Kerala’s state-run schools to go high-tech by April; Aims to adopt digital learning methods

Kochi, September 25: Kerala’s state-run schools will go high-tech by April as the government is in plans to expand the use of computers and internet. This initiative aims to adopt digital learning methods along with imparting knowledge. 

“Government-run schools in Kerala were seen as reeling under a state of paralysis, lacking infrastructure and other facilities. Parents lacked the confidence to send the students there and quite a few of them were shutting down every year. So, we devised a programme to convert 1,000 government schools into centres of excellence and 45,000 classrooms into high-tech ones. I’m working on the latter,” K Anvar Sadath, Vice-Chairman and Executive Director of Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE). The initiative will allow digital learning methods to co-exist with books and pens in schools, facilitating students to digitally submit assignments and appear for examinations said Sadath.

Anvar added that if everything goes well, every classroom in Kerala’s roughly 45,000 state schools will have computers and broadband internet by April. In its pilot phase, it covered 125 schools in four regions of the state where the back-end team has reviewed the pros and cons.

Sadath further added that the introduction of technology is not merely for showing videos or to make things easy for teachers but to help students familiarize with tech before they complete higher education. “We are thinking how to move beyond familiarization and how it can be used more creatively,” said Sadath, who is responsible for the setting up of a television channel for education called “ViCTERS” (Virtual Classroom Technology on Edusat for Rural Schools).