Youth for nation building projects: AP Janmanbhoomi’s DLP is a great example

Government of Andhra Pradesh is working to digitize all schools in the state – that is government is planning to build digital classrooms in all schools – so that digital literacy and technical knowledge can be provided to students at an early stage. The way technology is advancing, and jobs are increasingly becoming skills based, I believe it is a commendable move. 

Before government started planning out the allocation of funds and hiring agency to help them install computers in classrooms, the government had another problem to solve – train teachers, especially government school teachers, to be able to use the digital classroom for teaching students effectively. There are thousands of teachers and many unanswered questions. How to train & who will train? How much time will it take? And so on.

AP Janmabhoomi (an AP Janmabhoomi initiative that is managing the digitization of schools) came up with a brilliant idea – engage college students to provide digital literacy to school teachers. But how can you tell an idea is brilliant without knowing if it would work? The government had the same question. AP Janmabhoomi designed a pilot to test this approach. They prepared contents and modules of teaching material; they calculated the estimated time it would take to train teachers. AP Janmabhoomi team hired 50-60 interns, provided them the basic training, and engaged them in the project. After the internship was over, all the teachers (who were trained by the interns) underwent an assessment – and the result was great! ??

After the pilot, AP Janmabhoomi partnered with Internshala and launched Digital Literacy Program, where the government is hiring (in phases) about 1000 interns to impart digital literacy to the government school teachers in the state. We recently completed the phase one of the Digital Literacy Program – about 200 interns were hired & engaged (colleges are carefully mapped with the schools in the vicinity so that it is easier for the students to go to school & deliver the training). Students & teachers both had great experience. 

My take on engaging youth in such programs.

I believe government has a wide range of projects where youth can be engaged on a short term basis – for example, creating awareness about Swachh Bharat, digital payments, and many other projects that never really reach the people they are meant for.

Engaging youth in such programs does not only help government executing short term projects (in an economic way) but also helps students greatly – it helps students gain meaningful experience while working on a real project. Students also get to learn about various socioeconomic challenges we face as a country, which helps them develop a sense of social responsibility.  

Another thing - AICTE has made internships compulsory for students, but there are not enough opportunities available, and such projects could create massive internship opportunities for students.

Here is another video created by an intern who was a part of Digital Literacy Program :)