Anil Pradhan’s Innovation School For Rural Kids
By Makena Naegele, Director of Growth at Aveti Learning
Anil Pradhan followed his passion and it paid off in a big way. When he was a young kid, studying in the village of Baral, one of the 42 villages situated in the Island of 42 Mouza in Odisha, it was very difficult to receive a quality education. His father made the decision to relocate him to the city to achieve a higher education, so he studied Civil Engineering at Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology. Anil had always had an interest in technology, teaching coding in 8th grade to other students where he learned how passionate he was about teaching. He also learned about technology and how to use it.
Upon receiving his Bachelor’s, Anil moved back to Baral with a mission to bring STEM and quality education back to his village, the lack of the two being glaring problems that he saw in the rural communities. There is a “Lack of practicality in the education in schools today,” so Anil decided to launch the International Public School For Rural Innovation (IPSFRI) where he describes his education as a place to “experiment and learn.”
Anil’s curriculum includes experimental classes named after words in Hindi, one class the Hindi word for “to break, recreate, and make”. In this class, students are taught how to open and dismantle old appliances, learn the principle behind how they work, and then recreate sculptures, models, and projects out of it. Anil speaks passionately about the Innovation Lab his school offers, in which less privileged students work on things like 3D printers and lasers.
While Anil was succeeding with the Innovation Lab and other experimental classes that he teaches himself, his limited staff were struggling to give the kind of focused attention that every child needs to succeed in grade level subjects like Math, Science, and Social Science. When he got to know Aveti Learning 6 months ago, he immediately thought about a potential collaboration.
Finally, about a month ago, he introduces Aveti Learning, a revolutionary new system to transform the way his classes are taught and the way his children learn in this rural and forgotten village. The power is in the Aveti Platform, a hardware and software solution that works without the aid of the Internet, delivering original odia-language grade level content that all complies with the local school syllabus.
This content can be delivered on tablets, computers, TVs or projected screens, reaching one child or an entire classroom, allowing educators to customize the experience that’s right for their students.
But this is much more than a collection of engaging videos and interactive exercise. Aveti Learning is also a breakthrough diagnostic tool that not only identifies problem areas, but also tracks progress at every stage of the learning process.
It begins with a standardized test, a simple assessment to determine exactly where students are having difficulty. Then, using the Aveti App and a smart phone, these tests can be scanned and tabulated instantly. Next, the right content can be selected and presented in an interactive smart class setting, where children are engaged and learning becomes fun again.
With this tech intervention, teachers are more targeted with their lesson plans, the students are more engaged, the parents are more happy, and now Anil is freed up with time to invest in the Innovation Lab and other projects.
Anil’s goal is to maintain a positive education experience and incorporating Aveti Learning “Gives all students the study materials they need in a tablet to help grow. Students are really loving the technology. It’s really helping them.” Anil further likes that with Aveti Learning, he can clearly track each student’s progress. He feels confident that his curriculum is on a path to success, attracting students near and far.
As for his goals for the future, Anil believes that “Aveti Learning will maintain the quality of education that we are giving. In the future we are aiming to educate children in all 42 villages of Mouza — 500 students in the next 2 years. Aveti learning will make this easy.”
