THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: School students in Kattakada assembly constituency will be provided a free learning app, thanks to comprehensive education-friendly scheme ‘Kattal Educare’. General Education Minister V Sivankutty on Wednesday inaugurated the project at St Xavier’s Higher Secondary School, Peyad. Ahead of the launch, training for teachers and parents began on Wednesday. The training programmes will be conducted over the next two months so that the app can be launched formally in June, when schools reopen after the summer vacation. The minister told the inaugural function that the use of information technology will usher in major changes in the education sector.
An initiative of MLA I B Satheesh, the students will be given access to an app or website, Kattal Educare, that will have pre-recorded video classes, online assessment modules and value-added elements such as lessons for personality development and spoken English.In the first phase, students of government and aided schools in the constituency will be given access to the app and there is a plan to bring students of unaided schools under the project in the next phase.
I B Satheesh said that the project will be a game changer for students, parents and teachers. “There will be a separate login for parents and teachers. Parents can observe the education imparted to their children and it will strengthen the teacher-parent-student relationship. In addition, it will help enhance the personality development of students and the schools will also be upgraded to the international level,” Satheesh said.
The software is more like a Smart PTA app. People’s representatives will also be provided an observer login so that they can monitor the progress online The software was developed by L2 Labs startup IT firm , incubated by the Kerala Startup Mission. L2 Labs’ chief executive officer Lavanya V S said that it is a comprehensive education-friendly project that brings parents together. “The primary objective is to create a hybrid academic continuity that incorporates parental care and teacher mentoring in the Covid context. The project will benefit more than 20,000 students and 100 schools in the region,” she said.
There will be web and mobile versions of the app so that students can access it via computer, tab or smartphone. The features of the app include integrated video class storage and online class facility to provide and evaluate assignments, a web and mobile application that helps teachers and parents interact effectively over day-to-day activities of the school. Important notifications will be pushed via SMS or email to users.