MIT Solve

Solution Overview

Solution Name:

Education Box for Rural Education

One-line solution summary:

We will develop a rugged (water, dust, shock and drop proof), portable and self-contained Education Box with tailored Educational Content.

Pitch your solution.

We provide a potential solution to educate millions of children including those residing in diverse and challenging locations ranging from remote villages in developing countries to emergency camps. The solution will provide education to children wherever they are, without requiring any additional infrastructure.

We will develop a rugged (water, dust, shock and drop proof), portable and self-contained Education Box with tailored Local Educational Content with Open Content Generation Ecosystem. The Education Box will have a screen, speakers and camera with built-in crank rechargeable battery.

It will provide instruction in local language for both self and guided study and will provide content for both students as well as for teacher and parent training as in many parts parents have to teach their children.

Being self-contained and with content designed for local needs and delivered in local language, it can used individually and in groups or make shift class rooms.

What specific problem are you solving?

Millions of children in developing world grow up without any formal education. Many of those who are enrolled in schools get low quality education. There is severe lack of qualified and motivated teachers and many schools are actually ghost schools without any teacher availability. Teacher training is also a significant problem.

For example, in Pakistan, it is estimated that about 22.8 million children are out of school.

In some regions, it is not easy to build school infrastructure due to diverse population, tough terrain (e.g, mountainous regions) and population scattered over large distances.

Many children have to help in household jobs ( e.g, nomads and farmers) and hence it is not easy for them to spare morning time for school education.

Many regions do not have internet or even cell phone connectivity.

What is your solution?

Our Idea

We propose to develop following to provide a mechanism to provide education opportunity for these children.

Education Box: The education box will be a portable rugged instrument, robust enough to survive harsh environments. It acts like a virtual lecturer.

It will have a screen and speakers. The box will be able to run on ordinary batteries, car batteries and could be recharged by integrated crank handle. Box can be used by individual students or groups (e.g. in a small class). Core educational content will be stored inside. Further educational content can be added as needed.

Educational Content: Educational content in form of video lectures, textbook pages, tests, figures, and animations will be developed in local language keeping in view the self-learning aspect for the children. Content for community improvement (e.g. healthcare and agriculture) will also be provided tailored to select locations.

Content Generation: We will make an ecosystem so that content can be voluntarily generated by teachers and professionals wherever they are. We will establish a quality check mechanism as well.

Innovations

Rugged - water, dust, shock and drop proof.
Low Cost
Self-contained – no accessories needed
Distraction Free
Controlled content
Hack and Tamper Resistant
Based on Low Cost Yet Reliable Automotive
Community Beneficial Education – Healthcare and related
Testing and evaluation (using of AI, remote teacher/volunteer)
Content for both children and teachers/parents

Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?

Whom will the Idea Help

The idea will primarily help the underprivileged children in developing world. It is also useful as an education box without distractions for privileged children.

Optionally, it will help in community improvement especially in healthcare education and information (e.g. with community health workers), agriculture and adult education.

How will be Impact Measured

We will deploy the prototypes in a underprivileged community and periodically evaluate the impact on local children by standard or similar tests which the children take in schools.

How Many people impacted.

The potential for the number of people impacted in huge. In short term, we will select a group of children to judge the efficacy of the system and make any adjustments, if necessary. After this pilot study, the system will be scaled up in various regions. We will establish collaborations with government and various NGOs which are already working in various regions. In the long term, this technology can be used for education of millions of children in collaboration with respective governments, philanthropic organizations and other related organizations.

Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?

Enable access to quality learning experiences in low-connectivity settings—including imaginative play, collaborative projects, and hands-on experiments.

Explain how the problem you are addressing, the solution you have designed, and the population you are serving align with the Challenge.

Our solution provides a way to educated primary and secondary school students during epidemic or otherwise, even at places where there is no infrastructure.

More importantly , it can help educate millions of out of school students.

The EdBox can deliver content ( audio/video lectures to individuals or groups), conduct tests, provide interactive activities and even evaluate exams to some extent. The EdContent will be targeted specially to students of a particular region, will use local language and will not assume unrealistic background knowledge from students.

Availability of well designed targeted content will help both students and teachers.

The students can learn in places without any internet connection. They can repeat the content or use it in interactive mode for better inclusion.

Teacher/Parent Training or Education for teaching students

EdBox can mitigate the effect of nonavailability of suitable teachers- it
can help teachers to train or practice a well prepared lecture stored in EdBox
instead of just relying on their own which may not be sufficient in many
cases.

In many cases, its difficult to gather students to a place at one time due to distance, children helping families, sickness and travel constraints. However with EdBox, individual students or groups can receive instruction material at any time. In such a mode, a qualified teacher is not necessary to be present and an elder can manage the instruction process. EdBox can be placed in community place and used by a variety of students.

In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?

Islamabad, Pakistan

What is your solution’s stage of development?

Prototype: A venture or organization building and testing its product, service, or business model.

Explain why you selected this stage of development for your solution.

Our current stage of development is closer to Prototype stage.

We plan to target a local community and collaborate with well renowned NGOs including Citizens Foundation and Alkidmat Foundation. These NGOs have experience in delivering education to communities who can not afford it.

Who is the Team Lead for your solution?

Dr Imran Raouf Malik