The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in association with the Tribal Development department is gearing up to execute a pilot project to provide a digital link between tribal hamlets in Wayanad.
Minister for Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes K. Radhakrishnan inaugurated a sensitisation programme for officials of Education, Health, Excise and Forest departments as well as facilitators of community study centres (CSC) and tribal promoters on the project at Hotel Indriya here at 10 a.m. on Sunday.
The project envisages scaling up the existing 49 CSCs in tribal hamlets in Wayanad with Information and Communication Technology-enabled CSCs with high-bandwidth connectivity and videoconferencing facility to provide education, healthcare awareness, and screening and early detection of non-communicable diseases in all the hamlets in Wayanad, Tribal Development department sources said.
The ₹9.84-crore pilot project will be implemented by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC).
A district coordination centre will be set up for e-learning, which supports provision of interactive classes and special coaching to students through smart CSCs. Qualified teachers will be identified for the programme with support from the General Education department.
Special classes will be conducted with assistance from teachers of model residential schools under the project.
Samagra e-Resource portal
The ‘Samagra’ e-Resource portal, developed by the Department of Education, will be provided to students in tribal settlements through smart CSCs.
Three disease screening hubs will be set up across the district to provide laboratory-to-door healthcare services in collaboration with the Health department, Regional Cancer Centre (RCC), and the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology (RIO), Thiruvananthapuram, for preliminary screening of non-communicable diseases such as cervical cancer, oral cancer, breast cancer, retinal diseases, and diabetic retinopathy.
As many as 28 nurses and 28 supporting staff will be recruited from the tribal community for the project to provide training to nurses from RCC and RIO.
The project will be completed in three years, and the first phase would be launched in a year, the sources added.
