IIIT Hyderabad, Agastya collaborate to help underprivileged children

The International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Hyderabad, and Agastya International Foundation, a non-profit organisation in Bengaluru, have collaborated to enhance learning and training of underprivileged children in rural areas. 

The partners will identify problems at the grassroot level that can be addressed by emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, language technologies and computer vision. The aim is to enable those on the wrong side of the digital divide by leveraging cutting-edge research. Set under the aegis of the Raj Reddy Centre on Technology in Service of Society at IIIT Hyderabad, the centre is an initiative of IIIT Hyderabad to enable research and emerging technology-led solutions for grassroots education and public health. 

The centre will pursue two broad directions for high societal impact – innovations in rural education and innovation in healthcare for the bottom of the pyramid. It will focus on areas that include vernacular language tools which will provide interactive knowledge access to students with minimal resources, improved teaching tools, gamification of learning through animation, interactive experiments, augmented reality models and measuring learning effectiveness. 

Prof Ramesh Loganathan, Chairman, outreach committee, said, “IIIT Hyderabad has always had social good as a key outcome of all research from the institute. This collaboration with Agastya Foundation makes this possible in a very fulfilling way.” 

K Thiagarajan, COO, Agastya International Foundation, said Agastya has been pioneering hands-on and experiential based pedagogy in building curiosity, creativity and confidence in schoolchildren. This collaboration will help us increase our digital reach and richness manifold. Ubiquitous learning, sharpening of our pedagogy and being prepared for future uncertainties/pandemic situations are some of the expected outcomes from this collaboration. Looking forward to leverage technology leadership of IIIT Hyderabad.” 

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