Kerala plans 140 specialized computer schools

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - Under its IT@School project for computer literacy among schoolchildren, Kerala will develop one model school — with five classrooms equipped with modern tools — in all its 140 assembly constituencies, an official said Sunday.

“As part of the model information and communications technology (ICT) school programme, five classrooms in the selected schools would be upgraded with tools such as multimedia projectors and laptops,” said IT@School Executive Director K. Anvar Sadath.

“After the schools are selected, specific meetings by the concerned authorities would be held at district and school levels to implement the programme from September 2010 onwards,” said Sadath.

Education Minister M.A. Baby has requested all the 140 Kerala legislators to nominate one high school in their constituency by Aug 15 for the programme.

The programme is aimed at equipping teachers and students with skills to make maximum use of ICT tools.

By upgrading an institution as a model ICT school, every teacher in the school would be extensively trained in IT. Subject-wise ICT training would equip them with skill to create their own digital contents and upload these to a general online repository, Sadath said.

The model schools would also have a unique monitoring system based on school management software, which would include a comprehensive database of all teachers and students.

IT@School is an initiative aimed at imparting ICT enabled education to 1.6 million students per year in the state. It enhances the intellectual productivity of teacher and the curricular comprehension of students.