The second Millennium Alliance Award in 2020 (FICCI and USAID) is a testimonial to CLT’s scale on its digital STEM content suite, developed in-house in regional languages and delivered to remote rural schools through multiple technology delivery models– both online and offline.

Technology interventions in India have an additional challenge, other than no connectivity in rural schools - with many states adopting their regional language to teach. CLT has countered this challenge by making available all the teaching and learning resources in regional languages and mobile technology.

Ms Bhagya Rangachar, Founder CEO, worked as a software professional in the U.S., before founding CLT India in 1998. She heads social innovations, leveraging technology. She has won 2 Millennium Alliance awards by FICCI and USAID – for digital STEM development in regional languages with low-cost technology delivery models. She has also won the Social Innovations Award - 50 most impactful social innovators in the global listing by World Congress CSR; Digital India Award, Times Group; twice listed in the Phenomenal She, Coffee Table Book by INBA; CNBC on their Change Makers series, 2020. While the internet and computers have changed how information is shared across the globe, only 16% of rural residents in India have access to the internet. The bulk of existing online material available is not translated into regional languages. Many do not even have electricity for hours per day.

CLT e -Patashale was conceptualized to address the massive challenges children face in underserved communities to complete school education with good learning outcomes, with no access to quality schools, good teachers and learning resources. To solve a problem at scale, CLT created a Hub-Spoke model, where Master Teachers designed in-house innovative STEM pedagogy for 5th-10th in regional languages. CLT designed a low-cost technology delivery model for remote areas with no connectivity. INNOVATION CLT’s focus has been to address the lack of access to basic needs in the context of education.

Their body of work examines ‘access’ in the context of under-served communities. For example, having content/resources on the internet does not necessarily become usable for someone if you cannot afford the technology, training and not in regional language.

Our strategy has been to build an entire ecosystem to develop relevant resources for the practitioners in their regional languages and develop low-cost mobile technology delivery models with data analytics. We have tested the Plug & Play android mini-PC device that hosts the content in multiple environments in 4,000 villages, 2.5 million learners. We have learnt that we can influence the local practitioners to be motivated and effective with good methodologies and innovative resources. Our collaborations with Government, Corporate and Foundations are key drivers for our scale and reach. We want to build a community of Learners, where we grow to 10 million students in the next five years, that can access the best pedagogy in their regional languages with affordable technology.