The New Year brings good tidings for students of government schools in Chandigarh. The Education Department has decided to introduce multi-media digital content for the textbooks of classes I to X, along with projector screens, in 2,600 of the 5,600 classrooms.
By Ifrah Mufti
This would bring government schools closer to the best private schools by providing them student-friendly audio-visual educational tools, said Director of Public Instructions (Schools) Kamlesh Kumar.
Said the DPI, “This method of teaching will help students in the learning process. It will also be easier for the teachers who, otherwise, have to speak for 45 minutes irrespective of the fact whether a student understands a word or not. The digital content will help a student learn anything from cursive writing to the working of the heart.’’
He said the students would be able to use the digital boards in the absence of a teacher. A student who misses a lecture would be allowed to go through the digital content in the library, according to his or her convenience, and even borrow the CD for watching at home.
Teachers believe the digitisation of textbooks would enrich the classroom experience and also expand the nature of content that can be used in learning.
The DPI said that after getting feedback from these schools, the facility would be extended to the remaining 3,000 classrooms.
Officials clarified that the proposed digitisation of textbooks would not make these schools smart, but could be considered a step in that direction.
The city has 108 government schools. Of these, two are smart schools, equipped with information and communication technology, interactive teaching and learning tools, wi-fi campuses, projectors and screens and sound systems in every classroom. These are Government High Schools in Sectors 50 and 53.
The computers in the classrooms in these schools are networked and connected to a server. The proposed system of providing digital textbooks will not require a common server, but will have independent teaching units for each classroom.
Last year, the Education Department had planned to make two more schools, namely the Government Model Senior Secondary Schools in Sectors 16 and 28, smart. In 2013, the then MP Pawan Kumar Bansal had agreed to provide funds for the upgradation of four schools from his MP’s Local Area Development Fund, but the implementation is still awaited.