Soon, thousands of schoolchildren across the State will tinker with a credit card-sized computer to browse the Internet and play high-definition video and games.
The Department of Information Technology will start distributing Raspberry Pi to select 5,000 students in government schools by the end of this month.
A little computer that can be plugged into a computer monitor or television, the Raspberry Pi uses a standard keyboard and mouse. It enables students to learn how computers work and helps them write programs.
The initiative is part of an ambitious project announced in the State budget to issue Raspberry Pi computers to 10,000 school students. IT Principal Secretary P.H. Kurien told The Hindu that a three-month training programme would also be initiated to teach students how to effectively use the tool in their learning process.
Trainers will explain the nuances of the Raspberry Pi computer. The government also had plans to distribute the Raspberry Pi computers among students in unaided schools, he said. The government has sanctioned Rs. 4 crore to buy the 5,000 Raspberry Pi computers in the current fiscal. The assistance for procuring the remaining 5,000 devices will be released next year. The Startup Village, which is partnering the State IT Department in the project, will share its expertise in popularising the programme. Pranav Kumar Suresh, Chief Executive Officer of the Startup Village, said the Young Entrepreneur’s Summit to be held in Angamaly on September 12 would kick-start a series of projects to foster entrepreneurship among youngsters.
The Startup Village is also planning to set up a permanent lab for schoolchildren that will offer micro-processor based computing education. About 500 colleges in the State would open start-up boot camps in the next two years, he said.
The boot camps will come up in arts and science colleges and higher educational institutions offering agriculture programmes.
