The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Nine colleges to be IT-enabled

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Tuesday, May 26, 2009
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Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Nine colleges to be IT-enabled

G. Mahadevan

Engineering colleges to be networked

Project to be launched by the
end of June
Drawn up in response to a
11th Plan initiative

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A project of the Department of Education to create 100 ‘technologically enhanced classrooms’ at nine engineering colleges to improve standards of classroom teaching is likely to be launched by the end of June.

The project has been drawn up in response to a 11th Plan initiative of a ‘national mission for education’ of the Government of India to digitize and network all educational institutions in the State. Among the objectives of the national mission are the creation of e-books for all subjects, interconnection of all colleges and universities, digitization of learning material produced so far and propagation of digital literacy. The outcome is expected to be a national knowledge network, complete with digital campuses consisting of digital classrooms.

According to officials of the Department of Education, the State will be ready to log on to the knowledge network once it becomes operational. The 100 classrooms that would be modernised are spread over nine government engineering colleges. The plan is to install computers, projectors and sound systems in these classrooms. “The classrooms should accommodate 75 students, a podium for the instructor, a black /white board, a personal computer or a laptop, LCD projector and a speaker phone. The room should be powered through UPS,” the introduction to the project reads.

Twenty-eight classrooms at the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram, have been selected for the project, 18 classrooms at the Government Engineering College, Thrissur, 12 each at the Government Engineering College, Kannur, and the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology, Kottayam, six classrooms at the Government Engineering College, Barton Hill, and the Government Engineering Colleges at Kozhikode, Palakkad, Wayanad and Idukki.

The ICT (Information and Communication Technology) tools will be supplied by Keltron.

In 2010, 100 more classes in various engineering colleges will be upgraded in a similar manner.

That year the scheme will be extended to classrooms at the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat), department officials said here.

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