Project Aakaar

There are ~2 million visually impaired (VI) children in India, and a tiny fraction of them pursue schooling. Out of the children who go to school, only 1% pursue higher education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). To compound the problem, 60% of these students fail in graduate studies due to inadequate educational aid resulting in a high drop-out percentage. Most people reading this would not have had a severely visually impaired person in their class or study group. There is prevalent systematic segregation and difference in the quality of education provided to sighted versus VI students due to having separate schools and limited educational aids. Accessibility is not designed into the curriculum as an essential feature. Instead, students are exempt from specific topics that are difficult to teach verbally, specifically geometry. There is a need for a deeper understanding of the core problems, co-design of possible solutions, and adoption of non-traditional methods to promote educational aids for VI students who find it difficult to cope with subjects with high visual elements. Additionally, teachers in sighted schools do not have the tools or the training to transition to schools for the blind. While integrated education is essential for these students' long-term financial, educational, and professional development, assimilation is extremely difficult as they are not provided with well-defined instruction in the correct form at the appropriate time.

Our solution aims to bridge innovation in tactile teaching aids with the schools for the VI in India, where these can significantly increase the quality of education. It is a three-fold process - designing, manufacturing, and distribution, all of which are either partially implemented or need scaling.

Designing: To start with, it's paramount that the tactile aids are effective for teaching and have been tested by the VI for their usability. We have developed and validated tactile tangram puzzles targeted for primary-level geometry education. These have been endorsed by teachers from at least three schools for the VI in terms of their effectiveness. However, we are not limited to in-house teaching aids developed by us but also have collected validated designs from open-source online resources. Among these resources is the one developed by Nonscriptum (http://www.nonscriptum.com/), who have validated their designs at various schools in the US for VI students. These designs also have associated guidelines to make the best use of the teaching aids in a classroom setting. Additionally, we have been organizing workshops in schools for sighted students in India, where the end goal is to develop tactile aids, especially for the concepts that are elusive to understand. These workshops are held in association with VI students, and validation of designs is integrated as part of the brainstorming.

Manufacturing: With an increasing repository of validated designs, the next step is to manufacture them. We are already manufacturing with the help of partner makerspaces and government 3D printing ecosystems like Atal Tinkering Labs in India, and using paid outsourcing at times. However, to scale up the process, we need to set up our own manufacturing facility or partner with a manufacturer, which requires significant funding.

Distribution: After manufacturing, the teaching aids are directly distributed to a few pilot schools for the VI, which use them in the classrooms and give us feedback on any further improvements needed. We also Train-the-Teachers (T3) to make the best use of these aids at different levels of study. We aren't using the entire network of schools for the VI available to us, which resulted from our resources at National Association for the Blind (NAB), Bangalore. With an increased manufacturing capability, we will be able to tap into this network and spread these teaching aids and teacher training to hundreds of schools for the VI in India.

Project Aakaar’s open-source designs and the ones available at Nonscriptum are targeted for middle and high school education in geometry. The targeted beneficiaries of the solution are Visually Impaired (VI) students at that level of education in India. In, over and above this target group - 3 other distinct groups are consequently served by this solution:

1. Sighted students who are struggling with traditional methods of geometric teaching.
2. Teachers at sighted schools and schools for the blind.
3. Parents of VI students. 

Less than 1% of VI students globally pursue higher studies in STEM due to a lack of access to appropriate devices and instruction. This results in a criminal underrepresentation of these individuals in educational disciplines and the professional workforce. Advanced technology is not available to most of these students resulting in systematic reduced learning for reasons beyond their control. Addressing geometry is a small step in the curriculum but a giant leap for higher education amongst VI students in India who rarely can explore the same. Providing them the resources to learn the same opens avenues such as taking the Science stream in ICSE/CBSE curriculum, SAT exams, engineering disciplines, architecture, etc. The 3-D printed models describe the concept, which can be read aloud by a person or an artificial document processor. This bridges the gap between the only verbal form of teaching to incorporating tactile aids, which supplement the lessons. There are sighted students who also learn better with practical examples instead of theories and board drawings, making this a productive alternative for them. While the solution was initially targeted at VI students, it has evolved into an inclusive solution for sighted students also. The T3 program enables instructors without prior accessibility training to understand how to incorporate the designs into their classes and curriculum, reducing their individual workload per student and easing the subject incorporation. This would enable teachers from sighted schools to transfer to schools for the blind if they utilized translation technologies for Braille. Eventually, we want to make these cost-effective prints (with Braille instructions) available for purchase by parents so that children can self-educate, promoting independence amongst VI children. 

Sarthak and Shantanu were part of the original team that did the groundwork research for Project Aakaar during their UG studies at NIT Warangal. They directly worked with VI students for ~1.5 years. Presently, they are pursuing graduate studies at RWTH in Simulation Sciences and UC-Davis in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, respectively. They have the technical skills to expand and refine the open-source designs validated in the US. Their in-depth understanding of the local problem will be an essential part of customizing the solutions and establishing our national presence in the coming year and beyond. Both Indrayud and Prithvi (with VI) have 7+ years of experience working on edu-social development projects beyond their academic and professional pursuits. Prithvi is an MS in Design from IIT Kanpur who is presently working as the Lead UX Designer at Trimble, bringing direct industry design experience. Indrayud’s graduate thesis in Systems Design and Management at MIT focused on the financial feasibility of different manufacturing and distribution models for tactile education aids nationwide. Ankit has extensive start-up experience and has led Product Development & Product Management, Business Planning and Strategy, Talent Acquisition and Team Building, Networking and Partnerships, New Markets Exploration, and Establishment across multiple companies. He is our Business Lead and is steering us on a possible growth strategy based on his experience. We are guided by Dr. Kyle Keane, an advocate for technology-based improvements for differently-abled individuals for over 2 decades.  

Strategic:

1. Accelerate the creation of a dedicated Makerspace through funding
2. Connecting with well-informed partners and providers in VI-assistive educational aids for effective distribution of printed solutions. 
3. Providing exposure to impact-minded leaders and the Solve peer group

Technical:

1. Introduction to students and partners with additive manufacturing experience
2. SMEs who can guide on the transition from 3D printing to large-scale injection molding

Marketing: 

1. Access to mentorship, coaching, and strategic advice from social enterprise experts
2. Exposure through MIT-internal channels, sponsoring partners, media, and conferences

At present, there are NO cost-effective tactile devices in India that can teach geometrical concepts to visually impaired middle-school and high-school students. This intervention has the potential to promote equitable STEM education for our visually impaired friends. In the process, it also has the potential to sensitize young, sighted students towards the problems faced by their VI counterparts. With a focus on manufacturing and distribution, we aim to reach out to the maximum number of VI students across India.

Our approach has the following unique features -

• Cost-effective manufacturing and distribution: Supplementing in-house designs with open-source and validated tactile teaching aids and crowdsourced designs from workshops. This will allow us to focus more on cost-effective manufacturing and distribution.
• Participatory Design with co-creators:   Building empathy and raising awareness about the extent of the problem in school-going sighted students through design crowdsourcing workshops. Undoubtedly, this will be a source of new ideas for similar interventions via student/teacher projects.
• Co-learning - Equitable learning: As an added advantage, these tactile aids have the potential to be used also by sighted students (especially those who are struggling with traditional methods of learning) making the product inclusive of all. With established manufacturing, we can augment our distribution network with schools for sighted students as well.

By mid-2023, we aim to serve around 15 VI schools with an estimated average of around 100 students. However, based on the availability of printers or available funding for procuring prints, we could scale up rapidly. Over the next five years, we aim to connect with every major school for the visually impaired in all cities of India having a population of >1 Million, which is around 50 cities in India. This would involve reaching approximately 5-7k visually impaired students out of the estimated ~15k students in the nation.

The cost of a single set including required prints targeted at middle school students would be ~$200. These sets would be shared by students and because class timings are usually at different times, they can be reused by multiple teachers. In the next year, we plan to procure 75 sets of prints at a cost of $15k and distribute them to our initial target schools. Simultaneously, we will also share the T-3 curriculum and instructional material with VI instructors along with an evaluation pedagogy for gauging efficiency. 

We will also continue the design workshops for spreading awareness about the problem among sighted students. Once the effectiveness of the educational aids is proven after a year of consistent use, we will activate the NAB connection for nationwide distribution. 

For our solution, there are 4 indicators that we shall be measuring for progress- 

No. of prints distributed: A count of the ready-sets available through in-house printing and outsourcing which have been distributed to schools for the blind and VI students and are being used as a part of the geometry curriculum. 

No. of students affected: A count of the number of VI students who are using the prints for their classes and/or attending the co-design workshops; the number of sighted students who are attending the awareness and co-design workshops. The feedback from the audience is one core factor of our measuring process - we measure the effectiveness and the progress it has created for students. 

Effectiveness: Comparative analysis of mathematics scores in students using the devices vs. a control group in the topics covered by the tactile educational aids. Qualitative feedback from students on their engagement and increased interest in the subject. 

T3 Distribution: Number of instructors and parents to whom the T3 curriculum is distributed to. The number of teacher-led workshops conducted in sighted schools on a yearly basis. Workshops are not restricted to teachers only and can be conducted by students and/or volunteers from the community as well. 

• Activities - VI schools will receive tactile educational aids that can be used by students to learn concepts in geometry instead of being exempt from learning certain topics. Teachers and parents will receive an instructional T3 curriculum which will show them how to use these devices. Co-design workshops will be conducted at sighted schools in collaboration with VI students. 

• Outputs - VI students will be able to learn geometry concepts which are essential for higher STEM education. Teachers and parents will be able to guide students better and the curriculum would also work as an advertising mechanism. Sighted students would understand the extent of the problem by spreading awareness about the need for a solution that can promote greater inclusion for the differently-abled. 

• Short Term Change - VI students in middle school (grades 4-6) will get access to tactile educational aids for learning geometry instead of skipping the topics. Teachers will have a better understanding of how to teach these concepts to VI students and the aids will make the process easier for them. Sighted students would start growing empathy towards the problem and start asking questions on how they can contribute to the solution from an early age. 

• Long Term Change - VI students in middle school, high school, and undergraduate studies will have access to tactile educational aids for various topics in mathematics instead of having to skip these topics. Sighted students who are struggling with traditional methods of instruction can use the devices as alternative "ludic" methods of learning. Teachers from sighted schools would be able to transition to VI schools and parents would also be able to teach these concepts to children from home. Sighted students will co-design and develop products where accessibility is a part of the design process instead of an afterthought. 

The core technology that powers our solution is open-source tactile additive manufacturing prints. There are publicly available collections of validated CAD designs for geometry education that are presently in use in developed countries like the US. However, there is a lack of awareness about the extent of the problem in India. Instead of re-inventing the wheel, our goal is to leverage the open-source designs and enable rapid distribution to VI students who would benefit greatly by having access to these educational aids. Traditional manufacturing techniques would result in high upfront costs that would make the solution unattractive to potential investors. Additive manufacturing would help us stagger the cost over time while ensuring that we are continuously increasing our impact by expanding our VI school network. The PLA materials are recyclable and the prints are designed for regular use with minimal degradation.

We are also envisioning an app in the long run that can potentially connect users and provide solutions offered through our servicing business model. It would utilize haptics to remove the need for physical prints, have voice-activated descriptions of the geometry concepts, and include instructional material for teachers and parents. 

Our target market is presently urban and pre-urban areas in India, and we have representation from all four corners of the subcontinent - Sarthak (north), Ankit (west), Prithvi & Shantanu (south), and Indrayud (east). These regions are culturally significantly different, and based on discussions that we have had with stakeholders in our specific regions, this issue is prevalent across the country. It has been corroborated by teachers, students, and professionals alike. Additionally, Ms. Radhika Manoharan has been a tremendous support and advocate throughout the entire process for the team and community. The leadership team ensures that decisions are made after discussions with all team members and inclusive of all opinions post deliberation. Usually, educational aids are designed for sighted kids and customized for VI students if feasible, making accessibility an after-thought instead of a core aspect of design. The designs being investigated by Project Aakaar are truly inclusive as they can be used by both VI and sighted students. 

This impact program needs penetration and eventually will evolve into a self-sustainable organization. With these goals in mind, we intend to take the following approach

• Freemium model - for 2-3 years
• Subscription-based model - after the previous period

Freemium model - Targeting 15 schools for the pilot, the freemium model aims to distribute 1 puzzle set for a group of 5 visually challenged students in a school setup. We forecast that by this we would distribute 200 puzzle sets in the first year.

This would help us generate answers to the below goals of the freemium business model

• Penetrate the market
• Generate contextual customer feedback and identify needs + preferences
• Upgrade the designs based on feedback for the Subscription-based model

This information helps us define the target segments in a varied marketplace like India - where there are different challenges in varied scenarios/contexts - considering the type of visual impairment, the infrastructure, and the available resources (human and capital).

Subscription-based model -

Our subscription-based model targets schools that are our end users - with materials, training, and evaluation support.

Customers: CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) initiatives, Schools for the Visually impaired, VI targeted private and public organizations

End-users: VI students, Teachers, Sighted kids (as an alternate mode of education)

Value Proposition: To effectively distribute well-evaluated customized tactile educational resources for VI students to learn Geometry/Mathematics.

Key Activities:

• Evaluation of the custom-designed tactile solution
• Customize the package for targeted customers
• Distribution model to scale the business
• Outreach and Business development

Key Partners: VI schools, VI organizations, Atal Tinkering Lab

Key Resources: Makerspace (Printers, PLA, Human Support), T3 training templates (2 types)

Cost Structure:

Manufacturing:

• 3D printing material expenses (likely shared with partner schools/ATLs)
• Makerspace set up, operational and maintenance expenses
• Temporary/Permanent trainers stationed at partner schools

Distribution:

• Establishing and maintaining a Distribution channel (delivery of puzzle sets)
• Membership fees if we are affiliated with International bodies that support PwD or VI inclusive societies (standalone or associated)
• Salaries (of employees)

Channels:

Distribution - NAB, Govt., CSR, Diagram, ATL, Employees, Lego, Teachers, Advocates, Parents
Sales - VI Orgs/ Schools, Govt., Diagram, Workshops, Training, Website, Booths/ Shows, Universities, Services portal, Educational Initiatives/Institutions, Advocates
Marketing - EnableIndia, Diagram, VI advocates, our University networks, Alumni networks, Booths/ Shows, Flash Mob, University students, Indigogo/ Kickstarter/GoFundMe
Revenue Streams - Product Sales from products to the schools, VI orgs, Daycare centers, parents, Service T3 Training to organizations/ schools, Subscriptions (schools - module-based training + puzzles), Trainings and workshops, Consultancy, Grants 3Fs - Friends, Family, and Fools, CSR, Grant Applications (India specific, education-specific, disability-specific research), Donations Social entrepreneurship (charity) funding from local/international bodies

We have partnered with Makerspaces in India such as Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL), schools with 3-D printing infrastructure such as Smt. Kamalabai Educational Institute (SKEI) and for-profit 3-D printing agencies such as Vishwastratis for rapid printing and delivery to multiple schools in India. However, the establishment of a dedicated ‘Project Aakaar’ Makerspace is essential for us to scale up and reach our envisioned business targets in the next 5 years.

The team has been actively conversing with entrepreneurs in India and Saudi Arabia for raising funds and tapping into friends and family for sustainment during this initial phase. Social impact and social entrepreneurship competitions can help us launch into the growth phase by providing guidance in matters such as non-traditional fundraising channels, investor pitching, and marketing to strengthen our organizations' base.

In the future, we plan to get financial support from State and National governing bodies for the integration of our educational aids into the prescribed curriculum. Policies and funding for education, disability, poverty empowerment, and workforce building can be tapped into. Additionally, we would like to work with publishing houses targeted at specialized designs for supplementary topics which are not a part of the curriculum. Creating long-term relationships with corporates and tapping into CSR (corporate social responsibility) initiatives would assist in sustained financial stability as well.  

The "Make in India" program established 3D printing capabilities in over 9k schools in India, and these schools were conducting regular workshops on additive manufacturing. While the students were creating aesthetically pleasing and fun products, they were usually discarded after the session, thus becoming non-utilitarian. By creating a Train-the-Trainers (T3) manual along with our publicly available 3D CAD designs, we were able to leverage the existing infrastructure at Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) (https://www.aim.gov.in/pdf/Ope...) and conduct co-design sessions at sighted schools like Smt. Kamalabai Educational Institute (SKEI). The prints from these sessions are presently in circulation at the Shree Ramana Maharishi Academy for the Blind. While the circular economy worked on a small scale, scaling it up would be difficult based on our feasibility studies. 

Last year, we got some funding from the MIT PKG Ideas Social Innovation Contest. The funds allocated were used in two ways - 1) A Creality Ender 3 Pro was purchased for prototyping new designs and 2) Purchasing 2 ready sets from for-profit 3-D printing agencies such as Vishwastratis for distribution to 2 schools in Surat and Bengaluru. We have also connected with the National Association for the Blind (NAB) who have agreed to distribute the prints nationwide on our behalf once we have sufficient ready-to-distribute sets available with us. Furthermore, instead of investing time in self-created designs, we had a chat with Ms. Joan Horvath from Nonscriptum who told us about her open-source designs which we plan to use for distribution via NAB.