Digital Study Hall

India

Download this PDF document to read about the Study Hall Educational Foundation in India that has under its umbrella seven full-fledged institutions that provide education and vocational training to children and young women and men from diverse sections of society, among which is the Digital Study Hall project.

The Solution to the Teacher Shortage

The shortage of qualified teachers in rural and slum schools is one of the most challenging problems faced by overburdened education systems in India. It's not unusual for a government village school, housing 200-500 students, to have fewer than half a dozen teachers, who are not well-qualified to teach many of the subjects that they are required to teach. And it is not unusual for even these few teachers to be absent due to various reasons on any given day. Digital Study Hall is building a system that seeks to help students and teachers from such schools.

Digital Video Curriculum

The Digital Study Hall project is working to create a digital database of curriculum currently sanctioned by the government for use by masses of students who do not have access to good schools. It video-tapes the instruction of the best teachers usually employed by private schools (Hub Schools) and then works with the local non-profits to train the best teachers in very poor public schools (Spoke Schools) to improve the quality of education for masses of children in these schools.

Mona Foundation supports Digital Study Hall in collaboration with Microsoft Research India. The cost of one TV, DVD player, table, chairs, etc. is about $400 per school. One grant of approx. $8,000 supports teachers in twenty rural under-funded schools which are connected to one Hub school to exchange content in the local language via DVD.

The process includes video-taping trained teachers in the Hub school, burning a DVD and mailing these lectures to the rural schools. It also includes training the teachers of the rural schools how to use the DVD when they're delivering the same lecture and through it to offer their students better education. We work with DSH Foundation on this project so that together, we can learn what local teaching methodologies work best to provide education to masses of Indian children in poor, rural schools.

Digital Study Hall Vision

Where We Are and Going Forward: A 2009 Report for Mona Foundation

Digital Study Hall’s aim is to deliver demonstrable results in about 50 more schools by about 2012. In 2008 they published a six-month study of the performance of students and teachers at three DSH schools and one “control school”. Last year in the summer of 2009 they began conducting a second study involving eleven government schools. DSH has accumulated more than 1500 recordings of lessons in English, math, and science, and 1500 additional videos of other materials. They have developed and refined over the years a good system of community-based video production and dissemination. …

Read this report in its entirety here (PDF, 51KB)

2010 Project Needs

$45,000 for expanding the DSH voice system deployment, expansion to two more schools and staff support.

2009 Support Received

$8,000 for general support

How You Can Help

Please contact us or send your tax-deductible contributions to:

Mona Foundation
218 Main Street, Suite 404
Kirkland, WA 98033
(425) 743-4550
Email: monafoundation@monafoundation.org
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