ODiSI
Everything you want to know

ODiSI — Frequently Asked Questions

The program, donations, the technology behind it, and how schools are selected.

ODiSI is neither an app nor just software. It is an open-ended, integrated framework bringing together hardware, networking and software components as a technology tool for Education. It also brings a financial and operational model where cost is directly related to outcome instead of capital and operational investments. ODiSI was created by the OSAAT team in consultation with other industry and education experts.
ODiSI is an acronym for “OSAAT Digital School Infrastructure”. It is also inspired by the similar-sounding dance form, since OSAAT volunteers and supporters have done many a fund-raising activity using music and dance. Phonetically, a variant of the name can mean “make them learn” in Kannada.
You can certainly volunteer. However, we don’t have a formally defined volunteer role for ODiSI specifically. You can volunteer for OSAAT in general and, as the program develops, select a role like school contact, cluster contact, subject expert, marketing, branding or communications.
Most certainly. Both commercial operators (in the education-technology space) and not-for-profits can collaborate with OSAAT as part of its ODiSI program.
ODiSI was started primarily as a COVID-19 response, however it fills the greater need of bridging the digital gap for rural communities while covering primary education. When the first wave of the pandemic started, there was panic everywhere and everyone was impacted. For urban children there was partial recovery in some make-shift manner; for rural children, education came to a complete stop. It also started manifesting in many social evils like girl-child marriage and child labour. At OSAAT, we realized something had to be done beyond its brick-and-mortar project — something scalable and sustainable for the longer term. Hence OSAAT started ODiSI.
There are indeed many organizations involved in digital intervention programs, and it is very much required. However, most digital intervention efforts are limited to a device/hardware/app give-away — with a hope and a wish it will work. ODiSI is different in that it is designed to be sustainable, with components for support, maintenance, finance, outcome measurement, continuous innovation and scalability.
ODiSI completed nearly 18 months of proof-of-concept in Karnataka schools before scaling up. If we get suitable opportunities with other state education departments as well as other collaborators, OSAAT will expand to other states. In coming years, the plan is to make ODiSI available as an open reference framework for any suitable implementation, anywhere in India and even anywhere else in the world.
ODiSI has a well-defined mechanism of tracking impact — through both automation of data for analytics and a manual baselining process. Donors who have adopted specific schools and clusters will have visibility through periodic reports on ODiSI usage as well as learning outcomes.
ODiSI is not a one-time hardware give-away program, not an app or installable software, and not a commercial licensed utility or service for education.
Both institutions and individuals can donate for ODiSI:
  • Adopt an entire cluster of schools — fund a whole cluster in a given taluk/district. A cluster is typically 10 or more schools, covering 1,000–5,000 students. Typical cost: about $150K (₹1 Cr) per year.
  • Adopt a specific school — a typical school, with specific grades where ODiSI is deployed, has 100–300 students. Typical cost: about $15K (₹11 Lakh) per year.
  • One-time donation of any amount you like — please mention that it is for the ODiSI program.
Yes. In the USA, OSAAT is a registered non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation, Tax ID 20-2043649 — you can claim tax exemption per the applicable IRS guidelines, and donors contributing $500 or more receive an official thank-you letter. In India, OSAAT Education Charitable Trust is registered under IT Act 12AA and donations are tax-deductible under 80G. For details, please contact [email protected].
At the moment we do not support automatic withdrawals from bank accounts or credit cards. We will have that capability in the near future and will incorporate it on our website.
OSAAT can identify a suitable school which matches the proposed CSR contribution. However, unless a new cluster is formed or a new school within an existing cluster is identified, OSAAT cannot start the project for such identified schools.
If you are a corporate donor and would like to donate used computer equipment in bulk, OSAAT can accept it after reviewing and finding a match for its utilization for a given project/school. We cannot accept single units of in-kind gifts due to the overheads of refurbishment and standardization issues with singleton hardware units.
The per-child-per-year cost is about $65 (₹4,000). This works when ODiSI is implemented at scale in a clustered approach. The current price is based on un-optimized rack rates of hardware and service delivery; with higher volumes and more standardization, OSAAT expects to bring the cost down further in coming years.
There is no administration/management overhead component in the cost — all funds collected towards ODiSI are spent for the ODiSI program. Typically 97% of funds are spent on direct project expenses (capital and service delivery), with the remaining ~3% on communication, marketing and promotion. With any cost over-run/under-run, the number of students who benefit in subsequent cycles may be more or less, based on fund utilization in previous cycles along with new funds available.
There is no cost or expense to the school or parents other than the electricity used to charge devices. The entire cost of the program comes from donor/program funding.
ODiSI uses off-the-shelf standard components; in a way it is technology-agnostic but intends to deliver a certain minimum functionality and outcome through judicious use of technology. Typical components include:
  • Laptops for teachers (Ubuntu or MS Windows)
  • Android tabs for students (and laptops where a use case justifies it)
  • Smart TVs for classroom usage
  • Required apps (e.g. DIKSHA from the Ministry of Education) pre-configured and app-locked on devices
  • A lightweight LMS such as Google Classroom, integrating with the cloud for data analysis and measurement
  • 4G / internet data connectivity and service
ODiSI enables children to use their own devices at home. At-school programs do not require BYOD; however, the framework allows extension to personal devices when available.
OSAAT delivers ODiSI through “System Integrators”. A System Integrator is typically an education-technology commercial operator — an expert in the education domain with sufficient technology exposure — tasked with installation, training, support and maintenance of ODiSI (both technology and pedagogy) as per a well-defined Playbook.
ODiSI is primarily an infrastructure framework. Any content approved by the education department is accommodated, and corresponding apps (e.g. DIKSHA, Google Classroom) are pre-installed and supported. Teachers may bring their own content (YouTube videos, specially curated content), and ODiSI enables content sharing within the cluster. Specialized interventions like English speaking or mathematics gaming can be hosted on ODiSI if approved by the education department.
A school is selected on these criteria:
  • It must be a rural school
  • It need not be an OSAAT-constructed school
  • Sufficient students and adequate staff (100+ students, proportional teachers)
  • It should be part of a cluster in which ODiSI is planned
  • Availability of other support infrastructure with reasonable stability — building, electricity, internet service
  • Staff, community and students show reasonable eagerness to use ODiSI
OSAAT hopes that is a rare case. If, even with multiple interventions, consultation and support, a school fails to show improvement and is unwilling to use ODiSI, OSAAT will work with the education department to re-allocate the investment to a different school where the chances of success are higher.
Yes. However, in the current phase OSAAT intends to implement it in rural government schools of India. In principle, the framework can be used and replicated by anyone else in the entire world, for their own school.
When ODiSI is implemented in a cluster, 2-day training workshops are conducted for both teachers and students for a quick start. Schools have typically been productive and started using ODiSI within 1–2 weeks of training. Regular bi-weekly reviews address issues, gaps in understanding, and specific challenges — whether in technology or pedagogical application.

Still have a question? Write to us at [email protected].

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