Education may take a pause.....but Learning continues

A global pandemic like Covid-19 has brought a serious altercation in the way the world works. UNESCO estimates that 23.8 million school-going children may drop out of school next year. Most of these students belong to government-aided schools that are not equipped with digital learning. 20% of girl students from migrant families face the threat of being married off instead of finishing their matriculation. With almost zero income,today, the focus of the underprivileged societyhas turned to mere survival where education haspointedly taken a back-seat. The new government policy aims to bring 2 crore students back to mainstream education. We at Arch Development Foundation have been working in the field of education for the underprivileged society for the last 5 years. To address this mushrooming super-problem and nip it at the bud we have launched iLearn.

We are rapidly building a new paradigm of interaction with our students, teachers and parents in phase manner :

Expanding learning beyond classroom

Switching to Digital learning

A novel initiative by ARCH Foundation

iLearn, an initiative by ARCH Development Foundation, is committed to address and overcome problems of child labor, forced school dropouts, lack of interest, and low self-esteem. We aim to change this belief by building blocks for a better and brighter future through education and selfdevelopment.

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Expanding Learning Beyond classroom

The closures of schools have likely to widen the learning gap between children from lower-income and higher-income families. School closures in response to COVID-19 have shed light on various social & economic issues, including digital learning, food, insecurity, and homelessness. The impact is more severe for disadvantaged children and their families, causing interrupted learning, compromised nutrition, childcare problems, and consequent economic cost to families who could not work.

As per the rapid assessment done by our team in 100 schools where we are operational since past three year, it was realized that many students are not going to come back even after the school reopens. Students from 8th to 12th grade are more vulnerable to drop out due to their usefulness at home and work sites. ARCH has committed itself to support their education and ensure their safe return in the school after the school reopens and fully operational.

Village – Lilora Nagar

Number of targeted children – 53 children from 8 to 14 years Main Occupation – Labour at construction site/agriculture The future of our country rests in the hands of our children. It is the responsibility of each of us to carve a better future for children in
India. Lilora Nagar is a small village, near Vadodara that has a student population of 53 from 8 to 14 years. These children were pursuing education at the modest local school up to Grade 5 until the lockdown. The main challenges faced in this area are a high school drop- out rate after Grade 5 especially with the girl child, rampant child labor at construction sites that dissuades them from pursuing education and high substance abuse, even amongst women and small children. iLearn is a program that was successfully launched in Lilora Nagar and in a short period is making waves with its positive impact.
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Village - KamrolVasahat – Gujarat

Number of targeted children – 45 Children Main occupation – Agriculture Educate a girl and she will change the world. It is with this spirit that ARCH launched iLearn at KamrolVasahat, a quaint village located in Vadodara that has only one school up to grade 5
with a modest strength of 45 students. This area shares a history of having only 3 girls who have completed grade 10 so far as girls stop studying after Grade 5 to avoid traveling 3 km to a nearby village to attend middle school. Marred by problems of working in the fields, the majority of children are engaged in agricultural activities to support their family income and young girls mostly take care of their siblings and pursue household work. iLearn is a ray of hope to better the lives of these children, especially the girl child by creating a platform for continued learning, access to better opportunities, and looking at life from a new point of view.
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Patiyapura – Vadodara

Total number of students – 45 from 3rd to 8th grade Main occupation – Vegetable vendors When talking of pre-requisites for digital learning we often refer to smartphones and the internet, completely taking for granted the need for electricity. Patiyapura
a small basti located near Laxmipura, Vadodara has a different tale to tell. With no electricity in the area, the 45 student population of Grade 3rd to Grade 8-ers work all day to support their families and spend Rs. 20 each evening to re-charge the mobile phone of their parents enabling them to study at night. A small cluster of 30 to 35 households, each family owns a small battery that they spend Rs. 60 every two days to charge for basic facilities. The nearby corporation school is struggling to keep the drive for education alive amongst these students but is faced with meager resources and the risk of spreading the coronavirus. ARCH launched iLearn in Patiyapura by training a volunteer from the community who has been closely working with students to retain their learning level, build new enthusiasm, and instill creativity through interesting activities.

We are also exploring the possibility of installing a solar panel in the basti with the support of our donors.
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Switching to digital learning platforms where possible

When India announced closing of schools due to the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic, ARCH needed to rapidly rethink the delivery of its extra-curricular science programme for the students from 6^th to 10^th grade.

With our quick assessment we realized that out of 120 schools we are working with across states, only 28% Students have access to online platform. This gave ARCH a window of opportunity to reach out and engage a large number of students in various learning program. As ARCH adopts the online meeting platform Zoom in partnership with various organizations and experts, a priority was to adopt the pedagogy to ensure students would engage and participate in experiments and learner-led discussions.

Science Theatre - Part 2

iLearn - Science Theatre - Part 2 How to make an Electromagnet @ home There is no limit to what you can do with Science and the children absolutely love it. This week our students from different schools investigated the properties of Electromagnets. They crea
ed their small electromagnets and experiment with ways to change their strength to pick up more paperclips. Discussing ways that engineers use electromagnets in everyday applications was the high point of the activity. We are thankful to L&T Technology Services who are one of the partners to take the joy of learning at the doorstep of the children.

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Online Science Theatre - Bubble Workshop

Bubbles, a truly fascinating scientific phenomenon that evokes joy in everybody. The delightful memory of blowing and chasing bubbles on a cool summer day is etched in every child. ARCH launched online Science Theatre by organizing bubble workshops which were an instant hit and popular among student
and teachers. ARCH has organized more than 8 bubble workshops so far reaching out to 400 plus students, an exciting hands-on learning experience for children to learn the science behind bubbles and art of making bubbles right from scratch, with household materials. The program aims to inculcate a scientific approach to a joyful activity. Through this program, children were exposed to different tools to channel their creativity in the process of making bubbles. Read more

Think Before You Click – A webinar on Cyber Security

As the world is moving towards digitalization we, at Arch, strongly believe that Cyber Security is an essential life skill for everyone. 21st-century citizens need to use their discretion on what kind of personal information can be shared on the internet. Through iLearn we conducted an interesting k
owledge-based webinar on Cyber Security and You. With an enthusiastic audience of 120 participants dominated by parents and teachers, we had Mr. Rakshit Tandon, a cybersecurity evangelist and TedX Speaker along with Mr. Mayur Bhusavalkar, a cyber security specialist and investigator with the Gujarat Police Department spearheading the learning. Our objective was to orient parents and teachers about the importance of creating awareness amongst children about maintaining cyber-hygiene and digital safety.
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I can with iLearn - Exploring realms of career possibilities

Since May 2020 iLearn has addressed the ‘i’ part of learning by encouraging digitalization of education. We have organized 5 online career counseling sessions for over 800 students and parents of government-aided and trust-run schools from Grade 9th to 12th, guiding them on new-age caree
s in the field of Science, Commerce, and Arts. With a plethora of new avenues opening, we brought a host of counselors, students from IIT Bombay, and industry-led mentors who touched upon various mainstream careers as well as Diploma and non-specific courses related to entrance exams. The aim was to empower the students to identify the factors that influence their career development and help them make career decisions in line with their interests and personality that fosters a zeal for higher education, career development, and confidence-building. Read more

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Gotri Bhayli Road, Vadodara,
Gujarat, India - 390021

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arch@archfoundation.in

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