The State’s IT policy allows the extension of the benefits of implementing free software in schools to the higher education sector, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said.
He was speaking while formally inaugurating 45,000 high-tech classrooms and ‘Little Kites’ IT clubs, an initiative of Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE), here on Monday.
Mr. Vijayan said the launch of high-tech classrooms would be the largest-such endeavour in the world to be undertaken by utilising free software for technology-oriented education.
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Education Minister C. Raveendranath said all public schools would be made ‘high-tech’ by March 31, 2019. The classrooms would be incorporated with ICT-enabled facilities. The ‘Samagra’ resource portal, which had been launched, would provide digital study content. Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac said concerted efforts of the government in strengthening general education had begun to reap dividends.
Around 1.50 lakh students were enrolled in government schools during the last year, he said.
The high-tech classroom initiative had already been implemented in 139 schools of four Assembly constituencies.
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Classrooms of Classes 8 to 12 in 4,775 government and aided schools would be equipped with laptops, projectors, mounting kit, sound system, and broadband internet in the initial phase of the project. The ‘Little Kites’ IT clubs are being formed in all high schools by bringing together around 1 lakh students.