The
success of Giri-Pragna lies in institutional
building. It is not a project for one or
two years or an intervention which will
collapse after leaving the initiator from
the district. Many computer education projects
are built on the idea that training can
be imparted to the teachers in the schools
and then they will take up the computer
teaching along with regular curriculum.
This concept was proved unsuccessful in
many cases. The reason being teachers can’t
be trained in a short span of time. They
are likely to be transferred. Their motivation
level in the beginning is low and they need
much more hand holding time than what the
planners think.
Giri-Pragna has given a
thought to this main hurdle in these kind
of projects and it was thought necessary
to impart training to the students directly
by professional computer education trainers
rather than by training the teachers and
then to the students in an indirect way.
The trainers are recruited through
a professional agency that was hired on
contract for a period of three years to
maintain continuity. In a novel way it was
made compulsory for all the teachers in
the tribal region to learn computers and
to learn the computer based teaching over
a period of three years. This is fairly
a long span in which all the teachers will
get full exposure and experience. The hardware
and software problems will settle down and
teachers will develop confidence to take
up the challenge in coming years.
In these projects of institutional
building it must be ensured that the project
must run for a minimum period of two to
three years without any break on funding
or should not get affected if there is any
change in the top and middle leadership.
Giri-Pragna project has tapped funds from
DPEP and provided 5 computers each in the
50 school complexes along with LAN, computer
furniture, Computer Class room preparation
and connectivity to internet via dial-up
to start with. The hardware is of top brands
and quality with a replacement warranty
of three years ensuring the project will
run positively for three years. ITDA now
owns this hardware and have funds for electricity
and they do have generators in each of the
complexes to backup power failure. A training
contract was given after a three stage selection
process through open tender and the agency
has credentials to deliver the goods. The
contract is for three years of Computer
education, computer aided education and
of teachers training. A daily monitoring
system is devised to get reports from the
field directly. Provision has been made
to accommodate leaving of few trainers as
and when such cause arises. There is a backup
of about 5 teachers who replace the trainer
who is going on leave or leaving the training
agency or is removed for bad performance.
The syllabus of 1000 schools
project is examined and it is found that
it gives more emphasis on learning MS office
and MS Paint. Hence the syllabus is tailored
to train the tribal children not only on
Microsoft windows but they are trained to
work on windows and Linux. The focus is
shifted from making a person computer literate
and enabling him/her to get a small job
to making every student aware about the
internet and the opportunities it is offering
in coming years. The syllabus also taps
potential from students on animation skills
which is in great demand. Provision is made
to modify the syllabus in the beginning
of the academic year to include the new
developments.
A strict monitoring mechanism
is devised to review the performance and
efficacy of the program at regular intervals.
A three tier system and daily monitoring
on covering of the syllabus and regular
tests ensure that the program is functioning
to the designed objectives. After the project
period of three years the ITDA school complexes
will have the hardware, software, furniture,
Computer Aided teaching material with them
and three year fully trained teachers to
take on the responsibility of continuing
the Giri-Pragna.
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