Classroom learning of MCD schools to reach parents’ WhatsApp groups soon

Key points

• The initiative named Pratibhagita is being rolled out in phases by the civic body’s education department in collaboration with non-profit…
• Under the project, parents of children aged three to six years in pre-primary classes will receive daily audio-visual content through…
• The objective of Pratibhagita is to strengthen parental involvement in kid’s education.
• The activities will focus on literacy, numeracy, cognitive, socio-emotional and physical development and will be mapped in the monthly academic…

NEW DELHI: The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is due to launch a school-home engagement programme on WhatsApp with parents of nursery and KG students so as to share daily play-based learning activities and behavioural nudges that can be conducted with children at home.

The initiative named Pratibhagita is being rolled out in phases by the civic body’s education department in collaboration with non-profit organisation Rocket Learning across all 12 MCD zones this month, office-holders said. The rollout will cover three zones in each phase.

Under the project, parents of children aged three to six years in pre-primary classes will receive daily audio-visual content through teacher-parent WhatsApp groups.

The activities will focus on literacy, numeracy, cognitive, socio-emotional and physical development and will be mapped in the monthly academic planners of MCD.

What happened

It will introduce a digital mechanism to monitor and sustain parental participation. According to the programme’s implementation plan accessed by the newspaper, parents will receive personalised digital nudges and certificates based on their participation in the learning activities.

This move will also mark a shift towards the usage of parents’ existing digital communication channels to supplement classroom instruction, stated officials.

The platform will be provided by Rocket Learning. It will automatically distribute the foundational learning content. By contrast, messages from MCD can also be shared through the same WhatsApp groups once a week.

For students from classes 1 to 5, the programme will have a different focus.

The details

Instead of academic content generated by Rocket Learning, parents will receive information from the education department on matters related to students, MCD initiatives and general announcements. 

Students of primary school children will receive weekly posters, along with text messages and voice notes three times a week.

The content will be prepared at least two weeks in advance and scheduled through the digital platform a week before delivery.

According to officials, the objective of Pratibhagita is to strengthen parental involvement in kid’s education.