For better digital education, Maharashtra ties up with Nilekani’s e-platform

MUMBAI: The state education department has tied up with a not-for-profit online platform for teachers to collaborate and exchange e-content to enhance classroom experience for students. The state has also proposed to provide Wi-Fi in classrooms in the near future.
“Most of the teachers in the state are connected through WhatsApp groups. The performance of digital schools and tech-savvy teachers is commendable.About 45,735 teachers are now tech-savvy and have created 2,306 educational apps, over 50,000 videos and 1,992 websites and blogs,” said a government resolution issued by the state government on Wednesday.
Taking cue from the above, the education department has tied up with EkStep, a venture by Nandan and Rohini Nilekani to provide e-content to the teachers across the state on one platform. “Developing your own e-content or even looking for the right content comes at a cost to the school. Hence, the education department has discussed with EkStep to develop and host content based on the state’s languages, mathematics and science syllabus with help from the tech-savvy teachers in the state,” said the GR. The teachers will also be able to download the android mobile application which allows content to be used offline and also gives instant feedback. The portal will also give teachers a platform to create groups to interact with each other and exchange ideas.
Suvarna Kharat, deputy secretary, education department, who issued the GR said, “It is an open source platform. Through the systems we will also be able to monitor what content teachers are using and what is turning out to be beneficial. Accordingly, decisions will be made regarding new content.” An audio visual recording by secretary of the school education department on how to use the e-content and the mobile application will be uploaded on the website to train teachers.
Teachers can sign up on www.community.ekstep.in
The state also plans to make classrooms digital by providing Wi-fi to schools under the Digital India Programme.