Kerala goes "completely digital" in public education

Thiruvananthapuram: The most literate state of India, Kerala has become the first state in the country to go fully digital in public education. With a literacy rate of 96.2%, Kerala achieved this feat due to the efforts of successive governments. Pinarayi Vijayan, the Chief Minister of Kerala made the official announcement through video conferencing.

Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE) is implementing the programmes. The hi-tech projects include the Rs 300 crore hi-tech lab project for primary schools and Rs 493.50 crore hi-tech school project for secondary schools. The 16,000 public schools of Kerala are equipped with 374,274 IT equipment which includes 69,944 multimedia projectors; 119,055 laptops; 23,098 projector screens; 100,473 USB speakers; 4,545 LED TVs; 4,578 DSLR cameras; 4,720 full HD webcams; 43,250 mounting kits, and 4,611 multi-function printers. The government has also provided high-speed broadband internet connectivity to 12,678 schools.

The CEO of KITE, K. Anvar Sadath said that the equipment has a five-year comprehensive onsite warranty. This is the first of its kind in the country, and the equipment also comes with insurance coverage. Anyone who wants to address a complaint, they can do that through a web-portal and call center.

Sadath said, "Since the deployment of IT equipment to schools alone would not suffice an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) enabled learning system, we have ensured essential components such as ICT content development through its Samagra portal." This will provide a global experience for the students and the teachers.

As the pandemic struck the country, KITE launched the First Bell Digital Classes on June 1 for the students. Through this, the students are attending classes through KITE VICTERS channel, which is also broadcast through Facebook Live and YouTube. It is an interim alternative for classes as the schools are closed to stop the spread of COVID 19. More than 2,650 classes have been successfully completed since its launch.

Sadath informed that Kerala has ensured that no one misses out any classes during these tough times.

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