This is the journey of Khushi Gupta, a 16-year-old resident of Ghazipur village, she has narrated her experience of being a part of the digital literacy program and how it has shaped her life.
I am Khushi Gupta, I study in class 10 and live in Ghazipur village. We have a television and a mobile phone at home but it is mostly used by my father. Before the COVID-19 pandemic I never thought of using digital devices, I was not curious about them at all and had absolutely no interest or inclination. But during the pandemic it turned out to be the most basic thing that a student would need; all the physical classes stopped and they shifted to online platforms. I would wonder “What is zoom, or Meet, how would I even use these applications?”
With the sudden shift to online with absolutely no digital knowledge or background, I was struggling. One of our neighbours told me about a computer centre nearby, I was desperate, just looking for a way out. When I went to the centre I saw 10-15 children of my age using computers and I got excited, I believed even I could do this then. The teacher there was Sanowar Ma’am, I asked her if I can try one of the computers. Earlier I had though this centre would allow me access to a computer but seeing the digital literacy training going on, I wanted to enroll myself in that program as well. I asked Ma’am about it and she told me to join the program as in today’s world it would be very difficult to survive without knowing how to use digital devices.
I have attended 10 sessions so far and have learnt to use MS Word, MS Excel and video conferencing applications. Now I am easily able to attend my online classes.
