NIC, IBM join hands to power the national portal
National Informatics Centre (NIC), announced that it has partnered with  IBM to power the national portal of India   anytime, anywhere delivery of government services to its citizens.  The enhanced portal, based on open standards and Service Oriented  Architecture (SOA) from IBM, will provide a ‘single point entry’ to  government information and services resulting in greater transparency and  responsiveness. IBM will bring robust software to make the portal more user  friendly, secure and scalable. NIC & IBM will also work together towards  ensuring universal accessibility of the Portal for the physically challenged  and those using  andheld devices 

IBM, UP ink deal on IT education
IBM Global Services India and the Uttar Pradesh state government in North India have signed a deal to promote IT education at the  grassroots level as well as build capacity and improve skills of the IT  workforce. The programme is called Initiative to Nurture a Vibrant IT  Ecosystem (INVITE). For the academia, INVITE aims to  involve students of technical colleges and universities for creating solutions for local state e-governance at various levels and conduct technical seminars and workshops in major cities in the state to benefit local college teachers and IT entrepreneurs. UP’s principal  secretary (IT), Zohra Chatarjee, said INVITE would help in promoting  quality IT education at all technical colleges and at the sub-division and  village levels, besides upgrading distance education. She said though  over 8,000 technical graduates passed out in UP every year, their technical  skills in IT were not up to the requirements of the industry. She  added that INVITE would upgrade the skills and bridge the gap.  

Website to outsource tutoring services from India
A new website will help teachers in India and Pakistan set up their  own  usiness of teaching students in the US. Catching on to the trend of what is being called educational services outsourcing (ESO),  www.tutorswithoutlimits.comover 100,000 teachers in India and   Pakistan to set up their Internet   businesses. Founded by American IT   entrepreneur Glynn Willet and his    son, Tutors  ithout Limits (TWL)    incorporates the new Web 2.0 AJAX   technology to  reate the most    advanced learning system for    teaching on the Internet in a system  called the Lesson Board.   US students usually pay USD40 an   hour for tutoring services. However,   last year, call centres in India started   offering these services for as low as   USD14 to USD20 an hour. Now, with the launch of TWL, tutors will be offering their services directly to students in the US at  rices they determine. Although initially limited to the US, India and Pakistan, TWL
services will be launched in Canada, Australia, Europe and Japan within two months.

Online study material for MBBS students
Students from medical colleges in the Manipal city can now receive  additional training from the Manipal Academy of Higher Education  (MAHE) Manipal, just at the click of a  mouse. A new e-learning facility launched as part of MAHE’s new  Digital Campus, will provide medical students in the first and second year MBBS with supplementary education material online, to support their regular  college curriculum.  The whole admission process has been digitised, and will be run on the  latest networking technology, the Multi Protocol Label Switch (MPLS)  system, which will connect various examination centres across the country. MAHE’s Digital Campus will  be wi-fi enabled. A unique     eoconferencing facility has also been installed at the campus, wherein live lectures are delivered from the Beaumont Hospital, USA  

TN to set up infotech academy
In a bid to improve the standard of computer education in Tamil Nadu,  the State Government would set up an IT Academy in Chennai. According to the Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, the academy would have a specific focus on upgrading the curriculum of graduate and post  graduate courses, keeping in mind the present day needs. The Union HRD  Ministry had decided to establish a National Centre of Excellence called  ‘Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and  Manufacturing’ at Chennai, which would create a new chapter in the development of IT industry  

Online education market to expand sharply
South Korea’s online learning market is expected to grow rapidly by the year 2010, boosted by people’s passion for education and the  country’s  information technology (IT)  infrastructure. The market for e-learning is forecast to rise to 1.9 trillion won (USD1.99 billion) for the full year of 2006 and expand at an average annual growth rate of 20 percent by 2010, accordingto a report of the Korea Electronics Technology Institute. The local  elearning market came to 1.57 trillion  won in 2005, up 316 billion won from a year ago. Last year, individuals spent 671.5 billion won on online education, up 0.38 percent from a year ago, while large companies’ spending jumped  22.9 percent to 668.1 billion won.

Five varsities in Philippines to  develop e-learning agri programme  Five state universities and colleges  (SUC) are set to receive 6.5 million  pesos from the Open Academy for  Philippine Agriculture to develop an  e-learning and distance education  programme for the country’s agricultural extension workers.  The e-learning modules will mainly cover rice production, as well as two  other products indigenous to the location of the five recipient SUCs.  The schools in turn will digitise their production guides into one-page fact  sheets that will be posted at the OPAPA website ( openacademy. community of the SUCs will also be formed and will link with local  government units and extension workers with farmers’ cooperatives  

‘Pepe’ does wonders for kids
Project Pepe or Promoting Excellence in Philippine Education programme of Bato Balani Foundation, the corporate foundation of Diwa Learning Systems  Inc. (DLSI) in Philippines, believes that by creating an academic “ecosystem” in which public and private schools, the local government  unit, teachers,  tudents and their  parents, work together for the good of the students, the quality of education will be improved.  Under the project, First Asia Institute of Technology and Humanities in Tanauan City was chosen as the hub university with 44 schools within the area named as partner-beneficiaries of the programme. As the hub school, First Asia provides facilities, teachers  and training to help the other public  and private schools in the area, as well as the students and their parents. First Asia and its partner, Diwa  Learning, will also shoulder the fees to be incurred by a teacher or administrator from each Project Pepe  school who wishes to pursue a Masters degree in education  Among its primary programmes are the award-winning “How to be A Highly Effective Teacher,” “Tulong sa Paaralan,” “Tulay sa Kaunlaran” and  “Quality Teacher” campaigns. ‘Internet-ready Access Centres’  in schools in Malaysia

Internet-ready Access Centres costing more than RM70mil in total are being set up in 1,500 schools around Malaysia.
Access Centres would be similar in  concept to cybercafes, although its usage would focus on learning. Under the first phase, 1,500 schools would be  provided with 15,000 personal computers  and 1,500 printers as well as the  necessary furniture and infrastructure. Another 12,900 computers would be provided to 1,290 schools next year. To  date, 84 primary and secondary schools in the rural areas have been  equipped with Access Centres. 

UGC bid on more ICT-based programmes
Bangladesh will take initiative to develop more information and  communication technology (ICT)- based academic and knowledge-based   rogrammes in the higher education. Chairman of the UGC Asaduzzaman  said this while expressing his satisfaction over the rapid growth of ICT and related fields in the country and the growing interest of the students in this connection as well as their participation ,

LG engineers book-reading phone for the blind
LG has demo’d the world’s first ebook reading mobile phone, pitching the product at the visually impaired. The LF1300 is entirely operable, using  voice commands relayed through a bundled Bluetooth headset. The 16mm-thick handset’s audiobook facility takes text files –  some 300 of which will be made available free of charge from LG’s  website via a PC or downloadable  straight to the handset – and reads them out loud using speech synthesis  technology. It will only be offered to the registered visually impaired, blind  or dyslexic.

Learning solutions co signs pact with Bengal 
Everonn Systems India Ltd, the education and learning solutions company, has signed a 6-year agreement with the Department of  School Education, West Bengal, in India to set up IT infrastructure and  impart IT education in as many as 555 schools in three districts of the State.  The districts are West Midnapore, East Midnapore and Purulia.  The company will be responsible for putting up the infrastructure and  imparting education, where a minimum of 200 students per school are expected to enrol for the IT  programme. The project, besides   extending computer education to students, will also create employment  opportunities locally, as they would  be recruiting qualified teaching staff from within the State.  Implemented for students between  Class 6 and Class 12, the programme has been extended to some 9 States  involving a total universe of 1,600  schools across the country. Everonn has two distinct revenue streams. The  first is through institutional  education, wherein IT education and computer-aided content is offered  alongwith infrastructure in schools and colleges. And the second one,  virtual and technology-enabled learning solutions, offers  urriculum  and job-oriented courses to colleges and schools under the  ompany’s  own “Zebra Kross” brand.

Satyam signs MoU with Melbourne varsity
Satyam Computer Services Ltd announced that the Company and The University of Melbourne (MU), have signed a Memorandum of  Understanding (MoU) that will  increase opportunities for both Melbourne Information and Communication Technology students and businesses. This alliance will enable  up to 10 MU students to undertake a software  development internship with Satyam  each year. Additionally, Satyam will recruit as many as 20 software engineers from the university every year. Program participants will  undergo a three-month training course in India and China. Upon  completion of the  rogram, the Company will place them on projects  in Australia, or one of its other 55  global locations. Last year, the  Company embarked on a similar initiative with the Victoria University. 

IMicrosoft launches cyber education solution in Vietnam
Microsoft Vietnam launched its online  Partners in Learning program including e-learning solutions and  Teachers Network. The solutions, integrated in the program’s website www.mspil.net.vn, is aimed at helping develop a webbased forum for the PiL community’s learning and sharing. The Teacher  Network will enable teachers to  access classroom learning resources and online teacher communities.

Dell Foundation awards 2006  ‘Connected Community’ grants
The Dell Foundation has awarded  “Connected Community” grants to 25 organisations in four states – Texas,  Tennessee, Oklahoma and North Carolina, in United States of America where significant numbers of Dell employees live and work. The two-year, USD50,000 grants  support basic technology access for Dell’s neighbors, with emphasis on  helping underserved children become competitive in the digital economy. Some grants provide Internet access and  computers for pre-school and after-school programs. Others include a mobile computer lab to enable children to use Internet resources for their homework, and a Web-based musical education program and chat  rooms for schools to enhance learning  opportunities 

Sun, Jobs-Iris announce IT education initiative in Bangladesh
Sun Microsystems and the Job Opportunities and Business Support Centre for Institutional Reform and Informal Sector Bangladesh (Jobs-Iris)  signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) focusing on  Sun Academic Initiative (SAI). The programme aims to enhance  Bangladeshi students’ skills and core competency in Sun Technology and their marketability.  Under the agreement, Jobs-Iris  Bangladesh will help increase awareness about the latest Sun technologies among the members of  the academia and student-apprentices of Bangladesh and will create opportunities for them to be trained  in those.

 24/7 Customer programme
In its efforts to create an employable workforce for the Indian business     rocess outsourcing (BPO) industry, 24/7 Customer has launched  “24/7 Ascend”, a programme for college students and academic  institutions. As a part of this  initiative 24/7 Customer will conduct online and offline programmes for the college students  in Andhra Pradesh. According to the Chief Operating Officer of 24/7 Customer, S.  Nagarajan, the initial positive response received for 24/7 Varsity to create an employable workforce,  encouraged to extend services with 24/7 Ascend. 

Less than 20% of varsities have access to ICT 
National Universities Commission (NUC) in Nigeria says less than 20 per cent of the nation’s universities have  access to Information and Communication Technology (ICT).  The critical point according to the Commission is not the acquisition of  hard wares and ICT skills for their own sake but the use of ICT as a tool  for learning. According to the NUC, a comparison of the state of ICT in Nigeria with the  U.S. shows that 91 per cent of persons in 100 households own personal computers when compared to three households in Nigeria. NUC said  that it would take more than 30 years for Nigeria to catch up on the  present situation.

Development Gateway turns varsity centre
Rwanda Development Gateway (RDG), which has hitherto been a  project, has been approved by the  University Council to become a centre at the National University of Rwanda.  With the new status at the university, RDG has been tasked to manage the  university web portal, alongside its consultancy and advocacy roles. Alongside the government portal,  RDG has already developed websites for ministries and several  government institutions.

E-Learning project to get underway soon
The Jamaica government’s e-learning  project will get underway soon in 31  institutions across the island. The one-year pilot will be implemented in  28 high schools at the grades 10 and  11 levels, and three teachers colleges. After the test phase, the project will  be rolled out to all of the nation’s 150 high schools from grades seven to 11. It has already started the orientation  of teachers and should be starting the actual training in ICT and how to use  ICT beginning in November.  Launched in February 2006, the project is targeted at high school  students and utilises both informal and formal methods of  eaching. The  schools are being equipped with the technologies that will allow them to  access and to use the material and these include computers, desktops and laptops, multimedia projectors,  documents and cameras.

One third of UK’s teachers ‘lack basic IT knowledge’
One third of the UK’s teachers lack the experience and knowledge required to  operate basic IT systems and more importantly how to implement Information and Computer Technology (ICT) within the curriculum, according to new research. The findings of the survey says that  lack of consistency in  mplementing  ICT in the UK’s education system could hold children’s development  back by denying them access to  the most up to date learning aids and methods.  The survey showed that many staff in education continue to embrace traditional non-digital methods in the  face of increasing demands for IT. A  ‘digital divide’ is emerging between schools that embrace digital  technologies and those schools  hindered by deficiencies in ICT  experience.

Ghana Gov’t unfolds strategies to roll out ICTS in educational institutions
The Ghana government is committed  to the deployment of requisite tools and strategies to achieve the  broad goal of every Ghanaian learner to be able to use ICTS  confidently and creatively by 2015 because of the present  nformation  society and the global knowledge economy. Under the strategic plans, a Ghanaschools  and Communities Initiative or GeSCI supported in part by Global  eSchools and Communities Initiative and the NEPAD e-Schools Initiative of  the African Union (AU) would be coordinated  by the e-Africa Commission.  The Government was encouraging  initiatives like the new  ebsitemycoursemate.  com – from the private sector in the deployment of ICTs in  education. The website is an indigenous Internet-based helpline for  tudents where they  could have access to tutorial  services to enhance success in their academic work. It was Ghana’s  and probably the sub-continent’s  first online  tutor for students,  which would offer general  tutorial services      

L K Atheeq, State Project Director, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Karnataka

How good is the school system in Karnataka? How much better can it become? How can we get every child in school to learn well? Questions that need answers if the state is to take its  ightful place in the country. And the  ounteractive actions taken now within schools and the education system can reverberate for generations to come. ICT as an important initiative in education, there is little option for all  oncerned but to join the information technology bandwagon given the manner in which it is reshaping the world. Where does the state stand with ICT in the  chool education system? At present, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan of the Government of India pledges to achieve the task of universalisation of primary education by 2010. In Karnataka, the target year accepted by the Department of Public Instruction is 2007. A state that has the objective to ensure that education becomes a means of genuine empowerment of the individual to achieve his/her full potential by 2007, Karnataka has a literacy rate of  7.04%. The literacy among men is 76.29% and among women it is 57.45%. The literacy  ate of the state is 1.66% more than National Literacy Rate. Now where to move from here; and how to move?  

?What is the vision that the education policy is based upon in   Karnataka?The vision of primary education is to provide quality education useful for life to all the children of the state in the age group of 6-14 with no social  group or  ender differences. 

What are the new strategies thestate has adopted to take SarvaShiksha Abhiyan to a new high? Do you see any remarkable change orprogress in elementary education?
Karnataka state has several initiatives of its own in addition of SSA. The education department and the SSA Mission are jointly working towards consolidation of the gains of our investment in education and improve quality. Community empowerment and  involvement of School Development and Management Committees (SDMC) is the key to implementation  of SSA. Towards quality of education Karnataka, for the first time in the  entire country, SSA has conducted complete assessment of all standard 5  and 7 students and shared the results  with each school. These results are being used for working towards  improving learning levels.

What are the interventions youhave made so far to integrate ICTs inthe educational process, elementaryeducation in particular?
We are working towards a policy for ICT in schools and are planning to implement ICT with a strategy to cover all clusters and strengthen the clusters as resource centre for IT. We are also in the process of evaluating  the software that is available in order to adopt in our schools   

How conducive is the atmosphere for ICT education in the state? What   is the IT Infrastructure and power scenario in the state?
Atmosphere is very conducive and there is a lot of demand. Under SSA we are not able to cover many schools. The state will have to think  of quickly up-scaling the various experiments in ICT application that are  currently going on in the state. Power in villages is an issue and we  are working out various alternatives including UPS that can be charged  with low voltage and perhaps solar.

?  Is motivating the teachers for their committed performance a challenge?
Motivating teachers is a challenge.  Under the Karnataka State Quality Assessment Programme we are planning to recognise and reward  teachers of schools where the results   f external assessment are good.

? While implementing the innovative education programmes do you think    your state ever needs a state specific   vision other than the guidelines   provided by the centre? 
Definitely. States like Karnataka have their own vision and we have started schemes of our own, which now the centre is thinking of introducing in SSA. Central Government prepares guidelines which should suit all states  and justifiably such guidelines prioritise the basic minimum needs  firsts. Education being state subject,  state governments need to take lead and provide over and above what the centre does. Karnataka provides free  textbooks and uniform to all primary  school children. We run the largest network of educational hostels. We  have recently introduced a scheme of giving schools to all poor girls who  are enrolled in 8     

How do you go about partnering with corporate and NGOs? Can you   put a view on education activities   being carried out through the delivery capabilities of partnershipprogrammes?
How do you monitor your programmes and partners?Partnership with all stakeholders is essential for education. This gains particular significance in the field of  ICT in and for education. Education department in Karnataka is working with various NGOs in different fields of education. There is an opportunity in this field and Government should use the expertise of these organisations. Pilots and  experiments done with the help of NGOs should go in to policy making  and should help the Government quickly upscale the good practices to  all the schools. 

?  How are you working on influencing policies at the state and central government level?
SSA carries out research and studies. As I have already pointed out, we also undertake innovative programmes with the partnership of  NGOs and other organisations. For  example, we learnt from the Learning Guarantee  rogramme of Azim Premji  Foundation and incorporated the lessons in policy making. This and other inputs resulted in Karnataka  Government setting up the Quality  Assessment Organisation. Our practice and lessons from various efforts of SSA and NGOs goes into  policy making and we give feed back to  Government of India too.  ?

What reason do you see for the focus on ICT education? What kind    of competencies do you try to bring in  through ICT?
Parents think that without computer education their children do not have good future. This impression has led  to a demand for ICT education. In order to improve the quality of  teaching, particularly of difficult concepts we think ICT in education is  important. We try to introduce basic elements of ICT to students of upper  primary schools. Under computer assisted learning all children are made  to use educational software to learn curricular concepts.

? What are the major hurdles faced while attempting to give SSA a new  imension and what are the challenges ahead?
There are several challenges. Education department is not used to working in project mode and the management capacities at the district, block and village levels are poor. SSA is often seen as a separate  project and the mainstream education  department sometimes likes to stay away. There is therefore the challenge  of integrating SSA into the mainstream of educational management