Digital education for rural schools

The biggest reward for the members of the Rotary Club of Indore Meghdoot, and 63 other clubs from RI District 3040 that worked along with them on this educational project, is hearing beaming parents in villages saying proudly: “Hamarey bachchey toh TV waley school mei padhtey hei (Our children are studying in the school with a TV).”

Through a project done with a CSR grant of $30,000 donated by Mohini Health & Hygiene Ltd, to which the club members added another $5,000, 63 government schools, schools for special children and those run by charitable institutions in rural areas in Madhya Pradesh and a couple in the tribal areas of Gujarat were given smart boards, fully loaded with software that has made learning fun for the children. “This project done by our club in collaboration with 63 other clubs from our district, which are in no position to do such big grant projects, takes a transformative step towards enhancing education for underprivileged children in RID 3040. Our project not only aims to provide modern educational tools but also foster a sense of community involvement and support among Rotarians from RC Indore Meghdoot, the entire districts, parents and children,” says DGE Sushil Malhotra.

The chairman of the CSR partner company Mohini Health & Hygiene, Sarvapriya Bansal is an AKS member from RC Indore Meghdoot, and the managing director, his son Avinash Bansal, is also a Rotarian from another local club.

DGE Malhotra says the most satisfying aspect of this project was “that we were able to ensure the participation of 5–10 Rotarians from each of the 63 other clubs in our district. These are relatively smaller clubs and have never handled global grants or any big projects. We gave them the criteria for community assessment and selection of the beneficiary schools and told each club to identify such a school with a rural background in their area. After that our team did the final assessment based on their inputs. Apart from them, this project also involved so many parents and children. The beneficiaries from each school were between 100 to 200 students,” he says.

During his year as governor in 2025–26, he wants to form Interact clubs in these schools, and also make the smart boards interactive, “so that teachers and students can write on it, wipe it out, create new content, form XL sheets, run YouTube and other channels for learning. I will either go for a global grant, or if that is too difficult and time-consuming, search for another CSR partner,” says Malhotra.

The DGE says that the idea for doing project of this type, which could involve many clubs from his district, came to him as he was the district grants committee chair for four years, “when I found that only a few clubs got different kinds of grants, particularly the bigger ones, while most other clubs were deprived of grants for various reasons.”

Giving details of the ­project and why they felt that many schools in the rural and backward areas of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat need a change in outlook and direction when it comes to the way children learn, and more important, their learning tools, his wife Ruby Malhotra, who has also worked along with him on the district committee’s projects, says, “In many underprivileged areas, educational essentials such as classrooms, benches, books, washrooms etc are very scarce, leave alone the schools having smart classes. The teachers and students are deprived of access to modern teaching methods and technology. Traditional teaching methods have limits when it comes to student engagement and their learning outcomes, particularly for children who face additional challenges, such as those in special education settings.”

Several members of their club ruminated on these issues and decided that a serious attempt should be made to bridge the gap in educational outcomes for underprivileged students and special children by using technology so that learning becomes more interesting, interactive and accessible. Next came the focused approach to involve over 300 members from 63 clubs from the district. “By engaging with local schools, these Rotarians identified specific needs and helped tailor the implementation of smart classes to address the unique challenges faced by each institution. This collaborative effort not only strengthened community ties of Rotary, but also ensured that the project was deeply rooted in the real needs of the community,” says Malhotra.

Apart from those directly involved in the project, a few hundred Rotarians from all over the district worked on planning the project, coordinating with the schools and the suppliers to get ready the smart classes and install the software. The core team involved in the successful planning and execution of the project included past presidents of RC Indore Meghdoot Anil Upadhyay, Sarnath Ghosh, Manish Sharma and Ruby Malhotra. “We owe gratitude to PDG Sanjeev Gupta, who helped support the technical aspects of the selection of the school and execution of the project.”

Coming to the costing, the DGE said that normally the smart boards cost nearly ₹1 lakh, but because they were able to give a bulk order, and it was for a good cause, the manufacturers gave them the boards at ₹60,000 each. Delighted at the initial outcome of this project, he says, “The introduction of smart classes has transformed the ­classroom ­environment. Students can now engage with interactive lessons, access a wealth of online resources and participate in ­multimedia presentations. This shift not only captures their interest but also caters to various learning styles.”

He is happy to share one feedback from a beneficiary school which had no Sanskrit teacher throughout the year, but with the aid of technology and accessing online content, the students managed to learn Sanskrit through the smart board and passed their exams!

In many underprivileged areas, educational essentials such as classrooms, benches, books, washrooms etc are very scarce, leave alone the schools having smart classes.

A heartening feature of this project is that special efforts were taken to be inclusive and select some residential schools for children with special needs, including schools for hearing handicapped girls and visually-challenged boys. “The ability to utilise assistive technologies and tailored learning material has significantly improved educational outcome for these students, allowing them to learn in an inclusive environment, we were told by the teachers,” adds Ruby.

As the future undoubtedly belongs to those who are able to navigate through various kinds of technologies, “we believe our project will help foster essential skills in students and prepare them for a future where digital literacy is crucial. By learning to navigate digital tools and platforms, these children will get an edge while competing for higher education and future careers. To put it in a nutshell, such learning opportunities will open doors for them in the coming years,” says the club’s past president Anil Upadhyay.

Malhotra adds that though the software that was loaded on the smart boards came from RILM, there were “some challenges and teething problems when tried extensively in the field. It took about 6–8 weeks to sort out these problems and make the required corrections and finally it worked.” An electronics engineer himself, he rolled up his sleeves and got into the act and trained other Rotarians and teachers on how to load the software. “You’ll be surprised to know that the children were so excited and interested in learning hands-on with the whole procedure. They were quick learners and actually taught the teachers on how to handle the smart boards!”

This project, he adds, will do wonders to Rotary’s public image, and also in giving a feeling of belonging to so many Rotarians from the smaller clubs in his district. Already there is demand from other schools for the smart boards, and “Rotarians feel a sense of achievement. I will leverage on this to ensure that every club donates to TRF. Once they feel that they can do small grants projects, they will start contributing to the Foundation.”

The students of a school which had no Sanskrit teacher throughout the year, managed to learn Sanskrit with the aid of technology and accessing online content through the smart board, and passed their exams!

Recently many Rotary clubs and Rotarians have been approached by several schools in their areas of impact to undertake more such projects. “The success of this project demonstrates the potential for similar initiatives across other districts. Our project successfully demonstrates how targeted efforts can transform the educational landscape for underprivileged children. By bridging the digital divide and ­fostering ­community engagement, this project has set a precedent for how technology can empower students, enrich their learning experiences, and ultimately change lives. As these children step into a brighter future equipped with the skills and knowledge they need, the impact of this initiative will resonate for years to come.”

The most heartening aspect of this project is what it means to children with special needs. Ruby ­Malhotra points out that the smart board at a speech and hearing handicapped girls’ school made a huge difference to the way these special girls learn. “They can now see colourful images on the screen, and as the subtitles come, the teachers explain these to the girls in sign language, so that they understand concepts much better.” In another school for the visually handicapped run by a charitable trust, the boys were not totally blind. So they were getting images on their phones which they were keeping very close to their eyes so that they could see something on the phone screen. But when the visual gets transferred from the small phone screen to the big TV screen it is much better, “The result was that these boys would insist that hum ko TV waley room mei hi baith ke padhna hei (We want to study only in the room with the TV), they say.”