Feature from India: Computer-Aided Learning

OneWorld South Asia’s training program in Indian villages. A large part of the debate on improving education in India focuses on how poverty impacts educational opportunities; the problem of poorly trained, or absentee, teachers; the lack of school buildings; and, even seemingly simple things like absence of toilets in schools. Plus, some 42 million children do not attend school at all. While the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in education does find a mention in these debates, many ask whether India can afford to prioritize ICTs in education when basic problems related to schooling, like the above, have yet to be ironed out. Regardless of these debates, the use of ICTs has been steadily increasing in India’s education system, with initiatives being taken by local governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and businesses. Although computers were introduced in secondary schools in several Indian states as early as the 1980s, they are now being introduced in primary and secondary schools all over the country and are being used more effectively than they once were. The government of Assam—a state in the northeastern part of India—has, for example, introduced ICTs to supplement classroom teaching through something called the Computer-Aided Learning in Elementary Schools (CALiES) program. Under this program, educational content has been developed for science, mathematics, and language subjects. The Azim Premji Foundation—set up by an Indian IT giant called Wipro—has also been developing content for rural schools in south India. The program emphasizes computer aided learning and child-centric content, rather than just computer literacy. The state governments of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have followed this lead. A girl in Gujarat, India © IRIN (Integrated Regional Information Networks) In a similar manner, an Indian NGO called Pratham introduced computer assisted learning in municipal schools in Mumbai in 1998. Pratham provided mathematics and language games on the computer. It was challenged, however, by the expense of these new educational tools and having to make reluctant government teachers accept computers as a teaching tool and not just as an extra-curricular activity. Indian teachers are nonetheless affected by global paradigm shifts that are helping to move classrooms from teacher-centered to learner-centered environments. How educators in India adapt to those changes remains to be determined, but my colleague at OneWorld South Asia, Dr. Nilay Ranjan, offers some thoughts about the advantages that the new paradigm offers to better prepare students for acquiring new 21st century knowledge and skills. Rahul Kumar Web site editor, OneWorld South Asia NEXT ARTICLE: My Experience - Realities in Ethiopia PERSPECTIVES HOME: Learning the Future

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