Bridging Digital Divide
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One Library Per Village (OLPV) aims to reduce India's digital divide by providing free internet access to students through tablets and computers in village libraries. It has over 30,000 volunteer tutors supporting subjects across many libraries. OLPV was founded by Sujai G. Pillai to make information resources more accessible to underdeveloped communities through village libraries. Currently, OLPV is testing in seven village libraries in Kerala and hopes to partner with the Indian government's Digital India program to expand across the country in the next five years.
Bridging Digital Divide
- 1. | |GYAN Vitaranam15 June - 14 July, 2015 37 A imed to reduce the digital divide in India, “One Library Per Vil- lage” (OLPV) provides free Internet through tablets or PC’s to students for their edu- cational purpose. A knowledge sharing center, it has the sup- port of 30,000 plus tutors of 2tion, who support almost all subjects. We meet the man behind OLPV -- Sujai G. Pillai -- who is one of the 20 MyGov Ambas- sadors selected by Prime Min- ister Narendra Modi’s MyGov Digital India Team and also the brain behind #BookBucket Challenge, ranked among the top five viral marketing cam- paigns in the world. He is also the founder of 2tion.com, rated as the top e-learning website by “The Economic Times - Oct 1st, 2012”. Sujai has worked as an ed- ucational consultant for World Book and Britannica in Oman and the UAE and has over 15 years of experience in the field of education. He specializes in ‘Netpreneurship’ (a small start-up which is solely online) and is the co-author of books - “Browse and Grow Rich” and “Money From Internet”. He holds an MBA in Marketing and Systems from Madurai Kamaraj University. Sujai also holds the titles of: Winner of “Limca Books of Record” ( 23rd Edition - 2012) Bridging the digital divide innovations | Caroline Paul | | |GYAN Vitaranam15 June - 14 July, 2015 37
- 2. | |GYAN Vitaranam 15 June - 14 July, 201538 for HumThum Apps and Win- ner of “Best Mobile Apps” award in all India Mobile Apps Competition on August 20, 2011. 1. Could you please ex- plain the concept of ‘One Library Per Vil- lage’? A: OLPV stemmed from my strong belief that librar- ies around the world play an important role in the dissemination of knowl- edge. I feel the availability of information resources can often mean the differ- ence between poverty and prosperity, particularly in underdeveloped communi- ties. With this in mind, I found- ed “One Library Per Vil- lage”, which aims to reduce the digital divide between the urban and rural India, by networking libraries and empowering the read- ers with latest technologi- cal tools and creating a vi- brant community of users and volunteers in villages. OLPV is not just a building stacked with books – it is a repository and source of information and ideas, a community place for learn- ing and inquiry, and for the generation of thought and the creation of new knowledge. 2. What is the current state of digital litera- cy in India, especially Kerala? How has OLPV impacted this, since its inception? A: Currently, in India, approx 40 per cent of the popula- tion lives below the pover- ty line, illiteracy rates are more than 25-30 per cent and digital literacy is al- most non-existent among more than 90 per cent of India’s population. Four per cent of our children never start school, while 58 per cent don’t complete primary schools and only 10 per cent goes to college. Compared to other states, Kerala is doing better in primary education. In Digital Literacy, however, Kerala is far behind its po- tential. This is primarily becausestudentslackprac- tical skills, even though
- 3. | |GYAN Vitaranam15 June - 14 July, 2015 39 they are imparted comput- er literacy in schools and college. A large majority of people, even those who regularly access the Inter- net via smart phones, only use it for sharing videos, browsing Facebook or mes- saging via WhatsApp. This is the beginning and end of Internet usage for them, as they lack the awareness to use Internet for other pur- poses. This is where we come into the picture. For example, during “Digital Literacy Week”, held from February 21 to 28, with the support of National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), we ran a literacy campaign in two village libraries. With the support of local volunteers, we contacted every house in respective areas and as a result, more than 300 people took part in the event. Many partici- pants were first time com- puter users and a large number of housewives, aged 25 - 60, also learnt how to use computers, tab- lets and smart phone. I can proudly state that we brought about an immense transformation in these areas and now, people in these areas are actively participating in social events like tree planting, medical camps, etc., that are being organized by the library. As a result of our efforts, the people have started to see the library not just as a reading place, but more like a collabora- tive social activity area. 3. What has been the re- sponse to OLPV so far? A: So far, we have had a very positive response for OLPV from libraries, espe- cially those from the rural areas. Initially, we thought the networking and com- puter would only support job seekers, but we were pleasantly surprised to see that many housewives are becoming active partici- pants of the initiative and taking it beyond the initial scope of plan. 4. What is your current reach? Where do you see yourself five years down the line? A: Currently, we test-mar- keted “One Library Per Village” project in seven village libraries in Kerala. The response and result of these initiatives were very good and we are hopeful of a bright future. Another good news is that current- ly, it’s under consideration of Digital India program of the government. 5. Can you share some of your success stories? A: We have active user par- ticipation in the libraries from villages, where cur- rently, pilot projects are running. We also had im- mense interest from a few corporates, under their CSR initiatives, and even from a few MLAs and MPs, for considering this under Member of Parlia- ment Local Area Develop- ment Scheme (MPLADS) scheme, as well.
- 4. | |GYAN Vitaranam 15 June - 14 July, 201540 6. How are you spreading awareness about your cause? In other words, how do you ensure you reach out to those in need of your services? A: We ensure we reach out to our target audience through strategic use of digital media. So far, we have amassed a large number of followers on Facebook and we actively come up with campaigns to spread further aware- ness about our cause. For example, one of our campaigns “#BookBuck- etChallenge” received a lot of attention and was a viral success. In terms of libraries, we are getting a lot of enquiries from librar- ies, with even city libraries expressing a solid interest. 7. How do you cover the costs associated with providing free Inter- net? Does the govern- ment pitch in? A: Currently we have absorbed the cost of computer/tab- let with donations, with the libraries providing the Internet. We are actively seeking funding and sup- port from donors, corporate CSRs and the government. 8. Do you have a training system in place? A: We have a large pool of savvy volunteers who are happy to train the trainer - one of the library users. The trainer, in turn, trains other students. It’s a vol- unteer-driven system, and we have seen good support from many people. 9. How many books are currently available in an e-format via OLPV? Do you cater to needs of students of all grades (1-12)? Are there also books for entertain- ment purposes - fiction/ non-fiction etc? A: Currently, we have thou- sands of e-books, span- ning across all grades - not only 1-12, but also colleges and vocational educa- tion. Many of them were contributed by teachers through 2tion.com. We ac- tively welcome educational content of all sorts. 10. How about the colleges/ universities? Is OLPV available to students in these institutions? If not, are you planning on expanding the ac- cess? A: OLPV is currently only available to village librar- ies, since we are looking at serving the segment that does not have privilege of having access to technol- ogy, which is readily avail- able in most colleges and universities. However, if colleges in rural areas need our support, we will definitely help them. 11. How can we support OLPV? A: We would love support from media - a) In helping us spread the word b) In conceptualizing any cam- paign that you think will help our cause and c) In rais- ing awareness and funds re- quired to scale this initiative. u