Log in Punjab

Punjab is all set to boot up its educational system. From next month it plans to start compulsory computer classes in government schools. While a system failure forced an earlier such venture in the state to shut down, Chitleen K. Sethi asks if the scheme will click this time. 

After three unsuccessful attempts to bring computer education to Punjab schools, the government is now on the verge of starting its biggest-ever venture to introduce compulsory computer education in government schools. The education department stands by its commitment to bring students from government schools on a par with those from private schools in computer education.

Being virtually among the last states in the country to introduce computer education in schools, Punjab stands to have some advantages. Similar ventures undertaken by other states have provided Punjab with enough examples to study and learn from. The end result produced by the state is a rather intelligent copy of similar programmes running in other states. However, ground realities seem to have been ignored by the education department.

The latest scheme of the government seeks to introduce computer education as a compulsory subject in government schools from Class VI to Class XII from July this year. As many as 1276 schools, more than two-thirds of which are in rural areas, have been identified for the implementation of the first phase of the scheme. Ten to 60 computers will be provided in every school for the use of students. Two or more specially trained teachers will be provided by the government at its cost to each school. Course material, based on the NCERT syllabus, will also be made available in Punjabi to the schools. Every student is expected to take up the course. From Class VIII onwards, students will be given certificates for their level of computer skills and by the end of Class XII, they will have enough computer skills to be eligible for IT-related jobs. And all this will cost the Government Rs 25 to 30 crore a year for the first five years, after which the cost is expected to come down by at least Rs 15 crore.

Computer education was first introduced in the state in 1984 through a centre-sponsored scheme, Computer Literacy and Studies in Schools (CLASS), which began in some select government and government-aided high and senior secondary schools. The number of such schools gradually rose to 100. During 1995-1996, the government signed a three-year contract with Punjab Computer Information Services (PCIS), Chandigarh, for training students. However, the contract expired in April, 1998, and was not renewed.

Anurag Agarwal, Director-General, School Education, Punjab, pointed out that the CLASS project had failed in almost all states. However, being a pioneering effort, the CLASS project showed the way.

Another important scheme as part of the Member Parliament-Local Area Development (MPLAD) programme was also introduced in the state four years ago. MPs were empowered to introduce computer education in some select institutes in their respective constituencies with the financial aid provided by the Central Government. Each institute was equipped with five sets of computers. The job was, however, assigned to private agencies on contract basis.

Following a national trend started by Aptech and NIIT, who saw a major business opportunity in computer education in schools, the first serious effort to introduce the subject was undertaken in 2001. The Punjab Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NIIT, New Delhi. The agreement was for three years. Nearly 5000 government middle, high and senior secondary schools were to be covered under the programme.

The programme, however, never picked up. At least 500 students from each school had to take up the course for Rs 80 per month, per student. Most senior secondary school authorities had to tell the students that the NIIT computer course was compulsory in order to attract the 500 students needed to start the course. "Later when we were informed that the course was optional, we left it. It was too expensive," said Payal, a student of a government senior secondary school in SAS Nagar. And those who continued with the two-year course are still awaiting their certificates.

When after two years, the programme fell flat on its face, NIIT packed its bags (and its computers installed in schools) and left the Punjab Government wondering what to do next. By November, 2002, the curtain had rung on the NIIT-Punjab Government venture.

However, the NIIT experience brought to the fore the surprising response of the students towards computer education in school. While every student paid less than Rs 20 a month as fee, there were students who were ready to pay Rs 80 a month for two classes of computer education once a week. Though the dropout rate was high since it was considered too expensive, the response of the students was encouraging.

The Goa Government had in January 2001 decided to introduce compulsory computer education in high and higher secondary school levels as part of its computer literacy drive in the state. Interestingly, a study, financed mainly by contributions from ordinary citizens and Goan village associations, found that school students really wanted to learn the new technology. Of the 1,000 students surveyed in schools without computers, over 90 per cent said they wanted to learn to use a computer because it was useful in acquiring a job, pursuing higher education, and accessing information. Nearly 80 per cent were willing to learn computers even after school hours and nearly 75 per cent were prepared to pay additional fee.

The road map is clear but the education department is blind to its pitfalls. Does the government servant sitting on the fifth floor of the Punjab secretariat building, dying to press the enter button on his computer to launch this ambitious scheme in Punjab, realise that an average Class VI government-school student does not even know basic English? If the students know the small abc, the Class VI teacher considers herself lucky. In a senior secondary girls school in Sohana village, for example, a Class VI student was asked what her name was and the answer was a complete blank. Out of the three students who were asked this, one replied. The same school has a working computer lab as an option in the SUPW class. "We have a large number of students who are genuinely interested in learning computers. But we also realise that every student cannot pick up everything. We have had to refuse even those students who have shown an inclination towards computers. Their basic knowledge of English, mathematics or even Punjabi is inadequate," explained Sunita, a mathematics teacher in the school.

Based on such feedback from rural schools, many state governments followed a different method of introducing computer education. Tamil Nadu was the first in the country to introduce computer education in state schools in 1999. Computer education was initially offered as an optional subject in Class XI and XII and then introduced as a subject in Class IX and X, and finally taught to Class VI, VII, and VIII.

The Himachal Pradesh Government introduced information technology (IT) as an additional optional subject on entirely self-financing basis for students from Class IX to XII in government senior secondary schools. So while students in Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh had the option of taking computers, the students in Punjab will have no option but to take it. Many school principals feel that computers should be first introduced as an optional subject and later made compulsory. But this suggestion is not acceptable to the education department. "It has to be compulsory. There is already a large divide between government school students and private school students, and if we make the subject optional, it will create another divide within government school students," said Agarwal, adding that Punjab’s computer education project was going to be the best in the country.

Tamil Nadu offered a five-year lease-cum-service contract under which the contractor had to provide the hardware, software as well as instructors in all schools. The government made quarterly payments to computer education firms. A similar model will be followed by Punjab but with certain changes. ‘‘Studying these examples, we realised that wherever the programme failed, it was due to the outsourcing of teachers by the computer agencies. To tide over this, we have decided to have our own teachers kept on contract and paid by the education department. The USP of our project is going to be the quality of teachers we employ,’’ said Agarwal.

The IT Department is currently involved in designing the syllabus. "We are adopting most of the NCERT syllabus but adapting it to the requirements of the schools in Punjab," said NS Kalsi, Principal Secretary, IT Department.

School principals also pointed out that in most government schools students regularly failed in English and mathematics. Teaching and learning is based on mugging and the school’s main focus is the result. "If passing in computer class is also made mandatory then what will happen to our results? Why not have a single examination in Class VIII for computers and give a certificate to those who pass?" asked a school principal.

Government schools, even the senior secondary ones, do not have adequate seating arrangements. Classes are often held under trees. Rooms, wherever there are, are ill-lit and without fans. But then why bother about the fans and the lights when there is rarely any electricity in these schools? "Electricity problem has been taken care of. We will provide a battery back-up of two hours to each school and generators to larger schools," said Agarwal. But what about classrooms? A solution to this can be seen at the Government Senior Secondary School, Daon. The school has seven classes to teach and five classrooms. So two classes are held under the mango trees in the compound. But the school has a fully equipped hall that houses at least ten computers. The school got these as part of the MPLAD scheme first and later as a gift from an NRI. However, only two of these computers work. (It is important to mention here that the said NRI donated outdated computers to three schools in Ropar but forgot to give the CPUs). "This room is the sanctum sanctorum of the school. It is rarely used but we keep the computers in good shape," said the principal.

The new course to be launched by the government will cost each student Rs 10-15 per month in addition to the regular fee. It is true that high costs inhibit the rapid expansion of computer education but how does the government plan to sustain the project with such a low fee? "We are not out to make profits. This programme will demonstrate the government’s commitment to education," explained Agarwal.

So many examples but we refuse to learn. Instead, we rush headlong into a scheme which is being dreaded more than welcomed in schools.