Educomp bags Mah govt project for ICT

Educomp Solutions--education solutions provider and education company's information and computer technology (ICT) division--Edureach--has bagged a Rs 67.93 crore worth project from the Government of Maharashtra for implementation of ICT@Schools Project-Phase 2 in Nasik and Latur totaling to 540 secondary and higher secondary schools covering class V to XII. 

A computer laboratory will be installed in each school and teaching will be done using computer aids and computer based teaching methods apart from computer education being included in the said schools. The company received a letter of intent on 9 March, 2011 from the Director Education (Secondary & Higher Secondary Education), Government of Maharashtra, for the implementation. This project will take the company's existing project existing portfolio of 10,550 schools under ICT implementation across India to a total number of schools 11,090. 

The project will be implemented under the BOOT (build, own, operate and transfer) model for a period of five years including supply and maintenance of computer hardware, software and lab accessories, provision for computer faculty in each school, training of school teachers every year, provision of computer educational services including deployment and running school management software, multimedia educational software as per-state board curriculum, providing computer education, courses on  spoken English communication skills and safe usage of Internet and awareness on cyber crime. 

"At Edureach, we use technology in an innovative manner to spread education across socio-economic strata and across geographical boundaries. Around 2.7 lakh students across these 540 schools in Maharashtra will now have access to computers and computer-aided learning which will bring their learning on par with their urban counter-parts. We are very keen to expand our activities in the education space as well as the vocational training arena in which we operate," Soumya Kanti, president, Edureach told Business Standard. 

The Public Private Partnership (PPP) model has emerged as a successful model for bridging the digital divide in the country and Educomp is leading the initiative in this segment with implementing large scale projects under the PPP model. These educational programmes involve comprehensive education infrastructure implementation, teacher training and content development projects. Edureach has also initiated setting up schools under this model with Government of Punjab and talks are in progress regarding the same. 

"We have so far been associated with 15 state governments across the country and worked with 15,000 schools till date," Kanti added.