Scaling Rural Education - How Schools And Anganwadis Are Building Lifelong Skills Beyond the Classroom

In the heart of rural India, education is getting a fresh makeover. It’s not just about reading and writing anymore; it’s about giving children the skills they need for life. The Collectives for Integrated Livelihood Initiatives (CInI), part of Tata Trusts, is leading this change, reaching over 250,000 students in rural and tribal areas in Odisha and Jharkhand. They blend traditional learning with practical experiences to help these children build a brighter future.

CInI’s Vision: Empowering Through Education

CInI, started in 2007, aims to improve the lives of tribal households in Central India. Their education program is unique, combining book learning with hands-on activities. Here’s what they’re doing:

• Systems Strengthening: Collaborating with departments of Education to establish itself as a resource for community strengthening and Foundational Literacy and Numeracy.
• Making School Environments Vibrant: Making classrooms visually engaging and fun through creating print rich environment, developing kitchen gardens to teach kids about responsibility and sustainable living, engaging children through libraries, and integrating technology.
• Academic Enrichment: Focus on improving Foundational Literacy and Numeracy through academic interventions and teacher support.
• Community Engagement: Involve SMCs, Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and parents in children’s education and school development through a strong model of engagement.
• Continuous Assessments: Helping students understand key concepts and find areas where they need more help.

CInI focuses on timely interventions to continuously improve the classroom environment and overall quality of education. It's amazing to see how these initiatives are shaping a self-sustaining future for these kids!

Avni’s Role in Enhancing Education Outcomes

CInI recognised the need for efficient data collection to monitor and improve its education initiatives. The challenge was to streamline the process and make use of data to track progress in real time. Avni has become an integral tool in addressing this need, offering a user-friendly, low-code mechanism for field data collection. Our platform supports CInI in tracking various aspects of their programs, including:

• Professional Development and Classroom Practices: Training for teachers and headmasters, and monitoring updated classroom practices.
• Student Assessments and Readiness: Evaluating language, math, and science skills, and readiness for school.
• School and Library Management: Involvement of school management committees and profiling library activities.
• On-Site Support and Monitoring: Providing demo classes, on-site support for teachers, and monitoring classroom quality and student attendance.
• Early Childhood and FLN (Foundational Learning and Numeracy) Programs: Observing Anganwadis, monitoring Early Childhood Care and Education programs, and the FLN program.

By enabling real-time data collection and analysis, Avni allows us to make informed, data-driven decisions, ultimately enhancing education outcomes.

Impact of Digital Adoption on the Program

The digital shift brought several benefits to CInI’s education program:

• Streamlined Data Collection: Avni enables real-time data entry through mobile devices, ensuring that information about student attendance, assessments, and classroom conditions is captured efficiently.
• Data Accuracy: Custom-designed digital forms with single and multi-select options reduce manual errors, providing more reliable insights.
• Automated Scheduling and Follow-ups: Avni’s platform automates visit schedules and follow-ups for coordinators, ensuring consistent monitoring across schools and Anganwadis.

Here are few clips of the CInI program in the Avni app:

The People Behind the Data: User Personas

Here are some key personas using Avni in the field:

• Field Coordinators: Responsible for visiting schools and Anganwadis, Field Coordinators use Avni to schedule visits, track progress, and report on any issues or improvements needed.
• Cluster Coordinators: Overseeing several field coordinators, Cluster Coordinators monitor the overall progress of multiple schools and Anganwadis within their designated clusters, ensuring that reports are timely and accurate.
• State Coordinators: At a higher level, State Coordinators manage the education program across several districts. They use Avni to analyse field data, assess overall program performance, and provide strategic input to improve the education initiatives in their region.

The Journey So Far

As of July 2024, Avni is being used in three districts of Odisha and eight districts of Jharkhand. The platform supports over 2,500 schools, 4,500 school teachers, 490 Anganwadis, and 520 Anganwadi Workers, each of whom is now empowered to capture and act on data like never before.

CInI and its more than 150 users are working on the ground to elevate the quality of education. By prioritising robust assessments, Academic Enrichment has recorded an average of 30% improvement in language and math. CInI has successfully set up more than 1200 libraries in the schools and Anganwadis so far.