CSR: Apni Pathshala collaborates with Selligion Praho to digitally empower children in Maharashtra

Mumbai, India: Selligion Praho, India’s first homegrown hybrid cloud computer, built to empower every Indian child by fulfilling their digital education needs, announces its first ever collaboration with Apni Paatshala, a non-profit organisation making good quality digital literacy every child’s birth right. The main goal of this collaboration is to establish community-based learning centres known as “Learning Pods” which will provide access to high quality digital education to children across India. 3 community learning centres have been set up in Health Library, KEM Library and JJ Hospital in Mumbai, Maharashtra. These centres provide bite-sized learning to students using user-friendly modules, providing optimum knowledge and absorption.

Dr Aniruddha Malpani, the founder of Apni Paatshala, saw a vast national gap concerning quality education, particularly digital literacy. Selligion and the Apni Paatshala centres aim to fill this gap by providing excellent education to a large number of students at affordable prices across the country. Selligion plays a primary role in vetting the candidate, delivering computers with keyboards, mouse, monitors, speakers/headphones and webcams, and after-sales service. All hardware supplied is covered under the standard Selligion Device Replacement Warranty.

Commenting on the collaboration Apeksha Mehta, Co-Founder and Spokesperson at Selligion Technologies said, “In the current economic scenario, digitization is the need of the hour for education and employment. Yet, unfortunately, less than 10-15 percent of Indian homes own a computer. We recognize this gap and are shaping the digital requirements for India by collaborating with Apni Paatshala and enabling quality digital education to students country-wide. We are happy to provide powerful computers for these Digital Learning Pods where numerous students can educate themselves and have a chance to dream about a bright future for themselves. We have 20 Apni Pathshala Learning Pods already in operation across India with 80 more in the pipeline – hoping to ensure that maximum recipients nationwide attain digital empowerment.”

Aniruddha Malpani, Founder of Apni Paatshala, added, “We are delighted to partner with educational NGOs who want to use technology to help children become self-directed learners by setting up community-based learning centres. We have already successfully set up over 20 community centres across the country using multiple private bodies, public organisations, government institutes and local bodies. Over 5000 students are currently getting access to computers, and we hope and plan to expand this reach to over 50,000 students across India in the coming months.”

Apni Pathshala is a Public Private Partnership model where they partner with NGOs and Individuals who help set up community-based computer learning centres to devise customised solutions that work for their community. The Pod leads need not be trained teachers, just individuals willing to impart their knowledge and time to their community. These micro-entrepreneurs run paid or unpaid community-based learning centres called Apni Pathshala Learning Pods that help educate neighbourhood kids using powerful computers from Selligion.

The computers are loaded with free, high-quality content mapped to the syllabus available in English and various local languages, allowing students to select their preferred language. The goal is to impart education but in a fun way with the help of technology. The Pod leads are free to charge a fee to help them become financially independent while educating the next generation. The Public Private Partnership model will help create a sustainable and positive virtuous cycle – delivering access to computers to those who have none.