‘NRI School Connect Campaign’- a new Virtual Learning initiative by government of AP

April 10, 2017:

"In this digital age, we have an opportunity to transform lives of people in ways that were hard to imagine just couples of decade ago" – remarked Narendra Modi (Prime Minister of India) at Silicon Valley on September 2015.

In this era of digitization, Andhra Pradesh government under the leadership of Shri Chandrababu Naidu has endeavored to provide virtual education to the students of government schools. Education is the bedrock of future generations and the society. Hence, to gratify the indispensable need of an hour, 'Connect Project'– NRI school connect program was launched as a part of AP Janmabhoomi, a social initiative led by Government of Andhra Pradesh under the guidance of Special Representative of North America, Shri Jayaram Komati.

The NRI School Connect was launched on 3 April 2017 by the Special Representatives of North America, Shri Jayaram Komati from California, USA. The project is deemed as a series of three pilot sessions presently. The novel initiative is expected to grow following the success of three pilot sessions.

What is Connect Project Campaign?

The NRI school connect program is first of its kind initiative by the Government of Andhra Pradesh to virtually connect the NRI Diaspora with the students of government schools. The rationale of this initiative is to endow students with diversified knowledge with the help of NRI settled all across the globe. Though, the Telugu NRI community is disconnected by lands but connected by hearts. With the help of the Initiative, the NRI are given an opportunity to serve their motherland.

Though, the Telugu NRI community is disconnected by lands but unquestionably connected by hearts. With the help of the Initiative, the NRI are given an opportunity to serve their motherland.

The aim of the project is to establish a firm connection between students and NRI through the medium of knowledge.

The interaction entails one-hour discussion between the NRI and students where the first half encompass the presentation by NRI on any relevant topic and the next half is taken up by the NRI as a question answer round.

The technical support is provided by the team of Reliance Jio.

The First Pilot Session – NRI Connect Project

The launch of the first session was undertaken by Mr. Shivaji, NRI from Texas, USA. Mr. Shivaji conducted a session on 'Human Evolution and Technology' through an arresting presentation which comprised of videos also.

The session was overall a success and bewitching for the students as well. The inquisitiveness among the students soared as the interaction headed further. Students asked the questions like – How is water formed? ; Is there any without water? ; What is a Galaxy? and so on.

Newsgram contacted Mr. Shivaji, an NRI instructor in the 'Connect Project' initiative by the government of Andhra Pradesh.

Students want to learn continuously. We need to give them freedom to share their thoughts, and not just hand them a notebook and pencil. Providing them a virtual platform of interaction will bring them exposure to the kids and impulse the inquisitive side of the child to ask more questions. Digital classrooms will help the students utilize maximum resources to leverage their potential. told Shivaji to Newsgram.

Majority of the students were able to connect with the topic. Quite evident because they kept asking a lot of intriguing questions and participated in the discussions. – remarked Shivaji on the response of the students.

The interaction went remarkably well and it was able to embed some amount of knowledge in the students regarding the topic. According to Shivaji, the education system should be such that it connects the theories and concepts to the outside world.

Second Pilot Session – NRI Connect Project

The second Pilot session was conducted today. Shri Jitendra Chowdary, Vice president of Citi edified the students the importance of the search engine Google. He presented a PPT on how to make a sound career by pursuing an individual's passion.

He showed that while in the US, how he can know the weather of Cuddapah. This caught the glimpse to all students, one student asked him whether they can know the rainfall in their district? How can they know which land can be cultivated?. The question was tricksome but Shri Jitendra Chowdary answered their questions fairly to each one of them.

The scheduled date for the next interaction is 17 April. To know more about the initiative, click here

Reported by Naina Mishra of Newsgram, Twitter: Nainamishr94