of Kerala. Parkavi Kumar Senior Project Officer Centre for Innovations in Public Systems

IT@School of Kerala Parkavi Kumar Senior Project Officer Centre for Innovations in Public Systems

Background of the Intervention Lack of adequate IT infrastructure at schools Lack of access to internet No structured form of Computer education in school syllabus Computer education in schools are provided by private agencies (BOOT Model) Instructors from private agencies teach in schools No active participation/resistance of in-house Teachers towards IT tools No specific content/curriculum for Computer Education

IT in Education Vision 2010 In April 2000, Department of General Education of Kerala constituted an IT task force to define the scope of ICT at School. There is no claim that lt can replace the teacher in a school classroom. Even if it is technologically feasible, it is far from desirable in the school classes. But lt is seen as an enabler and an effective tool to learn deeper, better and faster. lt helps the teacher as a potent instructional and reference tool. For the student, lt supplements the efforts of the teacher and provides motivation and resources for selfdirected study. - IT in Education Vision 2010

Some important observations of the Study Mere deployment of hardware in schools would not do any good, but Information Technology as part of the School Syllabus was the need of the hour. lt should be seen as an enabler and an effective tool to learn deeper, better and faster. The teacher should be enabled to use lt as a potent instructional and reference tool. It was decided to implement an ICT enabled educational system in a phased manner by holistically integrating the four pillars of ICT ie Capacity Building, Infrastructure deployment, Content Development and E-Governance.

IT@School Initiated in the year 2001 under General Education department to foster IT education in schools. The Mission Director of the project is the Director of Public Instruction. The Executive Director heads the operations of the Project. There is one State Project Office at Tiruvananthapuram and 14 District Offices. The Project initially mobilized the required hardware for schools through funds available with LSG institutions, local area development funds of the MPs & MLAs and PTA. Centrally sponsored ICT in School Scheme was introduced in year 2007, with 75:25 Pattern.

IT infrastructure A major prerequisites for successful Implementation A systematic and transparent procurement process was introduced for supply of ICT hardware to schools, which included an online requirement form for schools. KELTRON, identified as the Service Provider for hardware procurement; procurement process through nationwide tendering Each of the equipment was backed with 3-year warranty, service and after sales support. Equipments include Laptop, Desktops, Netbooks, Printers, Generators etc were provided to the schools with onsite support for 3 years. All schools have been equipped with Broadband connectivity BSNL; detailed usage norms issued to ensure safe and secure browsing.

Human Resource

Organizational Structure

Implementation of the Project

Phase 1 A Bottom up Approach IT introduced as an optional subject for Std 8 in year 2002 on a pilot mode IT made a compulsory subject in Std 8 the next year. By 2004, IT is made compulsory in Std 9 & 10.

Phase 2 IT Enabled Education Revising the curriculum of other subjects and incorporate IT component. Use IT as a teaching tool in all schools Introduction of smart classrooms Empower the teachers to use educational applications developed Phase 3 IT embedded Education envisions full fledged Educational Delivery using IT enabled classroom technologies

Major Success Factor

Capacity Building Training modules were developed by the Project to conduct different training programmes. Basic IT training, Hardware training, Internet training, ICT enabled training are some of them. The dependency on outsourced ICT trainers was eliminated with the capacity development of existing teachers. Over 2 lakh teachers were given ICT training and ICT enabled training. Specific training was given to subject teachers to teach their subjects with the help of ICT

Capacity Building Hardware Clinic programme launched for the maintenance, repair and upgrading of damaged or low configuration computers in schools. Teachers and students trained in Hardware issues during Hardware Clinics, which boosted their confidence to handle the common technical problems found in school ICT hardware D:\Desktop\Parkavi Kumar, CIPS\Visits\IT@School\IT@School Kerala\K-Tech_Module_Eng.pdf

Content Development IT@School EDUBUNTU As mentioned earlier, customized linux version was developed for the Schools in the state. Educational softwares like Dr.Geo, Geogebra, Chemtool, Kalcium, Rasmol, etc. were included. Resource CDs Different resource supporting ICT enabled learning were also developed by the Project. Most of the story boards and scripts were developed by the Master trainers and teachers. Resource portal www.resource.itschool.gov.in D:\Desktop\Parkavi Kumar, CIPS\Visits\IT@School\IT@School Kerala\Ebook_eng\ICT_IX_English.pdf

Lessons from Kerala Model

Proprietary software used in schools during the initial phase. Initially state government of Kerala did not adopt a policy to prescribe software for ICT in Education. The syllabus prepared by SCERT used Windows OS. An evaluation of the project pointed that 60% of the schools used pirated versions of the software which restricts the usage Restrictions in proprietary software to share content a major limitation in effective ICT sharing process. Understanding the need as well as benefits of Free Software, the entire activities of the Project was shifted to Free Software platform by 2005. Free and Open Source Software enabled unrestricted sharing, copying and modifying of educational contents at schools. The project developed its own Operating System-EduUbuntu. The first version developed in 2005. Today the entire ICT content, academic and e-governance applications of the Project uses FOSS. Annual savings Rs. 11 Crores. Proprietary Vs Free Software

BOOT model Vs Equipping Teachers Within Initially external resources were engaged for trainings, but this proved ineffective as there was lack of ownership and participation of teachers. The Importing of specialists in the form of external instructors in schools created a negative impact among the teaching populace. Govt formulated key strategy to empower the existing subject teachers themselves as Trainers. School teachers were selected as Master Trainers and attached to IT@School Project where they were trained in IT & ICT and they in turn trained their colleagues. The strategy of Teachers within proved very effective over the years and still the same model is been followed.

Outsourced content Vs Indigenous Content The initial period saw tie-ups with private players like INTEL for ICT content. Most of the content which was available in the market did not match with the curriculum s requirement; Demand for Indigenous Content development process. With the shift to Free Software, most of the ICT enabled content is prepared by the teachers, who understand the importance of what needs to be taught, when compared to external resources. Project customized several FOSS applications to fit in the required formats as demanded by the School Curriculum. Several FOSS based educational applications were customized. For eg: Dr. Geo and Geogebra for Mathematics, Rasmol, Chemtool and Kalzium for Chemistry, K- tech lab for Physics, Marble, KStars, XrMaps for Geography etc

Video on IT@School D:\Desktop\Parkavi Kumar, CIPS\Conferences\completed\mussoorie LBSNAA\Presentations\My DVD\VIDEO_TS\VIDEO_TS.IFO

Efforts of CIPS in Replicating IT@School

Field Visit to Study IT@School and Kerala land Bank by A Team from Visakhapatnam The team visited Government Higher Secondary School, Cotton Hill Thiruvanantapuram, Kerala on 04-07-2013. It is a Girls High School having about 5000 girl students and about 200 Lady Teachers. The team studied the usage of "Smart classes" for teaching where the Smart Classrooms are classrooms equipped with Speaker and Projector for using digital contents for better teaching and learning.

Field Visit by Officials from Chattisgarh to Study IT@School A two membered team from Chattisgarh visited Kerala from 12 Aug 2013 to 14 Aug 2013 to study the IT@School for possible replication in Chhattisgarh. The team visited IT@School State Project Office, District Project Office, 2 Rural Government Schools GHSS Karipoor & GHSS Avanavancherry and 1 private school at Trivandrum. The team was also exposed to Smart classroom concept, 11 hr Victers Educational Channel and various educational applications using free and open source software (Edu-ubuntu). The team was also given a detailed presentation on the IT@School at the state project office.

Replication by the State of Jharkhand During the 1st State Innovators consultation meet organized by the Department of Planning and Administration along with Department of IT, Government of Jharkhand and CIPS, Hyderabad at Ranchi on 21st and 22nd Dec 2013, a brief presentation was made about IT@School initiative by Kerala. Govt. of Jharkhand has now taken this initiative forward for institutionalization and has hence submitted a proposal to the XIV Finance Commission towards a financial assistance of Rs 245 Crores for the integration of IT@School in the state of Jharkhand.

Photographs