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Brief
Project Sharada: innovation in education
Ajay Chikersal |
The use of information and communication technology (ICT)
tools have had a significant impact on all walks of life, including the education
sector. For instance, the combination of video, animation, audio, graphics,
and text resources provides enhanced facilities for educators. Hence, this combination
is a favourite among educators today.
Project Sharada is one such project which has used this combination. Started
in September 2005, Sharada is an initiative undertaken by the Municipal Corporation
of Delhi (MCD). The aim of the project is to improve the standard of primary
education with the help of modern techniques.
To meet this objective, Project Sharada was initiated in approximately 1,000
schools spanning all the zones of the MCD. The project is not just about IT
training but has plans to equip teachers to use IT as a medium of learning.
MCD runs about 1,820 primary schools and caters to approximately nine lakh students.
To cover such vast number of schools under its purview, MCD chose two partners
Micro Computer Services (MCS) and Network for Information and Computer Technology
(NICT).
MCD followed a detailed tendering process spread over a year. With the help
of its consultant, ICICI Infotech, it decided on the above-mentioned partners.
Under the public-private initiative, the two partners would set up the “necessary
infrastructure” and impart computer education to students through its trained
teachers for the next five years.
MCS would impart computer education in Group A and C schools and NICT would
do so in Group B and D. Accordingly MCS would cover 703 schools and the NICT
would cover 487 schools.
MCD has also tied up with the Rajya Siksha Kendra, formally known as the Rajiv
Gandhi Siksha Mission, Bhopal, to provide ‘content and syllabus’ of
the computer education to students in all subjects including mathematics, social
sciences and science.
- Project Sharda was undertaken in 1,000 primary
schools by January 2005
- Each school has been provided with five computers
and a faculty member by MCD selected vendors
- Presently MCD runs 1,820 primary schools
- 886 schools have nursery sections along with
primary classes
- Total enrolment in the above category of schools
was 9,35,000
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Advantage ICT
Among the advantages of using ICT in education is that the application of multimedia
in education gives students the ability to learn at their own pace, irrespective
of the capability, potential, attitude, and interest of the teacher. It is important
to state that technology cannot replace the teacher, it can however mimic the
best teachers for students at large.
The other aspect of using ICT is the use of visual learning as it is the easiest
way of imparting education to young minds. For instance, if a teacher wants
to explain a solar eclipse, it can be rendered visually in the classroom on
a PC.
Though there have been several initiatives in private educational institutions
the municipal schools or government-run educational services are yet to undertake
this initiative in a big way. Project Sharada, however, is one such example
that highlights the effective use of ICT in education targeting the eradication
of illiteracy.
Vendors were given five months to implement the project. Each school was provided
with five computers and a faculty trained by the MCD vendors. Groups of three
to five students would be taught about computers.
Mukesh Hajela, Vice Chairman and CEO, NICT explained, “The time has come
to change the quality of education in government and municipal schools. The
typical classroom with chalk and board, notebooks and textbooks need to be changed
to make education interesting and bring down the dropout rate.”
Added Hajela, “Some of the concerns were shifting of machines from the
vendors to the schools, room formatting with electric fittings, designing and
affixing furniture, recruiting instructors and core faculty members.”
NICT has deployed a Linux network spanning 487 centres and 2,512 machines.
The modules for achieving the desired results in the schools under MCS are the
same. Ajay Chikersal, Director, MCS stated, “We have about three to eight
machines and one teacher per school.”
He added, “Infrastructure management which includes setting up labs was
a key challenge.”
All said, Project Sharada has demonstrated the effective use of ICT in education.
—Vinita Gupta
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