Tablets for KV Students

Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) are all set for a major transformation. From a pilot project involving creation of 500 e-classrooms across 50 schools to introduction of mobile multimedia teaching devices and provision of digital teacher’s diary to all teachers, KVs will provide an ICT-enabled learning environment.

KVs already boast of one of the highest student-computer ratio. The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) plans to provide tablets to students Class IX onwards from 2013. Gaining in strength from 20 schools in 1962-63 to 1,087 in 2012, and catering to over 1.05 million students across India, the KVs have been one of the best performers in the CBSE Board exams. They will now be adding another feather to their cap.

Avinash Dikshit, commissioner, KVS, told TOI: “Although we have one computer for 22 students, the computers are present only in the laboratories. The idea is to use technology in classrooms to enhance the learning process. The e-classroom pilot project will start from August this year – one section from classes III to XII across 50 schools will be equipped with computers, projectors, interactive white boards and internet connectivity.” The estimated cost of the 500 e-classrooms would be Rs 10 crore.

What’s more, even the course content would be unique. Using the 40,000-strong teaching staff, the KVS has created its own content and digitised it for all courses from Classes III to XII from 2012. “Normally, we use readymade content found in NCERT textbooks. Since we have a large number of teachers, we used their creativity to develop our own content, which will make the subjects interesting, but it’s within the NCERT-prescribed syllabi. With the use of ICT and multimedia tools, teachers can now demonstrate the functioning of a human heart in a more comprehensive manner rather than drawing diagrams on the blackboard,” added Dikshit.

While the pilot run of e-classrooms is being restricted bigger schools (with three sections in each class), 700 other schools are being identified where mobile multimedia devices will be used as projectors in classrooms. So far, 28,000 teachers have been equipped with ICT skills by Intel and Oracle. “We are also giving 90% interest-free loans to teachers for purchasing laptops,” said Dikshit.

Teachers across 300 KVs are already being given a electronic comprehensive teaching learning tool (ECTLT) or a digital teacher’s diary to help them plan what they will teach.

“It also has a evaluation component which maintains a complete record of the teachers as to how and what they have taught or how they have conducted the classes. Moreover, it records each student’s performance which can be accessed by the parents as well,” informed Dikshit.

Source: Times of India