The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Only 19 p.c. schools have access to computers: study

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Thursday, Oct 23, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Only 19 p.c. schools have access to computers: study

National average is just 13.43 per cent

Only 20.97 p.c. of primary, upper primary schools have computers
Rural government schools suffer from power cuts during daytime

HYDERABAD: While Andhra Pradesh appears prominently on the world map with its IT personnel creating waves, it is quite ironical that only 18.98 per cent of the schools in the State have access to computers. And this is much below several States that are considered on a par with Andhra Pradesh as far as school education is concerned.

States like Kerala (73.33) Maharashtra (33.42), Delhi (68.85), Gujarat (24.03), Tamil Nadu (22.13) and Goa (29.81) are way ahead of the State that has acquired the sobriquet of “tech-savvy State” contributing large number of computer professionals to Indian software companies and MNCs. However, State can draw some comfort from the fact that the national average is just 13.43 per cent.

Findings

The findings were part of a report on “Elementary education in India: progress towards universal elementary education 2006-07 (2008)” released by the National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA), New Delhi, which is a part of the HRD Ministry.

The report says that only 9.29 per cent of primary schools have computers while 20.97 per cent of primary and upper primary schools have access. Interestingly, the percentage increased rapidly to 55.34 per cent when primary, upper primary and high schools were put together. Though the report did not study access to computers in private and government separately, the increased percentage credit at high school level goes to the privately- managed schools where computers are part and parcel of teaching.

Poor usage

Chukka Ramaiah, MLC argues that the not only the access of computers is poor but even those who have access are not given the required knowledge. “Genuine interest on part of government is lacking and whatever little is being done is to avoid criticism from the society,” he says. Going by the standards, all that the students learn is to switch on the systems rather than making use of them to acquire more knowledge in a better and effective way.

Another important parameter in computer education is power connection to schools. The report says that only 34.63 per cent of schools have power connections in the State and a majority of them are obviously under the private sector. The government schools in rural areas with power connections suffer with power cuts during school times.

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