Camcorders, LCD projectors, web cameras,more computers in the lab, gensets in power supply affected areas and over lakh new teachers who come with a set of Information Technology (IT) skills, will soon be a reality in all secondary and higher secondary government schools. The Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry is bringing Rs 6,000 crore plan for Expenditure Finance Committee’s (EFC) approval shortly.

The ministry is also open to the idea of a public-private partnership (PPP) on a five year Build-Operate-Own-Transfer (BOOT) model as is done by some state governments to help implement the ambitious scheme.

For government schools struggling with power supply, limited computers and lack of teachers, the decision to bring in new age ancillaries like web cameras, camcorders and projectors was needed as part of a larger programme to ensure children are not left behind when the Information & Communication Technology (ICT) revolution is transforming the world.

Scaling up the computer aided teaching employed in elementary schools under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), the ministry is putting together a revamped ICT scheme for all 1.8 lakh secondary and higher secondary schools. The scheme to be rolled out later this year will equip school children with skills required to perform word processing, power point, spreadsheets, use internet for academics amongst other things.

To be spread out over the 11th plan period, the scheme will effectively roll out with an allocation of Rs 5,500 crores as Rs 500 crore has already been used to bring in labs and hardware to some 20,000 schools in the past two years of the plan period. The ministry having a large amount for the purpose has decided to invest not only in providing hardware to schools but in plugging the gaping vacuum of qualified teachers.

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