The Hindu : Front Page : Bringing power to 20,000 classrooms

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Thursday, Oct 15, 2009
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Bringing power to 20,000 classrooms

G. Mahadevan

IT@School programme to enhance quality of ICT-based teaching and learning

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The IT@School programme will fund the electrification of more than 20,000 classrooms in government schools this year.

As many as 2,035 schools are expected to benefit from this drive which will be completed by December. Of these 1,045 will be high schools and the rest, higher secondary/ vocational higher secondary schools.

Electrification will be done in 10 classrooms in a school and up to Rs.15,000 will be given for this. In schools where the number of students is more, 20 classrooms will be given power connection. In addition to this, the schools will be given Rs.5,000 each to upgrade their existing computer lab network. To install new such networks each school will be given Rs. 20,000.

“We have given ICT equipment to schools. Now these can be used only in computer labs. Once classrooms get power supply, laptops and projectors can be used there itself. We believe this would enhance the quality of ICT-based [information and communication technology] teaching and learning,” executive director of the IT@School programme K. Anvar Sadath told The Hindu.

The electrification of 2,036 aided schools would be funded next year, he said.

In an e-mail, Mr. Sadath pointed out that the deployment of broadband Internet connections in government high schools in the State had been completed. The Education Department had issued orders allowing subscription to telephone connections preparatory to the installation of broadband facility in higher secondary and vocational higher secondary schools. Once electrification was completed, each classroom could have wireless access to the Net.

The money for electrification would be deposited, in advance, in the bank account of the IT Advisory Committee of each school. The actual work should be supervised by the headmaster concerned and executed by the Parent-Teacher Association. Periodic progress reports should be filed at the district offices of the IT@School.

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