When Mrs. Zubeda first stepped into her 1st grade classroom at Attivatta school in Hoskote - a district near Bengaluru - she noticed a child standing in the corner of the class. He didn’t speak to her or anyone else that first day- a trend that continued for a few weeks.

She soon found out the reason for his quietness - Venugopal had special needs and suffered from convulsions. His family couldn’t pay much attention to his needs since his father was an alcoholic and his mother worked all day to provide for the family. Mrs. Zubeda worried about him and was determined to do something to help. 

When she saw him show an interest in the personalized learning tool Teach A Class implements in her school, she had her answer. The bright colors and videos excited him and he didn’t have to answer aloud - he could just press a button instead. This made it easier for him to learn as he couldn’t always understand what his teachers were saying and felt shy to answer in class. 

During the personalized learning classes, children worked on their own lessons, allowing Mrs. Zubeda to spend more time with Venu and give him the attention he needed. 

Encouraged by her support, Venu began to improve. At first he just listened to lessons and pressed buttons unknowingly. But with the help of Mrs. Zubeda, he started paying attention to the lessons and learnt the alphabet. She created a motivating environment within the classroom, so Venu’s classmates would also cheer him on.

A year later, Venu can now operate the tablet on his own, his comprehension has improved and he’s even started speaking in short sentences! Earlier, Venu was afraid of the speed at which his classmates understood the concepts he didn’t. This demotivated him and caused his attendance to drop. Now, Venu is confident and loves coming to school every day. 

None of this would have been possible without Mrs. Zubeda’s hard work, determination and belief in Venu. This year Venu will step into 4th grade. His teacher continues to look for learning tools to open up further possibilities for him.