TRIVANDRUM, 12 January — Chief Minister A.K. Antony yesterday launched an ambitious program, IT@School , aimed at imparting computer education to 1.5 million students in over 2600 schools in Kerala and vowed to make India’s most literate state 100 percent IT- literate.
“The project will enable the state to emerge as a major force in the IT sector. In the next stages we would make all students, employees, farmers and laymen computer-literate,” the chief minister said.
Antony said his government had sought World Bank assistance to spread computer literacy. Some 1.5 million pupils would be trained in IT every year.
The project is being implemented with the participation of NRK associations, local bodies and Parent-Teacher Associations. Computer education would be introduced in Class VIII during the 2002-03 academic year and 60,000 teachers would be given training in a phased manner.
Besides imparting basic training in handling the computer, the students would also be taught certain software packages.
The three-year project envisions a total transformation of the classroom at all levels with IT becoming a powerful tool. It aims to integrate information technology into the mainstream curriculum of the secondary schools and enhance the intellectual productivity of teachers, learning abilities of students and the management efficiency of school administrators.
