In the list of SHIKSHA Initiative’s expansion districts, Gonda has been a new addition. On 10th August 21, a MoU between Basic Education Department and SHIKSHA Initiative was signed with an agreement of conducting ICT based classes in 50 primary schools in Gonda district. In a meeting with Dr. Vinay Mohan, Basic Education Officer (BEO) of Gonda, SHIKSHA Initiative’s team briefed the officials about ICT based program and its impact in children’s learning.

After two phases of successful implementations of SHIKSHA Ki Goonj programs in Dadri and Sikandrabad, a third phase of the program was launched on 15th July 2020. This 15-day program came to an end on 30th July 2021 which was followed by certificate distribution ceremony. The program was conducted in Sarai Dulha village of Sikandrabad where in almost 280 students participated. With an objective to reach the students in the pandemic through loudspeakers, SHIKSHA Ki Goonj has been instrumental in bridging the gap between education and students. Mr. Lalitendra Bhartiya, Project Manager, SHIKSHA Initiative thanked the community, teachers, and students for their continued support in making this program a success.

SHIKSHA Initiative is an implementing partner in a rather brilliant initiative named as Project SACSHAM (Smartly Attended Classes for Skill Honing and Advancement Module) of UP education Department launched by Mr. Ishan Pratap Singh, Chief Development Officer, Shravasti. Project SACSHAM will facilitate existing Panchayat bhawan to act as ideal place of learning and alternate e-governance and skill development for the youths, children, community peoples and Govt. officials aiming to establish easily accessible, healthy, transparent communication culture among all the stakeholders focusing on children and youths. The project also focusses on providing remedial teaching to the students of schools having single teacher and are lagging behind in learning the syllabus.

Upon receiving a formal letter by District Administration, SHIKSHA Initiative organized a two-day training workshop for 25 Academic Resource Persons (ARP) on “Creative Use of ICT Tools”. The training was inaugurated by Mr. Ishan Pratap Singh, CDO-Shravasti along with Mr. Parikshit Khatana, Associate Collector and Mr. Prabhu Ram Chauhan, Basic Shiksha Adhikari. Mr. Singh addressed the trainees and gave overview about operation SACSHAM and motivated Academic Resource Person’s to work with dedication.

Mayank Sinha, AGM, SHIKSHA Initiative began the session by setting the context followed by a brief vote of thanks by Mr. Prabhu Ram Chauhan, BSA.

SHIKSHA Initiative is also working as a Project Management consultant to Project SACSHAM. Mr. Mayank Sinha and Mr. Shishir Purohit were part of the steering committee which helped the administration to decide on implementation strategies. SHIKSHA Initiative was also invited to administer the technical demonstration done by 12 bidders on Interactive Flat Panel Display Technology (IFPD), digital multimedia content, skill content, adult literacy modules, web conferencing technology solutions, internet connectivity solutions, power backup solutions and monitoring solutions which would help the implementation team to regularise the implementation plan of Project SACSHAM.

To ensure smooth roll out of SHIKSHA Initiative’s ICT classes’ in Chandauli, SHIKSHA Initiative organized six days induction training of government teachers on smart class (ICT based) approach from 15th to 25th of September 2021 at three Block Resource Centres – Sadar, Sakaldiha and Chakiya as venue in district Chandauli. The purpose of the training was to build the capacity and knowledge on digital content-based teaching, and upgrade knowledge and skills with a view to develop a proper understanding about ICT based teaching, education, and correlation with child pedagogy.

Training was attended by 114 teachers of 57 government schools who were divided into three batches.

SHIKSHA Initiative team was approached by District Administrations of Chitrakoot  for implementation of the SHIKSHA ICT Classes in the schools. SHIKSHA Team met with Basic Education Department of Chitrakoot, Mr Seshmani Dubey and Mr Amit Asrohi, CDO.

During the meeting, BSA and CDO appreciated SHIKSHA’s efforts in being an agent of change and acquainting the schools with ICT Technology. SHIKSHA team explained about the program in detail and a formal MoU was signed for implementing SHIKSHA’s ICT Program in 200 schools.

In similar news, SHIKSHA Initiative’s biggest intervention in Uttar Pradesh has been in Siddharth Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh. A MoU was signed between the SHIKSHA Initiative and the Department of Basic Education and BSA, Siddharth Nagar for implementation of ICT enabled classrooms in all the 360 schools of the district.

At SHIKSHA+center of gram panchayat Sarura Kala village, on the batch closing day, learners expressed their gratitude towards SHIKSHA plus through rangolis. It was a delight to see these Rangolis as they showcased their learnings and awareness about Covid-19.

In an initiative to reach out to maximum children, the government has launched Mission Prerna Yojana to improve the education levels of children. In this scheme, cooperation from social organizations have been taken to monitor implementation of government schemes. The government has appointed Prerna Saarthi in every district to keep a close watch on the activities conducted in the schools. To monitor the daily activities, a State Resource Group (SRG) and five Assistant Resource Person (ARP) have been deployed in each block at the district level. Apart from this, the District Coordinator is already posted in the department for monitoring, which plays a part in the operation of the schemes from time to time.

An action packed two-days’ of workshop of 40 teachers was conducted at District Chitrakoot on 17th and 18th February 2021 under the expansion of Elementary Program. Two-member team comprising of Mohd Tahir and Kamlesh Kumar Maurya delivered an induction training for the teachers along with a session on mission, vision of SHISKHA and details of the program and its process as Chitrakoot is going to be the new ground of action for SHIKSHA Initiative. District administration invited SHIKSHA team, Sitapur to run its flagship program, SHIKSHA Elementary in 200 government schools.

This Association kicked off with conducting a Training Need Identification (TNI) exercise with the selected teachers of potential schools where the program is to be implemented. Mr. Omkar Rana, BSA, Chitrakoot shortlisted 40 teachers from 20 schools, These teachers will be responsible for receiving and disseminating data and information between the two partners. . As per the MoU signed Elementary Program of SHIKSHA will be initiated in 200 schools of the district and count will further increased in a phased manner.

Last day of the training was attended by BSA, BEO and DC and they encouraged the teachers to use ICT based SHIKSHA content and pedagogy while teaching the students. BSA stressed on the fact that ICT based teaching not only interesting, but also increases the retention of content and also students in school.

Basic education minister of Uttar Pradesh Dr. Satish Chandra Dwivedi has inaugurated the new initiative of SNF Shiksha Kiran and visited SKG center –Sita Rasoi & our intervening school-Chaudiya Parcheen. He was accompanied by the Director Shiksha Initiative, Program Head Shiksha Expansion (Mr. Robin Sarkar , Mr. Mayank Sinha ). Basic education Officer for school education Mr. Ajeet Kumar and Mr. Sandeep Kumar Chief Development Officer of District- Sitapur among others, The state’s education minister traveled from Lucknow to SHIKSHA Shiv Nadar Foundation office,VIDHYGYAN Campus under Sidhauli tehsil of Sitapur district, both around 55 km from state capital, and interacted with parents as well as teachers and students, an official statement said here, as reported by media. In most parts of Uttar Pradesh, the classes for students of 1 to 5 has been hold, after ten long months, keeping in mind covid-19 SOPs.