Smart devices for schools
Mr Leonard Tay -Director Allin Technologies (Private)Limited Sri Lanka
Two groundbreaking technological innovations introduced into Sri Lankan schools are set to bring about a significant change in the education system.
The Jnrlink Smart School Management System and the Jnrlink English and Chinese Curriculum are two such products introduced by ALLiN to encourage effective learning at an early age.
Founded in 2012, ALLiN Technologies Limited is a Singapore-based social enterprise providing affordable, sustainable, scalable, and effective education solutions designed to work in the most resource-scarce locations in the world to enable schools everywhere to provide a quality educational experience to their teachers and students.
To take these solutions to young learners, the company has partnered with education and education-focused institutions such as Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education (USA), the National Institute of Education (Singapore), the China Development & Research Foundation (China) and the National Centre for Sustainable Development (USA).
The Jnrlink Smart School Management System reduces work-load of the school management. It enables teachers to mark attendance and concurrently conduct a daily health check of the child. The system is connected to an app which allows the teacher to have real time communication with parents as they can be notified about the progress of the child or any other important things that they need to know.
Michael Neo, CEO and one of the founders of ALLiN Edutech group, told the Education Times that teachers were loaded with administrative work which they did not enjoy and as a result children under their care were often neglected.
This product combined with technology and innovation supports teachers to spend more time with children and have communication with their parents, he said.
The device benefits not only school teachers, but also centres taking care of young children, especially pre-schools and day care centres.
The second product, Jnrlink Curriculum, is a multi-sensorial story-based learning solution for children. It is based on scientific research on how the brain learns and grows. The main strength of Jnrlink Curriculum is its ability to teach a second language without the need for a qualified language teacher or adequate language environment. It does this by using technology, scripted teacher’s guides, and interactive learning materials.
The Jnrlink Curriculum uses a smart box which is programmed with the necessary lesson plan for every term and is connected to a television. The device can also be connected via hotspot from a mobile phone.
Tharanga Wijayasinghe, CEO and Executive Director of ALLiN Technologies PVT LTD, said that following a demonstration and discussions, the Education Ministry had asked the company to conduct a Jnrlink Curriculum pilot programme with 10,000 students.
“The concept will be mainly focused on state schools, and we requested the ministry to select a good mix of 100 rural and urban schools. The pilot programme’s findings will be backed by a research conducted by the Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education and a report will be made and presented to the Ministry,” he said.
Mr. Neo claimed that this innovation would allow each child an equal opportunity to learn English and beat the myths about the difficulties in mastering two languages concurrently.
“Harvard research has found that, teaching English using children’s mother tongue could improve the efficiency in speaking the mother tongue and a second language. And no English qualified teacher is necessary for the process,” Mr. Wijayasinghe said.
Accordingly, the concept comes with an extensive training programme. Where the ministry will group the teachers and depending on the requirement, trainers will be deployed, and every teacher will be supported throughout the training.
Mr. Neo emphasised that in case teachers faced difficulties with regard to a special needs child, the teachers can always communicate with the trainers using a mobile app and the teachers will be advised on the necessary protocol to be followed.
“So it’s not just one training sessions and bid adieu to the trainers’ it’s a continuous support throughout the whole journey. We are hoping to have support centres regionally to attend to the problems faced by the teachers,” he said.
Accordingly they have proposed to teach English language in the state schools starting from Grade one and the Mandarin curriculum in private schools.
- Shaadya Ismail