Organization: Himachal Pradesh Department of Education
Country: India
Education level: Primary, Lower Secondary, Upper Secondary
Organization type: Government
Family involvement: Providing Information
Overview
In 2019 the government of Himachal Pradesh in India moved to close the gap in communication between teachers and families in under-resourced school systems. The efforts were a response to worrisome systemwide reports of low parent/caregiver attendance at School Management Committee (SMC) meetings and insufficient, inaccessible parent-teacher communication channels. The rift in communication was especially noticeable in the pervasive unexcused student absences in Himachal Pradesh government schools, which families were generally unaware of. Following research that shows learning outcomes greatly improve when parents/caregivers participate in and support their child’s learning, the government implemented a one-way text-based platform called e-Samwad (“samwad” means conversation in Hindi) (e-Samwad, n.d.). The Department of Education developed the application in partnership with private sector firm Samagra. Because a government body developed e-Samwad, the app could be implemented statewide.
Himachal Pradesh is a state in northern India. In 2011 it was home to around 6.8 million people (Census of India, 2011). The state has approximately 800,000 students in more than 15,000 primary and secondary schools (Winthrop et al., 2021). The adjusted net enrollment rate of students in classes 1-10 is 93%, while the average dropout rate of secondary school student is around 7% (Winthrop et al., 2021).
The state government of Himachal Pradesh has taken an active role in increasing learning within its borders, focusing most recently on educational innovation. The e-Samwad app is one such innovation. The government identified a barrier to parent-teacher communication: Busy parents/caregivers lacked time for in-person meetings and phone conferences. To remove this obstacle, the government partnered with network providers to create the e-Samwad app and SMS portal. Working in the app is simple, and district-level trainers visit schools and train teachers and administrators on the app’s use. Once trained, teachers are able to use the e-Samwad app to easily send one-way text messages to families, including information about vacation dates, absences, SMC meetings, assessment dates and results, and homework completion.
How does it work?
Teachers use e-Samwad to send families regular updates on their child’s performance at school via text messages. As teachers fill in data about students in the application, e-Samwad automatically sends families daily absenteeism alerts, weekly homework noncompletion notifications, and the results of assessments. These messages follow a template and often include tips for families. For example, when a teacher marks a student absent from class that day, the app sends a message to the child’s families. The families are then encouraged to speak with their child about the absence. Messages often contain tips for families, such as attending the next parent-teacher meeting if their child has been performing poorly in assessments.
Additionally, schools use e-Samwad to encourage families to attend school and community events. For example, the app notifies families about parent-teacher or SMC meetings. The app also keeps families informed about school infrastructure projects and school holidays. Furthermore, schools can use the app to send guidance or alerts to families during natural disasters like floods or cyclones.
The data the government collects through e-Samwad also benefits communities. The government publishes the information in real time to online portals, allowing the community to see how their schools’ academic indicators compare to those of other schools across the state. This helps families make informed decisions about their child’s schooling and helps families and other community members hold education leaders accountable for providing quality education. Furthermore, the collection of information about attendance, assessments, and grades and informs academic and administrative decisionmaking bodies in the state on such issues as budget allocation and school monitoring visits (e-Samwad, n.d.; S. Varghese, personal communication, August 5, 2021).
What makes it work?
The e-Samwad app works by lowering time and resource barriers to family engagement. It uses everyday technologies available at home and school and captures families’ attention by meeting them where they are: on their mobile devices. The low-tech nature of the app helps improve communication, and families’ availability is no longer a barrier to teachers sharing crucial information. Moreover, to support analysis and sharing of data, the app draws on a task that teachers are already doing—reporting student statistics. Technology frees up teacher time while increasing transparency for parents. It relies on insights from behavioral science, nudging parents to change their behavior. The app provides personalized information in a way that is easily accessible and is accompanied by bite-sized, actionable recommendations. For example, by learning about missed homework as well as the importance of homework completion for academic success, parents are primed to motivate their children to focus on learning while at home.
Much of the success of e-Samwad comes from its ease of use. Since piloting the program, e-Samwad’s creators have improved the app and have provided a technical support line to respond to parents’ and teachers’ questions. Furthermore, delivery timelines for text messages were established, knowing that the speed of text message dispatch slows down during peak periods of information input. Lastly, proactive communication between technicians, government officials, and teachers is important to ensure smooth usage. The e-Samwad app allows for regular engagement between teachers and parents by bridging the communication gap between schools and parents and adapting to parents’ needs, especially for parents with busy schedules or limited technical ability. Given the few resources required, these strategies can be used not only on a large-scale basis but also by smaller states and school districts.
What is the impact?
The pilot of e-Samwad, carried out in the district of Mandi, successfully reached 53% of parents and received positive feedback (e-Samwad, n.d.). The pilot ultimately included 38,224 parents and 2,240 schools registered (e-Samwad, n.d.). Today, 99% of government schools in the state use the app to address their communication needs (S. Chaudry, personal communication, April 14, 2021). The e-Samwad intervention successfully bridges a major gap identified by parents, both in India and globally. The need for this intervention is further validated by CUE’s survey of 2,500 parents in Himachal Pradesh in October 2020, wherein 97% of parent respondents indicated they would like to receive regular text message updates about their child’s education (Winthrop et al., 2021).
Roles
Staff:
- District-level trainers instruct teachers on app usage through cascade training within schools to ensure technical ability and awareness of school assessment procedures.
- Government officials establish partnerships with network providers. For example, the Department of Education sends one-way text messages using a portal built by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
- Teachers fill in student data on absenteeism, homework noncompletion, assessment results, and more using the e-Samwad app, which automatically sends text notifications to parents.
Families:
- Parents receive regular one-way communications from teachers via the e-Samwad app.
- Parents use information from the text messages to make education decisions for their child.
Resources required
People:
- At the district level, a three-member team manages all aspects of the app. The team comprises the district school management committee and community mobilization coordinator; the district research and evaluation coordinator, who is in charge of assessments; and the district technical coordinator, who provides technical support (S. Varghese, personal communication, August 5, 2021).
- Government staff members train teachers in proper app usage. Technical support staff members oversee quality control and continued development of the app for efficiency. The e-Samwad app was developed by a partner organization working closely with the Department of Education. Ensuring the state can manage and build upon the app requires a full-fledged technical team with a minimum of five developers (S. Varghese, personal communication, August 5, 2021).
Financial:
- Cost of maintaining the app and other technological aspects
- Cost of training and technical staff
- Cost of text messages sent via the app
Technology:
- At least one phone per family at home (may be a basic mobile phone without internet connectivity)
- One phone per teacher
- Mobile network provider partnerships
- Real time data processing capability in the Department of Education
Resources and testimonials
- “Healthy discussion was carried out by parents and teachers for the betterment of the students, and ideas were discussed to uplift the learning level of poor students.” – Teacher from the pilot, describing the effect of e-Samwad (e-Samwad, n.d.)
- “e-Samwad has helped parents of government school students in Himachal Pradesh experience the power of proactive personalised SMS-based communication from teachers. We hope this becomes a new normal for all government schools in India.” – Angmo Katwal, SMC and community mobilization coordinator (Samagra Technology, n.d.)
- e-Samwad Enrollment and Usage Dashboards
- e-Samwad video and technical information
References
Census of India. (2011). Himachal Pradesh profile.https://censusindia.gov.in/2011census/censusinfodashboard/stock/profiles/en/IND002_Himachal%20Pradesh.pdf
e-Samwad. (n.d.). About. https://sites.google.com/samagragovernance.in/esamwadhp/about
Samagra Technology. (n.d.). e-Samwad, Himachal Pradesh.https://tech.samagragovernance.in/index.php/esamvad-himachal-pradesh/
Winthrop, R., Ershadi, M., & Ziegler, L. (2021). Perspectives from parents in Himachal Pradesh, India. Brookings. http://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Perspectives-from-parents-in-Himachal-Pradesh-India.pdf