching computers as early as one can”, says Reshma.
“We see great potential in the girls to learn and master computers. Initially they were disinterested. Some of them were shivering out of fear of touching a computer system as their parents never let them handle any digital device in the fear of them breaking it. Most homes do not have any digital device apart from smartphones”, says Jannat who has pursued a diploma in Computer Application. Although smartphones are common in most homes children are only allowed to use them with utmost caution and strict supervision. In the long run, this mentality is counterproductive as children grow up hesitant to explore the digital world. They perceive it as a luxury and not as a tool.
For the girls at Govt. Girls Inter College, Reshma and Jannat are not just teachers but living examples of what is possible for girls not unlike themselves. Many of them have not seen women operating computers ever in their lives and to be learning it from two female instructors is double the joy for them.
On a recent visit to the school RightWalk team was positively thrilled to show Sanjeev Randev (Manager), Chandrashekhar Lakhe (Zonal Manager Marketing) Lucknow Zone and Badan Singh (Chief Manager Marketing), Lucknow the progress these young women were making in digital education. National Fertilizers Limited powering this ambitious project was impressed with the enthusiastic display of the students newly learnt skills.
According to Samina Bano, Founder & CEO of RightWalk Foundation, Project DEW (Digital Education for Women) goes beyond teaching computer to young women. It instils confidence and self-reliance in them to one day become independent working women. The digital world of opportunities is being blasted open before them to explore and learn. As Brigham Young said, “You educated a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate a generation.” And if India is reluctant to invest in the digital education of women, it will miss out on their potential and talent to serve the country. Initiatives like Project DEW (Digital Education for Women) are stepping stones towards realizing dreams of millions of India’s talented young women.
