During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, children around the world struggled to continue their education in the midst of lockdowns and quarantine. Particularly in India, widespread school closures and a lack of technological development within the education system left teachers wondering how they could effectively reach their students. CLT India (Children’s Lovecastles Trust), a nonprofit organization based in Bangalore, rose to the challenge and mobilized their teachers, education department officials, and leaders in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to formulate an action plan which successfully mitigated the loss of learning anticipated to hit India’s youth during the pandemic.
Over 60% of India’s population live in villages with lack of government assistance for local public schools. E-Patashale, CLT India’s e-learning program, was built to prioritize accessibility. As there are tens of languages spoken across India, the platform needed to be available in many different versions. Furthermore, the technology itself had to be affordable yet adaptable to situations such as access without internet, and user-friendly enough that teachers could easily learn the ins and outs of the applications.
With the support of CAF America’s grants, CLT India was able to further extend its programs to reach even more children from marginalized communities throughout India. Such partnerships proved vital to the expansion of their programs: Rotary Club International, Menda Foundation, Aseem Infrastructure Finance Limited, Michell Bearings India Private Limited, and many others worked hand in hand to help CLT India implement their digital classrooms throughout many more districts, broadening their reach to thousands more teachers and students.
