Udaan India Foundation — Learning in Times of Corona
Today’s Spotlight is on ‘Udaan India Foundation (Udaan)’ — Children’s Programme.
What does Udaan India Foundation do?
Udaan is a not for profit based in Powai, Mumbai. Udaan works with children and youth from low-income communities in education. They aim to break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy by providing knowledge, skills, values and support to children and youth.
To achieve their goals, Udaan works with the children from their foundational years till they gain employability. The Children’s Programme bridges the learning gap in students through its K-10 after school programme (Learning Centre) and in-school intervention (School Support Programme) in partner government schools. As students graduate from grade 10, they become part of the youth programme where they are provided mentorship and scholarship to enrol into higher education. In addition, the youth are also provided with the skills needed to survive and thrive in the workplace of today.
Snapshot Profile
Profile: Low-income communities from urban slums
Age group: 4 to 15 years of age
Focus: After School intervention, In school intervention
Number of beneficiaries: 600+
How is Udaan adapting to the COVID crisis? — A Step-by-Step Guide
First Response — No family should go hungry
The first step Udaan took when the lockdown was imposed was to provide ration to the disadvantaged families worst hit by the pandemic. Since most of our students came from families of daily wage workers or casual labourers, our first response was to meet the primary needs of the families. Udaan has always strived to provide a happy and safe space for our students to learn, and with homes turning to classrooms, it is our responsibility to make them feel happy and safe at their homes too. In addition to providing ration, our teachers called each student to check on their well-being in times of crisis. Once the primary need was met, we turned to ensure there is no lockdown on their learning.
Building Udaan 2.0
Today, Udaan is engaging with its students mainly through WhatsApp and phone calls. The key starting point for us was connecting with the teachers and parents — explaining how the new landscape will look and getting them on board. Once our teachers were excited to enter uncharted waters, we formed subject-wise WhatsApp groups for all the students. If the students didn’t have WhatsApp, we encouraged them to share phone numbers of their close neighbours or relatives. We were pleasantly surprised to see the lengths the students went to make sure they have access to learning. Their hunger for education is the fuel that keeps us going.
The focus of virtual learning is two-fold — first, to ensure the emotional wellbeing of the students and second, engaging them in learning to avoid loss of learning. The students’ week is divided into two sections:
#1: Monday, Wednesday, Friday:
- On these three days, the teachers send a self-made or curated video explaining a concept in a bite-sized format. The students then apply this knowledge to solve the worksheets sent by the teachers.
- The teachers give feedback to each student through WhatsApp messages, voice notes, and one-on-one calls.
#2: Tuesday, Thursday
- Every Tuesday and Thursday, the children immerse themselves in the world of art, craft, dance and music. We have set aside these two days for children to express their emotions, get lost in the flow and exercise those brain, body and soul muscles.
- Teachers also use these days to resolve any additional doubts and conduct virtual meetups in small groups.
Apart from this, our teachers call every student and parent once a week for a well-being check-in. When there are no smiling faces entering through the class doors or informal conversations in the classroom with the students, we believe in strengthening the virtual connection with an increased one-on-one effort.
Our partnership with 321 Foundation and Pratham’s Thodi Korona Masti, Thodi padhai (translating to Have little fun, a little study-time) has also helped us in bringing high-quality content to our students.
What kind of Monitoring and Evaluation mechanism have you adapted during the COVID crisis?
- On a weekly basis, we check how many students are being engaged with each teacher to understand the trends and the challenges of the students. We also hold teachers’ meetings in smaller groups to promote collaboration, increase motivation, and solve each other’s problems.
- On a monthly basis, we hold a social-emotional well-being check-in through google forms and phone calls across staff, teachers and students to understand the pulse of our learning centre and school support programme. This helps teachers tailor their conversations to meet the needs of the students and the management team to take care of the team.
What has been the guiding principles or values when designing for the COVID crisis?
One of the Udaan values is ‘Child at the core’ and this is the value that has guided us at every decision-making junction. Even before the pandemic, we would ask ourselves, “What do our children need?” and design our interventions accordingly. When the children needed food and security, that was at the front and centre of our efforts. Now we again ask, what do our children need? Our interventions will continue to grow as the needs of the students change.
What are your biggest challenges?
Our biggest challenge has been the lack of devices in the hands of our students. We have students with 4 or 5 siblings sharing one device. Sometimes the older sibling would use all the mobile data for their classes in the morning, and the younger sibling would have to wait till the next day to study her/his study material. Some students have also called our teachers in the wee hours of the day asking them to share the videos and worksheets, so they can complete it before their parents leave for work. We quickly realised that without bridging the digital divide first, we would risk leaving the last-mile students out. We are thrilled to share that by partnering with Connect For (an online platform that connects NGOs and volunteers); we have distributed phones and tabs to students loaded with mobile data packs for six months. We hope that with increased access and agency, the students will effectively engage in their learning journey in the new normal.
What are your future plans to deal with the COVID crisis?
We are experimenting with a lot of ideas right now. Having access to devices will open up a plethora of possibilities while new challenges continue to crop up as the pandemic prolongs. We will continue to engage our teachers and students in creative ways.
What lessons from COVID-19 initiative will you be using in the future?
We were already bringing digital literacy and technology into our centres with our first-ever coding club. The pandemic has simply accelerated the process of technological integration in the entire not-for-profit ecosystem. A lot of conversations have become implicit now, like why do we need technology or explaining the realities of lack of access to technology. This has helped us overcome a lot of hurdles which existed in the old normal. We plan to fully exploit this opportunity and envision a new Udaan — Udaan 2.0 (as we call it) and use technology to enhance the learning of our students. Blended learning and flipped classrooms will no longer be a sight of only the affluent schools, but an experience that every learner deserves.
Reimagine school for me after the pandemic :)
I imagine that after the COVID-19 pandemic passes, we would speed up our efforts to bridge the digital divide and integrate technology into our students’ learning journey. The conversation won’t be around machines taking over teachers’ jobs, but how technology and teachers complement each other’s strengths to bring the best learning experience. I also imagine that we will no longer interact with parents only at Parents Teachers Meeting but the parents, teachers and community will come together to form a dream team of sorts, that will support and uplift the child throughout his/her journey. With no distinction between classrooms and homes, both the teachers and parents have understood the crucial role they play in a child’s life. Learning no longer is confined to the four walls of the classroom, but happens everywhere and at all times. So it is imperative that we make parents our partners in change. I imagine the school to not be a building with four walls anymore.
Advice for other educators out there
When dealing with unprecedented situations, take time to plan your strategy, ask your stakeholders what their immediate need is. Instead of applying generic solutions to your unique problems, gather your team to find the secret sauce for your beneficiaries.
More importantly, turn your challenges into an adventure. Do not settle for the status quo of the new normal. Strive for excellence in the learning journey to bring the best for the students. When this adventure ends, embark on another one!
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