Unlocking a Language for Rural Teachers

More than 113 million children go to government schools in India. With so many young students in these public schools, dealing with teacher shortages is a major challenge. And in government schools, teachers are now required to teach English at both primary and secondary levels.

But many teachers in rural areas haven’t been exposed to the language yet.

I come from a rural area where I have seen these challenges within our education system firsthand. I also know how much good schooling can help prepare students for the future, build self-confidence, and open you up to new ways of thinking.

That’s why I decided to give back in a way that tackles the language barrier with teachers — so they could set students up for success.

Building a Learning Tool: SRIMATHY

In October 2018, the India Literacy Project and the International Institute of Information Technology in Bangalore hosted a one-day Hackathon event. As participants, our goal was to brainstorm and build ways to teach English to teachers in rural parts of India.

We needed to equip teachers with resources so once they learn the language, they can then pass along their knowledge to students. My colleague, Sivakumar Sukumar, and I developed a prototype for an application that accomplishes that goal.

From that, SRIMATHY was built. It’s an acronym for “Self-improvement Reading Information Made Available to Help You.”

The application features various spelling and language exercises and activities. It allows teachers to share their progress with others on the same platform. It comes with a built-in dictionary and the capability to consult English experts or mentors for additional help.

From Prototype to Success

We wanted to keep the app simple, readily available, and free to use. This makes it easy for users to practice English outside of school hours.

After developing the app for a few months, SRIMATHY went live in March 2019. We could not be more excited!

We piloted the app in schools in a remote village near Madurai. We got so much feedback and suggestions from teachers that we extended the pilot another six months.

Now, due to COVID-19, we haven’t been able to expand our reach yet. But we plan to meet with more schools and offer demos. The best part is that some of our team members have even shown interest in taking it to rural schools in their villages as well.

We expect SRIMATHY to touch the lives of hundreds of teachers and, ultimately, tens of thousands of students.

Together, Everyone Achieves More

At Cisco, our technology can do amazing things. But the human connections we make — and the things we can accomplish when we put our heads together — are phenomenal.

This app is an example of what you can achieve through collaboration.

In Bangalore especially, there are so many opportunities to give back through education. Hackathons are always happening.

The best things we can give are our time and skills. Your expertise matters for these causes. Leverage Cisco as your partner — employees have 80 hours of Time2Give to volunteer this year!

Just speak with someone who shares a passion for giving back — partner with that person. Ask them about their journey and see if you can join them. Collaboration and networking are great tools to get started.

Trust me, by using your technical expertise to make a difference in society, your impact can be truly profound.

Imran Razack is a Technical Support Manager based in Bangalore, India. He is a part of the CX Data Center organization and continues to give back in the education space. He’s associated with the educational social enterprise, EVidyaLoka, and teaches kids English for two hours each week. Imran is introducing the SRIMATHY app to teachers in more schools throughout rural India.

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