In 2015 the ST Foundation created a new informatics course for children aged 9 to 13 years old, with very different cultural backgrounds and socio-economic conditions, living in diverse contexts, from urban to semi-urban to rural.
The pedagogical approach was thought to be easy to learn and follow through for the DU educators and highly flexible and modular. The main objectives are the same as the general DU program – familiarizing ICTs and recognizing their potential for self-directed education and everyday problem solving through the use of a new tool: the Tablet. The pedagogical pillars of this program are exploratory learning and collaborative learning. In a nutshell, tablets are presented as a tool to explore and learn with others.
The Foundation partnered with the Swiss organization named seed that was in charge of developing the content of the course and the innovative pedagogical approach.
The course was first tested in two selected locations in India (200 km north of New Delhi) and then finalized to be further cascaded in the country.
After six years from the beginning, we can now count on ten operational centers and a brand new initiative that was launched in October: the T4S on wheels.
As we all know, during the pandemic, many students from underprivileged or low socio-economic backgrounds faced severe issues in having the chance to continue learning because of the repeated schools’ closures. It was then decided to directly bring the needed tools for accessing and enhancing knowledge and understanding to the students and schools. In collaboration with the partner, Navjyoti India Foundation in Delhi, on October 12, the first Tablet for Kids on Wheels lab was inaugurated.