The government is launching a people’s campaign to ensure digital equipment for all students, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said.
He said the government was trying to ensure that all children could participate in the classes independently. For this, all children needed digital equipment, like textbooks. The first step towards this was to record how many students in each school had digital equipment and how many required it. This had been entrusted to school committees led by parent-teacher associations (PTA). This information would be collated at the local body and district level.
The number of students in need of equipment would be uploaded on a portal developed as part of the campaign to ensure digital education. On the basis of the information, equipment or money could be contributed. Corporate social responsibility funds could be used for this. The portal would also have the facility to submit projects for utilising CSR funds. PTAs could prepare projects using the portal.
To receive contributions, a Chief Minister’s Educational Empowerment Fund would be set up as a sub-component of the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF), Mr. Vijayan said.
All tribal children without digital equipment would be provided with equipment. Connectivity issues would be addressed through talks with service providers. Children and their parents would be given training in how to use the equipment through the learning centres in hamlets.
Students hailing from financially backward families also required digital equipment. Laptops or tablets were ideal for exclusive use by them. Families that did not have money to buy equipment right away could take interest-free loans offered by cooperative banks. Kerala State Financial Enterprises had announced a scheme earlier, and other banks too were ready to provide help. Families buying digital equipment for their child could also provide another child with an equipment, the Chief Minister said.
All this would be possible through effective interventions by the PTAs. Local residents, former students, local self-government institutions, people’s representatives, libraries and clubs, and activists could come together to address the problems of students unable to buy equipment at the school level itself, Mr. Vijayan said.
