But along the way, Government schools have gotten blindsided. These schools face the growing brunt of the system’s biggest challenges – access to quality education for learners and educators.
“As a leader in digital transformation, we solve big problems for our clients every day, and we do it best. As responsible businesses, we must apply those competencies in areas where the world needs them the most. And that is what we are doing with our efforts as we work with partners. We are committed to bridging the gap in society, treating our environment with respect and enabling a more equitable society.”
Tech4Positive futures, one of the key CSR initiatives by Capgemini, is a potent confluence of technology, business and society working together to create and enable a better world. The teams look at new channels to scale progress in overlooked sectors and empower it with technology. Issues ranging from education to tackling hunger in schools, giving speech-and-language therapy for stroke patients to reducing maternal mortality rates in the country are some of the critical concerns that the CSR team is addressing. These deep-rooted, systemic problems require both strategic and operational impetus. In Bengaluru, at the prodigious IIM-B, the Capgemini CSR team works with the pioneers in start-up hub incubation NSRCEL to nurture an ecosystem of social start-ups that use technology to further Capgemini’s vision of tech-empowered social change for good. Together they identify, mentor and support start-ups to scale up and usher in progress.
Tara, an innovation by Learning Matters, is one of the many social start-up companies supported by the Capgemini-NSRCEL partnership at IIM-B.
To bridge the gap in the education system, one has to understand the pangs of the schools at the bottom of the country’s academic pyramid. Learning Matters’ work in this field gave them critical insights into the growing gap in the quality of education between tier-1 and tier-2 or 3 city schools. They realised how students in these two demographics get adversely different levels of opportunities due to their education. This vacuum propelled them to become first-time entrepreneurs and develop Tara.
What excited the Capgemini team most about Tara is its vision to enable the lowest rungs of schools in the country’s education system with agility, simplicity of usage and implementation. Designed to target Government schools primarily, Tara brings affordable, quality education into the country’s heartlands and deep interiors, wherein the surge of progress is yet to reap socio-economic progress through education.
Gowri Mahesh
Co-Founder & Chief Operations Officer, Learning Matters
“We saw that kids here completely depend on the school for their education. A very small population of students could even afford tuition outside the school. We realised that nobody spoke English though these were English-medium schools. Teachers didn’t teach in English, and as first-generation learners, the kids also didn’t have the exposure to learn this language outside. The teachers we were assisting with their training wanted us to help them fill this gnawing gap in the system. They asked us if we could do something about this? That is how this idea of Tara came about.”
Ananth Chandramouli
Managing Director, Business Unit, Capgemini India
“Tech like AI (Artificial Intelligence) and NLP (Natural Language Processing) has truly come of age today. We can see that in our day-to-day life. But what excites me the most is the simple application of technology to this challenging problem (in the education system). Usually, you ask an engine like Alexa questions, and it processes the query and answers. But here, with Tara, they have flipped the discourse. The NLP or, in this case, Alexa asks the question, processes the answer and corrects the learner if required. All this happens in real-time. It is an ingenious hack. It further gives the team the ability to assess the maturity of the learner and take it forward.“
Capgemini hopes that such tech-based ingenuities will elevate the entire educational system. During the pandemic, Capgemini also supported Learning Matters by taking Tara to their network of adopted schools, helping the schools struggling with physical classes while bringing a much-needed respite to the start-up, looking at ways to further their reach during an economic downturn. These collaborations and catalytic possibilities make the Capgemini-NSRCEL incubation hub a backbone of growth amongst start-ups even amidst adversities.
“Tara has a huge potential. 'Learning how to learn' is a fundamental ability we should develop in kids. Basic language and maths skills are essential to that. This technology has the proven ability to scale and the potential to ensure that we leave no children out of the basic foundation in education. Tara can take the learner to the next step and teach them 'learning how to learn'; then, a world of opportunities opens.”
CHENNAI | BENGALURU | Hyderabad | NOIDA
Capgemini assists start-ups with funding, and along with NSRCEL, they mentor incubations like Learning Matters to look at frugal technology more intently and adopt sustainable solutions across the board, ensuring business scalability and longevity.
The Capgemini-NSRCEL partnership at IIM-B nurtures over 9 social start-ups that use technology to build a more inclusive and equal world.
