How this app is helping students in Naxal-affected Dantewada

RAIPUR: Insurgency-hit tribal district Dantewada that lacks proper mobile network connectivity, has managed to establish an online monitoring system "Padhe Dantewada, Likhe Dantewada" (PDLD), to improve basics of recognizing words besides reading, writing, comprehending and solving mathematical skills of tribal students. Digitized tracking of how students from Class III to Class VIII perform has been initiated to improve literacy level in the tribal district by Dantewada collector Saurabh Kumar, who conceptualised this app.
Nearly 16,000 students of government schools have been registered with PDLD app, developed by Raipur-based information company Blue Banyan for android app and web console. Accordingly, government school teachers have evaluated writing, learning and comprehending skills of each student through this app.
According to initial statistics fed by teachers into the app, scenario was dim as around 1,000 tribal students from Class VI to Class VIII could not even recognise words of Hindi or comprehend texts. Subsequently, government school teachers were trained for 10 days with innovate learning methods for inculcating concepts easily into their brains.
Now, students at different levels are categorised into different groups and taught for two periods after lunch hours while continuing with their regular syllabus, to improve their performance.Collector Kumar said, "For improving education scenario in government schools of tribal districts, a data detailing proficiency level of students and teachers is needed foremost for evaluating their level of potential and weakness in grasping knowledge. Technology will slash time and energy in implementing right approach to cross barriers in schools across the district."