“Be the change you want to see in the world.”
Mahatma GandhiWe believe Mathematics should be a priority subject that gives every school student a real chance at gainful employment. Through Mathematics, children build the logical reasoning and problem-solving skills that make Arithmetic, Algebra and Geometry easier to grasp when taught systematically. But a shortage of good Mathematics teachers affects motivation, and many children drop out of school early - with a gender gap where girls are often told Mathematics "isn't for them."
Too often in life we wait for someone else to bring the change we want to see. You may wish to do more, but circumstances don't always allow you to leave your work and family to directly support a school in Asia or Africa. Kreeti Foundation exists to close that gap: transforming the lives of school-going children by improving their basic education in Mathematics and other subjects using Khan Academy lessons, delivered through KreetiLab.
As a not-for-profit, Kreeti Foundation gives donors the chance to link up with our projects and sponsor a school of their choice - with constant updates on how KreetiLab and Khan Academy are changing the lives of the children involved.
Government primary schools needing support are scattered across villages and small towns. We adopt a few at a time, each supported by local volunteers we identify, train, and support to deliver Khan Academy and computing lessons - with a training program for unemployed Class XII graduates too.
A standard PC often fails as a classroom platform due to its rotating hard disk and motherboard. KreetiLab is a reliable, simple embedded system running on 5V power with MicroSD storage and a standard LED TV display - with staff trained to quickly swap a failed power supply, keyboard, mouse, or card.
We train graduates on KreetiLab and Khan Academy lessons, using tablets to bring volunteers up to speed in a single month. Volunteers then schedule topic presentations in consultation with each school's Mathematics teachers, and we help organise standard and supplementary tests.
The central component of KreetiLab is a modern embedded system like those seen in current day Smart Phones and Tablets. Unlike the typical computer systems KreetiLab has no moving components and consumes only 1.5W power while a typical PC consumes 200W. The reliability of the platform is high and can work in a typical village school and even run from a normal UPS. The display can be any typical LED TV with sizes ranging from 23” to 46” depending on the size of the classroom.
KreetiLab delivers video lessons for Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology, and acts as a presentation platform for ICT subjects like Python and Java. It can boot as Android - for video presentation, using its GPU - or GNU/Linux, for C, Python, Ruby, Java, LibreOffice word processing and database software. Students can even learn HTML and CSS to build their own web documents. It can also run as a streaming video server, sending Khan Academy lessons to students’ own Akash-style tablets. KreetiLab can also be used a streaming video server. In this scenario, the Khan Academy lessons will be streamed from the server, and the students can watch the lessons in their own Akash style tablets.
Kreeti Foundation has put together the components required to use an embedded system as a video server for Khan Academy lessons. KreetiLab runs in Android or GNU/Linux mode, loading GCC, Python and Ruby, and doubles as a platform for teaching RDBMS concepts with MySQL. Here, we gather everything you need to support KreetiLab at a school or at home – hardware, OS, installation and learning tutorials, and fixes for common problems – pooling in resources from the open-source community.
We started this journey with the Raspberry Pi , the popular $35 system from the UK – but found its computing power wasn't enough for Khan Academy lessons. Looking at what a higher-powered system could do for both ICT lessons and as a server, we settled on the Radxa Rock, designed by Tom Cubie.
The government primary schools we support are scattered across villages and small towns near Kolkata, each adopted by Kreeti Foundation and supported by local volunteers.
292/1, BLOCK-B, BANGUR AVENUE, KOLKATA 700055
A small Hindi-medium government primary school with three teachers and three classrooms. Students of Class III & IV struggled to read English sentences or answer Mathematics questions accurately. Our volunteers visit every morning from 7:30 to 10:30am, teaching Mathematics through Khan Academy and helping students read from their English textbooks - with special evening coaching, by parental consent, for the weakest students.
81, BANGUR AVENUE, BLOCK-B, KOLKATA 700055
A well-disciplined government Bengali primary school. Volunteers teach from 9 to 10:30am, showing Khan Academy Mathematics lessons and Nursery Rhymes on a 23” LED TV via a Cubie computer system. Students also learn Paint, Microsoft Word and Internet basics on a desktop system - and some school teachers have joined the computer training too.
81, BANGUR AVENUE, BLOCK-B, KOLKATA 700055
The only Bengali-medium Government Girls high school at Bangur Avenue. Our volunteers teach Mathematics to Class V and VI students three days a week. Khan Academy lessons are shown on TV, including Geometry, while English Geometry terms are introduced to help students in their senior classes.
65, PURBO SINTHI ROAD, FOKIR GHOSH DUM, DUM, KOLKATA 700030
A very small primary school at the Dum Dum location. Our volunteer goes three days a week to teach Mathematics using Khan Academy lessons and Nursery Rhymes in English. Teachers are very cooperative, and a Radxa board with Android and a 23” LED TV is used to play the lessons and rhymes.
A B.A. final-year student giving special classes at home in the evening, teaching Mathematics to very weak Class III students. Her daily classes encourage steady progress, and she tests students’ understanding every Friday.
An M.A. graduate from Rabindra Bharati University, now in a Primary Teacher’s Training program at CMC. She teaches Mathematics and English each morning at Shree Subhash Shiksha Sadan, then Mathematics, English and Nursery Rhymes at noon at Purbo Sinthi Place Primary School.
An M.A. graduate now in a Primary Teacher’s Training program at CMC, teaching Class V and VI at Bangur Avenue High School for Girls, three days a week from 2:10 to 3:30pm - including Mathematics lessons through Geometry.