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Follow UsInternet connectivity can take the value proposition of education forward, especially in rural areas. E-enabling education could play a key role in ensuring India’s economic edge in future. This has been neglected, but for a few proactive states.
The Central government has a mission called the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) - a comprehensive and integrated flagship program to attain universal elementary education (UEE) in the country for children aged between six-fourteen by 2010. The scheme encourages states to use ICT and the ISRO satellite Edusat to provide distance education within states to supplement curriculum-based teaching.
While the onus of primary education in rural areas is on state governments, a few NGOs and foundations of IT companies like Satyam’s Byrraju Foundation and the Azim Premji Foundation have been pitching in their bit to digitize education. Some of the states that have been proactive about e-education are Kerala, Uttaranchal, West Bengal and Rajasthan. (See box)
The biggest hurdle to e-learning in rural areas is the problem of connectivity for the last mile. Despite the market buzz around connectivity for the next billion, not much is happening in rural areas, which still grapple with low teledensity, let alone Internet access, a spokesperson with the Azim Premji Foundation said.
The Foundation has set up computer aided learning centers (CALCs) across India. Out of the 12,000 centers that it has set up, barely one per cent enjoys Internet connectivity. The Foundation provides curriculum-based learning in the form of multimedia packages and CDs.
Intel and other companies to provide access in remote areas are carrying out pilots of WiMax and Wi-fi networks, but these would take sometime to materialize. It requires serious planning and investment on the part of state and central governments to chalk out and implement the establishment of network infrastructure in India.
Telecom companies, which have ushered in the mobile revolution in India prefer to stick to cities and tier two towns for broadband access since they find it easier to recover the costs of heavy licensing fees in cities which enjoy a larger subscriber base. There is no incentive for these companies to venture into the hinterland.
“Broadband has to be treated like basic infrastructure on par with roads and highways, which increase the economy of an area,” suggested Amar Babu, former marketing director, Intel India.
Renuka, an official with the Karnataka state education department added that thousand computers were recently provided under the Mahiti Sindhu program to schools across Karnataka. “However only some of the areas which have BSNL connections have Internet access.”
However, Karnataka, the country’s leading IT exporter, has not put its money where it matters: in getting the current rural student generation ready for the next wave of IT. The state is still basking in the glories of the Bhoomi and Kaveri e-governance projects. It is important for the state government to enable Internet access and e-literacy across rural areas if it has to sustain the IT edge. However, primary schools in some districts have been brought under the fold of the tele-education or EDUSAT.
Another ray of hope is the Central government’s State Wide Area Networks (SWANs) policy. This envisages broadband access at the district and block level to solve the connectivity gap. A part of India’s initiative to provide e-governance facilities to citizens, the policy could be extended to include schools. It is expected that the states would start investing in this program in a couple of years.
It is clear that it is more a question of initiative and of will, than investment to make e-education in rural areas possible.
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Spreading the light of e-literacy Despite the over-arching connectivity problems some states are showing the way to the rest of India. • Akshaya program in Kerala: The country’s most literate state was one of the pioneers in taking up e-literacy in the country. Started as early as 2002, this ambitious project hopes to make Kerala the country’s first e-literate state in 2007. This year, five lakh students who took the SSC exam in the state, took the country’s first board exam to have an online exam in information technology. This online test was held simultaneously across Kerala. Every Government school in the state has PCs and has brought out the entire curriculum of tenth standard on CDs. Besides this, the EDUSAT system is also being implemented in al government high schools. • In Rajasthan, one among the infamous BIMARU states in India, a silent revolution is taking place across various schools in the state’s hinterland. The state government is rolling out the UN’s Global schools and Communities Initiative (GESCI) along with technology companies such as Microsoft, Intel and Cisco. Under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan scheme of the Central government, Rajasthan has embarked on a large-scale education initiative. The initial pilot would have computer learning centers in all state districts to provide elementary education to students. • West Bengal has tied up with IBM to take eLearning to students. Under the program, IBM is providing the necessary IT infrastructure, education services, IT support and project management for 400 schools initially. In 2002, when the project started, 400 schools came under the program. Each school was equipped with 10 computers. The schools are expected to train more than 150,000 students in three years. Based upon a 75 cents monthly fee that each student pays, the program is self-sustaining. The BPL (Below poverty line) students do not pay anything. In the next phase announced in 2004, the government approved a rollout of the program in 2500 schools. The roll out would cover one million students under the Computer Literacy Program at 75 US Cents per student per month. The government is spending Rs 306.1 million ($ 6.8 million) in the project. • The Uttaranchal government is aiming for universal computer literacy. Towards this end, it has decided to establish computer labs in all the 871 Government and aided inter-colleges in the state. The aim is to create a large pool of computer literate manpower that would make the exercise of introducing e-governance solutions much more meaningful and relevant. Computer education is being imparted to all the students from classes VI-XII. While the state is investing the required physical infrastructure, teacher training and the development of curriculum and examination system is developed with support fro MNCs including Intel and Microsoft. The results are evident. There has been a sharp improvement in the results of the government schools. The pass percentage has risen from 45 per cent to 64 per cent for the intermediate and from 35 per cent to 50 per cent at the high-school level. |
Urban schools get on to real-time learning
Private and public schools are also getting web-savvy with many of them moving beyond mere computerization of departments to actually implementing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to streamline various processes. Bangalore-based Pacsoft specializes in the education ERP domain and has implemented projects in more than 1000 schools and colleges across India.
Bishop Cotton’s School in Bangalore was one of the early adopters of ERP in India and was awarded the recognition of being the “Best school in adopting Information Technology” by the President of India, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, in 2004.
The school adopted Pacsoft’s Lyceum ERP solution in 2004. This is a common platform for parents, students and teachers to access information like- student attendance, mark list, timetable, day-to-day lessons, fee details and assignments with just a click of a mouse.
Subramanyan, who oversees the systems at Bishop Cottons School, said, " There are 96 sections and around 6500 students in school, and the entire data of each student has been systematically managed. All the students have a unique ID and password, which is used to view information. Till now around 60 per cent of the parents make use of this facility."
Lyceum has made life easier for teachers. "The system has reduced the manual work to a great extent and has simplified our work. The entire student record on attendance, marks, performance is available online," said Geetha Christine, computer science teacher, Bishop Cottons Boys school.
Teachers also feel that it has helped in bringing parents and teachers closer, but not at the cost of face-to-face interaction between them. Parent-teacher meetings are still held, but what the online portal has done is to encourage collaboration with other students, teachers and even parents.
The potential of the education sector has not escaped the attention of tech majors such as IBM, Microsoft and Intel. Microsoft has already launched Windows start-up kits for students at an affordable price for schools. Intel recently announced its World Ahead program that aims to provide education, connectivity and accessibility. The company’s platform definition center in Bangalore recently developed “Eduwise”, a platform that will be positioned as a textbook replacement in schools.
So would students carry laptops rather than heavy textbooks to school in the next five years? Given the way technology is progressing, it would not seem such a far-fetched idea.
(With inputs from Dheeksha R and Kavitha Alexis)
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