See in Italics my reply to your questions
Background
We have researched Computer Education in Schools by visiting a total of 10 schools over the past 4 months. We have done this work through Synaptic Schools Team(SSteam.org) to understand how we can make effective use of computers in Schools. Find below the list of schools researched.
1. Government High School, Chikbidrekal and (Mahati Sindhu School)
2. Government High School, Jayanagar (Mahati Sindhu School)
3. Jindal Public High School(Computer Projects undertaken by NIIT and SchoolNet)
4. Govt. primary school, Nagasandra – Azim Premji Foundation(APF)
5. Govt. Primary School, Nelgadarahalli-APF
6. Govt. Model Primary School, Peenya-APF
7. Govt. Primary School, Anchepalya-APF
8. Govt. Primary School, Madanayakanahalli-APF
9. Govt. Primary School, Marenahalli – APF
10. Primary School, Tayakanahalli
In each of these schools we have spoken to the children, the teachers and the instructors. These are the broad conclusions we came to:
· ‘Learning through Play’ is successful in breaking the computer phobia which is high in rural children
· Focus on academic learning outcomes through computers rather than teaching computer skills to children is a more effective way of using computers.
· Computer learning should be through the local language
· Financial sustainability of computer centers is critical. Financial Sustainability has not been taken care of in computer initiatives by the government and is leading to the collapse of computer education programs in a large number of schools in Karnataka
Also, you can learn some critical reports on the Mahati Sindu Program by going through these links below.
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/july292004/c2.asp
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/aug022004/c7.asp
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/july312004/c3.asp
The model I proposed has been based on my understanding of whats happening on the ground over the past 4 months that I have been in India.
We discussed the Computer Center proposal yesterday in the projects meeting.
In general the consensus was that we need answers to a lot many questions regarding the practical usefulness and the financial sustainability of the project. Apart from that a major concern that as per you Karnataka government is already spending 100 crore rupees for similar projects across the state, so why is there a dearth of funds for this particular school. It seems that your background information did not exactly tie-up to the need for this project in the first place.
I think, I did not get the right message across in the proposal I wrote. The Mahati Sindhu Program funds only government schools. This particular school is a government aided school. What this means is that, the government support is restricted to only paying the teachers salaries. All other expenses of the school such as building maintenance, construction of new rooms is for the school to take care off. Since this school is not a government school, it will not get computers from the government.
Here is a list of some of the questions that were raised and might give you an idea of concerns that we had.
1. Would these computers be connected to internet? If yes, what would be the costs of doing that?
No these computers will not be connected to the internet. This is a possibility that we can look into in the future. Current telephone connections do not make it viable option. Internet connections in the rural areas through telephone lines have serious problems of speed. Getting connections is extremely difficult. Secondly, there is not much utility for children from Internet, giving the children appropriate content is a better way of using computers.
2. You have not put in the maintainence costs in the financial analysis? We were wondering about sundry equipment maintainence such as light, table etc, software maintainence and computer maintainence? Since, you are putting this as a 5-year loan, we expect that you plan to run same computers for 5 years. Do you think that this is viable?
The maintenance costs is part of the ‘Other expenses’. This is based on the actual costs in the schools we have researched. If in case the costs go higher than what I have indicated, the community will chip in. This is a progressive village.
Yes the computer centers can be run for 5 years. In the five APF schools that we researched, all the schools are running with computers that are 4 years old (that is the program is 4 years old) and are running well. So, we see no problem with running the computers for 5 years.
3. You have stated your revenues considering 100 students per computer. The math does seems to be correct here. Assuming 6-hours of training a day and 6 working days in a week, it comes out 36 hours. This gives about 20 minutes per student per week. This seems to be too less time for the computer training be of any effect.
When we were at the school last week, we discussed this point with the school teachers. They are also of the opinion that, 100 students per computer is too much. 50 students per computer is what we agreed upon. This is also the number with which APF schools work. What this means is that, with 4 computers only 200 children will be able to use the computers. To make up for the revenues, we learnt that the Willingness to Pay for good quality computer education among children is between Rs. 15 to Rs. 20.
4. What is the demographics to this area and the students in this school?
Kondlahalli has a population of around 5000. The area is severly drought prone. The main occupation is agriculture and handloom weaving. The main agricultural crop is groundnut and is rainfed. I keep traveling in this area and people in other villages tell me that, Kondlahalli is a model village for all other surrounding villages in the area. One of the reasons is the excellent community support for children’s education. In the school the numbers are as follows:
8th Standard – 210, 3 sections, 50% split between boys and girls
9th Standard – 180, two sections, 50% split between boys and girls
10th Standard – 131, two sections. 50% split between boys and girls
5. Could you give us some idea of the kind of training that students might be given. For example, would it be training on basic use of computer, or training on use of Office products etc.
Please see the attached document on the training and monitoring
6. The salary of instructor seems to be too low. Is he supposed to teach part-time or is he charging lesser fees because of the charity aspect. We had a doubt if he is qualified enough to train the students.
Our research tells us that the numbers we have taken is not too low. See below for the numbers. Also, in this village, unemployment is so severe that, the amount one gets is not the issue as long as one is paid. Also, I spoke to the villagers and they do not see this as an issue.
· Govt. primary school, Nagasandra – Azim Premji Foundation(APF) – Rs. 1500 for 7 computers. Teacher not paid for the past 6 months.
· Govt. Primary School, Nelgadarahalli-APF – Rs. 1300 for 8 computers
· Govt. Model Primary School, Peenya-APF – Rs. 1200 for 8 computers out of which Rs. 200 is taken towards maintenance
· Govt. Primary School, Anchepalya-APF – Rs. 1300 salary taken care by President of local body
· Govt. Primary School, Madanayakanahalli-APF – Project shut down
The bigger issue that was raised at the meeting was that if Asha DC wants to finance this project, it wants to make it a kind of case-study project for funding other computer learning projects. So we would prefer a longer term relation with provision of evaluations and reports as to how beneficial the project has been, so that we can learn from this project. The general feeling has also been that, as far as Asha is concerned, it is not necessary that the project be 100% financially self-sustainable,especially in the short-term. Our primary objective is to see real measurable benefits of project and commitment, both in financial and motivational terms, from the school and community for this project.
Please see the attached monitoring sheet on how the project will be monitored.
I hope that I have given you some idea of how we feel about this project. We do not want to burden you with paper-work but if you could briefly address the issues that we have it would help us evaluate the proposal much better.