Maharashtra: E-Learning units increase enrollment at 737 zilla parishad schools in Wardha

All the eight talukas of Wardha — Wardha, Hinganghat, Deoli, Arvi, Seloo, Samudrapur, Karanja and Ashti — have been covered under the project over the past three years. Vinesh Kakade, Project Organiser, JBGVS, explains, “A total of 49,231 students have benefited from the E-Learning units so far in Wardha district.”

Eligibility criterion was fixed in such a way that all zilla parishad schools with student strength of more than 20 were covered. Students of poor families including farmers, quarry workers and labourers who often do not get an opportunity to use computers, learned how to use computers.

Col (retd) Vinod Deshmukh, director, JBGVS, said, “The E-Learning units achieve the twin objectives of making school education interesting and engaging as well as acquainting students with the use of computers. This initiative will go a long way in equipping the youth in rural areas with all round knowledge, particularly when they are not often exposed to technology, unlike their urban counterparts.”

Initially, the project was planned for 1,000 units over two years (2014-15 and 2015-16). In 2016-17, the target was exceeded with 1,558 units installed across the state with Wardha accounting for at least half the number. In all, 1,67,170 students have benefited from the E-Learning Project by end of March 2017 in Pune, Aurangabad and Wardha districts. Monitoring of E-Learning units is regularly done by JBGVS team across all locations through random visits to the schools, which also contributed 10 per cent of the total cost of the unit.