Acuity Knowledge Partners collaborates with Muskaan Dreams to enable digital learning initiatives in government schools in Uttar Pradesh

New Delhi, 15 March 2022: Acuity Knowledge Partners (Acuity), a leading provider of high-value research, analytics and business intelligence services to the financial services sector, and Muskaan Dreams have implemented Digital Shala, a joint initiative to make available digital learning opportunities to children in government schools in Barabanki district in Uttar Pradesh, India.

This initiative will provide teachers with the training, tools and support required for effective use of technology to teach students across the district. The programme aims to improve students’ learning experience by building teachers’ digital skills so they can provide each child with an opportunity to prepare for a rapidly evolving digital future.

“Social empowerment and inclusive development are core elements of Acuity’s CSR philosophy. Through Digital Shala, we aim to help bridge the digital divide in government schools with an easy solution for teachers,” said Avadhesh Dixit, chief human resources officer and head of Acuity’s CSR initiatives. “A WhatsApp-based interactive chatbot will connect with teachers and provide need-based digital skills and training modules on the effective use of technology. We also plan to provide smart TVs, grade-wise content and on-call/field support to teachers.”

The programme will start in the Barabanki district as a pilot project and will be scaled to cover a number of districts in Uttar Pradesh in the coming years in an effort to integrate ICT into the education system, in line with the National Education Policy 2021.

The long-term goal of this initiative is to empower teachers across India with digital skills, enabling them to develop the digital skills of the children they teach.

Abhishek Dubey, founder of Muskaan Dreams, explains why Digital Shaala is different from other programmes: “Amid the pandemic, we all realised that online teaching alone wouldn't work. We need a blended approach to achieve a meaningful and sustainable impact. Keeping this in mind, we came up with this programme where teachers will be provided with all the necessary resources in the classroom; we will also train them concurrently through field visits every week. We will ensure our teachers are sufficiently equipped to continue teaching, irrespective of the situation.” 

“Project Digital Shala is our effort towards ensuring students in government schools continue with their education despite the many challenges amid the pandemic. We hope that as a result of our building digital learning infrastructure and implementing teacher training programmes, these students will enjoy coming to school and seeking knowledge,” added Avadhesh Dixit. The Digital Shala training modules include sessions on Zoom, YouTube, MS Office, Google and the internet, and other helpful, short and specially curated video clips.

Teachers will receive certificates on completion of a module. Those who perform the best will be awarded a digital learning lab for their students and be certified as a Digital Saathi Teacher.

Muskaan Dreams is a social impact, ed-tech non-profit organisation committed to bridging the digital divide in India’s education system so every student gets an opportunity to benefit from digital learning. It has enabled digital learning for 30k students in central India so far and aims to reach 1 Million students by 2025. For more information, visit
www.muskaandreams.org or write to info@muskaandreams.org.

Acuity Knowledge Partners is a leading provider of high-value research, analytics and business intelligence services to the financial services sector. We support over 400 financial institutions and consulting companies through our specialist workforce of over 4,000 analysts and delivery experts across our global delivery network. For more information, visit
https://www.acuitykp.com/social-initiatives/or write to contact@acuitykp.com.

Media Contact:
Gyanendra N Pati Director,
Senior Director, Global Head of Marketing and Communications
Acuity Knowledge Partners
Gyanendra.Pati@acuitykp.com