SBI Foundation partners with Khan Academy to accelerate localisation of content and last-mile access to education in India
New Delhi : SBI Foundation is partnering with Khan Academy to support the mission of making high-quality educational content accessible to students in Punjab and accelerate content localisation so that every student can learn in their own language. This partnership strengthens efforts in content localisation as per the latest National Education Policy with support from the State Governments and public schools to democratise access to high-quality learning resources.
The focus of the partnership will be on successfully implementing a personalised math learning program for 1,00,000 learners in Punjab. SBI Foundation and SBI Funds Management Pvt. Ltd. are exclusively providing funding support for math content localisation in Punjabi and teacher training programs consisting of over 5,000 teachers across 3,000 schools in Punjab.
With the SBI Foundation’s support, Khan Academy and the Govt. of Punjab will create new math lessons consisting of videos, articles and practice exercises in Punjabi aiming at all learners in Punjab’s public schools. This content will also be available on Khan Academy’s platform for free for all students. This will help students from Grades 6-12 build a solid foundational understanding in math and learn at their own pace while enabling teachers to identify learning gaps and address them individually. As a part of this initiative, the team at Khan Academy will work closely with the Punjab Government to educate over 5,000 teachers on how to use Khan Academy’s learning content and effectively implement personalised math learning in the classroom.
Talking about the initiative, Ms. Manjula Kalyanasundaram, Managing Director, SBI Foundation, expressed her profound excitement on the partnership. “At SBI Foundation, we are working to enhance and sustain the students’ interest in learning mathematics because we see math at the core of logical thinking and reasoning for the children. Innovative teaching methods can help improve learning outcomes for children and therefore, we are elated to have partnered with Khan Academy India in strengthening the mathematical abilities of 1,00,000 learners.”
Additionally, Khan Academy will leverage the nationwide reach of SBI to reach every household beyond the metros, especially tier 2-5 towns, and villages. Commenting on this development, Sandeep Bapna, MD, Khan Academy India, said, “SBI Foundation is committed to empowering learners with strong foundational education through various initiatives and we feel extremely encouraged by their support for content localisation and helping us to reach every household in India. Together, we are going to create essential learning content in regional languages so that millions of students and teachers can learn in their own language and focus on what is important.”
The pandemic resulted in sudden school closures and disrupted learning, especially for students from low-income households in rural India. These students’ study in their respective regional languages and there is a surge in demand for high-quality educational content in local languages such as Punjabi. Every month almost 1 million students visit Khan Academy in India and 15-20% of them study in their local languages which is likely to increase to about 50% in the coming years. Khan Academy is committed to making world-class education accessible to students in India and all over the world and currently available in English, Hinglish, Hindi, Kannada, Punjabi, and Gujarati, aligned to the Indian curriculum.