Laptop Bank, a learning opportunity for the underprivileged

Bengaluru: Ever since the beginning of the pandemic, every student's desire to leverage technology has seen a paradigm shift. From online learning to other digital educational programs children are now dependent on technology as their medium to get educated. But, not everyone in society is fortunate enough to have even the most basic access to the internet. There are enough pieces of evidence proving why students from underprivileged backgrounds are lagging when it comes to online learning. And that's when Aahwahan Foundation came into action.

Aahwahan Foundation combines its experience, technical capabilities, and leadership skills to develop programmes, campaigns, and initiatives where they are required the most. Education structures are very complex across the globe. Knowing the significance of online learning & technological advancement, the foundation offered laptops to underprivileged students at home.

The Foundation's "Laptop Bank" initiative empowers education and ensures to expand its opportunities to the toughest regions of the nation. They enable weaker section students to borrow laptops and study from home for a specific duration (usually 2-3hours). The students will have to go through a verification process; wherein their volunteer will check the household income details and only students who are eligible for the initiative will be shortlisted. The laptops will be installed with the relevant software before they are provided to students who qualify to receive the support.

The Aahwahan Foundation Founder Braja Kishore Pradhan, suggests "every citizen must come forward and contribute to the students for a viable future of the country and social positive change. He urges the contribution of community groups and corporates through their CSR programmes as the need of the hour to enable education for the marginalized groups of the society".

Currently, Aahwahan Foundation has 375 laptops allocated to this effort, benefiting 2597 students from metro cities including Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, and Noida. The team has set a goal of allocating 1000 computers for this specific initiative, which will benefit 10,000 kids from various parts of the country. Furthermore, the foundation intends to expand its initiative to other parts of the country, such as Guwahati and Vishakapatnam, where many more impoverished youngsters would be able to get hands-on digital resources.

The Aahwahan Foundation is looking for active participation from socially conscious corporations or individuals to enrich the educational journey of rural children. Any support to establish the infrastructure, sponsorships for children, and contribution towards other facilities would be greatly appreciated.

Flagging risk to young futures, UN's policy brief exclaimed that almost 24 million learners are at risk of not returning to school next year due to the economic fallout in the COVID_19. Whereas, UNESCO said in a report recently, that "nearly 70% of student population lack smartphones, even the basic internet facilities, especially the rural areas of the nation". Government Data shows that "almost 40% of parents could not afford the internet costs, resulting in less learning rate and hence widening the educational gap due to the digital divide in different parts of the society".

Since the pandemic has impacted education around the globe, the Aahwahan foundation ensures education is not denied due to lack of resources. Ensuring the students from diverse backgrounds are in school and have access to learning requires alignment of vision across families, educational stakeholders, and policymakers.