Adding the experience element
Harini Kumar Eliminating mediocrity in education is a motto of EZ Vidya, an education solutions provider for schools. What is it that mainstream schools are not doing that would need supplementary efforts from such organizations? Founded ten years ago in Chennai with the mission “Let the child blossom”, EZ Vidya provides products and services to schools with respect to academic curricula, training of teachers and helping schools enhance their approach to education. Chitra Ravi, founder and CEO of EZ Vidya says that technology has played an important role in their interventions, through their products. While they share schools’ basic objective of imparting knowledge, organizations like EZ Vidya propagate a different approach to learning that many schools are now lapping up and reaping the benefits of. “We noticed that teachers are unable to get into the mind of the learner, and this is where we come in,” says Chitra Ravi. “Through an interactive and participatory approach that addresses the learning needs of today, our products motivate children to learn by providing multiple stimuli.” EZ Vidya’s flagship product, Chrysalis – a complete information and communication technology (ICT) curriculum package that includes textbooks, workbooks and audio-visual material – offers what have come to be known as ‘21st century skills’. Schools that enroll with them replace their conventional materials with those provided by EZ Vidya, which ensures that there is a fit with the syllabus that the school follows. EZ Vidya also offers training for teachers in order to bridge the gap between education research and what is being imparted in schools. Curricula in mainstream Indian schools are often regarded as being heavy with content, weighing down students with concepts and definitions. Learning then becomes a weary, monotonous exercise that runs the risk of stunting a child’s personality growth. By using technology meaningfully, such products and services serve as a wake-up call to educators to improve their teaching methodology, question the basics, and offer a new curriculum while still adhering to the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) of 2005 and working within the guidelines laid out in national and state education policies. Through interactive workbooks, EZ Vidya seeks to trigger the thoughts of students by appealing to their different senses, giving them a chance to learn experientially rather than through a didactic method. For example, when a scientific phenomenon is explained through a poem to a student who likes poetry, it could create a more lasting impression than a simplistic definition that one usually sees in textbooks. Qualitative growth is