It’s almost 3 months now since Project Udaan started and now it has picked up more steam… After its release, schools were using these tablets for a while but SIF wanted to make sure of it. So SIF volunteers came up with Questionnaires based on educational videos shown to school kids using Pratham app. Questionnaires were given to kids and they were administered by school staff. Answer sheets were assessed by volunteers based in US and India. Results will be sent back to schools. This was necessary to make sure that tablets are getting used for the purpose they were distributed with and also its SIF’s ethical responsibility towards Mahindra & Mahindra who sponsored these tablets.
Main idea behind this whole process was to bring these school kids up to speed and connect them with modern world, which was otherwise not possible due to economic conditions in those villages.
Schools will be in recess in month of May but that does not stop project Udaan anyway. Local volunteers who are working with SIF will take those tablets back from schools and upload useful videos for farmers. Videos which include information on organic farming, water conservation, soil testing, storage techniques, crop rotation, money management etc. It will also include videos about personal hygiene, nutrition which will be helpful for women in the villages.
Timing cannot be more perfect as meteorologist are predicting favorable monsoon conditions in India and expecting more than 100% rainfall. Local volunteers will work with local farmers and will educate them on efficient farming techniques using these videos. Once schools come back to session, tablets will be again handed over to them to be used in the schools.
Lot of coordination and efforts are involved in this whole process and SIF volunteers and volunteers from local nonprofit organizations like Dindayal Bahuuddeshiya Prasarak mandal, Vivekananda Seva mandal, Pratham are taking care of it seamlessly. Stay tuned for further updates and let us know your comments or thoughts on how we can improve it further.
