Every day you hear stories of how COVID-19 impacted someone’s life. Take education. It has seen a tremendous shift towards digitization due to in-classroom restrictions. Unable to attend school, educators adapted student curriculums to remote learning models. Access to online classes and the day-to-day educational material from students’ homes became an everyday occurrence.

Top NGOs (non-governmental organizations), small schools, colleges, coaching institutes, and educational startups adopted this new model — paving the way for Android MDM (mobile device management) for remote deployment, monitoring, and secure web browsing. 

For many, the pandemic created new burdens on parents. But in India, it amplified an existing educational crisis.

Over 116 million of the most impoverished children live in India, and low-income students were hardest hit. Education in classrooms became non-existent and limited access to technology made remote learning almost impossible. 

But one organization in India is doing something to help thousands of students. Running educational programs for low-income school kids in India, Teach For India works hard to keep them from falling behind in their education, especially since COVID-19. So securing 10,000 fully functioning Android tablets for students became a top priority.

This article provides a glimpse at how Teach For India uses Esper’s Android DevOps solution to make a difference in the education of these at-risk children.

Connecting Children With Educational Technology

How do you connect small learners with the right technology for their continuing education during a worsening pandemic? Use a dedicated EdTech Android DevOps solution.

Teach For India purchased Android devices for their reliability and cost management. But now, they needed a partner capable of providing a technical solution for deploying the devices to their students in time for the school year. A partner that could deliver:

  • Device management pre-installed on tablets, allows the tablets to ship to multiple locations without manual effort from Teach For India’s IT team.
  • Automatic reporting of usage trends for weekly analysis of the most frequently used educational apps.
  • A telemetry dashboard provides reports filtered by a group and subgroup level, on students’ device usage, on-screen time, app and data use, which website URLs students are accessing the most, etcetera.
  • SafeSearch allows or blocks apps and restricts students’ access to unwanted sites and apps on the Google Chrome browser.
  • Content management pushes media files like images, video, word documents, and more to individuals and groups of devices.

Transforming Students’ Education Through Online Education

Esper showed Teach For India how their Android DevOps approach with its cloud tools, purpose-built apps, and custom configurations would transform their students’ education. 

Using no-touch provisioning, dedicated Android devices are pre-loaded with enrollment profiles and configured for single-use. The tablets ship directly to the student’s location. Once powered on, users only need to follow the on-screen instructions to complete the setup. On boot-up, enrolled devices check for an assigned enterprise configuration policy and automatically complete setup. 

Without requiring extensive Teach For India IT resources, Esper’s solution fulfilled the organizational needs and in time for school. Deployed devices and ongoing real-time device state changes deliver:

  • Dedicated Android hardware and mobile app management.
  • Granular control over device data, security, and access to Android’s full suite of mobile app management features.
  • Accelerated device deployment and real-time device state changes include the health and performance of apps, configurations, OS updates, firmware, and more. 
  • Ongoing analytics showing usage and health for 10,000 devices through a single pane of glass.
  • Dedicated EdTech apps and devices secured with allow/block list.

Continuous Improvement Provides Students With a Positive Educational Experience

Teach For India wanted students to experience positive engagement with the technology, especially when updates or new apps become available. Esper’s mantra: develop, troubleshoot, diagnose, debug, and deliver continuous improvement over the device’s lifecycle with an immediate support response on any failure.

  • Devices ship directly to students and are ready to use after initial setup. 
  • An intuitive interface, ease of enrollment, and hands-on support help students’ engage with tablets.
  • Remote troubleshooting reduces students’ struggle with technology.

Teachers correspond with students, share files, and block or approve apps on student devices. Custom dashboards and telemetry monitor student usage, providing student accountability at the app and device level. 

In addition to getting functioning devices and apps, Teach For India sought assurance that students aren’t engaging with inappropriate web content, adding unapproved apps, or deleting apps. 

Using SafeSearch ensures students are never exposed to unauthorized material or activities. Restricting student browser use to a predefined allowlist reduces distractions. Customizable allow/blocklists are distributed on the devices and inhibit students from making unapproved changes. Remotely monitoring device activity allows staff to take corrective action when necessary.

Learning is the Path of Humanity.

Teach For India fulfills its promise by providing education for low-income learners to thrive during these challenging times. Their partnership with Esper gives 10,000 children in remote locations of India hope in their future.

What’s the Future of Online Classrooms?

In some regions, educational institutions are considering reopening their doors. In India, customized, new remote learning programs continue to give students across India access to education, even in outlying parts of the country. No matter the location, Esper’s Android DevOps no-touch deployment and device management provide students a positive educational experience. To find out how Esper is helping educational institutions increase access and success rates, REQUEST A DEMO.