Parents Education Training on Digital Communication

 Mega Parental Education Training on Digital Communication & Ethics to reach over 1.5 lakh parents

First of its kind initiative by Samagra Shiksha, Kamrup, in collaboration with Bharti Foundation, all set to deliver parental training across Assam

Assam, 19 August 2020: Samagra Shiksha, Kamrup, along with Bharti Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Bharti Enterprises, has initiated an extensive training program on Parental Education on Digital Communication & Ethics. Bharti Foundation brings in their expertise and experience in Parental engagement though Satya Bharti Home Mentoring process for parents.

Under the program, virtual training will be conducted for nine Block Resource Persons, 159 Cluster Resource Centre Coordinators who will reach out to around 5570 teachers, and these Teachers will train and conduct various activities for awareness of over 1.5 lakh parents across the district. The program is now all set to impact on a scalable level in Assam through its trickle-down model. Teacher training has started from 20th August 2020.

In the current scenario as the schools are not functional due to the spread of the Covid-19, education has taken a digital turn as scholastic and co-scholastic activities are conducted through online platforms. This has helped both the teachers as well as the students to keep abreast with the coursework within the limitations of social distancing. Use of technology is facilitating this journey and has made students aware of the different ways it can aid in their all-round development. Importantly as a child studies at home, the role of the parent has also evolved as a home mentor. They need to understand the ways technology is working for their child, apart from other projects or co-scholastic activities.

Keeping this in mind, the District Education Department of Kamrup Rural and Bharti Foundation have joined hands to implement the initiative. With a belief in the philosophy of bringing about awareness among the parents and guardians of students in all Primary and Elementary Schools, the Program is run through teachers on the Concept of Parental Education – awareness on Digital communication & Ethics.

On this proud moment, Sri Kailash Karthik N, IAS Deputy Commissioner, Kamrup said, “Humanity is in a challenging state right now. While the world is battling a pandemic, it has become imperative for each one of us to address various concerns. Keeping these challenges in mind, training module was created with the objective to orient the Parents/Guardians to support Children at home to ensure continued engagement towards learning through all available virtual platforms and mediums, maintaining right use of the permissible study contents keeping aligned with the social norms and ethics with the help of teachers."

Post initial approvals, a Steering cum Monitoring Committee comprising of 15 members was formed, the advisors to this committee included Mr. Kailash Karthik, N, IAS, Deputy Commissioner, Kamrup, Dr. Uccharan Deka, Retd. Director, SCERT, Assam, Dr. Ajit Kumar Choudhury, Retd. Principal, DIET, Morigaon and Mr. Keyur Sorathia, Professor, IIT, Guwahati. The committee will steer, guide, monitor & provide academic support to carry forward all the activities under the program.

Speaking on the initiative, Ms Mamta Saikia, CEO, Bharti Foundation said, “Last few months have been extremely challenging yet have shown us new ways of managing our programmes. Our teachers have stepped up their efforts and were very receptive in learning new ways of teaching using technology. This has percolated down to students who accepted the 'new' reality and despite their challenging circumstances, many of them have made the switch to e-learning. We always believe that parents play a vital role in a child's overall development. This robust training initiative that will benefit over 1.5 lakh parents on use of digital tools in education and its ethics in an extension of our commitment towards improving accessibility and quality of education across rural India."

On 26th June first meeting took place to discuss details for training over 1.5 lakh parents. The first round of training 157 personnel concluded in the last week.

Sri. Apurba Thakuria, DEEO cum DMC SSA, Kamrup said, “The first level of the training for district, block and cluster level has successfully concluded with help and support of Bharti Foundation team. We are now stepping into the second phase of educating 5,570 teachers who will further train the parents. We plan to involve each and every teacher through WhatApp groups that have been set in place with the motive to ensure that children receive guidance and support from their parents on every aspect of digital media for a better and more focused learning.”

About Bharti Foundation

Bharti Foundation was set up in the year 2000 as the philanthropic arm of Bharti Enterprises. It implements and supports programs in primary, secondary and higher education as well as Sanitation. The flagship Satya Bharti School Program provides free quality education to thousands of underprivileged children in rural India across six states, with a focus on the girl child, since 2006. The impact of quality education has been scaled-up by transferring the learning and good practices of this program to lakhs of students studying in government schools across several Indian states and union territories, through the Satya Bharti Quality Support Program, since 2013. Satya Bharti Abhiyan, the sanitation initiative since 2014, has been improving sanitation conditions in the districts of Punjab by providing access to toilets and by fostering behavioral change in communities. Together, the Foundation’s programs have cumulatively impacted over 2 million community members.  

As the country continues to battle the impact of COVID-19, Bharti Foundation has ensured that students continue to receive quality education, while at home. The Satya Bharti School teachers have connected with students through class-wise WhatsApp groups/voice calls. Teaching-learning methodologies have been adapted for distance education. Similarly, the Satya Bharti Quality Support Program team has worked with government school teachers and Principals for reaching out to students and parents and have also helped in implementing many government-led initiatives.