Technology

Overview of Computer Aided Learning under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) was launched with the objective to achieve Universalization of Elementary Education and fulfil the constitutional mandate of providing free and compulsory education for life to the children of age group 6-14 years. The reduction in drop out and repetition rate, enhancement in the achievement levels and making learning joyful are some of the objectives of SSA. It was felt that use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and computers in the form of Computer Aided Learning (CAL) may help in achieving the said objectives. Keeping this in view, a component of computer education was kept under the Functional Head of ‘Innovation’ in the framework of SSA. Under this component there is a provision of Rs.15 lakh per district per year available to the States for CAL.

Department of School Education & Literacy, with the objective to strengthen the CAL programme, constituted a Committee for formulation of Guidelines for Computer (IT) Education under SSA at elementary stage. The Committee, in its report has deliberated on the national and international status of CAL at elementary and primary level, suggested interventions for CAL under SSA, provides estimates of population which needs to be covered under the programme, the level of infrastructure and hardware needed, analysis of available resources, possibility of mobilisation of additional resources and strategy for implementation of the programme

The main interventions required for introduction of CAL and making use of ICT in Elementary Education, as suggested by the Committee are training of the teachers, creation of infrastructure, development and production of State specific eteaching/ learning material in local language and sensitisation of the State-level statutory bodies like Board of Education and SCERT. The first tier is for training of teachers and necessary sensitisation of States and their statutory bodies. The second tier suggested included creation of infrastructure, development of e-teaching/learning material and formulation of scheme for making available additional resources. It was suggested that pending formulation and approval of the scheme to mobilise additional resources, the available resources may be utilised for CAL and use of ICT in elementary education

Role of private sector was considered equally important in not only implementing CAL in elementary stage but also for mobilizing additional resources. With this in view, workshops were held with representation from the private sector firms and all State/UT representative. The objective of the workshop is to review the progress of implementation of the CAL in States and to develop a public private partnership. The workshop also facilitate the information sharing on latest devices and CDs available in the market. The first workshop was convened in Bangalore on February 26-27, 2004. This was followed up with Workshops in Mumbai (August) 12-13, 2004), Hyderabad (June 20-21, 2005) and at New Delhi (7.11.2006). These workshops also provide a platform for State Project Directors and representatives of private firms face-to-face so that the former could specify the problems faced by them in the implementation of CAL
in their respective States, and also the requirement in their States and the later could offer
solutions that they have, if any, and the material - hardware and software - they could
provide.

Due to all these efforts, CAL programme is operative in 25,928 upper primary schools benefiting 48.19 lakh children. A large number of private firms are associated with CAL programme.

Technical & Professional Education
In addition to 1349 approved engineering colleges at the degree level, there are 1030 institutes offering Master of Computer Application (MCA) programme and 990 approved Management Institutions imparting education in Management Studies. Recently, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has delegated the powers of approval with respect to Diploma level technical institutions to the State Governments.

Tables and source : http://indiabudget.nic.in/es2004-05/chapt2005/chap107.pdf

Technology : Government Interventions

ICT @Schools
Technical Education

Technology : NGO Interventions

Vidya@Force3 SETU

Nandini Voice of the Deprived
Free NANDINI Computer School

Free Computer Schools have been set up at the following centers in Tamil Nadu for the benefit of the deprived and disabled boys and girls and those belonging to the lower income group, who have passed +2 examination.

Free computer schools are functioning at the following centers in Tamilnadu:

Course Contact and Examinations

Free Computer School provides training in basic computer operations such as

. WordStar
. MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
. d-Base
. FoxPro
. Pagemaker-5
. CorelDraw
. DTP and others

Tests and examinations are conducted after the completion of the course based on which certificates are provided.

Duration of Course

Duration of the course is six months or more, depending upon the progress made by the individual students.

Since students come from different background, the progress are being monitored very carefully and periodical tests are conducted before the students would be asked to sit for final examination.

Job Placements

Placement services are also provided to the students who successfully complete the Computer course. So far more than 1400 students have completed the course successfully during the last six years from various centres of Nandini Computer Schools and job placement services have been provided to most of them.

Number of Students Undergoing training at any time

Total number of persons who have completed the course so far Around 1400

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SEWA - Self Employed Women's Association
Large scale computer usage for poverty alleviation

Project Description
This project seeks to understand the challenges involved in introducing IT-based solutions for alleviating rural poverty and illiteracy and creating a scalable paradigm that will serve as a blueprint for bridging the digital divide between the developed and the developing worlds. 375 computers will be installed in the villages (with SEWA membership) of 11 rural districts of Gujarat, India.

SEWA members will employ them for multiple purposes including improved communication within SEWA, access to information and markets, administrative and design tasks for SEWA collectives, vocational computer training of SEWA members and computer based education for children in government schools. A big part of the success in the effective use of the computers by the SEWA members is setting up the training and maintenance infrastructure.

Purpose / Goals
1. To create and maintain an online database of its 200,000+ members
2. To maintain a database of all its meetings and programs
3. To set up a computer training center to train its cadre of organizers and grassroots leader
4. To set up a computer training center at its employment cell, to train its younger members and their daughters and sons, in basic computer (SEWA plans to train 1000 children over a period of 3 years).
5. To promote the economic organizations of SEWA members
6. To enable social security program of SEWA to maintain
7. To enable SEWA Academy in worker's education and capacity building
8. To linkup all the computers within the various SEWA organizations amongst themselves and to the Internet
9. To form a virtual alliance of organizations and groups of people in similar situation around the world.
10. To facilitate e-commerce
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SARI Project

Sanganak Prayog Shala

Project Name: Sanganak Prayog Shala
Location : Panchayat Samiti Schools
At Post,Taluka: Dapoli
Dist: Ratnagiri, Maharashtra
Sub Location: 250 Villlage Zhila Parishad Schools in Dapoli Taluka
Audience : Class IV Children in Government Schools
Nos. of Schools: 101 to 500
Beneficiaries: 5001 to 25000
Initiative by: Sanchar Infotech Pvt. Ltd. Mumbai
Funded By: From Bank Loan
Implementing Organisation: Janjagruti
Training By: Special Teacher
Language : Local, Marathi
Subjects of Training: Computer Training
Training Purpose: Education
Computers: 20
Sofware Designed by : International Sources and self generated
Teachers Trainer: Sanchar and VIIT Baramati
Training Duration: 10 days
Benefits of using IT : Improving in learning computer education at School level
Outcome of using IT :

• More Interest in Education
• Reduction in drop out rate
• Improved Learning Outcomes
• Increase in Enrolment

Sustainability: Self sustainable
Training Requirements: Quality
Room Refurbishment: as per capacity of schools and grampanchayat

Operational Expenditure Monthly: 25,000
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Rehabilitation of Children of Sex - Workers through Education

Rotary Midtown Computer Center

Rural Integrated Development Trust

Azim Premji Foundation - Bangalore : Educational Software
Azim Premji Foundation is running 34 rural schools with hardware and software content covering 10,000 children. These are known as community learning centers (CLC). Usage of technology in elementary education has a potential to increase enrollment and retention.
Innovative, high quality educational software content will contribute to improvement in learning through interactive, self paced and joyful learning. The research done by Azim Premji Foundation in rural areas of South Karnataka reveal that the parents are keen that their children receive good education. Parents felt that their children should also know English and computers. Teachers were more articulate and said that if academic content can be provided in an interactive multimedia format, that would attract the children to come to school regularly and learn well.

Based on the Foundation's experience in Community Learning Centres in rural government schools, software content that has been most liked by rural children is where the academic learning happens without the conscious knowledge or effort of the child.

Leading Educationists and Acadamecians in animated discussion during the educational content development workshop in Jan 2002

In order to decide on a practical yet rigorous approach to developing content, Azim Premji Foundation consulted senior government officers from Education Departments of various states and the centre. This consultation resulted in a number of suggestions to evolve a strong content development process. The Foundation is developing education software content in Indian rural context with focus on (a) Curriculum related - Hard spots, Fundamentals and concept (b) Non-curricular - Life skills and values. The first set of educational software CDs for 3rd to 8th standard children is under way and will be ready by November 2002.

Research is being commisioned to identify the exact non curricular content to be developed in the next phase.
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Azim Premji Foundation - Bangalore
Programme in Karnataka
Work in over 5000 villages and three major cities focussed on: Capturing the Chinnara Angala (Bridge School) in progress.....
A Pilot involving NGOs in UEE was launched in 4 talukas of Kolar and Mandya districts (1300 villages).
The evaluation of the value add of such model is currently under review
Community Learning Centers in 34 rural schools in operation covering about 10,000 children, piloting use of technology and educational software content.
Joint review and implementation of competency based marks cards across the state.
Remedial teaching programme covering 36,500 children in Northeast Karnataka in 825 habitations.
Vidya Chethana programme for school-less habitations covering 1500 children in 151 habitations.
High Impact Managers programme for all Deputy Directors of Public Instruction / Joint Director of Public Instruction and Directors of Public Instruction across Karnataka State.
Communication campaigns through TV and Radio appealing participation in "Chinnara Angala [Bridge School]" (in 2001 & 2002) and household surveys (in 2002).
Bridge courses for rapid integration of older out-of-school children (20,000 children covered).
Competency based performance measurement of children (applied across the state of Karnataka - impacting 4 million children).
Shift focus of teacher training from just teaching to learning and building pride, accountability and passion among teachers.

Improving "in-school" processes to improve the quality of learning that has a significant impact on increasing the retention of children in school.

Effected key policy level changes in education system
The positive experience of working together with Government of Karnataka has encouraged us to broaden our area of work both in terms of geography and the variety of programmes to be launched during 2002 - 2003.

A survey of out-of-children in Karnataka conducted in 2002, revealed that more than 0.6 million children in the age group of 6 -14 years were out of school in the state. Out of this over 300,000 children were out-of-school in the North-Eastern part of the state consisting of seven districts: Gulbarga, Raichur, Bellary, Koppal, Bidar, Bijapur, Bagalkot.

Karnataka education profile:
http://www.education.nic.in/htmlweb/state_edu_profiles/kar.htm

Government of Karnataka launches the Coolieyinda Shaalege (from work to school) programme which is an education programme for child labourers. The programme, one of the several launched by the Primary Education Department, aims to bring out-of-school children back to school.
Related Poster
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Azim Premji Foundation : eMIS
Background
Education Departments across various states in India have an MIS system. Azim Premji Foundation efforts are towards strengthening the MIS and making it user friendly.
State governments are currently using a standardised Management Information System for the Education Departments as a reporting tool. The next stage of requirement and development in the MIS is a user-friendly interface for analysis of the data at the district/ taluk level other than the state government level.
The state governments of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have asked inputs from Azim Premji Foundation to provide appropriate software that will enable them to make the system more useful to their decision making needs.

• There is a need to align data across states and convert them into useful information at the right level ofauthority for monitoring, review and action.
• The Foundation will develop an education MIS package, train relevant staff to use the package effectively and implement the same.
• The package has potential to be replicated across states in the country.

By developing such a system the Foundation aims to enable the education departments to monitor the performance of the education system.

Coverage
Across Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh
Azim Premji Foundation will add value in the following areas:

• Propose a simplified technology based solution for select areas of data collection (software development)
• Provide a user friendly interface for generating outputs at various levels to enable decision making based on the data (software development)
• Train the relevant government officers to use the MIS effectively (training)
• Evaluate the current data collection systems (including frequency) and suggest a modified/ simplifiedversion for data collection to avoid unnecessary collection of data (systems study)
• Provide a software solution to manage the payroll system effectively, in addition to managing the servicedetails of all employees of the education department (software development)
• Provide a networking solution for transfer of data from taluk to district to state level and back. Take care thatthis data needs to integrate with the exisiting database of the respective state governments.

Based on the experience in developing customised solutions for the Government of Andhra Pradesh and the Government of Karnataka, prepare a standardised package that can be provided to any State Government in the country, with minor customisation.

Current Status
The eMIS software implementation has been planned in two phases. The first phase has been developed and is ready for implementation by the end of September 2005. The second phase will be ready for implementation by March 2006.
The government has now set up a ten member team for implementation. This team will be taking care of training related to the eMIS software, deployment at all the levels (state, district, and block), and ensuring the basic data is in place at the time of deployment.

Information Source
http://www.azimpremjifoundation.org/html/eMIS.htm

Information Date
April 06, 2006
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Azim Premji Foundation : Computer Assisted Learning Centre
The Concept of Computer assisted learning centre was conceived in response to the need of the people in rural Karnataka.

Immediate Objectives

• Attracting children to schools
• Creating excitement in and around the school
• Simplifying difficult concepts, thereby making learning exciting and fundamentals strong
• Sound foundation to IT literacy

The pilot project with 34 Computer assisted learning centres (CALCs) was set-up in Bangalore and surrounding rural areas. It aimed at measuring the impact of computers in attracting out-of-school children to school, and the improvement in learning levels among children in their regular academic work. These CALCs were set-up between March and July 2001. This joint initiative of Azim Premji Foundation and Government of Karnataka has been expanded and currently 90 Computer assisted learning centres are in operation in 14 districts. A further 135 Computer assisted learning centres will be added by around June 2003 to also cover the other districts in Karnataka.

Selection of schools
Azim Premji Foundation requested the Government of Karnataka to identify Government Higher Primary Schools (Std. 1-7), which have an extra classroom, and a working power connection to set-up CALCs. It was decided that schools that had a regular attendance of at least 200 children would be selected. The Government of Karnataka identified 34 such schools in rural areas in and around Bangalore. Officers of the Azim Premji Foundation visited these schools to make a preliminary assessment of the suitability of the room that was identified and also informally gauge the interest level of the local head-teacher and community.
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All India Women's Education Funds Association
Computer Literacy in Schools
The All India Women's Education Fund's Association's (AIWEFA) 'Computers For Schools' project was launched by Smt. Sheila Dikshit, Hon'ble Chief Minister of Delhi, on Women's Day i.e., 8th March 2002. The project aims at creating computer awareness of and imparting basic computer training to Government MCD/NDMC Primary Schools.
The program commenced with 10 used PCs provided by MTNL, 10 UPS units (one with each PC) were also provided in early 2003. NIIT has provided one Resource Person for the period 2002-2005.
Since the last three years (2002-2005) AIWEFA has imparted basic computer awareness to nearly 1500 primary school children.
The 'Computers for Schools' project has been quite successful in creating computer awareness in these 10-12 year old, young minds and introducing them to the world of Information Technology thus preparing them for a bright future.
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Butterflies - Alternative Education
Computer Education
IT for Street children, integrated with alternate education curriculum in night shelters, is being focused in a major way and includes orientation of adolescent street children to computer education, with an objective to enhance employment opportunities.

CURRICULUM: the computer course focuses on preliminary understanding of computer hardware and basic applications such as Word processing Packages (MS Word, Pagemaker), Database Management Package (MS Excel) and Presentation Package (MS Powerpoint), along with Internet use.

Understanding the importance of computers in today's world and increasing interest of the children to learn computers, Butterflies hired a full time teacher. Computer classes now take place in both the night shelters every alternate day. 50 children are regularly continuing their classes ever since it began. Several children are interested to learn computers but due to lack of space and equipment we are restricting the batch size. Butterflies plans to train more children in desktop publishing and help in setting up a DTP unit, which can run as a business venture and provide for employment opportunities.

Technoloy : Corporate Interventions

Intel® Learn Program

The Intel® Learn Program is a community–based program in emerging markets designed to help learners (8–16 years) develop 21st century skills (technological literacy, critical thinking, problem solving, and collaboration). The curriculum uses an engaging project–based approach and is delivered in community technology centers.

The program is currently offered in Brazil, Chile, China, Egypt, India, Israel, Mexico, Russia and Turkey.
The program was launched in 2004 and to date, has already reached more than 575,000 learners.
In India, the program was launched in 2004 and to date, has reached more than 43,671 learners in 515 centers across Kerala, Chandigarh and 14 states in collaboration with Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India).

Adobe : Creativity in Education

Enabling and inspiring K-12 students to think creatively, communicate effectively, and work collaboratively, using digital technology and communication tools.

In India, Adobe is actively involved in several community outreach and revitalization efforts. Our efforts include:

• Bridging the digital divide by setup up state-of-the-are labs in underprivileged schools
• cash grants and software donations for classrooms
• training programs for students, staff and school administrators
• planting trees and other beautification efforts
• endowment contributions for calamity victims
• food and clothing donations

Aptech - Project Saraswati

Under the aegis of Project Saraswati, Aptech's vision is to be a social asset to the education community and the nation as a whole. Aptech strongly believes that education is an integral part of the country's social fabric. For the global village to be a reality its residents need to be empowered with the strength of computer literacy. Today this drive has taken a concrete form in Project Saraswati and Aptech's dream is to spread this project to all parts of the country and empower all sections of society through Information Technology.

Some significant contributions made by Aptech towards the Corporate Citizenship Endeavor are -
Aptech's initial social commitment endeavor began in 1998 in a village near Pune called Apsingha. Aptech donated an entire computer lab comprising of Pentium computers, colour monitors and the supporting software. The courseware was translated into Marathi, Aptech's faculty trained the students and members of the staff.

In 1999, Aptech participated in Pratham's (an NGO) initiative for achieving universal primary education in Mumbai. Aptech supported 25 Pratham's 'Balwadis' to developing low cost innovative technology models for primary education.
In the year 2000, Aptech joined hands with the Rotary International District 3140 towards providing complete computer literacy to schools educating underprivileged children.

Aptech has set up training centers in select municipal schools in Mumbai to enable the school children to educate themselves with computers.

Miss World 1999 and a Mumbai batch Aptechite, Yukta Mookhey, was conferred the 'Aptech Project Saraswati Award' for the year 2001, as a mark of appreciation for her significant contribution towards social causes especially in the field of IT education for the underprivileged students of the society.

CISCO
In its initiative of bolstering education, Cisco is partnering with educators and others to develop the tools, applications, technology and curriculums to make the Internet and education the great equalizers in the global economy. The Networking Academy Program is one such effort and Ciscos largest education initiative.

Established in 1997, the programme teaches students networking and other information technology-related skills, preparing them for jobs as well as for higher education in engineering, computer science and related IT fields. The programme has reached over 10,000 educational institutions in more than 150 countries. Close to 1,000,000 students have successfully completed Networking and other IT courses as a part of the diverse Academy curricula. The program blends face-to-face teaching with web-based curriculum, hands-on lab exercises, and Internet-based assessment.

In India, Cisco partners with technical institutes for providing networking education as a part of the Networking Academy Program. The initiative focuses on bridging the digital and gender divide by presenting job opportunities in networking, a sector which is growing phenomenally, driven by large scale telecom network build outs and adoption of IT by Indian enterprises and small business

As on date, Cisco has 130 networking academies across 20 states in India. Among these are five gender academies that impart basic IT skills and networking education to women. Cisco has also sponsored a basic IT skills curriculum at Rani Datta Arya Vidyalaya, an orphanage in Delhi.

Finolex : Finolex Academy Of Management & Technology, Ratnagiri
The Hope Foundation's Education Division commenced with the establishment of the Finolex Academy Of Management & Technology (FAMT) which is the first Engineering College at Ratnagiri on the west coast of Maharashtra. The College has been set up on 140,000 sq ft. of land located in M.I.D.C. Mirjole, Ratnagiri and is offering educational opportunities since 1996 to the students of this backward region.

Education : The Finolex Academy of Management & Technology is affiliated to the University of Mumbai. It has also obtained the approval of the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) and offers four-year degree courses in Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. The Academy has also received approval from AICTE and Government of Maharashtra to start courses in Information Technology branch of engineering at the Academy. Established with an investment of Rs. 10 crores, the Academy boasts of well-equipped classrooms and science laboratories, a library, workshops, residential quarters for the Director and staff and hostel facilities for the students. The total strength of the Academy is around 720 students for the current academic year.

International Institute of Information Technology, Pune ( I2IT)
The Hope Foundation is in the process of creating an institute at Pune imparting high-end education & training in Advanced Software Development and Telecommunications. It is intended that the Institute equips students to accept challenges in areas of development of software products & solutions, which would be globally competitive. The institute would also serve as the focal point for software development for SAARC Countries whose needs are similar to those in India. Under the chairmanship of Mr. P. P. Chhabria, President, Hope Foundation and Research Centre and with the advice and guidance of Padmashree Dr. Vijay Bhatkar, this is a high-end training Institute for creating software professionals who are capable of producing leading edge technology from India for implementation the world over. It is being established on 10 acres of land at Pune Infotech Park, Hinjawadi, near Pune. The facilities are designed by renowned architect Hafeez Contractor and the courses are begining August 2001.

Goodlass Nerolac :
Computer Literacy Programme for Municipal Schools
Mainstreaming computer literacy for underprivileged school children Tata companies primarily aimed at strengthening local community by sharing skills, expertise and various forms of training. We believe in sharing core competencies within our companies. Accordingly the Mumbai Regional Group has facilitated a computer literacy programme in municipal schools for underprivileged children through the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
Teething problems Although everyone received this programme with enthusiasm, enormous time was spent in identifying a proper school, then for the schools to depute even one teacher. It was difficult to convince the management of school that maintenance of these computers would be their responsibility. It was also observed that schools do not really budget for computers, training of teachers, infrastructure, facilities and maintenance. Sustainability of the project and subsequent withdrawal of facilitators like us still possess to be a serious, inherent conflict. This is one of the main reason corporate involvement is scarce.
Tata companies join hands It was exciting to see so many companies coming into this programme. Computers were donated by Goodlass Nerolac, NELCO, Tata Libert, Tata Strategic Management Services and Tata Consultancy Services. The wiring and cabling of the classroom and syllabus came from Tata Consultancy volunteers. The classroom painting and furniture came from Goodlass Nerolac. Volunteers from Tata Infotech inspected, commissioned and installed the computers. Rallis India presented school bags while Voltas conducted the after-training tests.

Mr S Ramadorai, CEO of Tata Consultancy Services inaugurated the programme on children’s day, 14th November, 1998. By 31st March, 1999, 37 classes were held for 45 girls and boys above standard five.

Reviving the spirit and learning : This programme was conducted with an attitude of creating an excitement for learning new things and to help students and even teachers fight resistance to new ways of learning. Our volunteers were not trained teachers, but this created a new ambience for computer learning. It was also an opportunity for our volunteers to realise that there is a tremendous urge and capacity among the very poor children for learning. Everyone was overwhelmed when the children put up their own skit depicting various parts of the computers and their use!
Impact on Government procedure and cultural change : Tatas have taken yet another step in joining local authorities to help the local authorities recognise the various inputs required to induct computer education successfully in municipal schools. While repeated requests for Tata’s involvement in such projects are under active consideration, replication of this work is continuing by seeking sponsorship from other corporate units.
Acknowledgement and Gratitude : We always value the learning for our co-ordinators. It is a soul-stirring venture to see co-operation transform into visible progress. There are several occasions, which have opened our eyes to realities we would never have come to know of in the normal course of our work in offices.

HDFC : IT education for Students of Municipal schools
"Keyboard, Monitor, Printer, MS-Word, Power Point" - these are some of the words that have now become a 'mantra' for every child. Not to be left behind, are our Municipal schools at Mumbai, who have tied up with SPARSH to bring computer education to their students. The collaboration saw computers become a part of the regular curriculum in these schools and a marked improvement in the hardware material and the software content, making information technology (IT) more exciting for the children as a learning tool. At an IT competition organised by Sparsh among all Municipal schools of Mumbai in December 2003, the participants were made aware of the importance of computer education and nine winners won themselves brand new PCs as prizes. Ms. Chanchal Singh (Std. X, Guru Nanak English High School, Mumbai) says she was able to participate in 'Debates' and 'Essay Writing' competitions collecting information from the internet facility available at her school. Master Iqbal Hussain who has participated in a community based learning programme called "I-earn" through the internet, felt that computers had helped him gain insights on relevant international issues.
Sparsh is a Mumbai based NGO offering computer education programmes to economically disadvantaged children and adults thereby aiding them to find employment. HDFC teamed up with Sparsh to provide free computer education in 15 Municipal schools of Mumbai. The financial support from HDFC has enabled Sparsh to sponsor the hardware and software costs for the schools and partly cover the expenditure for training the teaching staff.

Ispat donates computers to rural school
Speaking on the occasion of the Republic Day celebrations, the principal of Janata High School, Gadab, heartily thanked Ispat Industries Limited (IIL) for donating two computers to the school students.

The school authorities hailed the generosity displayed by IIL and recounted instances in the past when the company had come forward to help it out of difficult situations. The two computers donated by the company, they said, would go a long way in familiarizing their students with the functioning and handling of computers. To this Dr B Yadava, director (Community Development), IIL, responded that the company believed it was its duty to lend a helping hand to the needy.

IIL was represented at the function by Aloysius Lobo and Kanchan Kothekar of the Land Department, Geetapuram.

The Republic Day celebrations at the school premises included flag hoisting, calisthenics and a variety of entertainment programmes, with almost the entire village in attendance. Later in the afternoon, a kabbadi tournament sponsored by IIL was held adjacent to the school.

School uniforms and books
IIL routinely distributes textbooks, school uniforms, notebooks and computers to students of schools in the vicinity. This is done to reduce the dropout rate in the area. IIL believes that helping a student by motivating him to complete at least his schooling would enable the child to get a slightly better chance in the outside world.

Monasanto : Bridging the Digital Divide in Hyderabad Schools
The Monsanto Fund has provided a grant of $50,000 to help bridge the digital divide in 15 under-resourced schools in Hyderabad. The Fund has taken up the project along with ICICI and Schoolnet.

Schoolnet aims at providing access to quality education using technology as a tool across the socio-economic spectrum, including less-empowered regional language schools. It believes that technology acts as a catalyst for fundamental change in the way students learn and revolutionises the methods teachers use. The Monsanto funding will take care of the programme fee in 10 schools for one year and hardware requirements for 15 schools.

All this is in addition to Monsanto Vidyarthi Programme in Andhra Pradesh where we provided 40,000 school books and 8,000 school bags last year, scholarships to 450 students and seven scholarships to those pursuing higher education.

NIIT :
A host of strategic products and technologies have been developed by NIIT to enable India’s masses, especially its less fortunate citizens, to enjoy the benefits offered by hi-tech. Our endeavors include the following:

Hole in the Wall
a unique experiment featuring slum children and a computer and using minimally invasive teaching methodologies was introduced by NIIT. The experiment, for which NIIT earned major international recognition, aims to acquaint children from the lower rungs of society with computers. The method of learning is completely self-paced, self-driven and excludes the presence of a teacher. The experiment, monitored through special kiosks has been successfully launched in the states of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
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World Computer Literacy Mission 2004 launched by NIIT
To touch over 100,000 global citizens and enable special children from leading Indian NGOs to experience computers for the very first time.

World Computer Literacy Mission 2004, NIIT’s three-year-old global initiative to proliferate IT learning among the masses and narrow the digital divide, has become a significant movement, supported and endorsed by some of the leading corporate, Government and public sector institutions and individuals.

The mission recognizes the fact that Computers and Technology have become the stepping-stones to success in the 21st century and are key enablers in today’s environment. In line with this understanding, NIIT has declared “Computers change your life,” as the theme of the World Computer Literacy Mission 2004 initiative.

World Computer Literacy Mission 2004 activities were flagged off at a special event, where children from well-known NGOs such as the Akshay Pratishthan, the Amar Jyoti Charitable Trust and the National Institute for Hearing & Handicapped, received their first exposure to computers. Present on the occasion, was Dr. (Mrs.) Uma Tuli, Chief Commissioner for persons with disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment.

Drawing support
The World Computer Literacy Mission 2004 is drawing support from virtually all sections of society. Well known corporate giants have come forward to back the movement and obliterate the scourge of IT illiteracy. IDEA Cellular Ltd., one of the leading cellular operators in India, has launched a special NIIT-IDEA co-branded prepaid SIM card, to contribute towards the mega IT education exercise. The special prepaid SIM Card will be given to students registering for NIIT learning programs during the WCLD month.

Some of the other key supporters of the mission during 2004 include Sify, India’s leading ISP and national and regional publications such as the Assam Partidin, Dainik Jagran, Dharitri, Divya Bhaskar, Mathrubhumi, Sakal and Vijay Karnataka.

Samsung
Samsung strongly believes that business has a defining role in building communities, and the Samsung ‘Digitall Hope’ program, is in keeping with the same spirit. Samsung DigitAll Hope, represents Samsungs long-term commitment to the people of India and its belief in the power of technology to improve the lives of the Indian people.

It is now widely acknowledged that IT and computer literacy play a key role in the growth of developing countries. Samsung DigitAll Hope is a social program that aims to bridge the gap and narrow the divide between the ‘computer literates’ and the ‘computer illiterates’. As a global leader in Digital Technology, Samsung is committed to the cause and is certain that this program can play a very important role in the development of society at large.

Wartsila : PC's for Charity
When Wartsila upgraded its PCs in the Company, it had a number desktops of the older version. It was agreed to contribute part of these desktops towards charity.  The balance was offered to the employees at a nominal price. It was decided to give the desktops to charitable/non-profit oriented institutions which are involved in the development of children of the lesser privileged sections of society. 
On the recommendations by the employees around 25 NGOs were identified and the PCs given to them free of cost by WIN.