In 2020, Divya* from a village in Belagavi, Karnataka was excited about writing her Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) exam. Clearing this examination would be more than a milestone for the 17-year-old as she had to stop her education when she was married at the age of 14. 

“I was really upset that I could no longer study”, she said.

When Terre des Hommes Netherlands’ IMAGE project intervened in her life, opportunity knocked at her door. She was registered to appear for the SSLC exam as a private candidate. Preparation was in full swing and she was looking forward to becoming a secondary school graduate.

However, the COVID 19 pandemic made her anxious and her studies difficult.

“I was very nervous about my preparations”, she said, “I thought my education was jinxed and I wouldn’t be able to write this exam”

To combat this challenge faced by Divya and many other girls writing the SSLC, TDHNL bridged the digital divide and provided the girls with E-Tablets consisting of preloaded educational content from their syllabus. This content consisted of video tutorials in the local language, Kannada, as well as English.

“I was overwhelmed when I received the E-tab. Coming from a remote rural area, I have never worked on something like this before and it was fascinating to just look at. I was taught by the staff on how to operate this E-tab. Once I got familiar with the gadget, I began to watch these tutorials and was able to learn the SSLC concepts very quickly”, she said. 

Divya appeared for her exam and passed a few papers in her first attempt. In her second attempt she cleared all her papers.

“I am now a secondary school graduate. It is all because of the E-tab, it’s my hero!”, she said