Laptop program assessment of all 43 schools in Bajhang

March 2020 | Bajhang

The program assessment visits to 43 schools in Bajhang was conducted by three teams from OLE Nepal from February 16 till March 7, 2020. Each team had a teacher trainer and a technical staff. The digital literacy program was introduced in these 43 schools in three phases between 2013 and 2015. At the schools, the teams first held meetings with teachers to understand the overall status of program, including the integration of digital resources in the teaching-learning process; management of equipment; status of maintenance fund; and coordination of school with local level to sustain the program. 

There were many new teachers who had joined the schools after the teacher training program. Although they were not formally trained in delivering technology-integrated classes, the new teachers had been using laptops to teach the students. Our team took this opportunity to provide a brief orientation on the use of laptops and digital resources to the teachers. The teams also observed laptop-integrated classroom implementation of teachers and gave feedback based on their performance. Almost all schools were using the laptops to teach E-Paath. Students were also using Bal Paathmala – a collection of children’s story books that is pre-installed in the laptops. 

The technical team members checked all laptops, servers, and network equipment. Some schools were facing issues with the offline digital library servers, and the technical person was able to resolve them while upgrading the content in the servers. They also fixed network cable issues at most schools. OLE’s team also installed the new digital early grade reading(EGR) stories in the laptops and handed over pen-drives with the same content to each school. Trainers also briefed the teachers on the use of new EGR content. The digital EGR content is designed to complement the existing EGR resources. 

As part of the overall program assessment agenda, data related to the program were collected at each school and analysed. Community meetings were also conducted in a few schools to understand their response and support in the program. Almost all schools had set up a maintenance fund, and some schools had secured funding from their local authorities. The assessment revealed that except in a few schools, most of the schools were using digital resources in the teaching learning process and maintaining the equipment properly.  

The local administrative and education authorities structures have changed since the launch of the laptop program in Bajhang. So after the completion of visits to program schools in Bajhang, the teams also conducted meetings with seven local authorities to seek coordination and update them on the status of laptop programs at the schools. Monitoring from the local level and financial contributions towards maintenance funds were part of the discussions on the sustainability of the laptop program in Bajhang. Additionally, local authorities were briefed on the benefits of OLE Nepal’s free and open digital resources on E-Pustakalaya, and its offline setup. Our team also shared the E-Paath installer file with all local level officials and education units.

Meeting at Bungal Municipality

Meeting at Talkot Rural Municipality

Following are the list of local level offices that our teams visited in Bajhang:

SN	Local level	Number of schools
1	Bithadchir Rural Municipality	10
2	Bungal Municipality	9
3	Kedarsiu Rural Municipality	8
4	Thalara Rural Municipality	4
5	Jaya Prithivi Municipality	3
6	Masta Rural Municipality	4
7	Talkot Rural Municipality	5

Meeting at Masta Rural Municipality

Overall the meetings with local level officials were effective and a good opportunity for both schools and OLE Nepal to share the updates of the program and seek support from local level. Head, Deputy Head, officials from the Education Unit and Chief Administrative Officer were present during the meeting.

Pictures from the program assessment visit in Bajhang: