World News | Indian Edtech, World Bank Call for Reliable Internet Access for Every Classroom
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. An Indian non-profit educational technology organisation has joined hands with the World Bank and London-headquartered T4 Education to call for reliable internet for schools to bring edtech into every classroom and close global learning gaps.
London, Apr 6 (PTI) An Indian non-profit educational technology organisation has joined hands with the World Bank and London-headquartered T4 Education to call for reliable internet for schools to bring edtech into every classroom and close global learning gaps.
Central Square Foundation, alongside other global educational organisations, issued a communique this week following T4 Education's recent Teacher Tech Summit 2022 involving over 11,000 teachers worldwide, including from India.
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“Every child in India and across the world deserves a quality education. It is absolutely essential that we work to improve learning outcomes, especially among those from low-income communities, and technology has a crucial role to play in delivering that,” said Gouri Gupta, Project Director for edtech at the Central Square Foundation.
“But for edtech to be successful, we have to close the digital divide that exists in our societies. The public and private sectors, as well as NGOs, need to work together to ensure all students can benefit from edtech,” she said.
The call for governments and tech companies to work together to ensure every school, in India and around the world, has reliable internet access and enough devices is also backed by the likes of Podar Education in India, Cambridge Partnership for Education, Scholastic, the Lemann Foundation, Save the Children, and Owl Ventures.
“Global education stands at a crucial juncture as the world looks to rebuild from COVID-19,” said Jaime Saavedra, Global Director for Education at the World Bank.
"If we are to prevent the learning gaps that were widened by the pandemic from becoming entrenched, then technology – with its ability to offer personalised learning to remove barriers to education – will be a key part of this.
"For this to succeed we must close the digital divide, and that means governments and tech companies coming together to provide the integrated package of support on connectivity, hardware, software and digital human capabilities in all schools," he said.
The Teacher Tech Summit concluded that edtech has the ability to close the global learning gaps that have been widened by the COVID-19 pandemic and contribute significantly to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4) – to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”.
“We convened the Teacher Tech Summit to link teachers up with technologists because if we are going to find tech solutions to the greatest challenges in global education, it is absolutely essential those creating these tools benefit from the experience of those at the coalface of education who are working every day to improve learning,” said Vikas Pota, Founder of T4 Education and the Teacher Tech Summit.
For edtech to achieve its full potential, teachers must also be fully trained to use it effectively, it should be guided by comprehensive evidence-based national strategies to ensure technology improves teaching and learning outcomes, and we must break down the barriers faced by girls and young women in using edtech, he said.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)