One of the country’s largest
e-classroom order slated to benefit over 40,000 rural students
New Delhi, May 17, 2013: Pearson Education Services, part of Pearson plc and
one of India’s leading education service company today announced that they are
entering into an agreement with The Kalgidhar Trust / Society (KTS), Baru Sahib
for installation of 1040 DigiClass solutions in more than 20 Akal Academy rural
schools of the KTS spread across Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal
Pradesh and Rajasthan. DigiClass is Pearson’s ICT based solution that aims at
converting traditional classrooms into interactive sessions by combining
state-of-the-art hardware with syllabus-compliant, multimedia content. It has
been created with the objective of improving the quality of education and
equipping teachers with skills to manage a 21st century classroom. The
DigiClass solution is currently being used by over 2,000 schools in India and
abroad (Maldives, Nepal, UAE, etc.).
The Kalgidhar Trust/Society
run one of the largest rural chain of CBSE schools in North India with 129 low
cost rural schools that benefit 60,000 students who eventually are saved from
drugs and alcohol abuse that has destroyed the socio-economic fabric of Punjab,
Haryana and Rajasthan. KTS believes in imparting value-based and spiritual
education that not only meets the demands of the time but also trains students
to use their skills for the welfare of humanity. Quality education is provided
to the students irrespective of their caste, religion or region or ethnicity.
Special effort is made to promote education to and empower the girl child,
ethnic background or gender. KTS strives to inculcate love for humanity at
large education in children in the initial years and supports adequate ambience
and infrastructure to supplement that all through their academic life.
As part of their belief of
value-based education, this agreement would go a long way in enhancing the
teaching learning process across the schools run by KTS. Speaking on the
occasion, Dr. Davinder Singh, Secretary of KTS said “We have always wanted to
enrich the Teaching and Learning process across our rural schools the various schools
and this agreement would equip the classrooms and the teachers with the
necessary Teaching Aides so as to bring the education in backward and rural areas
at par with the urban areas to enrich and ensure the Student Learning
process”
Welcoming the announcement,
Srikanth Iyer, COO, Pearson Education Services said “We are honored to have
been selected for executing this project across various schools of The
Kalgidhar Trust/Society. Pearson has always endeavored to undertake initiatives
that go a long way in improving school education and the future of the students
studying there. Implementation of the DigiClass solution in these schools will
ensure a more interactive and collaborative teaching –learning process in the
classroom particularly the girl child living in the rural areas.. With this step we are closer to realizing our
vision and hope of making ICT enabled education accessible to more schools
across the nation.”
Pearson Education Services
recently signed former Indian test cricket team captain Anil Kumble as its
brand ambassador for its range of cutting edge education products.
About The Kalgidhar Trust/Society
The Kalgidhar Trust is
an Education focussed not for profit charitable organization working
for the cause of promoting quality Education alongwith Healthcare, Women
empowerment and Social welfare, to the deprived people, in far-flung rural
areas of North India. It has been instrumental in bringing about silent
but sure reforms to uplift the socio-economic status of the rural poor in
the areas covered.
The rural areas of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan,
backward hilly areas of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab are being covered with
121 outstanding low cost CBSE Schools, which provide modern value-based
education to around 60,000 students. Our students are mostly from deprived
sections of the rural society and our schools admit them regardless
of caste, creed, region, religion and social status. The future
outlook is to build these to 500 schools to bring the penetration of
value-based education to village cluster levels.
Other
than the schools, the Trust runs
24 Colleges, 2 Private Universities, 6 Free Teachers Training Centres to
empower 2000 rural girls, 1 (280 bed) Hospital, 3 de-addiction centres,
Orphanage home, Old Age home, Rehabilitation Centre for distressed women other
than holding 4 Free Medical/Surgery Camps for rural poor in hilly areas of
Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh.
The Team: The Trust is managed and run by eminent
Educationists who are also dedicated selfless volunteers under a professional
setup.
Mr
Iqbal Singh (M.Sc), President has retired as Director
Agriculture, Himachal Pradesh.
Dr
Davinder Singh (MBBS, MD), Secretary is an ex-Professor from
Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi.
Dr
Khem Singh Gill (Padma Bhushan)(M.Sc Ph.D Univ of California), Vice-President
is former Vice-Chancellor, Punjab Agriculture University.
Dr
M.S. Atwal (M.Sc Bio Chem, M.P.H, Ph.D, MBA), Trustee is former
Dean, John Hopkins University.
And
hundreds of educationists who care for the nation.
The Need:
-
India is a booming economy and India lives in its villages. But the
contribution of rural folks to this uprising economy is negligible or
non-existent.
-
General perception of people about the economic conditions of Haryana, Himachal
Pradesh and Punjab is that they are progressive and are amongst the better
performers in per capita income.
-
Few know that Punjab has today slipped to position 5 from being no. 1 in 1990
in per capita income and in the present 12th five-year plan; Punjab is the
slowest growing state. Even slower than Jharkhand.
-
One of the major factors for this decline is lack of Education and rampant
drugs and alcohol abuse. 2 out of 3 school going students take drugs while 7
out of 10 college going students are into drugs.
-
69% rural households in Punjab do not have any matriculates. And 48.10%
students dropout before class 10th.
-
One strong indicator is that out of 56,240 students that enrolled for
professional courses in the state in 2009 only 2084 students came from rural
background.
-
State spending on Education has come down drastically. Spending on education
has come down to Rs. 525 per capita while the earning from the sale of liquor
alone is Rs. 820 per capita.
The
need of the hour is to bring the rural talent on an equal platform of
opportunities by educating, enshrining and empowering them; leaving alone
our geographical outlines in the national interest.
For more information on The Kalgidhar
Trust/Society, please log on to www.barusahib.org
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