Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala’s ambitious IT@School project promoting virtual learning is providing WiFi-enabled broadband connectivity to all primary schools with the help of BSNL. Some 10,000 schools will start getting 2Mbps broadband internet with unlimited data usage from Nov 1 as part of rolling out high-tech classrooms. Classes from VIII to XII are being upgraded using modern information and communication technology tools. All schools will get wired before the end of this academic year. BSNL would complete the installation of broadband at 40 percent of schools before the end of December.
It will also set up a unique web portal and call centre for the project. The issues reported through this mechanism would get top priority. BSNL would be providing broadband connectivity through special phone connections to schools that do not have one. IT@School Project has been providing broadband internet connection to some 5,000 schools and educational offices since 2007. “With the addition of broadband internet to Primary section also, our school internet network with 100 percent coverage and over 15,000 connections would be the largest of its kind in the country,” said K. Anvar Sadath, executive director of IT@School.
“The lower primary schools would get the new ICT textbooks for year one to four titled Kalipetti in November. The training for teachers will begin on Monday. IT@School would also be making available a comprehensive digital content collection exclusively developed for primary classes.” The broadband modem the schools get has to be connected to their computer lab where all computers would be effectively networked.
Those who do not have a lab should connect it to the multimedia classroom or the office room where a computer is available. School authorities should ensure the security of the WiFi network with a strong password protection to avoid misuse. The broadband connectivity should only be used for academic and administrative purposes. The school authorities have to ensure that no additional software or applications are installed in the computer in which the internet is made available.
