Setwin to target rural areas for e-learning

HYDERABAD: Setwin, a society established by the government of Andhra Pradesh

with a view to impart training in skill development for unemployed youth has

planned online e-learning initiative. US based Boston Group with its wholly

owned subsidiary based out of Hyderabad has conceptualized and developed the

courseware for the Setwin program, which would be launched by Chief Minister N.

Chandra Babu Naidu on October 2.

"We are going to put 25 different courses on the Net for the e-learning

initiative and this would be supported by the existing 45 franchisee centers of

Setwin throughout the state. Each center has an infrastructure of 10 to 15

computer systems so it will not be a problem for students as far as the

availability of systems is concerned. The idea is to penetrate deep into the

rural areas, hence around 40 of those centers are located in the rural pockets

of the state," said S. Vinod Kumar, country manager, Boston Group.

The courses include online and classroom training options and would cost

between Rs 2,500 and Rs 7,500. "We are charging a nominal fee of Rs 200 per

student for an unlimited Internet access on a per month basis and hope to

increase the Internet usage among the rural students," he added.

Setwin's Web hosting is being done by Hyderabad based ISP City Online, the

front-end of which would be managed by Setwin itself. "We have invested

around Rs 60 lakh in the development of content and as far as revenue sharing is

concerned we are going to get around 25 per cent of the amount. But we do not

consider this initiative as a profit-making project as this is like a charity

for the people of the state," he explained.