Computer Penetration in Schools in India
“Despite India being an IT superpower, barely 14.25% schools have computers, with a huge gap between states. In Karnataka and Andhra—seats of big IT companies—only 11.44% and 13.46% schools, respectively, have computers. In Delhi, Chandigarh, Kerala and Puducherry, computers are available in 60%-70% schools. In Bihar, the figure is less than 1%, West Bengal 1.79% and UP 3.3%.”
As reported in The Times of India on Jan 16.
Shouldn’t educational technology professionals in India be talking something more fundamental than games and gadgets?
As reported in The Times of India on Jan 16.
Shouldn’t educational technology professionals in India be talking something more fundamental than games and gadgets?
posted by Steppenwolf at 2:07 AM
4 Comments:
A very good and valid question. We can retrospect into why do we want computer education to be a part of schools? Is it just to make them computer savvy and get them upto speed with the rest of the world? What do they lose by not knowing computers, they can still read books, magazines, news etc. I guess it is more that they will have faster, cheaper and quicker access to information? That way they would learn better.
For example, I learned almost all I know about ID by just browsing the internet, interacting with people and learning on my job. Somehow, that's the way things are mostly in India, as we don't really have very good professional courses to give us degrees and higher levels of information in the field. But access to the infrastructure helped the ID community thrive here.
The state of affairs in our country is so unbalanced we are talking about computers penetrating schools, but somehow we have even failed to provide the fundamental thing of education 100%. We are always getting there but falling short every time. I feel disappointed.
Hmmm….in response to addled (whose blog I really enjoyed reading), I endorse the need for computer education in schools. I do agree that we had learnt most of the things we needed on our own. But receiving a formal and professional education does give that extra edge to students to prepare them for the future.
Having said that, I do agree that as a country, we have a long way to go in terms of providing quality progressive and relevant education. Some schools are actively trying to incorporate various changes. I recently attended an event by Inventure Academy called 'Multiple Intelligences Xplored', which was very enlightening in terms of what an ideal education must be and how the school was implementing this concept to provide a better education & future for students.
I think incorporating such changes in our education system will help children receive a more complete education and help them compete more effectively with their global counterparts.
Technology/computer integration in K-12 education is not limited to learning technological skills. Technology is at a service to curriculum, constructivist or student centered learning should be the primary goal for accessing computers in schools. Computer aided learning has shown documented potential in cultivating problem based and critical thinking skills in children. Merely using as a tutorial or drill and practice limits its prospects. There is loads of evidence in academia that shows evidence in favor of computer aided learning. Ignorance about the real value of computer-aided learning even among educators is quite alarming and needs to be addressed by the teacher education programs in the country.
I have been to Inventure Academy too. My daughter started there this year. I would think, what would a K1 kid be interested in IT for. But, when she came home recently and told me about Onam, what the festivel was about, what kind of food was served, etc, i was quite surprised. She told me her teacher showed all the kids pictures and videos on the computer about all this, showed them a video of the traditional dance in Kerala and taught them a few steps too. I knew i made the right choice with Inventure. But to be constantly surprised and learn so much more about the modern education system(right in K1)...WOW!
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