Views expressed are author's own.
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The figures are mind-numbing. Across Sub-Saharan Africa and large parts of South Asia, even outside conflict zones, billions still have limited or no access to electricity and the internet. The impact on education, the foundation on which future generations stand, is profound. It deepens inequality by widening the digital divide and impedes children’s cognitive development in lasting ways.
Yet, in the race to “go digital” and match global standards, expectations from schools only keep rising. Teachers are asked to deliver measurable learning outcomes using sophisticated edtech tools even when many of them have had minimal exposure to such technology. Bridging this gap requires more than new devices or stronger signals. It requires a fundamental rethink of what “digital learning” should mean for the Global South.
At the heart of this quiet but powerful rethink stands Class Saathi, which challenges a long-held assumption: that meaningful education technology must always be online. Designed as an offline-first, clicker-based classroom response system powered by AI and available in multiple languages, Class Saathi allows teachers to conduct real-time assessments even in areas without internet access. It reimagines digital learning not as a privilege of the connected, but as a right that must reach every child, especially those beyond the reach of broadband.
In India, education is still about finding the right solution, but in the U.S., it is about asking the right questions. Class Saathi is built on the belief that every teacher and student, regardless of infrastructure, deserves the chance to ask better questions and explore deeper understanding.
Most edtech platforms assume stable connectivity as their starting point. Class Saathi reverses this assumption entirely. Its clicker-based hardware works offline, enabling instant quizzes, chapter revisions, and student-level assessments. The AI then analyses performance data to help teachers tailor instruction.
This offline-first model redefines accessibility not as a compromise, but as a design philosophy rooted in ground realities. Innovation for the Global South must begin where infrastructure stops, not where it starts.
Equity in education is not just about access to devices; it is about access to understanding. Class Saathi’s multilingual capabilities allow teachers to conduct lessons in local languages, ensuring that students in a village in Jharkhand or a township in Ghana can learn and respond in their mother tongue. Combined with curriculum-aligned, grade-specific content, this makes learning more inclusive and scalable across diverse contexts.
What makes Class Saathi particularly transformative is how it turns even low-resource classrooms into data-rich learning environments. Every click, from a correct response to a moment of hesitation, feeds into the system’s analytics, helping teachers identify learning gaps early. Such insights were once considered impossible without expensive, connected setups. Today, they can emerge from classrooms far beyond the nearest Wi-Fi tower.
“Class Saathi is designed to be compelling and engaging because it empowers every classroom, no matter how remote or underserved, to deliver interactive, high-quality education without depending on constant internet or electricity. True educational equity means learning must continue anywhere, anytime, and for anyone.”
Schools using Class Saathi report 100 per cent student engagement and a 15 to 20 per cent improvement in concept clarity on average. Genuine educational equity goes beyond connectivity. The last mile is about language, context, teacher readiness, and a child’s sense of belonging. Technology must adapt to these realities.
As India’s National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 lays out an ambitious vision for foundational learning and tech-enabled classrooms, the Class Saathi model aligns seamlessly, strengthening outcomes while addressing longstanding structural divides.
Class Saathi’s journey illustrates how Indian ingenuity can leapfrog legacy bottlenecks and make world-class learning accessible across the Global South. As offline-first, bilingual, AI-driven models take root in countries beyond India, they signal not just progress, but hope that the next great classroom revolution may very well begin where the cable lines end.
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The vision behind Class Saathi draws from Agarwal's educational journey across continents. Growing up in a small village in Bihar, he experienced firsthand the constraints of resource-limited schools. From a modest classroom in Bisanpur to IIT Kanpur, then to South Korea for a master’s program, and finally to Harvard University, he witnessed how different cultures define learning.
