Lessons learnt: How Chalopadho plans to revolutionize classroom teaching

After being through the rigors of the education system, friends Karan Gupta, Shikhar Sethi and Abhimanyu Jhajharia felt a disconnect between what they had learnt and real life situations. Despite being from some of the best institutions in the country, the trio found it hard to relate to what they had studied.
"We felt like we learnt more outside of class than in it. In school, the emphasis was always about getting good marks or clearing an exam to get into a good college and keeping our parents happy. Even when we studied things about our immediate environment, the dry manner with which it was handled did not create interest. Classrooms were simply spaces where we consumed information fed to us by our teachers," says Gupta, 24.

Gupta was of the view that the process of creation is what gives us joy, not consumption. "The realization of our interests which should have happened in school came about much later," he adds.

To fill these gaps in learning, the trio made an online learning platform where everything would be connected to real life and classroom time would be used for creation. With Chalopadho, the founders were trying to ensure that education is not just about scores, but are more about understanding the world around and applying that knowledge to make it a better place.

"We called ourselves Chalopadho because it is a phrase that is commonly used by parents and teachers in India to tell their kids to go study. We want to change the feeling associated with this phrase for the kids. We want padhai (learning) to feel like an awesome experience that they look forward to," says Gupta.

The lessons:

Studying in school is boring, repetitive and is often a chore for children. Kids can not relate to what they are learning because of which there is inadequate understanding, lack of interest and poor performance. Moreover, with the primary focus still on scores, kids are unable to apply or use what they learn and hence find it tough to create anything new or take any initiative.

"Education has not yet evolved to take advantage of the easy access to information that exists today. There is still a focus on recollection which was important in the days when only books and libraries were the main repositories of knowledge - the time before the Internet. Today, education needs to be application oriented and schools must provide the space to their students to think outside the box, take initiative and create something," says Gupta.

The problem is accentuated as teachers do not have the time to cater to individual needs in a class of 40. Technology must step in to personalize learning and also put kids on a path where they can learn on their own.

The offering:

Investing about Rs. 10 lakh that the founders raised through various web development projects, the startup built their platform on the flipped classroom concept. Work on Chalopadho started in November 2012 and the pilot project started with Shiv Nadar School in August 2013.

The platform is unique because of several reasons. Most available learning material is made by simply digitizing the concepts in the book. Such content may help in visualizing the concept better, but it ignores three key aspects - connections, gamification and the social aspect. "Not only do we curate and make videos, games, questions, stories and treasure hunts to engage the kids, the content is full of connections to real-life, current events and their own knowledge. They get to interact with each other and express their opinions. It becomes an experience where they explore and express. It is more stimulating, gets them to ask more questions and look for their own answers. This has led to very high engagement," says Gupta.

The startup also provides detailed analytics to teachers and the school by giving insights into a child's behaviour, interests and performance in different subjects. Chalopadho is also ideally suited for flipped classes. "Every student gets personal access to engage and express. Combined with the special content and gamification, the engagement is high, so teachers get actionable data before the class begins where the suggested activities can be used and the final differentiated experience delivered to the students," says Gupta.

Chalopadho has also differentiated its product by making customized content according to every school's needs and facilitate the implementation of flipped classes. The startup works actively with the school and its teachers to come up with a solution that they need and suits their requirement. "We provide the teachers with data about their students and use their feedback to improve the experience for their students. We are not a technology company trying to transform education, we are an education company leveraging the power of technology to improve school education," says Gupta.