A high school teacher in the Talas region sad gratitude to the project or ilimBox.
ilimBox – digital source of knowledge – the product is implemented based on “Orange Pi” to provide access for students and teachers in remote secondary schools of the Kyrgyz Republic to the textbooks in digital format, Wikipedia and the Khan Academy resources in offline mode.
Project “ilimBox” funded in the framework of the program “Beyond The Net”, created by the Internet Society and Foundation “AIEF2018”. The project is implemented by the Kyrgyz Branch of the Internet Community ISOC.
In the third school of SS.B. Alakov (S. Kara-Taala) voiced the same problem – the lack of Internet access for students. In this school 514 pupils, more than 100 children of final classes study. Graduates admitted that they are experiencing difficulties in preparing for the national testing, as the library does not have sufficient material resources.
It should be noted that the use of the phone on school grounds is prohibited. Despite this, the director of school – S. S. Cookeev permission to students to use phones in the office computer where it was installed ilimBox with appropriate instruction in Kyrgyz and Russian languages.
Young teachers of the school attended the presentation with great interest connected the phones to the device IlimBox.
The high school students and teachers noted that they were pleasantly surprised by the innovation of the project, and were pleased to join the list of participants, with whom we undertake to periodically contact for information about the operation of the device and feedback on improving the content.
Young teachers of the school attended the presentation of ilimBox
Presentation of IlimBoxEletronic data of knowledge – ilimBox
State Communications Agency under State Committee of Information Technology and Communications of Kyrgyz Republic send announcement to Internet Providers and Mobile Operators to consider connecting to Ferghana Valley Internet Exchange Point launched spring 2019.
Announcement available via link: https://www.nas.gov.kg/news/obedineniem-kyrgyzskoe-otdelenie-internet-obshestva-planiruetsya-zapustit-tochku-obmena-trafikom-ferghana-valley-internet-exchange-point-fvixp-dlya-internet-provajderov-i-operatorov-svyazi-s-mestopolozheniem-v-gorode-osh/
The Second school №7 (Balykchy) was near the first twenty minutes. This school was not included in the list to install ilimBox, however, the Director of school №10 Manasa asked to go to the school next door, as they had similar problems with Internet access for students. It has 518 children. It should also be noted that it is located on the outskirts of the village, and therefore has problems with telephone communication.
The Director was very pleased with our visit and the presentation of the device that helps to access educational resources without an Internet connection, as it turned out that the school has access to the Internet only through a 3G modem in the office of the Director.
As the guys noticed, they now do not need to spend money in computer clubs to prepare an essay, report, etc.Since the language of instruction is Kyrgyz, the teachers liked the base of the electronic library in two languages.
For public access during school hours, IlimBox with visual instruction was established in the school’s library.
It looks like the Wikiquote in ilimBoxhigh school teachers joined the presentation of ilimBoxWe explained the contents of the ilimBoxHere is the home page of ilimBox
The First school we visited was school №10. Manas (Balykchy) in which 895 children are trained. The school is connected to the Internet, however, it is only the Director’s office, in connection with which this educational institution was included into the list of schools to install electronic library ilimBox.
The Administration warmly welcomed our team and gathered all the high school students in the auditorium. The number of children numbered more than 120 people.
During the presentation it became obvious that it becomes difficult to keep the attention of children of grades 5-6, in connection with which we decided to leave active children and show them the principle of operation of the device in order for them to share their knowledge with their peers,” – said the representative of the ISOC team Begaim bekbolotova.
Re-presentation of the project was done in another room for high school students interested in teaching their peers. They actively asked questions and practiced through their smartphones.
The Director of the school – Venera Jusuenvasad: “This project will help our school to solve the issue with the textbooks”. Interest to our project was shown not only by teachers and students, but also by parents who came for children of younger classes, who with great curiosity asked about the possibility of purchasing a device home.
Schoolgirl of senior classes is trying to open electronic library of ilimBoxPresentation of device ilimBoxIn the presentation of ilimBox assembled senior schoolchildren
On September 10-11, 2019, the ISOC team installed the electronic library “Ilim Box” in secondary schools in the southern part of Issyk-Kul region. The device allows you to access all educational resources without an Internet connection, in other words offline. Moreover, it is worth noting that all data is stored in the device itself, and only the power supply and the box itself are needed for connection. The uniqueness of the innovative project is that students can access educational resources at school without an Internet connection. Preparation for the trip took more than two weeks, because in addition to the presentation, the team has developed a new logo that reflects the essence of the project “Ilim Box”. Identification marks were made for the trip: branding boxes, roll-ups, spiders, t-shirts, stickers. The choice of schools was due to several factors: no access to the Internet for students, lack of books, as well as the number of students exceeded the permissible maximum, thereby increasing the likelihood of poor performance in schools without a network connection, as well as the choice of educational institutions influenced the list of proposed schools by the Ministry of education and science of the Kyrgyz Republic. The devices were donated: School № 10 Manas (Balykchy) School №7 (Balykchy) School B. Alakhov (Kara-Taala) School R. Jangaziev (Kara-Koo) School Erkinbaeva (Bar-Bulak) School-gymnasium №11 (Karakol) School Esimbekova (Tegizchil) School D. Turebekov (Boz-Bulun) In these schools was held a presentation of the project “Ilim box” then testing the device with students and teachers and handing the device. During the conversation, the importance of education and self-education were touched upon. Our visit to these schools has caused positive responses from the school administration, as none of them have access to the Internet for students, and most of them stressed the problem of not completing books in both Russian and Kyrgyz languages. It should be noted that in most of the rural schools it is forbidden to use a mobile phone on the territory of the educational institution, as teachers notice children’s gaming preferences during lessons. We showed the guys that with the advent of “Ilim box” smartphone can be used exclusively for educational purposes, and all this can be fun through video lessons. In Kyrgyzstan, there are more than 2,000 schools, among which there are those that do not have access to the Internet and do not have enough books. Accordingly, it affects the level of quality of education. In 2018, Kyrgyzstan declined to participate in the PISA world school rankings, as it was ranked last 65th in previous competitions. Innovative solutions to two pressing problems such as the lack of books and the lack of Internet can be seen in the project digital library for schools and public libraries “Ilim Box”, which contains Wikipedia in Kyrgyz, Russian and English, Khan Academy in English, thousands of video lessons, audio and e-books. All these digital learning materials are available offline, in other words does not need Internet access. Access to Digital libraries will be carried out through smartphones, tablets, computers and any other personal devices with Wi-Fi technology. “Ilim Box” will allow Kyrgyzstan to increase the level of education in the regions”, – said the Chairman of ISOC – Talant Sultanov, at the digital forum of Kazakhstan. Thus, visits to schools helped to identify several important points: need to develop a training manual on Kyrgyz language for better perception of information is needed in the formation of a database of electronic books, the materials should be in Russian and Kyrgyz languages, there is a need to create a list of the most useful books, and download online tests for the preparation to ORT. The goals and objectives of the project “Ilim Box” coincide with the five-year strategy of digital transformation “Digital Kyrgyzstan 2019-2023” and contribute to the achievement of target indicators for the component “development of the digital state” and “development of digital skills”. The project is funded by Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund 2018 (AEIF) as part of innovative solutions to global challenges and by program Beyond the Net ISOC.
The project previously had various names “Internet in a box”, “Bilim Bulagy”, “Spring of Knowledge”and is not related to the World Bank project “Bilim Bulagy”.
