Sampark Smart Shala
Program

We are Transforming Education by...

Identifying
the Problem

Over 144 million children study in more than 1 million public-funded schools in India. In the 19 years since education became a fundamental right, the country has achieved a near-universal enrolment rate of 96% at the primary level; however, all independent surveys, including the National Achievement Survey (NAS), point to alarmingly poor learning outcomes. Around 6 in 10 students in Grade 5 can't read Grade-2 text, 8 out of 10 cannot do simple math. 6 million children in the age group 6-14 are estimated to be out of school and 36% of the children drop out even before completing primary education.

There are several complex problems afflicting the Indian educational system such as inadequately qualified and uninterested teachers, high absenteeism, a flawed pedagogy, multi-grade classrooms and poor infrastructure.

  • 6/10 students in
    Grade 5 can't read Grade-2 text
  • 8/10 cannot do
    simple math

Quality education is the key to social and economic growth, it lays the foundation for a developed country. If not tackled in time, India's learning crisis can turn our demographic dividend into our biggest challenge. We need to fight education inequality to fight economic and other debilitating inequalities in the country. The size and scale of this challenge cannot be ignored anymore.

Introducing
Innovations

This challenge presented us an opportunity for innovation and after years of research, we developed Sampark Smart ShalaTM. It is a cutting-edge, frugal solution, based on user-centric design thinking, to improve learning outcomes. We have been successful in keeping the cost of the entire intervention at less than $1 per child per annum.

Sampark
Smart ShalaTM
transforms the
classroom
transactions using
5 Critical
Innovation

A rechargeable audio device – a voice mascot called ‘Sampark Didi’ – which delivers 112 carefully researched lessons with songs, music and games. It is a listening and speaking catalyst for first-time English learners, which uses LSRW (Listening, Speaking, Reading Writing), a ‘whole language’ approach.

sound_box

These are specially designed to work in rural classrooms and help explain concepts in linear steps: from simple to complex and from concrete to abstract.

These are specifically designed games, with 7 levels of complexity, to enable learning even when a teacher is not around.

These provide real-time access to online and offline video lessons to users by allowing them to scan the QR codes embedded at the end of each topic.

It is India's first-of-its-kind learning and development platform in Hindi. This free BOT-enabled interactive mobile app, which works both online and offline, offers thousands of animated videos, games, puzzles and worksheets, and gives the users a personalised experience

1 | Sound box+

A rechargeable audio device – a voice mascot called ‘Sampark Didi’ – which delivers 112 carefully researched lessons with songs, music and games. It is a listening and speaking catalyst for first-time English learners, which uses LSRW (Listening, Speaking, Reading Writing), a ‘whole language’ approach.

sound_box
2 | 3D Teaching Learning Materials+
3 | Board Games+
4 | Multimedia Workbooks+
5 | Sampark Smart Shala™ App+

Executing
@ Scale

We implement our intervention in what is called a “waterfall” model, where an idea or innovation spreads organically to reach a large number of beneficiaries.

Partner

We sign a 5-year transformation MoUs with the state governments, and are already working in six states: Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana

Provide

We have developed unique teaching-learning materials such as a sound box, flash cards, counters, play money among others. These tools aim to energise the dormant classrooms by getting children excited about learning.

Train

We provide unique and interactive training to teachers so that they can deliver Math and English lessons using our innovative tools. We have successfully trained 200,000+ government school teachers in activity-based pedagogy.

Technology

Sampark Baithak mobile App provides engaging video content in Hindi, making learning fun in school and at home in rural India. The content on the app is available both online and offline.

Monitor

Our representatives, Sampark Sparks, who are based in every district, along with Cluster Resource Persons visit the schools to evaluate the implementation of the program along four dimantions on a three-point rating scale.

Creating
an Impact

Sampark Foundation has already reached 10 million children in 1,00,000 schools and trained 5,00,000+ teachers in primary government schools in 8 states. 

In schools, where the Sampark Smart ShalaTM  has been implemented, there is a marked increase in the number of children who answered grade-level questions in Math and English. In Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Haryana, there has been a  39, 36 and 47 percent improvement respectively in children’s performance in just one year.

  • 30% reduction in the teachers’ workload: The way we have explained concepts and designed the classroom transaction makes the entire teacher-student interaction smooth and stress free. We do not ask teachers to fill any forms and registers—they just teach and we help them do just that. 
  • 95% teachers attend our training because they want to, not because they have been directed to. Sampark offers trainings in a non-judgemental environment, where we recreate the joy of learning for teachers by awakening the child in them.  
  • 56% of teachers completely own and execute the program within two years. It is a measure of their pride in the program.