The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras Pravartak Technologies Foundation has partnered with ‘Vidya Shakti,’ an initiative of OpenMentor to educate students in rural areas of Uttar Pradesh through online classes and virtual reality. OpenMentor is the CSR initiative of Softsmith Infotech Private Limited.
The initiative aims to tackle the ‘knowledge gap’ between students from urban and rural areas which widened because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The classes are focused on the fundamentals of languages as well as on Mathematics and Science.
The initiative has already been implemented in 100 villages of the Varanasi district with sessions being conducted in Hindi medium for students belonging to Classes 6 and 8.
Student retention levels have increased by adopting various technologies. STEM tutors will take VR headsets to the classes to ‘act’ on educational content and enable students to ‘feel’ the environment (the subject) through sensors. For concepts in Science and Mathematics, short 3D videos are utilized. In order to make the experience more memorable for students, the visualization sessions are made to be interactive through questions and answers sessions. Students will rapidly develop more responsiveness, communication and participation by ‘telling’ answers during Q and A.
The STEM tutor will carry three to four VR devices for each session, they will visit one school in the morning and one in the afternoon. The concept will be explained briefly to the students, after which they will be asked to view the VR videos in small batches.
IIT Madras Pravartak Technologies Foundation is the technology innovation hub of the institute. It is a not-for-profit company funded by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.
ICFAI Business School (IBS)
Hyderabad, Telangana
Type: Private
R V University
Bangalore, Karnataka
Type: Private University
Chandigarh University
Mohali, Punjab
Chandigarh University, Uttar Pradesh
Unnao, Uttar Pradesh
Institute of Public Enterprise (IPE)
Lovely Professional University (LPU)
Jalandhar, Punjab
KL University
Guntur, Andhra Pradesh
Type: Deemed to be University
GITAM University
Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh
Hyderabad Business School, GITAM University
Medak, Telangana
MIT-WPU
Pune, Maharashtra
ICFAI University (IFHE)
MIT Vishwaprayag University (MIT VPU)
Solapur, Maharashtra
Maharishi Markandeshwar University
Ambala, Haryana
Universal AI University
Raigad, Maharashtra
DIT University
Dehradun, Uttarakhand
Mohan Babu University(MBU)
Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh
DOMS - Nalsar University
Type: Public
SRM University, Andhra Pradesh
UPES Dehradun
VIT-AP University
VIT University
Vellore, Tamil Nadu
SRM University
Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu
Manipal University
Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka
Woxsen University
Christ University
Reva University
Sathyabama University, Chennai