THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government’s ambitious plan to convert all high schools and higher secondary schools in the government and aided sector into hi-tech institutions will be implemented by the end of this year.
According to the detailed project report (DPR) prepared by the IT@School Project of the Education Department, third and final phase of the project would be completed ahead of schedule, by December 2017.
The project, with an estimated cost of Rs 553 crore, is being funded by the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB). The DPR prepared by IT@School is the first of its kind from the Education Department to be submitted to KIIFB. The implementation of the pilot project of Hi-Tech School programme is underway in four assembly constituencies - Alappuzha, Puthukkad, Kozhikode North and Thaliparamba.
“Our initial plan was to turn the state’s classrooms hi-tech by the end of 2018. But we are hopeful of achieving the target a year ahead of schedule. Though demonetisation has hit the state’s revenue, we have gone ahead with the implementation of the ambitious programme. The final objective is to make the state fully digital within the next three years,” said Education Minister C Raveendranath.
45,000 classrooms to be upgraded A total of 45,000 classrooms and IT labs in 4,775 schools in the state will be upgraded under the project. The 4,775 government and government-aided schools to be covered under this programme include 2,685 high schools, 1,701 higher secondary schools and 389 vocational higher secondary schools, said IT@School executive director Anvar Sadath K.
Each classroom would be equipped with laptop, multimedia projector, whiteboard and sound system. The hi-tech IT labs would have desktop computers with UPS, multi-function printers, LCD TVs and an HD Camera. Specific security features would be installed in schools. The IT labs and classrooms would be connected via network through a central server in the lab, which would allow sharing of information.
High-speed fibre-based broadband internet would be made available in all classrooms.