ConnectEd Technologies to provide Govt. school students in Gujarat with free online access to quality educational content in local language

7 February 2022: ConnectEd Technologies, India’s leading EdTech social enterprise, today jointly announced an initiative with Everest Kanto Cylinders (EKC), India’s largest manufacturer of high-pressure gas cylinders, to provide free online access to curriculum-linked educational content across Gujarat government schools. The program, which is ideated and executed by ConnectEd Technologies aims to provide quality vernacular educational content to government school students, in a bid to improve learning outcomes, especially during the on-going Covid-19 pandemic.

At part of the program, more than 7,500 students from government schools under the District Administration of Kutch will be provided with free online access to a web and mobile app platform. The platform contains quality educational content in local languages, that is in-sync with the Gujarat State Board curriculum, and can be viewed online or downloaded onto a device for viewing later. Initially, the initiative aims to benefit students from Grade 9 and 10 across schools located in Gandhidham block of Kutch. Subsequently, the initiative will scale to students from other grades and regions of Gujarat.

On the occasion of this announcement, Dr. B. N. Prajapati, District Education Officer (D.E.O.) – Kutch, Gujarat, said, “The recent surge in Covid-19 cases led to closure of schools across Gujarat. In such circumstances, government schools and their students are in need of a parallel digital framework through which quality education could be served to govt. school students. It gives me immense pleasure to announce this initiative for all our govt. school students. We are thankful to Everest Kanto Cylinders (EKC), and hope more organisations will come forward to support this initiative and ensure it benefits every student in Gujarat.”

Lavin Mirchandani and Lehar Tawde, Co-founder, ConnectEd Technologies, commented, “Entry of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, coupled with a rapid surge in cases, led to re-closure of government schools across India. This situation emphasises the need for a digital approach that makes quality education accessible to government school students in regional languages. We have been working in this direction since 2020, and are pleased with our association with Everest Kanto Cylinders (EKC), which marks our foray into Gujarat. We hope to scale our presence with support from authorities, EKC India and other organisations”

Mr. Pushkar Khurana, Chairman and Mr. Puneet Khurana, Managing Director, added, “At Everest Kanto Cylinder Limited (EKC), we have always believed in working for the betterment of our surrounding communities. While mounting our social response to those affected by the pandemic, we found it necessary to support a program that provides quality education to government school students, at a time when schools are shut. We are happy to see the response from government authorities and grass-root level educators, and hope this initiative improves learning outcomes & academic performance among government school students.”

During the course of this initiative, ConnectEd Technologies will coordinate with government schools to sensitise parents and students about the platform, and educate them on using any device at their disposal to access quality educational content. Furthermore, the EdTech social enterprise will provide school teachers with valuable statistics pertaining to content consumption by each student, thereby enabling them push parents and students to meet learning targets that have been set by the school. Currently, ConnectEd Technologies has deployed such programs across 8 states in India, benefiting 1,50,000+ students.

About ConnectEd Technologies 

Founded in 2015, ConnectEd Technologies is a Mumbai-based edtech social enterprise that specialises in executing large-scale, tech-enabled developmental projects aimed at govt. schools and the children that study therein. Our aim is to provide quality education and improve learning outcomes amongst children that study in govt. schools and, in this regard, our efforts have been recognized for their innovativeness by Government of India’s #StartupIndia program.

For the last 6 years, ConnectEd Technologies has been working with the State Govt. of Maharashtra on a CSR-funded campaign, named ‘EkShiksha’ which is linked to  Hon’ble PM Shri. Narendra Modi’s ‘Digital India’ mission. Under this campaign, we have secured CSR funds from renowned organisations such as Reliance Industries, Hindustan Unilever, Sony Pictures, DHFL and Fullerton India amongst others to benefit more than 100,000 under-served students in Maharashtra through large-scale digitisation of govt. schools with e-learning infrastructure and tailor-made educational content.

Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic and ensuing closure of govt. schools, we have been working with various State Governments to digitally deploy its curriculum-linked educational content to govt. school students with CSR support from companies such as Sony Pictures, Tata Motors – ACGL, and EKC India amongst others. Currently, our educational content – which can be freely accessed by students using any phone or computer at their disposal – is being deployed to 1,50,000+ students across Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Goa; with projects across many more states in the pipeline.

Be it in its physical or digital avatar, our efforts have had tremendous impact on learning outcomes. Over a span of 3 years, our projects have increased the number of students getting ‘Grade A’ in their school examinations by 254%, and reduced the number of students getting ‘Grade D’ by 98%. In recent years, our proficiency at collaborating with key stakeholders and executing impactful projects at scale, have moved several clients to appoint us to roll-out of awareness campaigns on key themes as well.

For more information, log onto www.connected.org.in