Intel’s ‘Ek Kadam Unnati Ki Aur’ has impacted the life of this woman from a village of Telengana in an unexpected way

To increase the scope of technology in rural education, Intel launched an initiative ‘Ek Kadam Unnati Ki Aur’ with Ministry of IT and Technology, in November 2015.

“Education is at the heart of India. And quality education is the need of the hour...All our educational initiatives are aimed at one impact- quality of learning,” said Debjani Ghosh, Vice President, Sales and Marketing Group, Managing Director, South Asia - ‎Intel Corporation.

After seven months, the consequences have left a lasting impression on Debjani’s mind.

Nadimpalle is a small village outside Hyderabad which had been selected among 10 villages shortlisted from Telengana. The Unnati centres have impacted the women of that village the most, to everyone’s surprise.

We expected, the first folks who would approach us were the men and the boys. But the first set of people who came here were women and not just young women, but women who are 60-70 years old, she said.

“Women are more enthusiastic, because technology can solve the real problems they face. There was this woman who was sad as for the first time she had to put her money in the bank, as part of the ‘Jan Dhan Yojana’ scheme under the Government of India. She was used to sleeping with the money safely tucked under her pillow and now it was in a bank. She didn’t know what was happening,” Debjani explained.

Hence she visited the centre to log in and check into her bank account and ensure her money was safe. But her journey to digital education did not stop here.

“After all this, I asked her what you are proud of. She said she had been illiterate all her life, she didn’t know how to read and write her name. Now she knows how to write her name using a keyboard.”

At the Unnati centres, she is learning how to assist her self-help group now. She is trying to figure out how to educate the women in the group and grow her business as well.

Entrepreneurship is happening at every age, not just the young generation because of this, said the Intel executive proudly.

Under this initiative, Intel will work with 10 states to create a framework which the government can use for digitisation of India.

(Image credits: indiatimes)