Crossing the English channel

Two men with the same name Biswajit Mitra are taking English language to underprivileged children in West Bengal by making it simpler and relatable through a software that teaches English through vernacular One of them an IT professional by training is the founder of NGO Abheda Foundation dedicated to change the education process in rural India the other is the principal of a governmentaided school Kailash Vidyamandir in Kolkata that has mostly underprivileged studentsA student in a Kolkata school uses the Abheda software to get a grasp of English Pic courtesyAbheda FoundationMitra who retired from Tech Mahindra as Global Head designed the software keeping in mind possible problems of first generation English learners His friend and principal of Kailash Vidyamandir extended support by using the software in his school and teaching English beyond the syllabus and school hours Their aim is to make English an ldquoenablerrdquo rather than to equip students to pass testsA student uses the Abheda software to study at homeldquoOur experience shows however unfortunate English is still a huge enabler and its knowledge among underprivileged students is dismalrdquo says Mitra of Abheda Foundation He adds that this situation is possibly a result of the State Board aping boards like the ICSE or CBSE without trained teachers and infrastructure ldquoEnglish knowledge of teachers is compromised too particularly in rural areas We gained this experience working with rural schoolsrdquo he explains He says that financially challenged students who even got scholarships from the foundation for merit were found wanting in basic English It was to bridge this social gap between students with a command over English and those without it that the software Abheda was designedFront end of Abheda English PICS courtesy Abheda FoundationAn idea takes shapeldquoAbheda means nondifference in Sanksrit and our organisation endeavours to effect this nondifference in society Abheda believes that the prevailing differences in society can only be ironed out through education And the need of the hour is digital education as there are few teachers willing to teach the underprivileged and there is a fall in the quality of teaching Add to that the acute need for appropriate teachinglearning material for the students in questionrdquo he explainsA class in Birbhum district of West Bengal uses Abheda softwareldquoSo Abheda develops and promotes extensive use of standardised digital content across the country to compensate for lack of quality teachers But this content should be local to address needs of the target studentsrdquo he feelsBiswajit Mitra principal of Kailash VidyamandirContent developed this way Mitra explains is effectively delivered to students either through distributing lowcost tablets for selflearning or through physical teaching by a teacher when the tablet is attached to a TV for larger projection Abheda Foundation currently runs seven projects mdash four in Kolkata and three in rural West Bengal Of these one project is in selflearning mode while the rest are in tabletTV based teaching mode Two projects are under Abheda while others are run in partnership with NGOs Only one school in Kolkata is using this technology ldquoKailash Vidyamandir has given us a chance to teach at their hostel on the schoolrsquos premises The principal has included this teaching in their daily schedulerdquo he revealsBiswajit Mitra trustee of Abheda Foundation teaches in KolkataDecoding AbhedaBiswajit the trustee of Abheda Foundation says ldquoWe always took a bottomsup approach as we believe that a studentoriented teaching is much more effective than a syllabuscentric onerdquoThey plan to increase the number of modules to 79 with special emphasis on conjugation preposition and vocabulary ldquoThese are the typical pain areas for Bengalimedium students The basic objective of this free content is to enable learning of basic English in six to eight months in selflearning mode and in one to 15 years in classroom teaching mode tabletTV These are meant for students of class five to eight We are developing a new version of the software also named Abheda English which will include more intuitive quizzes and attractive content This new version is presently undergoing beta testing and will be released in November on Google Play Storerdquo he informsThis app has more translations and comprehensions and is meant for any student with a bit of knowledge of English words ldquoThe app is free and it has a curriculum and daytoday lesson plan It is developed to enable teachers and students to teach and selflearn respectively Teachers are free to download the app on their android mobile and teach the contents for a fee It need not be through Abheda Foundationrdquo he addsNod from the principalAnd Mitra the principal is happy with the results ldquoAbheda helps teach English to our tiny tots This software is studentfriendly The visual impact is praiseworthyrdquo he beams He began teaching with Abheda in his school jointly with Biswajit the trustee of Abheda Foundation in the residential unit that houses over a hundred less privileged students ldquoMost students are firstgeneration English learners who have no grasp of the basics So we felt that Kailash Vidyamandir is the ideal place to start We jointly bought a TV and 12 tablets and started our journeyrdquoThis method he informs has helped him teach students the language beyond just completing the syllabus ldquoThe modules include a lot of fun activities like games quizzes interesting pictures which have been included for students to enjoy the learning process In a way we are being able to impart education in the real sense through this softwarerdquoClassroom hurdlesHe points out that lesser fortunate students canrsquot afford android phonestablets however cheap ldquoSo selflearning is not viable the right NGOs will have to reach out for them till the government read Ministry of Human Resource Development takes it uprdquo he reminds us He also points out there are other difficulties like irregular attendance and false confidence created by the marking system ldquoStudents weak in basic English tend to believe they are good in English as they get high marks Now if Abheda says lsquoYou have to learn English betterrsquo the likely answer is lsquoWhat better We get good marksrsquordquo he explains But these problems are part of the process With such success they plan to explore new areas and all major regional languagesldquoWe plan to include Hindi and Santhali as medium of teaching other than Bengali by next March 2016rdquo he informsLog on to abhedafoundationorg