Call for greater use of IT in classrooms

Terming the current use of technology in classrooms as insufficient, Abhinav Dhar, senior vice-president of Delhi-based Educomp Solutions Limited, called for greater use of digital content for promoting education.

"Based on a rough estimate we have realised that the 25,000-odd higher secondary private schools in India have spent about Rs 800 crore on the technology front in the last 10 years. However, this spend was restricted to computer labs and administrative work. Teaching continues to be dependent on the chalk and the board," Dhar said at "The Digital Learning Seminar 2006," organised by Educomp, Intel and Microsoft in Hyderabad.

It is estimated that there are about 10 lakh schools in India, of which about 9,30,000 are government schools. About 60 per cent of a student's waking hours are assumed to be spent in the classrooms.

"Therefore, it is essential that just as technology has pervaded all streams of life, it gets integrated in classroom teaching as well," he added.

Digital content, use of computers in classrooms, display system, teachers' training, networking, support and maintenance and funding are the imperatives for technology integration in classrooms.

In this regard, Dhar said that digital content should be mapped precisely to the scope of the curriculum, the format should be instructor-led and assessment should be instant.

"The current classroom teaching methodology addresses only 50 per cent of the brain. With visual graphics, animation, video and sound, the remaining half of the brain could be catered to as well," he added.

Educomp employs more than 1,000 people and has a presence in 27 locations across the country besides a fully-owned subsidiary in the US. It offers online and offline educational products like smart_class and Mathguru. About 120 schools in India and four each in the US and Singapore use Educomp's solutions.

According to a company spokesperson, the approximate cost of such solutions would be Rs 50-100 per month, for each student.