THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Around 44 government schools in the city to get hi-tech classroom by next academic year. The PWD standing committee of city corporation has prepared a list of schools which will be converted into Hi-tech classroom.
The project is part of Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE) Hi-Tech school project, India’s largest ICT project in education. As initial phase the corporation has prepared the list of schools and the council has sanctioned an amount of Rs 30 lakh for the project.
As part of the Hi-Tech school programme, all classrooms in schools will be made hi-tech by having equipped with a laptop, ceiling-mounted multimedia projector, projection screen/painted wall and sound system along with broadband connectivity, said Sudharsanan C, education and sports standing committee chairperson.
“These schools have been selected to be converted into hi-tech classroom during the first phase. The fund allotted for the project will be used as per the requirement of an individual school. In the list there are schools which has few facilities and some more has to be added - such schools require less amount. Whereas, there are schools which need to be developed from the scratch and it requires high amount. As per the requirement, more fund will be granted for the project,’’ said S Pushpalatha, public work standing committee chairperson.
The local body plans to convert the list of schools into hi-tech classroom before May-end next year. The process will ensure all classrooms from classes eight to 12 in all government and aided high schools, higher secondary schools and vocational higher secondary schools in the state will be made hi-tech.
Meanwhile, the UDF councillors alleged that only LDF ward councillors school have been included in the list. "The list mainly includes schools of LDF councillors ward. We were not even aware of such application being collected by the standing committee," said V R Sini, UDF councillor.
Denying the allegation Pushpalatha claimed that, this is just the first phase list and still applications are being considered from the councillors to include schools from their respective wards. More applications have been issued from the councillors and those schools will be added for the next phase, she added.