With Internet and e-commerce becoming buzzwords in the modern world, interest in ICT use by the Government had revived in the late 1990’s in India and other parts of the developing world. Governments of various countries have sought to implement policies and programmes that would assist in the application of ICTs for development. Most developing countries are using ICTs to modernise and increase internal efficiency as well as to improve service delivery.
As a part of tracking various Government initiatives of different countries in ICT, digital Learning Magazine presents to you the nominations for the Best Government Policy/Initiative of the Year award.
PROJECT: Implementation of shared computing technology benefiting 1.8 million students in 5,000 government schools in Andhra Pradesh in 4 months
www.ncomputing.com
The Andhra Pradesh Government had envisaged an ambitious plan to bring computer access into 5000 government schools to benefit more than 1.8 million underprivileged children. The purpose of the project was to enable under privileged school children with computer skills in order to bridge the digital divide. To equip each of these schools with a computer lab of 10 seats, the Government of Andhra Pradesh, after serious evaluation chose to implement the NComputing solution to utilize the PC capacity by sharing the resources/PC power of 2 complete PC’s with 8 additional computing stations, without compromising on the their performance.
The uniqueness in the project has been its very fast implementation in a record time of 4 months. Government of Andhra Pradesh was receptive to the idea of shared computing technology after they conducted extensive evaluation and testing experiments. The decision to implement the NComputing solution resulted in not only a quick and problem free deployment but also saving a great deal of money.
To equip each of these schools with a computer lab of 10 seats, the Government of Andhra Pradesh, after serious evaluation chose to implement the NComputing solution to utilise the PC capacity by sharing the resources/PC power of 2 complete PC’s with 8 additional computing stations, without compromising on the their performance.
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PROJECT: SIET, Kerala
www.sietkerala.nic.in
The State Institute of Educational Technology (SIET) was constituted by the Government of India in all the States with an intention to promote the level of learning and also to disseminate knowledge to the students through the use of Radio and Television. SIET, Kerala is the latest in the array of 7 SIETs in the country. SIET, Kerala was constituted under the Travancore Literary Scientific and Charitable Societies Act 1951 in 1999 as an autonomous society. The Institute has adopted itself to play a catalytic role in fostering as well as supporting and supplementing the educational movement in the state particularly in the arena of secondary education.
Some of the successful initiatives under the programme have included: 1) Setting up of the CD Library project in 1000 Higher Secondary schools containing 150 CDs; 2500 High Schools containing 120 CDs; 3200 primary schools containing 50 CDs in the State of Kerala. This is the first time in the history of India a SIET implemented this type of a project for the promotion of E-Learning. 2) Implementation of a full fledged e-learning project in 29 Legislative constituencies in (6800 schools) in the state of Kerala.
In 2006 the M.M. Panth Commission constituted by the MHRD, Government. of India, after evaluating the performance of all the SIETs in India selected Kerala SIET as an excellent model and directed all the SIETs in India to follow the “Kerala Model” in the field of E-Learning system.
Some of the successful initiatives under the SIET programme have included: Setting up of the CD Library project in 1000 Higher Secondary schools and Implementation of a full fledged e-learning project in 29 Legislative constituencies in (6800 schools) in the state of Kerala.
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PROJECT: Programme for distribution of valuable bon certificates – Vouchers for purchasing computers
www.mio.gov.mk/baucheri
In accordance with the Government’s priorities aimed at bringing ICT technologies closer to citizens and creating developed information society in the Republic of Macedonia (RM), the Programme for distribution of valuable bon certificates – Vouchers for purchasing computers- was organised for two consecutive years. The Programme was defined as an acceleration instrument which would speed up the process of constructing modern information society. It was targeted at students which were closest to inclusion in the labour market, consequently contributing to self creation of computer literate labour force. The bon certificates were designed as direct financial aid for purchasing computers.
The target group of the Programme were the full time students, citizens of Republic of Macedonia, who were enrolled in their final year of programme for the first time at any of the accredited Macedonian higher educational institutions and colleges, and it included all the students who were enrolled as students with special needs.
In order to ensure regular and legally accomplished Programme, a law for distribution of bon certificates-vouchers was created. The law set guidelines for the basic rules and regulations of the Programme. It defined the manner and procedure in which the vouchers were about to be issued.
PROJECT: Student Academic Management System (SAMS)
www.orissagov.nic.in/highereducation/index.htm
Student Academic Management System (SAMS) was introduced by the Higher Education Department, Government of Orissa, as an innovative initiation for providing an IT tool for simplifying the admission related concerns of the students, their guardians, the colleges and the authorities of the department. SAMS has two components i.e. e-Admission & e-Administration. e-Admission aims to use Information Technology to process common applications for admission into junior colleges for all students passing the 10th Board exam.
e-Administration manages the student information by accepting, adding, modifying or removing information about students and generating reports. It captures the student attendance, marks scored in tests, class timetable and previous education qualification.
SAMS has two components i.e. e-Admission &
e-Administration. e-Admission aims to use Information Technology to process common applications for admission into junior colleges for all students passing the 10th Board exam. e-Administration manages the student information by accepting, adding, modifying or removing information about students and generating reports.
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PROJECT: Computer for every child
Republic of Macedonia
www.mio.gov.mk
In order to achieve the vision of creation of developed information society, the Ministry of Information Society, Republic of Macedonia, carried out specific initiatives and measures in the field of ICT and education. Specifically, the ‘Computer for Every Child’ Project is the biggest investment in the field of education in the Republic of Macedonia in the past 17 years. This project provided 17,818 personal computers, 98,710 LCD screens, 98,710 keyboards and mouses and 80,892 Thin Clients for the primary and secondary schools in Macedonia. Secondary schools have already been equipped with new network infrastructure and a computer for every student. Training of teachers has been an integral part of the project. Software tools have been localised in Macedonian and Albanian language and they have been adjusted to the operating system EduBuntu.
The project has contributed to increased efficiency of the overall educational processes, has resulted in increased level of technology and Internet usage, as well as improved Information Technology (IT) skills of teachers and pupils.
The Project is the biggest investment in the field of education in the Republic of Macedonia in the past 17 years and has contributed to increased efficiency of the overall educational processes and higher level of technology and Internet usage among teachers and pupils.
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Not only has the project fulfilled the expected achievements, but has also made successes that have given added value to Macedonian education;
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The most significant achievements to this stage are: – providing a computer connected to Internet in front of each student in the country, in a projected time frame;
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The project management succeeded in defining a set of learning tools, and having all teachers trained in using it efficiently and creatively in their instructional process
