The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : IBM initiative to upgrade teaching skills

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 03, 2006
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

IBM initiative to upgrade teaching skills

Staff Reporter

U.S. computer giant investing $1 million on programme in India

MAKING LEARNING VIBRANT: Students perform at a cultural programme held to mark IBM's re-inventing education programme in the city on Thursday. — PHOTO: K.V. Srinivasan

CHENNAI : IBM India announced plans to strengthen its presence in Tamil Nadu with the launch of `Re-inventing Education Programme' in the city, along with the Tamil Nadu State Education Department.

Under the programme, teachers from 30 Corporation schools in Chennai will be professionally trained to shift the focus in class from teaching to learning, to make learning fun. IBM will fine tune and hone the skills of teachers using the computer as a tool.

Stanley S. Litow, president of IBM International Foundation, said the programme was introduced in the U.S. 10 years ago.

The company plans to start with pilot studies in Chennai and Hyderabad before expanding the programme to schools across the country. "IBM Research Labs have developed a set of tools on the Internet for teachers to come up with the best lesson plans at every grade level for Maths, Science and Language," explained Mr. Litow. The basic concept is to overcome the varying capabilities of the teachers by having a database of lesson plans to improve the quality of teaching and classes uniformly.

IBM will provide schools with the training, material and management. "We are investing $1 million worth of technology, talent and cash in India under this programme," said Mr. Litow.

In Chennai, the focus will be on maths and science for the age group 6-10 years. The Corporation will help shortlist the schools for the pilot programme.

IBM will be opening its new facility in DLF Park, Guindy, to enable IBM to scale up its existing Application Services and Global Services Delivery Centre in India to meet growing client demand. It will be operational by early 2007, and capable of housing 3,000 employees.

To mark the launch of the IBM's schools scheme, students performed a cultural programme, in the presence of officials in the School Education department.

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