“A journey well begun… my eVidyaloka experience”.
Discover inspiring stories and valuable insights about our mission, education, and impact.
Shubhashree Bose|August 2019
Discover inspiring stories and valuable insights about our mission, education, and impact.
Shubhashree Bose|August 2019
It has now been over six months that I have been a part of the eVidyaloka family and I feel tempted to share my experience with you all.
For those who are wondering, what eVidyaloka is, let me explain. It is a non-profit educational enterprise with the goal of improving quality of education for children. It provides an online platform to connect volunteer teachers like me from across the world to the students of fifth grade to eighth grade studying in the Government schools in rural India. Collaborating with the local communities, school managements, and government departments, eVidyaloka sets up a digital classroom for the children in the villages. Classes are offered for the three subjects – English, Mathematics and Science to the students of standard V to VIII. The digital classrooms allow interactive classes with the students who are able to see the teacher and the content shared by him/her on a large screen TV/computer on a real time basis. The coordinators connect the volunteer teachers to the schools based on their preferred timings and of course proficiency in the local language i.e. you must know Bangla to teach in a rural school in West Bengal or you must know Telegu to teach in a rural school in Andhra Pradesh.
Given the acute shortage of teachers in the Government schools especially in rural India, often quality of education is compromised with. eVidyaloka offers an opportunity for those who are passionate about teaching and want to contribute their time and effort to try to make a difference.
From Jan-Feb 2019, I started teaching English to the seventh-grade students in a rural school in West Bengal. It has been a rewarding experience. I look forward to meet my bright bunch of ten kids every time. To my surprise, they never complain or show restlessness in case the class extends well beyond time (though only when, they don’t have a class or mid-day meal scheduled after my class). To my pleasure, some of them diligently submit the home-works and ask questions to clarify their doubts. To my satisfaction many of them can now correctly identify and use the different parts of speech in a sentence! Yes, the speaking and writing skills need to improve a lot. But I’m sure, in time it will. Their innocent faces and the tone of greeting me “Good Evening Ma’am” or “Bujechhi Ma’am” stays with me till I meet them next. They harbor dreams of becoming scientist, doctor, police officer, football player etc. And I along with the team of eVidyalok harbor a dream that their dreams don’t just get lost in thin air.
If any of you feel that you will be able to contribute about two hours in a week for two weekly classes on any subject, please visit the website https://www.evidyaloka.org/ and enroll yourself as a volunteer teacher. You may also find other ways to help. There is 45% shortage of teachers in Government schools in India and there are over 90,000 single teacher schools. The kids need you.
Let me finish by quoting A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
– Shubhashree Bose
San Jose, California
Center- Tamna junior high school, Purulia, West bengal
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