Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi has sought a report from the State Information Technology department on the Smart Classroom Project being implemented by the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT).
[The project, carried out on an experimental basis in Virudhunagar and Tirunelveli districts, envisages the use of IT in classrooms of village schools.]
The Chief Minister's directive to the department followed his visit to the Tamil Internet exhibition here on Sunday held as part of the Tamil Internet Conference (TIC). The conference is held concurrently with the World Classical Tamil Conference.
IT Minister Poongothai Aladi Aruna later told The Hindu that the Chief Minister sought the project report to scale up the project so that more villages could be covered. It had been proposed to extend the project to the Nilgiris district.
ELCOT Managing Director Santhosh Babu said the project cost for a Smart Class room worked out to Rs. 4 lakh to Rs. 5 lakh. It had an interactive white screen, projector, audio systems and touch screens.
The exhibition has 124 stalls displaying different aspects of Tamil computing.
M. Anandakrishnan, chairman of the local organising committee of the TIC, said that according to a charter of demands presented to the government, an international committee should be set up to frame the syllabus for Tamil education through Internet. In an effort to develop technology for reading and writing in Tamil in all mobile phones sold in the State, the government should bring together stakeholders. The government should also bring about changes in the operating systems and software to help the differently-abled in Tamil computing. Competitions should be organised for students regularly to sustain the interest of students in Tamil computing.
