Now, mothers in Ernakulam-Kochi take smarter steps towards digital learning

KOCHI:  In an era where smartphones are proving to be child’s play for formative minds, parents — especially mothers— have some real catching up to do as they find the new-age technology a slightly difficult proposition. To bridge this gap and enable women to help their children with their studies, the Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE) launched  the ‘Smart Mother’ programme a month ago. So far, 6,566 women have undergone training under the project in the district.

According to KITE district coordinator Sajimon PN, the mothers will turn into ‘smart mothers’ under the initiative. “A woman will be able to guide her children only if she is well-versed in handling technology. Today, a major portion of the study materials are available on mobile applications. To access these materials, one needs to know the nitty-gritty of using these applications. So, it was decided to train the mothers,” said Sajimon.

“The interesting aspect of the programme is that the mothers are trained by students themselves. ‘Little Kites’ members who are part of the government programme for students provide the training along with their Kite Masters and Mistresses,” he said.“Once the training is over, they will become aware of the innovative techniques used in classroom learning activities,” said Sajimon. 

According to him, there are 192 Little KITE units in Ernakulam revenue district. “The training programme for mothers has been completed in 90 per cent of the schools. Though the deadline for the project was set as October 31, it has now been extended by one more week," he said. The training involves learning how to scan the QR codes and how to access portals like Samagra, Sametham and Victers.

"The school textbooks are provided with QR codes, which advance to another educational portal named DIKSHA. These portals provide the students with extra reading materials to augment their learning. During the training, the mothers were also told about the perils of the cyber world. They were given tips on cyber safety," he said. On scanning the QR codes in textbooks, children will be able to access the Sametham portal as well as the School Wiki portal that facilitate a culture of collaborative learning among students.

Achieving a milestone

• 6,566 women from the district have so far undergone training as part of the ‘Smart Mother’ programme.
• The programme was introduced in the wake of the Kerala government’s initiative to digitise a substantial portion of the school curriculum.
• Mothers are being made aware of innovative techniques used in classroom learning activities as well as the pitfalls of the  cyber world. They are further given tips on online safety.
• The training module involves teaching mothers how to scan the QR codes on textbooks to access e-resource portals Samagra, Sametham and Victers run by KITES.