Digital India!
It has such a good sound to it!
It is heartening to see that there has been tremendous effort put in by the new government to make our country more capable,versatile and a force to reckon with.Digital India is one such step towards making Indians more tech savvy and taking the internet into the interiors of India where they can be used in different ways for the up-liftment of the villages.It is a step to make the internet and all its benefits available easily to the common man so that one and all can move towards progress.I applaud this change and hopefully it will be for the better.The vision is great ,the only (and important and challenging) thing left is the implementation and follow up.
Many political parties too wanted a share of the pie of the digital initiative.They did not want to be left behind so they came up with some ideas for the digital revolution.A certain political party came up with the idea to start an E-class and decided to distribute Tablets in the BMC schools through a project costing 15.5 crore .Each tablet came at the cost of Rs 6850.According to this venture, 22,799 tablets were to be distributed to the standard eighth,ninth and tenth students from BMC schools.It was proclaimed to be the first digital education programme initiated by that or any other political party.
As a start tablets were distributed to the STD eight students of a BMC school at Vile Parle and Dadar. Many a times such initiatives are taken up without the thorough study of facts and roadblocks that one may come across and this was one such initiative.The matter available in the tablets was a huge let down as it contained a few scanned notes of the current curriculum and some out-dated information.There were no new or interesting apps available on it.There was no camera facility on it for obvious reasons but most importantly there was no internet facility as the schools did not have the net availability in their school.With much fanfare the project was implemented and it was the talk of all the tabloids.The tablets were handed over to the students and they posed with them and it was perfect photo op for the political party.That was not the end of the story unfortunately, as when it was found that there was a lot yet to be added to these tablets in order to make it more useful, the tablets were unceremoniously taken back and kept in the custody of the school again. It dawned upon the school that since the tablets were not to be taken by the students and were to be used in the school only, they required a safe place for keeping the tablets. They also had to make internet facility available for the maximum use of the tablets.So all the brouhaha around the digital education programme came to naught and it was back to the chalk and talk technique once again for all the students of the school.
I am not against the use of tablets and computers in schools.What is my concern is that it should come only when the schools are ready for it.A project need not be initiated just for the sake of it,its worthiness should be taken into account.According to the study of the BMC schools in Maharashtra, there is very poor reading,writing and mathematical ability seen in the students. many of the students in STD five cannot read or calculate according to the desired level.The teaching skills of the teachers in the schools are not upto the mark and they are often tied up with paper work,census duty and are on duty during the elections too.There is high demand for teaching jobs in the BMC as the teachers take home a hefty pay packet and have a secure job once they are permanent.Getting a job in the government aided schools is difficult and I have heard of people who have sold their land to pay hefty amounts to get it.What I believe is that the focus should be on getting the basics of the students to be strong.They should have fluency in reading,writing and computing for their level of study.In the earlier stages, i.e pre-primary levels of teaching, the focus should be on laying a strong foundation for learning.The first skill required is listening,followed by reading,writing and computing.Without having the basic knowledge of the three R's (Reading,Writing,Arithmetic) one cannot expect the students to do well with the introduction f tablets and computers.All this should be taken into account before initiating a digital education programme.
Brings me to the fact that change is a necessity. Change is the only thing that is constant.
For progress,change is a must. It is important that the change should be planned and implemented keeping all the pros and cons of the situation in mind.The hurdles, the basic infrastructure and other criteria should be kept in mind while initiating any new project.The present trends, future problems and challenges, follow up procedures after implementation , all should be take into account in order for any initiative to be successful.
It has such a good sound to it!
It is heartening to see that there has been tremendous effort put in by the new government to make our country more capable,versatile and a force to reckon with.Digital India is one such step towards making Indians more tech savvy and taking the internet into the interiors of India where they can be used in different ways for the up-liftment of the villages.It is a step to make the internet and all its benefits available easily to the common man so that one and all can move towards progress.I applaud this change and hopefully it will be for the better.The vision is great ,the only (and important and challenging) thing left is the implementation and follow up.
Many political parties too wanted a share of the pie of the digital initiative.They did not want to be left behind so they came up with some ideas for the digital revolution.A certain political party came up with the idea to start an E-class and decided to distribute Tablets in the BMC schools through a project costing 15.5 crore .Each tablet came at the cost of Rs 6850.According to this venture, 22,799 tablets were to be distributed to the standard eighth,ninth and tenth students from BMC schools.It was proclaimed to be the first digital education programme initiated by that or any other political party.
As a start tablets were distributed to the STD eight students of a BMC school at Vile Parle and Dadar. Many a times such initiatives are taken up without the thorough study of facts and roadblocks that one may come across and this was one such initiative.The matter available in the tablets was a huge let down as it contained a few scanned notes of the current curriculum and some out-dated information.There were no new or interesting apps available on it.There was no camera facility on it for obvious reasons but most importantly there was no internet facility as the schools did not have the net availability in their school.With much fanfare the project was implemented and it was the talk of all the tabloids.The tablets were handed over to the students and they posed with them and it was perfect photo op for the political party.That was not the end of the story unfortunately, as when it was found that there was a lot yet to be added to these tablets in order to make it more useful, the tablets were unceremoniously taken back and kept in the custody of the school again. It dawned upon the school that since the tablets were not to be taken by the students and were to be used in the school only, they required a safe place for keeping the tablets. They also had to make internet facility available for the maximum use of the tablets.So all the brouhaha around the digital education programme came to naught and it was back to the chalk and talk technique once again for all the students of the school.
I am not against the use of tablets and computers in schools.What is my concern is that it should come only when the schools are ready for it.A project need not be initiated just for the sake of it,its worthiness should be taken into account.According to the study of the BMC schools in Maharashtra, there is very poor reading,writing and mathematical ability seen in the students. many of the students in STD five cannot read or calculate according to the desired level.The teaching skills of the teachers in the schools are not upto the mark and they are often tied up with paper work,census duty and are on duty during the elections too.There is high demand for teaching jobs in the BMC as the teachers take home a hefty pay packet and have a secure job once they are permanent.Getting a job in the government aided schools is difficult and I have heard of people who have sold their land to pay hefty amounts to get it.What I believe is that the focus should be on getting the basics of the students to be strong.They should have fluency in reading,writing and computing for their level of study.In the earlier stages, i.e pre-primary levels of teaching, the focus should be on laying a strong foundation for learning.The first skill required is listening,followed by reading,writing and computing.Without having the basic knowledge of the three R's (Reading,Writing,Arithmetic) one cannot expect the students to do well with the introduction f tablets and computers.All this should be taken into account before initiating a digital education programme.
Brings me to the fact that change is a necessity. Change is the only thing that is constant.
For progress,change is a must. It is important that the change should be planned and implemented keeping all the pros and cons of the situation in mind.The hurdles, the basic infrastructure and other criteria should be kept in mind while initiating any new project.The present trends, future problems and challenges, follow up procedures after implementation , all should be take into account in order for any initiative to be successful.
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| How are these useful to us without net facility? |
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| Distribution of tablets at a Vile Parle school |
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| The students flaunt their tablets which are taken back the same day. |
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| The students of a school at Dadar get their tablets. |
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