PERSPECTIVES ON ICT EDUCATION IN INDIA

Ashwin Kumar B Sonone *

Rajendra N Pathak**

India: Land of Contrasts

“India is a country of grand contradictions. While it is a global leader in the knowledge economy, it is also
home to more than half the world’s poor and illiterate people, most of whom are women.” (Reddi & Sinha,
2004).

Country Facts

The 2001 Census of India provides the following information:

• Population - 1027 Million
• Literacy rate: 65.38%
According to the World Development Indicator 2005 Report :
• 34.7% of people are living below $1 a day
• 79.9% of the population live below $2 a day
According to The Human Development Report, 2004:
• 21% of the population suffer malnutrition

(Department for International Development Website, accessed April 2007)

The emergence of the global knowledge economy has put a premium on learning throughout the
world. Ideas and know-how as sources of economic growth and development, along with the
application of new technologies, have important implications for how people learn and apply
knowledge throughout their lives. The global knowledge economy is transforming the demands of
the labor market throughout the world. Developing countries and countries with transition
economies risk being further marginalised in a competitive global knowledge economy because
their education and training systems are not equipping learners with the skills they need. To
respond to the problem, policymakers need to make fundamental changes. They need to replace the
information-based, teacher-directed learning provided within a formal education system governed
by directives with a new type of interactive learning that emphasizes creating, applying, analyzing,
and synthesizing knowledge and engaging in collaborative learning throughout the lifespan.
Industry can no longer rely solely on new graduates or new labor market entrants as the primary
source of new skills and knowledge. Instead, they need workers who are willing and able to update
their skills throughout their lifetimes. Developing countries need to respond to these needs by
creating education and training systems that equip people with the appropriate skills.
Technological based learning environment plays a pivotal role in providing the learners the
appropriate knowledge and skills which are required by the industry. In open and distance
education, technologies are used primarily to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning, to
individually tailor instruction, and to provide specialised and variety of innovative programmes to
large groups of learners, which are generally not taught or impossible through conventional system
of teaching-learning. Increased interactivity of the programmes permits more communication, an

The Indian Education System: Timeline: 25 Years

“If one were to identify the single most important achievement in the field of education by the government
in the post-Independence era, it would have to be putting a school within reach of almost every child….Of
course, a school within reach is not the end - it is only the beginning…” (InfoChange Education Website)

In 1976, education was brought under the concurrent purview of both the Central and State governments.
While the Centre provides general direction on educational policy and curriculum, the individual state
governments manage the vast network of schools. State governments either directly run schools, or support
privately-run schools through grants. There are a small number of private schools in each state that are
completely independent of government funding (Infochange Education Website).

Education in India: A Snapshot

• 1986 -1992 : Free and Compulsory Education

Pursuant to the National Policy on Education (1986) and revised Plan of Action (1992), a majority
of States and Union Territories have introduced free education in Classes I-XII of their schools.
(Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Higher Education
Website (b)).

• 1979: Improving Outreach: Non-Formal Education

In 1979, the Government of India launched a program of Non-Formal Education (NFE) for children
of 6-14 years age group, who cannot join regular schools. These children include school drop-outs,
working children, and children from areas without easy access to schools. Initially implemented in
ten educationally backward states, the scheme was extended in 1987 and is now operational in 25
states/Union Territories. 100% assistance is given to voluntary organizations for running NFE
centers. (ILO Website)

• 2001: The Mid-Day Meal Scheme: Boosting Enrolment, Attendance, and Retention

In a landmark decision on November 28, 2001 the Supreme Court of India made it obligatory for
the government to provide cooked meals to all children in all government and government assisted
primary schools. Though resisted vigorously by State governments initially, the programme became
almost universal by 2005, making this the largest school feeding programme in the world, reaching
120 million primary school children.
(Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Higher
Education Website (b) ; Midday Meal scheme)

• 1949 onwards: Caste Based Reservation in Educational Institutions

Though caste based reservations were introduced in 1949, in 1990, a further 27% of seats in
institutions of higher education were reserved for Other Backward Classes (OBCs), over and above
the existing 22.5% reservation for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs). (Wikipedia,
Reservation in India)

ICT in Education: Policy and Initiatives

It is against this backdrop that we need to view the role of information and communication technologies
(ICT) in education in India.
For the purposes of this discussion, ICT in education can be :
• Alternative instructional delivery systems such as radio, educational TV, and audio-visual
communication
• Computers and computer-based systems for instructional delivery and management, such as CAI
(Computer Assisted Instruction), use of multi-media and Internet/web based education (Rai &
Bhattacharya)
Since the 1950s, policy has consistently favoured the use of ICT in education (Reddi & Sinha (2004) :

“From the use of radio to spearhead the green revolution, to satellite-based, one-way and interactive
television for rural development in some of the most backward districts, to today’s thrust for the use of open
and distance learning models to serve the larger populations, India has tried it all, with varying degrees of
success… Radio has a penetration of 100 per cent in the country while satellite and terrestrial television
cover nearly 80 per cent of the country”

Gyan Darshan was launched in January, 2000, with three completely digital and round-the-clock TV
channels dedicated to education. In November 2001, an FM radio channel, Gyan Vani was launched through
different FM stations in the country. (GOI Ministry of HRD Press Release, October 21, 2003).

Major Policy Statements and Initiatives

In the late 1990s, deregulation of the telecommunication industry began a dramatic improvement in access
to basic telephony and Internet services for the general population. Key government initiatives are discussed
below:

2004: Edusat

Launched in September 2004 at a cost of USD 20 million, Edusat is India’s first dedicated education
satellite.

“India will require 10,000 new schools each year and meeting the teaching needs on such a scale [by
conventional methods] will be impossible…” Madhavan Nair, chairman of ISRO, quoted in New Scientist,
(Tata, September 20, 2004)

With footprints covering the entire country, Edusat makes it possible for receive Direct to Home quality
broadcasts of educational programs using any television set and a low-cost receiver. The result of a
collaboration between the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)and, the Union Ministry of Human
Resource Development, state departments of education and the Indira Gandhi National Open University.
This infrastructure is available to all sectors of education, but primarily to publicly funded and implementing
agencies that will be responsible for transmission and programming for their defined audiences (Iype, July
28, 2005).

2002 – 2007: The Tenth Plan

The Tenth Plan outlined goals of improving access and reducing disparities with the Common School
System, as well as:
• renewal of curricula with emphasis on vocationalisation and employment-oriented courses;
• expansion and diversification of the Open Learning System;
• reorganization of teacher training and greater use of ICT
(GOI, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of School Education and Literacy Website )

2002: Vidya Vahini

In 2002, the Indian government launched a project called Vidya Vahini to provide for IT and IT-enabled
education in 60,000 schools in India over three years (India has about 1.1 million schools), as part of a Rs
6,000 crore (USD 1.2 billion) project. Beginning with a pilot covering 150 schools the government proposes
to equip each school with a computer lab equipped with Internet, Intranet and television to facilitate video-
conferencing, Web-broadcasting and e-learning. (Kumar, A., October 9, 2002)

2006: Broadband connectivity in all secondary schools

On May 20, 2006, The Government of India, Ministry of HRD, Department of Secondary and Higher
Education issued an order for the Constitution of an Integration Action Plan to implement Broadband
connectivity in all secondary schools. (Order dated May 20, 2006, GOI, HRD, Dept. of Secondary and
Higher Education Website (e))

2007: Digital Library and Information Network

Based on recommendations made by different state open universities and distance education institutions
(DEIs), the Indira Gandhi National Open University's (IGNOU) board of management has approved the
National Open and Distance Learners Library and Information Network (NODLINET) initiative. The expert
committee set up by the ministry for human resource development (MHRD) has endorsed the initiative,
which will now be implemented in a phased manner within a period of five years. (Times News Network,
April 22, 2007)

UNESCO: Gesci
At the international level, the United Nations has generated the “Global school and Communities Initiative”
(Gesci), a special campaign to promote the use of technology in education (UNESCO Website (d)). From
their Bangalore base, Gesci will work with the Indian ministries of Information Technology and Education
facilitating policy support, technical assistance and global resources for the initiative.

Internet and continuing education programme

Very soon open and Distance Learning System (ODLS) is going to use Internet for the launch of
continuing education programmes. Efforts have already begun in this direction in private sector.
Macmillan India Ltd has recently launched a website “elt.Macmillan.Com” for teachers of English.
The site is focused on the teachers and provides them with downloadable worksheets, assignments
and guides them in methods of English language teaching. (The Hindustan Times, December 5,
2000). The availability of computers in the society in future will certainly create a demand for
continuing education programmes through Internet. According to Adrain Soar, Chairman, Pan
Macmillan Ltd., by 2002, 85 per cent schools globally will have Internet access. Having understood
the importance of Internet education programme, it is appropriate to discuss the nature of
continuing education through Internet.

The components of Internet based continuing education programme would comprise:

i)
Online learning material
Like the print based material, online learning material comprises text, structures, diagrams, self-
check exercises etc. Unlike print based material it contains animation, audio and video integrated
with material and provide the learner with a lot of scope for interactivity. The design of learning
material on the net is based on using new pedagogical models based on ‘conversational’ rather than
instructional interaction between faculty and students. This represents a paradigm shift from
instruction-centered learning to student-centered learning. Where the emphasis is placed on
knowledge building and skill acquisition through the trajectory of active participation (walker and
Beats, 2000). Knowledge building process of the learner is based on the constructivist model of
learning which view learning as the result of mental construction. Man does not passively copy the
real environment-neither by perception, nor by actions-but creates it by active processes of
constructing (Watzalwick, 1981).
ii)
Online academic counseling
The academic counseling will be based on online lecturers, discussions, and chat synchronously,
asynchronously, on demand or through CD-ROM. The teacher trainees can raise questions and ask
for explanation to their queries through internet, which also could be responded to by the teachers.
In this case, students may not require the presence
of a teacher for face-to-face counseling.

iii)
Online assignments/projects /dissertation guidance
The performance of the student’s teachers could be evaluated on a continuous basis through
assignments delivered to them online. The feedback to the assignment response also could be
provided online. Student teachers can work with their projects/dissertation guide through Internet.
They can even present seminar papers and discuss them among
the peers under the guidance of their guide.

iv)
Online collaboration
On of the most important features of Internet is that it facilitates collaborative learning. Students
like traditional classroom learning can engage themselves in virtual classroom learning. They form
collaborative groups in the form of cyber club and interact among themselves regarding their
learning problems by using e-mail.

2002: Technology Tools for Teaching & Training in India (Project T4)

As new technologies transform the workplace, workers must have the ability to cope with change,
take responsibility for their learning, think critically to solve problems, and work cooperatively in a
team environment. Interactive instructional technology can prepare students to meet these
workplace challenges while keeping them motivated and interested. In the past, some instructional
media failed to fulfill their promise. However, interactive videodisc and CD-ROM offers a
combination of media-- computers, video, audio, and graphics that has greater potential to:

1. Increase opportunities for individuation, diagnosis, and self-pacing

2. Give access to a wide variety of information resources
3. Bring resources to isolated or limited-mobility populations
4. Stretch instructors' capabilities to reach more students
5. Accommodate different learning styles
6. Provide better ways to measure skills than standardised testing

Interactive video, a combination of computer-assisted instruction and video technology, is an

important development in instructional media. Interactive video is helping to change the delivery
of technical training: students can experiment and test their skills through simulations and can gain
additional training time without using expensive or dangerous equipment Videodisc systems can be
simply a disc player and monitor for play back, or they can include a microcomputer to allow the
user to interact with the program. Compared to videotapes and other media, interactive videodiscs
provide enhanced picture and sound quality; extended longevity of both the discs and the players;
faster, random access to individual frames; high quality freeze-frames; huge storage capacity; and
connectivity to other devices. Interactive video resources are very useful where practical
demonstrations of skills are required. For example: a auto repair and maintenance mechanic
training package includes a video of activities in a garage center, alignment and fitting of different
parts which brings the subject to life and enables students to respond to real-life situations, a
printing technology course which includes various types of printing techniques and printing
processes uses a video to demonstrate each process, a course in tour guiding uses a video of an
escorted tour around a city to demonstrate presentation techniques, and how to handle "difficult"
tourists. Video resources, once produced, can be incorporated into interactive CD-ROM and online
programmes. CD-ROM resources, if fully interactive, are very expensive but can be highly
effective in certain learning situations. A CD-ROM can contain a vast amount of information in
text, audio, video, animation and virtual reality formats, which can be accessed through a complex
navigation system. For example; a CD-ROM used in Interior design education programme
includes text, audio, video and animation in game-type activities that allow students to explore the
learning examples required in interior designing such as floor design for residential places.
Furniture design for offices, uses a CD-ROM to illustrate practices and functions using interactive
text, graphics, sound, animation and video, a course in hair styling uses a CD-ROM that allows
students to try out the appearance of different hairstyles on a series of typical head shapes.

In September 2002, the T4 project was launched in Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, and
subsequently, in the state of Madhya Pradesh. The program offers interactive radio instruction (IRI) and
educational television for mathematics, science and English as a second language and is designed to reach
some of the hardest to reach populations. Funded by USAID, with collaboration of state governments and
local organizations, the IRI programmes in Kannada are broadcast to nearly 165,000 schools (Project T4
Website and related articles). Video films in the local language are telecast by the state government via
EDUSAT, covering about 885 schools. Teacher training in these schools has been undertaken with the
support of the local state governments, and the schools have been provided with Teachers’ Guides. An
evaluation of the learning gains among the students and the improvements in teaching practices is ongoing.
A copy of the Evaluation Plan is available at the project Website (e). An extract of field notes written by an
EDC staff member after a field visit in Chhattisgarh provides a glimpse of results.

“From the very first day of the IRI programme here in Chhattisgarh there has been a positive response from
teachers, students, audiences at large and people from the field. This response comes not only from the pilot
areas where the project was launched, but also from the areas and schools we haven’t even targeted. One
such school was randomly chosen for a visit by EDC on October 16, 2004. As it turned out, the resource
official of one of the clusters of Abhanpur block has taken the pains to run the IRI programme in his school
with his personal funds. “(EDC Staff member Fieldnotes, July 2003)

2004: Bridges to the Future Initiative

This is a partnership between the International Literacy Institute (ILI) at the University of Pennsylvania
(USA), Byrraju Foundation, IIIT, and other agencies in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The program aimed at
providing literacy programs in the local language to out-of-school youth and primary school students, using
computer infrastructure in schools after hours. Results of a two-year long impact study show dramatic
results in putting drop-out youth back into school, and raising learning achievement of in-school children
aged 8-10 years in poor rural settings (Wagner, Sridharan & Daswani, January 9, 2007).

2005: Indo-US Collaboration

Indo-U.S. Interuniversity Network for Higher Education and Research was launched in 2005, a
collaboration between over 20 American universities and Amrita University, The Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST) to enhance higher education and
research in India through the Edusat e-learning network.

The Indo-US collaboration will use Edusat to deliver classes taught by US faculty to hundreds of colleges
and universities throughout India, focusing on areas such as engineering and computer science, information
and communication technologies, materials science, biotechnology and bioinformatics, nanotechnology,
medical sciences and management sciences. It also aims to create and make available to Indian learners, a
digital library of teaching materials and assets of participating faculty and researchers.

Mission 2007: Every Village a Knowledge Centre

Mission 2007 seeks to establish 600,000 Village Resource Centres by August 15, 2007, coinciding with
India’s celebration of 60 years of independence. (Swaminathan, M.S., November 25, 2006). Establishing
connectivity and covering the ‘last mile’ are imperative to this ambitious plan. To that end, Bharat Sanchar
Nigam Limited (BSNL) is planning to connect 80,000 villages of India through wireless broadband.

“ BSNL's project will further boost the Central government's e-Governance agenda. Telemedicine, health
care, information on agriculture, distance education are some of the projects among the priority list of the
government for e-Governance. It has plans to cover 74,000 villages via WiMax. 20,000 more villages will be
covered on the Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL).” (Desai, CXO, January 25, 2007)
In another venture, San Diego based QUALCOMM Incorporated has allied with the Nasscom Foundation to
provide CDMA2000-based wireless Internet connectivity solutions to 65 Village Resource Centres under
Nasscom’s Rural Knowledge Network Program. (US-India Summit Blog June 16, 2006)

Other Public-Private Partnerships for ICT in Education

There is a plethora of Public - Private Partnerships (PPP) and Initiatives in which state governments have
partnered with large private sector organizations and multinational corporations to help bring computer
enabled education to the masses. Some of these PPP include:

• HEADSTART in Madhya Pradesh (2003) with provider of Linux technologies, Red Hat India.
(Sharma, November 19, 2002; Government of MP Website)
• Project Shiksha (2004) with Microsoft in West Bengal, Karnataka, Andaman and Nicobar Islands,
Lakshwadeep, and Tamil Nadu. (Microsoft India Website)
• The IntelTeach Program (February 2000) to train classroom teachers in over 35 cities nationwide to
use technology to improve teaching and learning. (IntelTeach Website)
• Shiksha India (December 2001), a non-profit organization set up by the Confederation of Indian
Industry (CII), has created a teachers’ portal using open source tools and technologies. (Shiksha
India Website)
• Community Learning Centres (2003) were set up by the Azim Premji Foundation in rural Karnataka.
A CLC has about 6-8 computers in a Government Higher Primary School, used by children of that
school during school hours for learning curriculum through interactive games and exercises. They
are used by the community before or after school hours and during holidays. So far, about 90 CLCs
have been set up. (Jain, R., March 25, 2003)
Brief details of these and other initiatives are available at the UNESCO and individual project websites,
however, details of evaluations conducted and current status of these projects could not be tracked.

Initiatives for ICT use in Non-Formal Education

Some initiatives toward the use of ICT in non-formal education include:

• Computer Based Functional Literacy Program (2004) with Tata Consultancy Services in in Andhra
Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal (Tata Literacy
Programme Website).
• Hole-In-The-Wall Training Systems (2002 – 2003) developed by NIIT, for which the International
Finance Corporation, a World Bank subsidiary invested $1.6 million for computer kiosks in more
than 60 locations to enable underprivileged children in India to learn from a web-based curriculum
(UNESCO Website (b)).
• India IT Freedom Project (2002) was launched in Andhra Pradesh in partnership with Freedom
Scientific Inc., USA. The project seeks to make ICT accessible to visually challenged learners by the
use of screen reading software. (The Hindu, August 6, 2002, and UNESCO Website)

The UNESCO Website provides details of various other programs for ICT use in the non-formal sector;
however, current status details are not available.

ICT for Special Needs

There are some Government as well as private initiatives (Agarwal, 2003) exploring the use of ICT for
persons with disabilities (PWD), for example,
• IIT Chennai has developed a local language editor with speech recogntion capabilities available in 15
Indian languages along with English.
• IIIT Hyderabad recently developed a software to read web pages written in Hindi or Telugu.
• The National Association for the Blind, Delhi is developing a library of electronic educational material
for PWDs. Some 1500 titles will be stored using a format accessible with a screen reader or for direct
 embossing of the text in Braille.
• In 2003, work began on Screen Access For All (SAFA), an open source initiative to develop a screen
reading software for vision impaired persons to read and write in their language of choice. (SAFA
Homepage)
Information about the current status of all these initiatives is however difficult to find.
In 2002, The Spastic Society of Karnataka undertook a study for the Azim Premji Foundation, to assess the
impact of computer aided learning on children with learning disabilities in rural Karnataka. The study
concludes that computer aided instruction offers significant improvements in visual motor coordination,
social intelligence and reading skills. (Azim Premjee Foundation Website (d)). There is however, no
information available about any initiatives for children with disabilities launched thereafter.

Conclusion

There are questions about the quality (Basu, 2006) and sustainability of random government initiatives,
implemented differently by different states and poorly aligned to the needs of Indian industry. This has led
to a “de-facto privatization” (Kapur & Mehta) of ICT education in India with private institutions (such as
Aptech and NIIT) flourishing. Today in India, ICT education has become a lottery to success. Not every one
wins the lottery though.

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Ashwin Kumar B Sonone*

Asstt Prof: TV Production Management
Film & Television Institute of India
(Under Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Govt of India)
Law College Road
Pune -411 004
Maharashtra , India
Tel No: 020 - 25431817, 25433060
Mobile: +91 9960421029

Rajendra N Pathak**
Dean (Television)
Asstt Prof: TV Engineering
Film & Television Institute of India
(Under Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Govt of India)
Law College Road
Pune -411 004
Maharashtra , India
Tel No: 020 - 25431817, 25433060