Online crowdfunding is changing classrooms of ignored govt schools

MEERUT: Every time Priyanka Singh, a teacher at Upper Primary School, Barabanki, had to explain to her students complex scientific concepts that required colour coding to differentiate between ideas, she would wish for a whiteboard instead of the existing blackboard. She had tried getting donations for her school from locals but in vain. Then someone told her about an online fundraising platform for educators in India.
She started a campaign for a whiteboard and to her surprise, the crowdfunding for it got completed in just a week. “I now have a whiteboard. I even got a projector for them later,” Singh told TOI.
Hundreds of teachers in rural India have adopted Mydilse.org for crowdfunding, assisted in their ardent pleas for help by a dedicated bunch of students from IIMs. There are other such platforms helping out schools.
The steps are simple: a teacher seeking something for her school has to register on the website — which is free — and start a campaign citing reasons for its need with some pictures and description.
She is then assisted by interns hired from IIMs who validate the teachers by getting their ID cards. The next step is to put up the commodity with the best price on their campaign page.
After this, the crowdfunding follows – which is, so far, limited only to India. When enough money is collected, the commodity is purchased from an online shopping giant and, viola, delivered to the teacher’s school.

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/online-crowdfunding-is-changing-classrooms-of-ignored-govt-schools/articleshow/63020947.cms