Kutch admin, EdTech firm to provide free online education to govt students

ConnectEd Technologies, Everest Kanto Cylinders (EKC) and Kutch District Administration join hands for an innovative pilot project that will be soon benefit students state-wide.

ConnectEd Technologies, India’s leading EdTech social enterprise, today jointly announced an initiative with Everest Kanto Cylinders (EKC), India’s largest manufacturer of high pressure gas cylinders, to provide free online access to curriculum-linked educational content across Gujarat government schools. The program, which is ideated and executed by ConnectEd Technologies aims to provide quality vernacular educational content to government school students, in a bid to improve learning outcomes, especially during the on-going Covid-19 pandemic.

At part of the program, more than 7,500 students from government schools under the District Administration of Kutch will be provided with free online access to a web and mobile app platform. The platform contains quality educational content in local languages that is in-sync with the Gujarat State Board curriculum and can be viewed online or downloaded onto a device for viewing later. Initially, the initiative aims to benefit students from Grade 9 and 10 across schools located in Gandhidham block of Kutch. Subsequently, the initiative will scale to students from other grades and regions of Gujarat.

On the occasion of this announcement, Dr. B. N. Prajapati, District Education Officer (D.E.O.) – Kutch, Gujarat, said, “The recent surge in Covid-19 cases led to closure of schools across Gujarat. In such circumstances, government schools and their students are in need of a parallel digital framework through which quality education could be served to govt. school students. It gives me immense pleasure to announce this initiative for all our govt. school students. We are thankful to Everest Kanto Cylinders (EKC), and hope more organisations will come forward to support this initiative and ensure it benefits every student in Gujarat.”

Lavin Mirchandani and Lehar Tawde, Co-founder, ConnectEd Technologies, commented, “Entry of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, coupled with a rapid surge in cases, led to re-closure of government schools across India. This situation emphasises the need for a digital approach that makes quality education accessible to government school students in regional languages. We have been working in this direction since 2020, and are pleased with our association with Everest Kanto Cylinders (EKC), which marks our foray into Gujarat. We hope to scale our presence with support from authorities, EKC India and other organisations”

Pushkar Khurana, Chairman and Puneet Khurana, Managing Director, added, “At Everest Kanto Cylinder Limited (EKC), we have always believed in working for the betterment of our surrounding communities. While mounting our social response to those affected by the pandemic, we found it necessary to support a program that provides quality education to government school students, at a time when schools are shut. We are happy to see the response from government authorities and grass-root level educators, and hope this initiative improves learning outcomes & academic performance among government school students.”