Bridging the Digital Divide, in the Field of Education
BM Bureau, August 9 : On Tuesday, 9th August 2022, Rajalakshmi Children Foundation launched the first phase of Pratibha Poshak project for Belagavi Education District.
90 meritorius students out of the eligible 8000 students of Belagavi Educational district had assembled at Ushatai Gogate Girls school Belagavi along with their parents and teachers. These students included many who had arrived from distant villages of Ramdurg, Saundatti, Bailhongal and Khanapur talukas along with students of Belagavi urban and rural.
On this occasion, all the 90 students received Samsung Tabs along with data packs. The students were trained in the use of these Tabs for online special classes to be conducted over next 2 years by highly accomplished Teachers and Mentors
Another 210 Students having completed 8th grade (age 14-15) from Government and Aided schools of Dharwad & Chikkodi Educational districts are to be enrolled in this programme based on their performance in NMMS Scholorship exam and additional selection process. Every student selected for this programme is given a Samsung tablet PC (a tab costing Rs 20,000 each) with Wi-Fi and LTE support by RCF.
Dr.Ravindra Guruvannavar, Founder and Lead Director , Pratibha Poshak Initiative explained the process of selection of the students and briefed about the format of the digital education. He said, the goal of Pratibha Poshak is to impart high quality digital education in the fields of Science & Mathematics, to the talented students, whose potential is not fulfilled due to their poor economic conditions.
Speaking on the occasion, Sri YJ Bhajantri, BEO, Belagavi city, applauded the efforts of RCF Team in general and Dr Ravindra Guruvannavar in particular on their ambitious vision to identify talented students from poor economic background and nurture their talent.
On this occasion, RCF also signed an MOU with the BEO office, City Cluster, Belgavi to maintain, manage and provide human resource, to Computer labs installed in Government schools of the city under smart city project.
Sri Avinash Potdar, President, Belgaum Education Society presided over the inaugaration ceremony. He appreciated this novel initiative and urged the beneficiaries to get maximun benefit out of this initiative.
Founder Directors of RCF, Dr.Vijayalakshmi and Dr. Shashikanth Kulgod distributed the Tabs to the students.
During the full eventful day, various team building activities were conducted for these students by highly acclaimed resource persons comprising of Col Prakash Vastrad, Lt Commander Vivekanand & Flight Lt Deeksha Shukla
This ambitious project is being supported through a generous grant from Future Fund, USA whose goal is to support Impactful initiatives, to scale up.
This innovative digital education initiative is being rolled out in collaboration of District Education Department. Rajalakshmi Children Foundation will be signing an MOU with Sri Basavraj Nalatwad DDPI(Adm), Belagavi during the launch of this programme for Belagavi Educational District.
Dr Kirti Shivkumar, Project Director, Pratibha Poshak Initiative moderated the function.
Sri Mallikarjun Deshnor proposed the vote of thanks.