M-education in India: an effort to improve educational outcomes with a special emphasis on Ananya Bihar

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to undermine the role of cellular technology, government and the funding agency to deliver reliable and cost-effective health services for the people living in the bottom of pyramid and remote areas of the country where quality healthcare facilities are not available. The people living in rural Bihar (India) have a limited education and are reluctant to visit the female healthcare centers. The Ananya Bihar project has employed volunteers from the same community and aid from the foundation and government to improve the maternity and neo-natal healthcare initially in eight districts of the state. Design/methodology/approach The study reviewed various m-health projects and m-education projects with a detailing of the Anaya Bihar Project initiated by Melinda Gates foundation and Government of Bihar, India. The study uncovers technical, operational aspects and methodology followed by Ananya. It has detailed the best practices followed by the project. The study also features the capability of mobile as a tool to reach the masses in most cost effective way. Findings The use of mobile application with the association from the social worker has been tremendously successful in maternity and child healthcare in the state of Bihar, India. The application includes educating the user’s about the healthcare, training for midwives, alerts related to vaccination and thereby reducing the mortality rate and improving the maternal healthcare for the people from the bottom of pyramid. The project has created awareness among the rural families and has improved the maternity healthcare in the eight districts of Bihar, India. They were also planning to expand the project in other states of India. Research limitations/implications The study is exploratory in nature and has not involved primary data collection and statistical analysis. The study has compiled the data and information available. Practical implications The present study may be used as a reference to the organization working on mobile healthcare projects to understand the best practices of m-health project. The study also explains the role of various stakeholders (as Ananya-Bihar was a collaborative effort of Social trust, Technical experts, Network service provider, Community, State Government and the People) in the success of the project. Social implications The study explains the role of technology for the benefit of people. In the present case mobile healthcare initiated by the foundation has been very effective in dealing with maternity healthcare in rural Bihar, where people cannot afford expensive healthcare facility. The only silver lining is increasing tele-density at the most affordable rate in the globe, with funding from NGOs and full support from government. Such types of m-healthcare projects will support the government in delivering quality healthcare to the people who are living below poverty line and deprived of basic healthcare facilities. Originality/value The study details the methodology and technical details of Ananya Mobile health care platform.