
Pavitra, a resident of Medehalli Gram Panchayat in Chitradurga district, participated in the Level 1 and Level 2 Digital Literacy training sessions conducted for her SHG, Sanjeevini, by Sikshana Foundation. Pavitra owns a small shop with a photocopying machine in her village. Previously, her business was limited to cash transactions, as she was unfamiliar with digital payment systems. She often had to turn away customers who preferred digital payments.
However, through the training sessions, Pavitra learned to set up and efficiently use digital payment gateways. She is now delighted as her business has seen noticeable growth. By accepting digital payments, she has attracted more customers.
This is one of the projects by Sikshana Foundation. Sikshana Foundation started in 2003 by a group of professionals to improve the quality of education delivered by the public school system has evolved over the years to be able to work with various government institutions to help improve the quality of services rendered. The foundation was set up to work in collaboration with the government and develop sustainable and scalable models which can be integrated with the existing government work flows.

The foundation’s flagship program is currently Grama Digi Vikasana, a program to convert Gram Panchayat Libraries into Digital Transformation Centers in collaboration with Rural Development & Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Department and Dell Technologies.
With more and more social programs by the Govt. being delivered as e-service, it is imperative that the beneficiaries not only have devices to access it but also understand how to consume these services in a safe and secure manner. To address this Sikshana Foundation has developed a Digital Literacy program which has been running across 5000 GPs across the state.
For more information on Sikshana Foundation, check their website – https://sikshana.org/ or their Instagram handle https://www.instagram.com/sikshanafoundation?igsh=YzE2NnNncHg2bTd2