When Vision Meets Passion
The Covid pandemic has exposed the world to a very hard time in a multitude of ways. Education has suffered globally and as a result, all educators are trying to give their best to cover up for this huge academic loss. The teachers are the real change makers and torch bearers who are adapting, learning and unlearning to fill up this gap and give the best that they can by reaching out to each student.
In December 2020, Ranjeetsinh Disale, a 32 year old Zilla Parishad school teacher from Solapur, Maharashtra-India won a cash price of $1 Million along with the coveted Global Teacher Prize for his extensive work in the field of education.
His extensive work was globally praised when he announced that he will be sharing the prize with all the nine finalists. He exemplified how he resolved the challenges optimizing the limited resources that were available to him in his school.
Ranjeetsinh comes from Paritewadi, a small village in Sholapur, Maharashtra. He always wanted to become an engineer but choose to get trained in a teacher training program when he couldn’t pursue engineering. Initially, he did hesitate to take up teacher training but his father persuaded him in this matter. While in training, he realized that teachers are the change makers in this world. After the realization, there was no looking back. He further exemplified how a teacher single handedly could make a lasting impact and change lives.
During his first allocation in a Zilla Parishad primary school, there was a classroom in between a store room and a cattle shed. Most of the girl students belonged to tribal communities where education was never a priority. There were a lot of social challenges right from absenteeism to early marriages. To add it up, the text books provided were in a completely different dialect and not in the mother tongue of students. This was the biggest hindrance in reaching the learning outcome.
There was a problem and he needed to generate a solution. QR codes were the answer to this.
QR Code a Quick Response Code is a type of barcode which contains data for a locater that points to a website or an application. They are user friendly and connect your online or off line media.
Ranjeetsingh executed a thought by deciding to redesign books from standards 1- 4 of the primary section. He made it easy for students to comprehend the text easily. The QR codes contained engrossing videos, stories, poems, organized assignments for easier understanding of the students.
This innovation aided his students to develop 21st century skills like problem solving, creativity and communication.
As a result of all his efforts there was a sweeping change in the attendance ratio in his classes. There was 100% attendance which reflected student’s interest in studies and a fall in those underage marriages happening in the past.
Since his innovative experiment was a super success, the state government came up with a pilot scheme that introduced QR embedded texts books for all subjects in all grades throughout the state. Further, the Central government – HR Ministry also announced to include QR codes in all NCERT text books. This success was not only limited to the state or the nation but Ranjeetsinh’s success story was also acknowledged by the Microsoft CEO.
Chetana Publications, India LLP. shares the same vision as Ranjeetsinh Disale. With their continuous research and commitment to education, they have always pioneered such lucrative products which are innovative and stand the challenge of the time.
When digital support enters a classroom scenario, it makes learning more engaging and enjoyable. It has also been scientifically proven that audio-visual increases retention of knowledge by almost 20% more than an ordinary lecture. To address these new age learning requirements, Chetana has designed QR books based on the scientific approach of Blooms Taxonomy. These QR books have multiple benefits for both, teachers and students.
As rightly said by Dr. Marcus Specht, Director, LDE Centre for Education & Learning, Netherlands, “The students of the future will demand the learning support that is appropriate for their context … and they want it at the moment the need arises. Not sooner, not later. Mobile devices will be a key technology to providing that learning support.”
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