Hi-Tech school project for Secondary schools
The Hi-Tech school programme was a major highlight of the Public Education Rejuvenation Mission of the State Govt, aimed at upgrading all classrooms to international standards. KITE was identified as the implementing agency for the programme, being the pioneer of ICT enabled education in the State for over a decade. KITE has implemented the Hi-Tech school programme by which 45000 classrooms in 4752 schools have been made Hi-Tech and the project was funded by KIIFB, (Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board), the nodal agency for monitoring all Govt projects, in tune of Rs. 493.50 Crores. The 4752 schools include Govt & Aided High Schools, Higher Secondary schools and Vocational Higher Secondary schools.
Each Hi-Tech classroom is equipped with Laptop, ceiling mounted Multimedia Projector, HDMI Cables and Faceplates, Whiteboard / Projection Screen, USB Speakers, High Speed Broadband internet and access to Samagra Resrouce Portal. The Hi-Tech IT Labs feature Laptops ,Sound system and Multifunction Printers. In addition to that, each of the 4752 schools are provided with a 42 inch LED TV, Full HD webcam and a DSLR Camera. The IT Labs and Classrooms would be connected via network through a Central server in the Lab, which would allow sharing of information.
Components
Pilot implementation of Hi-Tech school project
KITE successfully undertook a pilot implementation of Hi-Tech School Programme in 139 selected schools in 4 constituencies – Alappuzha, Puthukkad, Kozhikode North and Thaliparamba and also including the 7 Smart Schools during 2016-2017. The details of the ICT equipment deployed to these schools are as follows;
The learnings from the pilot implementation were assessed in detail, which were then integrated into the massive implementation of the project Statewide.
Statewide implementation of Hi-Tech school project
The State wide launch of the programme was inaugurated by Hon.Chief Minister on 22 January 2018 at Thiruvananthapuram. As part of the scheme, KITE has deployed the following ICT equipments to schools, till date. District wise, School wise, Assembly wise details can be accessed here .
The category wise details of schools covered are as follows;
Category |
Govt |
Aided |
Total |
No of Students benefitted |
High Schools |
1225 |
1434 |
2659 |
37,93,953 |
Higher Secondary schools |
857 |
847 |
1704 |
|
Vocational Higher Secondary schools |
261 |
128 |
389 |
|
Total |
2343 |
2409 |
4752 |
Capacity Building for Teachers and Students
In order to supplement the ICT hardware deployment in schools, KITE has imparted ICT based trainings to 77,194 teachers from High School, Higher Secondary, Vocational Higher Secondary and Upper Primary sections. In addition to this, as many as 52,150 students from 1990 High Schools, who are members of Little KITEs Clubs, were also trained in various domains such as Animation, Electronics, Hardware, Cyber Safety, Malayalam Computing, Web TV, Development of Mobile Apps, Programming, Robotics, E-Commerce, E-Governance, Video Documentation etc.
Content Development- SAMAGRA
KITE has developed SAMAGRA Resource Portal which functions as a repository of educational contents for students from class 1 to 12. Samagra features e-Resources, Textbooks and Question Banks in the form of images, videos, animations, interactive narrations and tutorials. Samagra has digital resources in four mediums of instruction- Malayalam, English, Tamil and Kannada.
Broadband connectivity to schools
As part of Hi-Tech school project, KITE has also provided high speed broadband connectivity to 4751 HS/HSS/VHSE schools in the State, with the exception of Tholpetty Govt High School in Wayanad District, due to extreme geographical constraints. KITE has made alternate arrangements for internet connectivity in this school.
eWaste Management from schools
KITE had tied up with Clean Kerala Company of Govt of Kerala dispose over 1 Cr kilograms of e-Waste from over 10,000 schools and educational offices in Kerala. It has been reported that the eWaste which has been accumulated since the past two decades, eats-up huge space of IT labs, besides obstructing the lab activities in a large way. As on date over 750 Tonnes of eWaste has been disposed from 14 districts. Equipments such as Desktop Computers, CRT Monitors, Laptops, Desktop Cabinets, Drives, Printers, Projectors, UPS, Camera, Speaker System, Television, Network Components, Generators etc are being included in the eWaste category.
Support mechanisms in place
A Call Center and Webportal mechanism was established by KITE, for Complaint Management from schools. Schools can register the complaints of any ICT equipment provided to them in the portal which would be rectified within the set timeline. Any delay in attending the complaint would incur a Liquidity Damage penalty for the supplier. In order to ensure, a long term trouble free maintenance, all ICT equipments supplied to schools under Hi-Tech school project is covered with a 5 year comprehensive warranty, a first of its kind in the country. To support the field level co-ordination, each district is allocated a 2 member technical team who are based at the District Offices of KITE.
Challenges faced and how they were overcome
1. As a prerequisite to Hi-Tech school project, the schools have to make their classrooms safe and secure, for which they had to explore the funding sources such as PTA, Local bodies, Alumni which was successfully executed with massive local participation.
2. Convincing the teachers the concept of ICT based education and to effectively make use of the ICT equipments in classrooms. This was achieved by ensuring their active participation through effective Capacity Building processes learnt through the pilot phase and by putting in place effective guidelines and software based monitoring systems at various levels.
3. There is no separate IT person in any school. So it was a daunting task for equipping the teachers to be able to repair the minor complaints at their level. For this, they were given specific hardware trainings at regular intervals with supporting systems like Hardware Clinics, eWaste management, Call center facility etc.
4. Content dissemination through focused channels such as Samagra and VICTERS educational channel. With proper support from SCERT, this was ensured in a systematic process.
5. Standardising ICT hardware deployment to schools. Govt issued specific guidelines for deploying ICT hardware to schools under various sources, detailing the minimum specification, maximum price and strict service conditions including 5 year comprehensive warranty.