In a world that has already shifted towards Artificial Intelligence, rural India is still struggling to provide basic computer education to its children. But not anymore! iPartner is engaging girls from the most marginalised communities from 27 villages of Rajasthan through a Mobile Learning Unit (MLU). Targeted primarily towards girls who are most vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation, the MLU, which has multiple government-certified courses move every 3 months to a new village.
Richa* was married off at the age of 10 and hence had to drop out of school and give up on her dreams. Sia* belongs to a community that forces their minor daughters to enter sex work. Both Richa and Sia belong to Rajasthan where many more girls like them face such plight. Such girls are left without any voice and agency to access education and build on their dreams. For them learning computers and making a living out of it is a faraway dream which we are trying to fulfil. * names changed
The Mobile Learning Unit is equipped with 10 computers and runs for 3 months in a village. The students are taught government-certified courses that open up the doors for government and other jobs for the students. The entrepreneurial students can also set up government-initiated e-Mitra centres, which are computer kiosks that help the public to access various digital services under one roof. Having one computer per student allows them to learn in an easy way with hands-on experience.
It will help at least 100 students each year from marginalised communities to become future-ready and give them back their dignity and confidence to compete with others. In the long run, it can also reduce commercial sexual exploitation of children, as more and more girls find their own vocation and use it to fulfil their dreams and aspirations. It also allows to give first-hand experience on computers and hence leverages technology to engage the students beyond book knowledge.
