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E-Learning- A Tool for Education in Rural India

E-Learning- A Tool for Education in Rural India Abhiyendra Kumar Master of Tech. Integrated,4 th year Department of Mathematics Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (India) Acknowledgement Greatly Thankful to

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E-Learning- A Tool for Education in Rural India

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  1. E-Learning- A Tool for Education in Rural India Abhiyendra Kumar Master of Tech. Integrated,4th year Department of Mathematics Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (India)

  2. Acknowledgement • Greatly Thankful to • The Organizing committee of the conference for providing me an opportunity to present my views on such a large platform. • Abu Dhabi Men’s college for providing me with a scholarship to attend the conference. • My Father who motivated me to write this paper.

  3. India – Enormous & Diverse • Population: 1.0270 billion • Number of States: 28 • Number of Union territories: 7 • Land Area: 2,973,190 sq. kms • Population Density: 324 persons per square kms • (2001 Census: Registrar General of India) • (currency conversion: 1Indian Rupee=0.0227$ ,1 American $ = 44 Indian Rupees)

  4. India: An Economic Giant • India is marching towards attaining the goal of becoming a developednation by the year 2020. • GDP: Rs. 27,550,340 million at current marketprices • The real GDP has grown by 8.1 % during 2003-2004. • (Economic Survey: GOI 2003 2004: Advanced Estimates releasedby CSO in Feb 2004)

  5. Indian Economy - World Ranking Economy Ranking (millions of American dollars) : • 1. United States: 10,871,095 • 2. China: 6,435,838 • 3. Japan: 3,582,515 • 4. India: 3,096,239

  6. India: Literacy • Literacy: • Total: 65.38 % • Male: 75.85% • Female: 54.16% • (However %age does not show us the real picture. Thesheer numbers matter. The number of illiterate people inIndia is: 355 million) • (e-Learning comes in here to help )

  7. India: Digital Divide • 70% of Indian populationstill lives in Villages (Rural Areas),and their primary occupation is agriculture • Information & Communication Technology: Rural India not as fortunate as Urban India • Digital Divide:India(urban, educated, rich) (30%) vs. Bharat(rural, illitrate, poor) (70%) • The IT Giant, India needs to take IT to themasses.

  8. India – Information Technology • IT Industry in India accounts for morethan 3% of India's GDP • The Indian IT industry is amongst thetop 10 industries in the country. • 203 Fortune-500 companies arecustomers of Indian IT industry

  9. India – Information Technology • As per NASSCOM estimates, in 2002-2003, the total revenuesof the Indian IT market were US $ 6.6 billion. • The IT exports were US $ 9.5 billion. • – America 71 % • – UK 14% • – Rest of Europe 9% • India’s vision is to achieve a domestic and global market of US$75 billion in the IT sector by 2009. • (NASSCOM: National Association of Software & Service Companieshttp://www.nasscom.org/)

  10. India: Telecom Infrastructure • The number of telephone subscribers in Indiaare 79.5 million, inching towards the 100million target set by the Telecom RegulatoryAuthority of India in the current year. • Total fixed lines 43.18 million and 36.3 million mobile connections. • NASSCOM estimates PC volumes at 3.5million today.

  11. India: IT Manpower • Over 813,000 people are employed in ITIndustry, which is the second largest ITworkforce in the world next to the United States. • As per the NASSCOM-McKinsey report 1999,India needs to have at least 2.2 million (i.e. twice the current numbers) knowledge workers in IT software and servicesrelated areas by 2008.

  12. India: Education • There are more than 380 universities (over 920 colleges) and 1265 engineering colleges providing computer education at thedegree/diploma level in India. • The output of trained manpower in IT at the degree/diplomalevel has consistently been increasing and has reached toalmost 120,000 annual output during 2002. • Every year, approximately 19 million students are enrolled inhigh schools and 10 million students in pre-graduate degreecourses across India. Moreover, 2.1 million graduates and0.3 million post-graduates pass out of India'snonengineeringcolleges.

  13. Presidents Address: EDUSAT • The Honorable President Dr. Abdul Kalam in his address (4th August, 2004) to the children of the nation said: Education is the catalyst for change, and Information Technology is the major driving force and changeagent. • There are three parts to Learning: Lecture, Laboratory and Library • He announced the Project ‘EDUSAT” in the country.

  14. Philosophy • American President John F. Kennedy said “If a society can not help many who are poor, it can not save the few who are rich”. • I would say a technology which can not improve the lives or reach the poor, cannot sustain the leadership of few who are rich. • Mahatma Gandhi believed that India could attain Independence from British Rule only if the masses were involved in the freedom struggle. • I would like to add here that India can attain freedom from poverty and illiteracy only if the technology reaches and benefits the masses.

  15. E-learning Projects in India • (i) Yuva.com, Bhoomi (www.bhoomi.kar.nic.in) of Karnataka • (ii) Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (www.sksindai.com) of Orissa, • (iii) The Gyandoot Project in Dhar of Madhya Pradesh (www.gyandoot.net), • (iv), Warana Wired Village Project of Maharashtra (www.mah.nic.in/warana), • (v) n-Logue Communications (www.n-logue.com) of Tamil Nadu, • (vi) TARAhaat.com (www.tarahaat.com), • (vii) CARD, TWINS, FAST (www.ap-it.com) etc of Andhra Pradesh, etc.

  16. E-learning Organizations in India • Zeus Learning India • eGurucool • Netvarsity • LearningMate • Aptech Training Limited • UEC Sail Information Technology Limited • Magic Software • Neilsoft Limited • QAI (India) Limited • Tata Interactive Systems • Headsreach • Excel Soft • Archisoft Technologies Pvt Limited • CSLTech • Braahmam Net Solutions Pvt. Ltd., • Top cassettes Ltd.

  17. Government “must do every thing” Strong Dependencies Strong Dependencies Beneficiary “do not look for value for money as the services are free” Value Chain Mediatory “Believes Government must provide profitable business since they are implementing government programs” No Business/ Partnership Relations Currently Existing Model

  18. Cont. • Three Actors in the field of e-learning -- The government -- Mediators/entrepreneurs/ service providers/implementer of the policies -- Beneficiaries Basic Flow of relation/ coordination among these actors. -- Govt. cannot do everything -- Entrepreneurs implement their programs. -- service providers look for urban projects or high profit business in the rural sector, hence the beneficiaries become a liability on the govt. -- Beneficiaries believe that it’s the social responsibility of the government to provide them with these services, hence no value for free services in their minds.

  19. Current Infrastructure available • Stable and quality education system • Primary Schools, junior high schools, inter colleges, post graduate colleges, technical colleges, universities and national institutions.( This is what the value chain refers to) • But it plays a very passive role in the current scenario due to reasons best known to them. • As the whole network of education is supported and regulated by the government this network could play a crucial rule in e-learning for the rural sector.

  20. Proposed/New Model • Govt. continues to support infrastructure. • Service providers must create business relations with beneficiaries by providing quality service. • Work hand in hand with the Govt. • Beneficiaries pay a small / token money and demand value for their token money. • The Value Chain becomes the most important player in the model.

  21. Government “Continues to support the infrastructure” Normal Dependencies Normal Dependencies Beneficiary “Pays partly for benefits & values government support” “Demands value for money” Value Chain Mediatory “Creates business by providing quality service, not look for high profits, partners with government in sharing social responsibility” Strong business/ Partnership Relations Cont.

  22. Case for Implementation • I try to put forward how the model can be implemented in my home district of Aligarh • Aligarh is one of the districts of the most populated north central state of Uttar Pradesh of the Republic of India. • Famous for the oldest university [Aligarh Muslim University] in India and the lock industry. • Surrounded by the districts of Gautam Budha Nagar, Bulandshahr, Badaun, Etah, Hathras, Mathura and the state of Haryana to its south. • In this small area district administration is running 17 colleges with full financial support of the state government. • Each village has either a primary school or a Junior high school.

  23. Cont. • If we include inter colleges of neighboring districts and the state of Haryana , it will be a cluster of 40 colleges and more than 100 schools. • Each college has at least 1000 students. • Each college has government provided telecommunication connectivity. • Education expanses are meager (Rupees 20/- to Rupees 40/- per student )

  24. Cont.

  25. Creation of Infrastructure • E-learning infrastructure primarily consists of servers, computers, printers, modems, network equipments, internet connectivity & telecommunication links. • Telecommunication links are already available for using dial up internet connections. • Private participation for creating computer teaching labs.

  26. Cost of the project • Calculated using various components as mentioned above. • Hardware suggested is of low configuration to limit the expenditure. • Standard desktop with CD-RW would act as a server for internet connectivity. • Lab of 20 computers.

  27. Cont.

  28. Total Cost • Total cost approximates to Rupees 10,00,000 for the first four years and around Rupees 1,30,000 for every subsequent year.

  29. Funding • Part of the expenditure would be met by the government initially. • Computing infrastructure could be set up by private service providers • Govt. may advise banking institutions to extend cheap loans to the entrepreneurs/ unemployed and highly educated youth for setting up and running computer labs in these colleges. • Contents to be delivered and created at one place and only once, they may require revisions/ new versions. • Could be developed by one agency at the state level as in a particular state a common language is written and understood by most the people. • The cost in a country like India are marginal and can be shared by the beneficiaries without much difficulty, as we will see.

  30. Cont.

  31. Usage • Colleges have 6 working days with approx. 8 hours of teaching every day. • In a lab of 20 computers 40 students can work at a time , 2 students sharing one computer. • In a day ( 40*8)= 320 students can be trained in the lab for 1 hour each. • Every student will have the opportunity to work and study on a computer for approx. 2 hours in a week. • Total no of hours = 40 * 8*6=1920 • Total no of students = 1000 • Hours per student = 2 approx.

  32. Secondary advantages • By having additional staff/ trainers on Sundays the illiterate adults of near by villages or the students of Junior high school/ primary schools can be trained in the same lab as part of the government intervention. • This would lead to eradication of illiteracy among the adults and children can get started with e-learning at an early age. • This setup would enforce sustainability of the projects for the private service provider who has set up the labs.

  33. Expected Result • A Dream Comes True • Multi facet Knowledge Hub in a small Village in Rural India

  34. Thank You

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