Five Kerala schools get infotech upgrade

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - Five government schools in Kerala have been designated as “smart schools” and will receive Rs.1.25 crore each to install multimedia projectors, wireless internet and other infrastructure, an official said Wednesday.

Called the “ICT in Schools Scheme”, the project is an initiative of IT@School, the technology arm of the general education department of the Kerala government. It aims at empowering schools with latest information and communications technology (ICT) enabled education, besides implementing e-governance within the education department.

K.Anvar Sadath, executive director of the IT@School Project, said each school will get a financial assistance of Rs.25 lakh per year for five years, thus totalling to Rs.1.25 crore.

“Besides having state-of-the-art computer labs and multimedia rooms, all classrooms ranging from primary section to higher secondary section would be converted to ‘Smart Classrooms’ by setting up multimedia projectors. Laptops and wireless internet connectivity will also be provided to all classrooms,” said Sadath.

It is also proposed to develop these schools as ‘IT Hubs’ for the benefit of nearby schools and even the public by providing specific ICT training to teachers and students, he said.

“The schools were selected on the basis of achievements such as infotech award winners and ICT school activities,” said Sadath.

The selected schools include Government Moyans Memorial Girls Higher Secondary School (GMMGHSS) (Palakkad district), Government Tribal Higher Secondary School (GTHSS) Poomala (Idukki district), Government Girls Higher Secondary School (GGHSS) Cotton Hill (Thiruvananthapuram district), Government Higher Secondary School (GHSS) Karuvarakundu (Malappuram district) and Government Higher Secondary School (GHSS) South Ezhippuram (Ernakulam district).

IT@Schools recently received ‘Honorable Mention’ in Stockholm Challenge Award 2010, considered to be the world’s biggest ICT deployment in education using free software.