Building Blocks App
Vidya is a sprightly young girl and shows great dexterity with numbers. She studies in an Upper Primary School in Ganjam District in Odisha and plays a game on Building Blocks with clever, fast fingers and, by screen sharing, projects it on the wider, live face of the smart TV in her school classroom.
Suraj, in Chitradurga district of Karnataka walks confidently into his government primary school, two steps ahead of his friends. Exam board and pencil box in hand, he pulls his white collar together for the umpteenth time. He can be heard telling his friends how they should have practiced for their Gram Panchayat Level Math Contest using the Building Blocks app, like he had.
These are just a couple of the hundreds of anecdotes that come pouring in to Akshara Foundation ears every other month from the field in Karnataka and Odisha. If the popular consensus is that children in rural India are deprived of appropriate EdTech and are falling behind, how then are so many children telling a different story?
Says Priyanka, an Education Volunteer who helps children in the government primary school near her village practice their math on the Building Blocks app, "I couldn't imagine something like this happening for children. I talk about it wherever I go. I teach as much as I can with it. It's fun and games." Her phone circulates selflessly in class. "You think these children in a government school won't be able to do it? But they do it. They're lesser than none."
In the last two months alone, she has downloaded Building Blocks for 500+ people - parents, community members, friends, teachers, anyone she comes across.
Akshara has mobilised thousands of Education Volunteers like Priyanka who spend a couple of hours a month giving back to society by helping children from their own village or town with access to quality math education.
In today's educational landscape, children often have limited time to grasp foundational concepts in mathematics, with school hours offering just a fraction of the necessary exposure. Recognising this gap, the Building Blocks App from Akshara Foundation steps in as a game-changer, empowering children from grades 1 to 8 to engage with math concepts seamlessly beyond the confines of the classroom. And, it is a FREE app.
Ashok Kamath, Chairman of Akshara Foundation says, "The Building Blocks math learning app is a revolutionary math learning platform designed to empower children with the skills and confidence they need to excel in mathematics. With its interactive activities, aligned with school curricula, and user-friendly interface, the Building Blocks App aims to make math learning accessible, engaging, and enjoyable for children worldwide."
Mapped to the National Curriculum Framework, it is available in nine languages. With over 400 interactive games, children are spoilt for choice, ensuring there's always something new to explore and master. Available on Android phones, it works both on-line and off-line ; in other words, it does not depend on continuous Internet connections for a child to be able to access it, making it easier to bridge the gap between classroom instruction and at-home practice.
Leveraging existing available digital public infrastructure like the Diksha platform and the innovative concept of Energized Textbooks, Akshara has created multiple learning opportunities outside the traditional classroom setting. In 2019, Building Blocks was unbundled and made available as individual âinteractive games' on Diksha and linked to energized textbooks using QR codes, so that children can access these games and engage with them, from anywhere. These games today, are linked to 33 million Energised Textbooks of 11 Indian states.
Cumulatively since deployment on DIKSHA, 5.6 million BB games have been played in English and 8 vernacular languages ( Hindi, Kannada, Odia, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Telugu). Of these, 78% games ( 4.4 million ) were played in vernacular languages and the balance 22% in English. This indicates that BB is being used predominantly by children in vernacular medium schools ( i.e. govt schools and low budget vernacular medium schools), the target audience.
The inclusion of the Building Blocks app in HundrED's (one of the 100 most globally impactful and scaleable Edtech innovations) 2024 Global Collection highlights the international recognition of Akshara's contributions to education technology.
About Akshara Foundation: Akshara Foundation is a 24-year-old Public Charitable Trust committed to improving education for every child. Through its innovative initiatives like Ganitha Kalika Andolana, a comprehensive, in-school numeracy learning model and Building Blocks - the math learning app, Akshara aims to transform the way children learn and engage with mathematics, ensuring that every child has access to quality education.
