Teachers say smart classes with audio and visuals help students to learn better.
Dilapidated buildings and a shortage of teachers are standard in government schools in Madhya Pradesh. But in government schools of Sehore district, Smart TVs, cellphones and pen drives are the norm. Villagers and teachers across the district have joined hands to start "Smart Classes" in every government school.
In the 1,552 schools of Sehore district, 1,768 TVs have been installed. All this has been done without any institutional funding. Along with teachers, villages of the district have raised around Rs 4.25 crore for the initiative from their own pockets.
In a primary school of Akavalya village, lessons are learnt through audiovisual aids. Lessons come on Chromecast are watched on cellphone through mobile mirroring and stored on pen drives. This is how only three teachers can handle 90 students of various classes.
"Smart classes with audio and visuals always help students to learn things better. The children have learnt to speak freely on every subject -- this is the biggest achievement," said Pragya Pandey, one of the teachers.
Even the library at the school is also special, where shelves are arranged according to the heights of children.
At the Soyat High School, NDTV saw a board at the entrance that carried a list of villagers, teachers and local officials who donated for the Smart TVs in the school. Every class from 1 to 10 has been transformed into a Smart Class.
Around 200 children attend the school, which has five permanent teachers and four guest teachers.
Children say that they make up for the shortfall with Smart Classes. Sohani Pawar, a student of Class 9, said: "When the teacher is absent, we can study from TV, her friend Mahi Yadav echoed it. "Sometimes we ourselves take out the study material from YouTube and study," she added.
Karthik Lohvanshi, who is in Class X, said, "With the use of Smart TV, the method of studying has become better. We can prepare for competition. I want to become an engineer."
The experience is different for teachers too. Principal Suner Singh Pawar said, "There has been a change in standard after the formation of smart classes. We are learning new things. In the absence of a teacher, they pick their lessons from Youtube or recorded materials. Then they play it on the Smart TV and learn from there".
Block Education Officer Bhupesh Sharma said: "There are 320 schools in our block, every class in 83 schools has become a Smart Class. All this has happened with the contribution of teachers and donors."
The Government Higher Secondary School of Nasrullaganj has completely changed. A board displayed outside the school carries the names and photos of meritorious students.
Sanjay Srivastava, who teaches chemistry to students of Class 12, said: "Many times, the children could not visualize things. Like when we say potassium dichromate being put to the test... now first we show them animation using OLabs Demo and then do practicals in the lab. Then the children understand everything very well."
Principal Shailendra Loya said the staff has raised Rs 2 lakh and converted every class from 1 to 12 to Smart Classes. "Our mission is 'Smart School, Smart Class, Smart Student'," he said.