Ekal Vidyalaya

India

Ekal Vidyalayas are part of a movement that aims to give impetus to holistic development of rural and tribal India. This agenda is executed by an integrated model that requires the collective participation of the community, to achieve a tailor-made socio-economic environment that is suitable to the people inhabiting these areas.

While the movement has numerous overarching themes and coordinating activities in each, we would like to mention two core activities here – Ekal e-Shiksha programme, and Ekal on Wheels. Ekal e-Shiksha is the digitization of certain aspects of Ekal Vidyalayas all over the country. Currently in its fifth phase, it began with one village in one district of Uttarakhand, in 2016. Over the course of five phases it has expanded to 111 districts in states all over the country. The programme aims to introduce the Ekal curriculum of experiential learning through a crossover with technology, the medium of which are android tablets. Digitization was deemed essential for the Ekal Vidyalayas model to accurately and carefully gauge the learning outcomes of Ekal children, amongst other data points like enrollment ratios, drop out ratios, etc. One of the main aims of the organization is to carefully bridge the gap between rural and tribal students and formal education.