BENGALURU: It is becoming increasingly important for students in rural areas to learn English. However, one of the primary problems here lies in the fact teachers in rural schools may not be adept enough in the English language themselves. Two software engineers from CISCO have designed a prototype of an app that can help teachers clear any doubts related to language with experts, and also perform a number of activities related to language and be assessed for it.
The app can be installed on a mobile device or on a computer, and can also be operated offline, says Imran Razzack, a technical manager at CISCO, who designed the prototype along with his colleague Shivakumar Sukumar, a technical lead in the same company. They have named their app SRIMATHY, an acronym for ‘Self-Improvement Reading Information Made Available To Help You’.
The two took part in the Rural Education Hackathon/Ideathon organised by India Literacy Project (ILP) — a non-profit working in education — and International Institute of Information Technology, Bengaluru, a few days ago. The duo won the first prize at the contest, and are set to further develop the app.
Imran points out that their approach to the project was three-fold. “One of the uses of this application is to help teachers improve their own English skills. Most of them speak in the vernacular language, and are not fluent in English. They can pose their queries on the application and can get responses to their questions. There is a built-in dictionary. They can also consult experts or mentors who will help them improve further. They can get their doubts cleared in realtime,” says Imran.
Another aspect of the application is a platform to learn the language through various exercises and activities, and share one’s progress with others on the same platform. “It is a sort of a network of peers, as well as an assessment platform of what they have learnt,” says Imran.
He further adds, “In rural areas, one of the major problems is the lack of proper internet connectivity, so we will develop the app in such a way that it can be used with either very low internet bandwidth, or even in the offline mode”
The third aspect of the application is a total offline mode feature that can be used even with basic phones. “This is through an SMS function where you send in a query through a particular number and immediately get the answers. Once we develop this, it will come in handy for rural folk,” says Razzack.
Rajesh Chandran, a volunteer with ILP, says that ideas and solutions that do not require heavy expenditure and are scalable in a rural setting, were the ones that were most sought after. He adds that winners of the hackathon will be further helped to fine-tune their solutions so that their products sees actual application.