India | 29th September 2020: India’s leading EdTech social enterprise ConveGenius has launched its AI-based assessments model in Madhya Pradesh in partnership with Rajya Shikha Kendra. The entire curriculum for the state’s home learning program, popularly known as ‘Hamara Ghar, Hamara Vidhyalaya’, is being accessed through their assessment bots which are already operational in 52 districts of Madhya Pradesh and have reached more than 15 lakh students in the last one month.
Although the world is pivoting towards technology and LIVE classes, there is a large section of India that does not have access to smartphones, let alone high-quality internet. Even the ones with a single smartphone in the family cannot afford high-speed internet, leaving a majority of students on the wrong side of the digital divide. The EdTech enterprise uses WhatsApp replacing LIVE lessons as a home learning model for students belonging to the government and low-fee private schools.
In such a context, WhatsApp becomes the most reliable and scalable medium of learning dissemination. Since WhatsApp works with basic internet plans (2G/3G), it amounts to a plausible solution for under-served communities and remote areas. Student acceptance and retention rates, in this case, are much higher because most students and parents are already familiar with WhatsApp as an application.
Taking the solution to Madhya Pradesh, ConveGenius has further evolved its tech stack to be able to store learning data of multiple students using a single WhatsApp number. In turn, it increases the solution’s accessibility multifold as children of a family can now use a single smartphone to study, assess, and track their learning. The frictionless onboarding and gamified learning approach of WhatsApp lessons make it highly engaging for students. The chat-bot developed by ConveGenius interacts with students in their preferred language, making it further easier for children to learn.
The solution is also designed to cater to remediation based on gaps in learning objectives by gathering formative data of students through weekly assessments and then providing personalized learning content to the child based on specific weaknesses. The company foresees this feature to have a considerable impact on the state’s approach to teaching practices and remedial learning. With the onboarding of WhatsApp solution in different states of India, the completion rate of weekly modules have consistently floated around 97%, a benchmark that ConveGenius aims to maintain in Madhya Pradesh as well.
Commenting on this novel association, Garima Batra, Partner at Boston Consulting Group, working with the state for 2.5 years as part of Project SATH-E, said, “Within 2 weeks of the state-wide roll-out, over 11 lakh students of elementary grades have begun taking the weekly assessments, and for once, we have valuable learning outcome data on where children stand, after all the learning material they have been provided with through ‘Hamara Ghar, Hamara Vidhyalaya’. The interface is very intuitive and engaging, and children feel like they are talking to their teachers. The potential of the product to positively impact student learning outcomes is very strong, and we are very glad about our collaborative working partnership with ConveGenius.”
Speaking on the inspiring initiative, Shri K P S Tomar, Head of Assessment Cell, Rajya Shiksha Kendra said, “The state government has access to individual and collective reports of students through ConveGenius’ Impact dashboards. The dashboard presents comprehensive data on engagement and learning metrics to show a real-time geographical scope of students who are either learning or have completed their weekly modules. The teachers in this ecosystem can also leverage this feedback to teach at the right level and nudge their students for recovery in areas they struggle.”
“ConveGenius taking its learning solution to Madhya Pradesh is a major milestone that will strengthen the state’s pedagogy and achieve better outcomes in learning. Through this collaboration, ConveGenius makes another move in establishing their role as #EdTechforNayaBharat for reaching out to the bottom 100 million students,” added Shashank Pandey, Co-founder & President, ConveGenius.
