THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state’s School Wiki portal, www.schoolwiki.in, promoting collaborative learning virtually by connecting over 15,000 schools, is all set to get a makeover. The portal will be backed with new software that supports Visual editor feature, which will allow schools to update their respective pages in the School Wiki.
The unique portal features basic infrastructure details of schools in addition to their history, geographical data and alumni information. The schools pages also contain artistic creations by students and documentations. School Wiki now connects over 15,000 schools and has 1.5 lakh articles and 40,000 users, thereby becoming India’s largest digital repository in a local language. General Education Minister V Sivankutty, had earlier declared that schools which upload their pages most efficiently will be rewarded.
Schools can use the Visual editor feature and update the information before March 15. The state-level first prize winners will receive Rs 1.5 lakh, while second prize winners will receive Rs 1 lakh. Third prize winners will receive Rs 75,000. At the district level, the best school will receive Rs 25,000 while second prize and third prize winners will receive Rs 15,000 and Rs 10,000, respectively.
“The 20-point criteria for evaluation for the award - including the accuracy of details in the info box, images, navigation, school map and clubs - have been published in the website of KITE “ said K Anvar Sadath, CEO, KITE. Training has been provided for teachers in 11,561 schools on the new visual editing system in the new portal. The state government has issued an order providing details about how to update information in the School Wiki portal.
A school-level editorial team in each school has also been authorised to inspect the information uploaded in the portal. Since the contents in the School Wiki portal are published in a common public platform, the school authorities have been directed to ensure that there are no content with copyright issues.Educational officers have also been instructed to inspect the School Wiki pages regularly. The School Wiki contains the creative works of students from State Kalotsavam from 2017 onwards, among others.