THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a move to make a major improvement in the classrooms and learning methodology in government and aided schools, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the Hi-Tech school project at Tagore Theatre, Thiruvananthapuram on Monday.
As many as 45,000 classrooms in 4,775 schools will get laptops, multimedia projectors, mounting kits, sound systems and broadband Internet from Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE).
In addition, the schools will get multifunction printers, digital cameras and HD webcams for each school labs along with surveillance systems.
“In the first phase, 22,618 classrooms will become hi-tech within a month. The ICT hardware distribution for these schools will start from January 22 in all districts,” said Vice Chairman and Executive Director of KITE, K Anvar Sadath.
The second and third phases of ICT hardware deployment will be undertaken during the month of March and May. Schools were assigned the responsibility of ensuring clean dust-free classrooms, with tiled flooring, secure ceiling and painted walls, along with electrification and shelves, as a pre-requisite for getting the ICT equipment.
KITE was the first SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) to receive the funding from Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB). At present, the Hi-Tech school programme for which KIIFB has sanctioned `493.50 crore is the largest IT project in the state and the largest of its kind in the education sector in India.
The inaugural function would be attended by Finance Minister Thomas Isaac, Education Minister C Raveendranath, Shashi Tharoor MP, V S Sivakumar MLA and other dignitaries. The 139 pilot schools where the Hi-Tech school project was successfully implemented, including those from Alappuzha, Puthukkad, Kozhikode North and Thaliparamba constituencies, will be connected via video conferencing at the event.
The Chief Minister will also inaugurate the ‘Little KITEs’ IT Clubs which feature over 1 lakh students.
The Hi-School Kuttikootam programme was part of the Public Education Rejuvenation Mission of the State Government through which students were given intense training in five areas such as animation, cyber safety, Malayalam computing, hardware and electronics. It has been structurally upgraded in Student Police Cadets model, thus becoming ‘Little Kites IT Clubs’. This is set to become the largest student IT network in the country.
The ‘Samagra’ e-Resource Portal which enables digital mode of classroom transaction, ‘Sampoorna’ School Management system, SchoolWiki etc have also been equipped for the Hi-Tech school project.
In addition to these, KITE has also provided broadband internet connectivity to all schools and is undertaking hardware clinics, e-waste disposal programmes etc, said Sadath.
