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A candid take on the results of Maharashtra's ambitious drive to digitise its schools. By Roop Karnani
Explains Vijay Patil, Chairman, SSC Board: "We give these teachers 130 hours training in a year, which is 21 days full-time training during the vacations. And this is a continuous program." There are 13,500 secondary schools in Maharashtra, out of which 4,000 schools have one to five computers. The target is to have five computers in every school in the next two years. Adds More: "But there are no separate funds earmarked for this purpose. However, the schools which receive grant from the government, get them under separate heads, the largest head being salary to the teachers. This alone accounts for 90 per cent of the grants and under this head not only are the entire salaries reimbursed to the school, but also an additional grant of 9 per cent is given, which can be used for any other expenditure." For example, Jai Hind High School---one of the leading schools in Pune with 5,000 students---gets a grant of Rs 4 lakh per month, just for teachers salary, plus an additional 9 per cent, amounting to Rs 36,000 per month, with which it can add one computer every month. Smaller schools, with 800 to 900 students can procure one computer every six months from these funds. But what about the schools situated in the villages, and poor enough to buy computers. Says Vijay Patil: "In such cases, we are trying to channel used computers from banks and private companies to be donated to these schools." While in villages there is a severe cash-crunch, rich schools like 60 per cent of those in South Mumbai and 50 per cent of those in Pune, have between 12 to 15 computers and a full-fledged computer lab. Says More: "We have also allowed private computer trainers like NIIT and Aptech to go to schools and teach computers. They would be given electricity and telephone connections on top priority, on the condition that they do not charge more than Rs 20 per student per month (without internet), and Rs 50 per student per month (with internet)." This has yielded good results, according to the minister, and as many as 25 per cent schools in the state have been benefited by this policy. But it has still not drawn the biggies like NIIT and Aptech to come to the schools. Mostly, computer science graduates, who have set up small-time training centres are the ones going especially to train students in the village schools. A regular curriculum in IT has been chalked out from Std. Vth to Std. XIIth. But at the moment priority is being given to Std. VIIIth to Std. Xth, and to the Junior College (XIth and XIIth). Currently, IT is an optional subject in schools and the exams are conducted by the schools themselves and do not count in the end results. By 2003, the SSC Board would start conducting an exam in IT, although it will still remain an optional subject, but will count in the end results. "We do not want to make IT compulsory, until the infrastructure is in place in all the schools," clarifies More. Today, the big picture is that even in the affluent schools in the state, have a very poor 'PC-to-student' ratio. For example, Jai Hind School, St. Vincent's High School, Modern High School, N.M.V. High School have between 12 and 15 PCs. Each of these schools has a student population of about 4,000 to 5,000. So, there is one computer for every 250 odd students. "also," according to P.A. Jawaharani, Principal, Jai Hind School: "We teach one hour of IT per week, which will be upped to two and a half hours next year." These figures are quite dismal. Unfortunately unlike Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra doesn't have a high profile Chief Minister like Chandrababu Naidu to hardsell the state to head honchos of IT companies. But Pune has Suresh Kalmadi who may be a late mover but has what it takes." We have formed an action committee called Pune Vyaspeeth with bigwigs like the Kirloskars, Bajajs, etc on board to push Pune as the Valley of India. And I'm confident that Pune will soon beat Bangalore, Hyderabad et al," says an upbeat Kalmadi. So far as schools are concerned, boasts a proud Kalmadi, "I'll be perhaps the first MP in the country to donate almost the entire Rs 2 crore, which I get annually for my constituency, to schools in Pune for buying PCs. More than 50 out of the 100 odd schools in Pune will get an average of Rs 4 lakh this year for PCs, internet, etc and 75 per cent of these schools are needy ones who have brilliant students, the remaining being the top schools in the city." That largesse apart, Maharashtra has lots more to show in wiring up the state's schools. |
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PC-penetration
is the topmost priority in order to wire up India's schools. Three years
ago, the Maharashtra Government started giving computers to needy schools,
but soon realised that the teachers were not trained to handle them.
"So", says Ramkrishna More, Minister for Education, Culture
& Sports in the Maharashtra State Cabinet, "we took a decision to
first train the teachers and since December last year, more than 5,000
teachers have been trained. For this, we utilised the budget for training,
which was given to the SSC Board, the body which overlooks secondary and
higher secondary education in the state."