KSCF-HMD GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP
Providing Digital Education To Marginalized Children
The pandemic wreaked havoc in the lives of many. Millions lost their livelihoods and fending for their families became a daily struggle.
COVID-19 also brought along with itself another major crisis for the country – a halt on education!
The raging pandemic led to closure of schools and educational institutions. While online education in urban areas became the new normal, it also amplified the already existing digital divide in the country. A huge proportion of children – especially those living in rural areas of the country and urban slums – were left out of the ambit of online learning.
Being out of school for months was not just leading to children losing interest in education but also made them more vulnerable to trafficking, child labour and other forms of abuse and exploitation.
To prevent this and ensure that these marginalized children continue with their education, Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation (KSCF) partnered with HMD Global to ensure their access to education using Nokia smartphones donated by HMD Global.
With education shifting to digital mode, even as the schools reopen, these phones will continue aiding the blended education model and help children with their school assignments.
Children Impacted So Far
Under this partnership, Nokia Mobile phones with branded covers were delivered to different states and distributed among the beneficiaries under various programmes of KSCF.
Nearly 7,200 children spread across 5 states in our Bal Mitra Grams – Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh and the national capital of Delhi in our Bal Mitra Mandals are reaping benefits of education through these smart phones.
Facilitating Learning
An important component of tech enabled learning is providing the correct and relevant educational content to students. To provide suitable content, designed according to the class and curriculum of the benefitting students, KSCF entered into a MoU with an online learning app. Following this, all the phones were configured with the App for benefit of children.
All the phones have been provided with SIM cards by locating the service provider and testing quality of on ground connectivity.
Engagement of Children
While the phones are being used extensively for education by all beneficiaries, at the same time in some areas, beneficiaries have started using the phones for creative thinking, collaborative learning and effective communication by creating videos on issues which are relevant to their communities.
Spreading Awareness
- Children have produced awareness videos using these phones on prevention and precaution during COVID-19 and busting myths about vaccination. These videos were circulated in the communities to reach out maximum number of
- Videos in the form of skits and plays were also recorded on ‘World Day Against Child Labour’ on June 12, 2021, by children.
- Children also made awareness videos on the occasion of ‘World Environment Day’ about increasing pollution levels and the need to protect the environment.
- On occasion of Eid, children made videos requesting people to maintain social distancing during festivities to help check the spread of the coronavirus.
- Delhi Legal Service Authority (DLSA) conducted a number of awareness sessions on child rights, child trafficking, child labour, child Abuse
- American Embassy has been conducting online sessions for 150 children every day, to enhance their interest in studies through activity-based learning techniques, games, etc in urban slums of Delhi.
- Smartphones have also helped children access various government schemes and register for the same. As a result, as many as 190 children from urban slums applied in Delhi for admissions under EWS category in various private
Making A Difference
The phones have made incredible difference in the lives of children and provided them access to unlimited knowledge and learning. Not just the children but also parents are thankful to KSCF and HMD Global for their support.
Testimonials
