Shantilal Muttha Foundation

  A study was conducted by the Muttha Foundation in Nov 2020 across Maharashtra to understand the roll-out of the tech-based distance education across the state during the school closures due to COVID-19. The study included 1254 students of primary school. The last objective of the study was formulated to investigate the occurrence of incidental learning occurring at home, besides the online classes from the time tech-based distance education was introduced for children after the schools closed down. Incidental learning is any learning that is unplanned or unintended and not a direct result of the formal education system. It may develop while engaging in any task or activity.   The study indeed showed that, c hildren are engaged in activities both inside and outside the house apart from the online classes being conducted. Gender-based differences were seen. Girls were more engaged in household chores like cooking (38%) than the boys (10%). This is in a way an expected trend s...

Mr Sanjeev Bagul is a Zilla Parishad teacher from Pune with more than 29 years of teaching experience. 10 of the 15 students whom Bagul sir teaches belong to the Katkari Adivasi Samaj. Parents of these students do not own technology of any kind, not even mobile phones. Online education was impossible for these students when the nationwide lockdown was imposed, unless technology was provided to them.  Dr. Ranade of the Joshi Hospital in Pune came forward to solve this problem. 15 tablets were donated from the IWAD trust to these students on the 26 th of June as a result of Dr. Ranade’s efforts. Hardware without the software would not help these students with any learning gains and so Bagul sir reached out to Mr. Deshpande from Chaitanya Software, Pune. Chaitanya Software was able to provide curriculum-based content mapped to each grade, which can be accessed on Tablets without an active internet connection.  Bagul sir soon found out that technology cannot replace a teacher. ...

  A study was conducted by the Muttha Foundation in Nov 2020 across Maharashtra to understand the roll-out of the tech-based distance education across the state during the school closures due to COVID-19. 19 Children with special needs and their parents were interviewed as a part of the study and their experiences and responses were recorded in the form of case studies. The type of disabilities in these children was diverse, for eg. Visual impairment, hearing impairment, speech disorders, cerebral palsy, etc. These disabilities ranged from mild to severe in case of both physical and mental disorders seen in the children. Levels of stress and irritation have increased in some children as reported by the parents. Challenges of online learning (viz. difficulty in joining the class, keeping up with the peers, understanding what the teacher is teaching, the lack of personal attention, continuously being dependent on parents) coupled with a lack of physical, social interaction or recr...

A study was conducted by the Muttha Foundation in Nov 2020 across Maharashtra to understand the roll-out of the tech-based distance education across the state during the school closures due to COVID-19. 19 Children with special needs and their parents were interviewed as a part of the study and their experiences and responses were recorded in the form of case studies. The type of disabilities in these children was diverse, for eg. Visual impairment, hearing impairment, speech disorders, cerebral palsy, etc. These disabilities ranged from mild to severe in case of both physical and mental disorders seen in the children. As per the responses received, the pedagogy should have undergone a tremendous change during such time, to make learning more enjoyable and engaging for children with disabilities, but unfortunately, no such shift in pedagogy was reported. Teachers have not been trained to modify their teaching-learning practices to enable the CWSN to learn better online. There were n...

  A study was conducted by the Muttha Foundation in Nov 2020 across Maharashtra to understand the roll-out of the tech-based distance education across the state during the school closures due to COVID-19. 19 Children with special needs and their parents were interviewed as a part of the study and their experiences and responses were recorded in the form of case studies. The type of disabilities in these children was diverse, for eg. Visual impairment, hearing impairment, speech disorders, cerebral palsy, etc. These disabilities ranged from mild to severe in case of both physical and mental disorders seen in the children. In most of the observations, the online platforms used were not compatible with assistive technology used for teaching children with visual, hearing, or any other impairment. Out of the total 19 students interviewed only 4 students had access to the synchronous type of classes, while 10 students had asynchronous classes going on. 3 students were being taught by tea...

  This is the story of Manokar sir who did not let the Corona virus or the lockdown dampen his efforts to teach his students. He has been teaching in the ZP primary school of Eklara, Kodoli block, Manora district for 19 years now. Among several challenges faced during the COVID-19 lockdown, he was posted at ration shops, petrol pumps, etc. for contact tracing and lockdown vigilance. This caused him a lot of difficulty in reaching out to his students. In addition to this, many of his students did not have any access to smartphones and the internet. He was pained at the thought that his students were disconnected from learning.  Fuelled by his determination to help his students, he set out to devise a pathway with his fellow teachers and friends. After getting a unanimous go-ahead by the school management committee, Police patil and Sarpanch, he implemented the devised plan.  Under their action plan, he visited the homes of students to convince their parents to actively hel...

  A study was conducted by the Muttha Foundation in Nov 2020 across Maharashtra to understand the roll-out of the tech-based distance education across the state during the school closures due to COVID-19. As a part of this extensive study, 68 CRCCs/HM and 409 teachers were interviewed. 29 percent teachers and 49 percent CRCCs/HMs said that they found TECH BASED DISTANCE EDUCATION greatly useful for student learning while 71 percent teachers, 51 percent CRCCs and 39% BEOs reported minimal utility of TECH BASED DISTANCE EDUCATION for student learning. 53 percent teachers across the state have said that they found it difficult to implement TECH BASED DISTANCE EDUCATION while 46 percent have reported ease of implementation, irrespective of gender of teacher and the type of school. When the teachers were asked about the key challenges faced in implementation, technical challenges (74%), parental support (64%), the lack of availability/accessibility /affordability of devices for students...

A study was conducted by the Muttha Foundation in Nov 2020 across Maharashtra to understand the roll-out of the tech-based distance education across the state during the school closures due to COVID-19. As a part of this extensive study,  166 primary school students who were unable to participate in Tech based distance education were also interviewed. In the research study, it was found that the students were not very engaged in the educational programmes aired on TV or. The top three reasons why the non TECH BASED DISTANCE EDUCATION students did not watch educational programmes on TV despite not having access to any other tech device mainly pointed towards lack of awareness of such programmes (37%), not having a TV set (37%) and not understanding the programmes (12%). This study was conducted to understand the approach, challenges and implications of tech-based distance education for the primary school students from the government and budget private schools across Maharashtra....

  A study was conducted by the Muttha Foundation in Nov 2020 across Maharashtra to understand the roll-out of the tech-based distance education across the state during the school closures due to COVID-19. As a part of this detailed study 409 teachers and 14 BEOs were interviewed. With the issues of tech availability and access being evident, an attempt was made to understand the various ways in which the children with no access to technology were learning and the means by which they were being supported by the system. While the students and parents had reported very limited outreach the authorities on their part, had a different understanding of the issue. More than 50 percent BEOs stated that ‘more rigor in connecting with students/parents through phone calls/home visits ‘(88%) and ‘support of techno-savvy teachers’ (58%) were the steps taken to extend support to children not being able to access online classes. 35 percent-40 percent BEOs also reported ‘taking help of SMCs to get ...

A study was conducted by the Muttha Foundation in Nov 2020 across Maharashtra to understand the roll-out of the tech-based distance education across the state during the school closures due to COVID-19. As a part of this extensive study, 166 primary school students who were unable to participate in Tech based distance education were also interviewed. For the children who are unable to participate in TECH BASED DISTANCE EDUCATION, for reasons related to access to resources or otherwise, there is a visible gap in the actual number of children being reached under non tech-based education and the general understanding of the officials and teachers with respect to this outreach. Outreach to such children is very limited and in varying proportions mainly because, it is intended to be largely teacher-driven and focus right now is not on bridging the technological gap. 57 percent of the parents reported that nobody came to teach their children during the lockdown. In some areas, local educated...

Some years ago, Kolhapur suffered from heavy floods. Naturally this caused the schools to be shut for quite some time. During that time Kedar sir started using applications like YouTube and Facebook to ensure that children were connected to learning. He found that his students responded well to this kind of technology-enabled distance learning. Most of the students that Kedar sir teaches hail from a nomadic tribe called NandiwaleSamaj. The students often live with their grandparents, while their parents move from one place to another. Since parents weren’t accessible to Kedar sir, he turned to technology to help solve this problem. The parents now understand the various advantages of technology so much so that parents’ online meetings are a regular feature of the school. Kedar sir’s school even has its own website.  Kedar sir’s experience of the Kolhapur floods not only helped him stay connected with his students during the COVID-19 pandemic, but also seamlessly assimilated three...

  A study was conducted by the Muttha Foundation in Nov 2020 across Maharashtra to understand the roll-out of the tech-based distance education across the state during the school closures due to COVID-19. As a part of this extensive study, 409 primary school teachers conducting tech-based distance education were interviewed. According to the study, the t eachers are more worried about completing the curriculum and as in the normal times, at such times too the focus seemed to be on the subjects perceived as more important than the overall development of the child. Language (English/Marathi (90%)) and Math (90%) were the most taught subjects out of all. Only 18 percent teachers focused on subjects like art/craft/sports during the online classes. Interestingly, this figure was higher in the government schools than the private schools. While before Covid-19 many schools included physical education, art, craft, music, dance, etc. in their regular timetables, covid-19 has made this ver...

A study was conducted by the Muttha Foundation in Nov 2020 across Maharashtra to understand the roll-out of tech-based distance education across the state during the school closures due to COVID-19. This extensive study included 409 teachers’ interviews. The main reasons cited by the teachers for distraction among students were network issues, device-related challenges, and household distraction. These findings were similar across regions and across government and private school students, as reported by their teachers. The lack of technical expertise among teachers is also a reason why teachers cannot properly engage students in the classes through interactive teaching. This can also be seen as a big reason for student distraction. Teachers in their interviews also stated that student participation had reduced in the online classes. Also, a few of them said that the number of students attending the classes is also on the decline and they are losing interest in their studies. In conne...

A study was conducted by the Muttha Foundation in Nov 2020 across Maharashtra to understand the roll-out of the tech-based distance education across the state during the school closures due to COVID-19. As a part of this extensive study 1254 primary school students were interviewed. According to the study, 87 percent of the students attending TECH BASED DISTANCE EDUCATION classes said they preferred regular school. While 84 percent of these said the reason behind it was that they missed the meeting, sharing and playing with their school friends. 78 percent students missed the out- of-class experiences like playing games on the playground, picnics, etc. Boredom (40%), distraction (35%) and vague/unclear teaching methods (29%) were the top three reasons perceived by the parents for their children not learning well through TECH BASED DISTANCE EDUCATION and wished for the schools to re-open soon This study was conducted to understand the approach, challenges and implications of tech-b...

  A study was conducted by the Muttha Foundation in Nov 2020 across Maharashtra to understand the roll-out of the tech-based distance education across the state during the school closures due to COVID-19. The study was conducted on 1254 primary school students and 1260 parents. According to this study, the access to devices on which classes were conducted, was determined from the point of view of ‘consent to use devices when required’. Only 53 percent of the students reported that they were always allowed to use the devices by their parents/guardians. Work-related use of the device by someone in the family was the biggest reason for denying access. This was reported by both the students (46%) and the parents (43%). Only 22 percent of the parents said that they had bought a device for their child specially for accessing online classes. 78 percent households still managed with the resources they had. Limited number of devices as compared to the number of users, and discrediting...

  A study was conducted by the Muttha Foundation in Nov 2020 across Maharashtra to understand the roll-out of the tech-based distance education across the state during the school closures due to COVID-19. As a part of this extensive study, 1254 students of primary school and 1260 parents were interviewed. The study showed that, a mongst all the tech devices, smart phones were readily available in more than 90 percent of all the households across all the social groups. However, the challenge was more regarding the child’s access to these devices for educational purposes. This access was the highest for open category students and the least for tribal students. The prime reason for denial of access was the need of the parent to carry the mobile/smart phone to work. The percentage of tribal students who had to connect from uncomfortable locations was also the highest among all the three social groups, which could be because most of them were from remote locations where network connecti...

  Ms. Sharayu Pagare is an inspiration to many in her locality. She has been teaching in the Mulund Municipal Corporation Marathi Medium School (Mumbai district) for 30 years now. When the nation-wide lockdown was announced, she took it upon herself to reach all her children through all and any means available. Following the government directive, she started online classes for her children of grade 1 to 5 for English, Marathi and Mathematics. She made sure that children have access to the internet by providing them financial support when needed. However, she faced several challenges in the online mode. Some students used the internet to play online games, some devoted too much time to watching non-educational videos on YouTube and many children would turn their cameras off during online classes, making it difficult for her to supervise their activities. There were some other students that could not attend online classes at all due to the unavailability of smartphones. Following all...

  A study was conducted by the Muttha Foundation in Nov 2020 across Maharashtra to understand the roll-out of the tech-based distance education across the state during the school closures due to COVID-19. As a part of this extensive study, 1260 parents of the primary school students were also interviewed and observed. Data was collected to understand how well the parents were technologically skilled to guide their children in the case of problems related to device or network. The findings reveal that that while 60 percent parents reported that they could use the devices ‘very well’, 40 percent still reported limited or no expertise in using them. This ability seemed to increase with the educational levels of the parents. More educated parents found it easier to use the devices than parents who were less/not educated. Also, only 45 percent male students and 40 percent female students reported that they could use the devices very well. This study was conducted to understand the a...

  A study was conducted by the Muttha Foundation in Nov 2020 across Maharashtra to understand the roll-out of the tech-based distance education across the state during the school closures due to COVID-19. As a part of this study, 1254 primary school students were interviewed who were accessing tech based distance education. Along with them 409 primary schools teachers imparting this education were also interviewed and 609 online classes were observed. Of the classes observed, only 27 percent classes were synchronous (classes where students and teachers could interact with each other at the same time) and 73 percent classes were asynchronous with mainly WhatsApp used as the asynchronous platform. Smart phones with cellular network were commonly used by all stakeholders (98%), from BEOs to students for TECH BASED DISTANCE EDUCATION. Radios and Desktops/laptops/tablets were the least used across all regions. Recorded videos (80%) and recorded audios (56%) were the most commonly us...

  A study was conducted by the Muttha Foundation in Nov 2020 across Maharashtra to understand the roll-out of the tech-based distance education across the state during the school closures due to COVID-19. As a part of this extensive study, 57 CRCCs and HMs were interviewed all over Maharashtra. According to CRCCs an the HMs interviewed, trainings were conducted mostly through live video and audio with just 44% respondents indicating that they were interactive wherein the participants could ask questions. These trainings covered topics ranging from ways to handle the platforms that the teachers needed to use, creating PPTs, smart PDFs etc. as well as TLMs, sharing videos on the You Tube, creating videos to share with students, etc.   The overall findings revealed that the situation in terms of training wasn’t very encouraging for private schools when compared to the government schools. After five months of implementation, while only 9 percent CRCCs reported that teachers...

  A study was conducted by the Muttha Foundation in Nov 2020 across Maharashtra to understand the roll-out of the tech-based distance education across the state during the school closures due to COVID-19. As a part of this detailed study 409 teachers who conducted online classes were interviewed. Teachers were questioned about the increase or decrease in attendance according to gender and the reasons for the same were also asked. An interesting outcome was seen in all the regions of Maharashtra. There is a difference in attendance and participation of boys as compared to their regular schools. Overall attendance for the boys has decreased considerably in the state. When asked about the girls, a decrease was reported by the teachers there too. But what is interesting to note here is that, from a gender perspective, the decrease in attendance levels of boys is greater than the girls by 9 percentage points. Overall the decrease in attendance of girls is 62 percent while that ...

A study was conducted by the Muttha Foundation in Nov 2020 across Maharashtra to understand the roll-out of the tech-based distance education across the state during the school closures due to COVID-19. The study included 1254 students of primary school who had access to tech based distance education. The findings state that a greater percentage of girls (42%) were denied access as compared to the boys (36%) due to someone else’s use of device with a better position in the family, like an elder of the house, or someone who earns in the house. Discrediting the importance of the education of the girl child could be an underlying reason. This study was conducted to understand the approach, challenges and implications of tech-based distance education for the primary school students from the government and budget private schools across Maharashtra.  Our Next post will talk about how girls are fighting for education inspite of all the challenges! "d       Download...

Schools have been shut due to the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing children to stay at home. Funde sir realised that if the situation continues, there would be tremendous loss to student learning. He lives about 7-8 km away from the school he teaches in. He teaches students of grade I and II in ZP primary school, Vykarvasti in Pathardi Taluka of Ahmednagar District. Most of his students come from economically challenged backgrounds as most parents are daily wage workers.  Funde sir uses teaching aids to make learning interesting for his students. Every year, in the summer vacations, he either makes new teaching aids or gives new life to the old aids. With the nationwide lockdown in place he knew that his usual teaching aids would not be helpful to his students and so he designed kits which had teaching aids for every student of his. The kits were personalised according to the need and grade of each child. His wife, son and friends helped him make these personalised kits. He also paid for...

  A study was conducted by the Muttha Foundation in Nov 2020 across Maharashtra to understand the roll-out of the tech-based distance education across the state during the school closures due to COVID-19. From our interactions with MSCERT it was learned that the move to tech-based education had to be made swiftly with no budget in hand and an extreme shortage of manpower. Despite the constraints, the MSCERT has done a commendable job in mobilizing resources through, active collaborations with various organizations like Shantilal Muttha Foundation, UNICEF, Deccan Education Society, Akshar Foundation, Going to School, to name a few. Support was sought in content design, capacity building, and other areas as per their need; available content on DIKSHA and other OERs was also leveraged upon. A notable aspect was the utilization of the capacities of the resource pool of techno-savvy teachers in Maharashtra, who willingly supported the MSCERT and the officials for content creation and d...