The Unexpected Benefits of the BFH Sulabh Learning App

In May 2024 a team from BFH TI travelled to southern India to roll out a software application they developed to help underprivileged children in rural government schools in India. Six months on, this BFH Sulabh app has brought value to more than 500 children. But the most unexpected benefit has been to empower the rural schoolteachers and give them leadership opportunities they could have never achieved in their government jobs.

The Challenge

As the authors discussed in their recent SocietyByte article, the “IT Boom” was the massive technological development in India, started in the late 1990s, that transformed the country into the world’s IT provider and, by doing so, lifted tens of millions of people out of poverty. But sadly, the IT Boom has had many negative consequences, some of them environmental, but many of them societal. In particular, now some 20 years after the boom, jobs in the massive Indian IT industry are largely filled by the well-educated, English speaking and highly global children of the first generation of boomers. This raises the bar almost unacceptably high for the developing rural population to compete successfully for the top jobs that could lift them and their families out of poverty.

The Solution

Over the course of one year, the BFH TI computer science students Tobias Erpen, Alayne Hiltmann, and Lukas Vogel developed an app designed to provide a highly innovative approach to teaching English and financial literacy to this community that needs it the most. They designed many notable aspects into their app. First, they designed it to be generic, providing content via links, so it could be tailored for learning any subject. Second, they engineered it to withstand the technical challenges of rural India, to work perfectly on very old mobile phones and with poor Internet connections. Finally, they designed it to be usable by people not experienced with modern apps – and who may never have used an app in their lives.  Now named the Sulabh app (Sulabh is the word for simple in almost all Indian languages), this app supports administrators, who can create courses, both self-study and teacher-led; it supports teachers, who work with students and manage their assignments; and it is easy-to-use by students, some of whom have never used a mobile app. One important feature is a reward for the students who complete a course, namely, the app generates a high-quality achievement certificate available for download in PDF form; although the students rarely have access to printers, usually each government school may have one available. A small gesture like this – one that would hardly be noticed in Switzerland – is a big booster in motivation for rural children.

Students with their well-earned certificate.

Slow rollout, then faster growth

The first months between May and August were challenging and aggravating. The initial target group of around 60 students from two Government Schools (Sathanuru and Cheeluru, near Bengaluru, the IT capital of India) did use the app. But for several months afterward, growing the user base was extremely slow and difficult. Partly this was due to technology; not all students have access smartphones, and for those that due, poor wi-fi connectivity in rural areas is a problem. But partly this was a management-of-change challenge, because integrating a new app into the learning process means changing the way people work. This is a volunteer activity, so it cannot be forced by the government school administration.

Unexpected benefit: an opportunity for leadership

What we could never have expected was the appearance of what we now call user champions: a small number of rural school teachers that are passionate about the app. The first such user champion was Ms. Shwetha PS from the government school in the village of Cheeluru. She not only used the app as well as helped the students with the app after hours. But more importantly, she actively encouraged other teachers to start using the app, at first within her school, but later at other government schools.

What we never expected was how this app could be a catalyst that gives leadership opportunities for the local teachers. In the last six months seven new user champions have emerged. They have all gotten the opportunity to interact with teachers, staff, and students at other government schools – an opportunity they would not otherwise so easily have had.

Thanks for the efforts of these application champions, they have not only transformed the learning environment but have been given opportunities to lead, collaborate, and gain recognition within their communities. These are opportunities they might not have encountered otherwise.

Present Status After 6 Months

Thanks entirely to the passion and hard work of currently eight user champions, the app is in use at 31 Govt schools in three Indian states. There are around 90 active teachers, 150 students – and we estimate around 3’500 students are benefitting from the app.

Next Steps

The Sharada Educational Trust has received over 30 requests by other volunteer organizations to use the app, but until now they have parked these requests. They are thinking big and would like to see the app used across India. But to best ensure success, they are taking a “think big, start slow” approach, making very careful “baby steps” to lay an excellent foundation for growth.  And now that they know the importance of user champions, they are taking a stronger focus in this area to win new champions and ensure the existing champions obtain recognition for their outstanding efforts.

On the BFH TI side, the work continues. A new team of students (David Pfister and Marcel Zbinden) have started a new app development project in this area. Rather than just extending this app with new features, their plan is to take more risks, bring in more innovation, and learn by doing what might ignite and go viral.

Thanks

The authors wish to thank the BFH TI department for sponsoring the trip to India. They especially wish to thank the hard-working “app champions” without whose passion it would not be possible to reach so many rural students and schools.

References

• https://sharadatrust.org/
• Zusammenfassung der Abschlussarbeit  «Learning Management System (LMS) for Rural India» von Studierenden im Bachelor Informatik, Tobias Erpen, Alayne Larissa Hiltmann, Lukas Vogel, https://bfh.easydocmaker.ch/search/abstract/3973/