IITians from various parts of the country will be offering free online classes to students in government schools located in rural areas of India. The initiative, known as the Online Rural Education Initiative (OREI), has been created by IIT Kanpur, which has developed a platform that allows all IITians to connect and teach students in rural India.
On Monday, the Chief Secretary, Durga Shankar Mishra, launched the initiative at UP Sainik School, Sarojininagar. The OREI program will enable IITians to teach mathematics and science to students in ten government secondary schools in the state. An official from the UP secondary education department stated that the program will benefit students in grades 9 to 12 at government schools. In addition to regular school instruction, they will receive guidance from IITians, who are experts in science and mathematics. The official also highlighted that since the classes will be conducted by accomplished individuals from the country, it will inspire students to aim for success themselves.
The OREI program was initially started in 2018 by a group of BTech students at Shri Ram Janki Inter College, Bithoor (Kanpur). Later, it was extended to Bharatiya Gramin Vidyalaya, Mahona (Lucknow). The primary goal is to provide high-quality science and mathematics classes to rural students. These classes will be interactive, allowing students to ask questions that will be answered by experts. The classes will also be available on a YouTube channel in Hindi.
A timetable is being prepared in the schools to incorporate these classes, ensuring that more students can benefit from them. The Chief Secretary expressed gratitude to the IIT Kanpur team for their contribution to the state government’s efforts to improve the quality of education.
