ICT in Education: Let's Reach, to Teach

Sheetal, an urchin girl of vagrant parents, climbs down daily to the rough Delhi-roads in the hope of making a few bucks for her parents by selling fake copies of bestsellers and magazines to the people in cars that stop by at the red signals. “Achhi kitab hai, saheb (It's a good book, sir)” she tells innumerable people in a day. But the line that spontaneously comes out of her mouth hundred times a day hardly means anything to her, since she is an illiterate girl. And she is not alone.

Millions of Sheetals who form the urban slum and rural habitats are residing in the country, deprived of basic education and thus an opportunity to grow and contribute to the task of nation building. And the latest figures that the census gives us put us at the forefront of being the largest illiterate population on earth-a stigma, of course. But instead of throwing mud on the policy makers and the people associated, it is time to act swiftly and find ways to bring the largest chunk of the population into the education fold.

The country's strength today is its technology, which, of late, has been on the radar for making the education sector efficient. Dataquest went to the experts and raised the issues on how to take education to the grassroot level. Which are the mediums within the technological purview that can make millions of Sheetals participate in the educational process?

Of course, when Dataquest says that technology can bring huge changes into the Indian education system, it is not revealing a gospel truth. Technology is already in place, being used in many schools and at many levels to compete with even the best in the world, but it's a pity that its circumference has not gone beyond the affluent schools. These schools boast of the best-in-class interactive whiteboards and communication tools. Also not to be overlooked are the green patches in the public sector schools where, to an extent, IT has made its inroads.

But the miniscule scale and that the fact that they are just confined to cities, makes digital inclusion a herculean task.

Dreadful Dropout Rates

The foremost issue that the country's education system faces is of reducing the dropout rate in the classrooms-a chronic fever which could not be cured since 1947. Currently the gross enrolment ratio in India is less than 15%. According to the Human Development Index (HDI) data published by United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in its 2011 version of the annual Human Development Index, India ranks 118th among 157 countries-below countries such as Lebanon, Tunisia, Palestine Territory, Namibia, Uganda, and Kenya.

This is despite the fact that 'Right to Education' is in place. “The gross enrolment in primary education drops drastically at the middle school, further at secondary and higher secondary schools, and is fairly abysmal at higher education levels. All efforts like RTE or mid-day meals can only succeed when the children come to schools,” says Irina Ghose, director, project Shiksha, Microsoft India. India's track record on this aspect is even worse. In the UNDP HDI based ranking, India ranks an abysmally low 148th among 192 countries.

Can information technology break barriers and devise a way through which the dropout rates drop drastically? “Fifteen percent gross enrolment ratio means that the majority of the young population drops out and does not make it to college. To serve the dropouts and the rest of the 74%, we need to ensure that the quality of instructors is high regardless of location. Information technology is thus invaluable in breaking down geographical barriers and ensuring the uniformity of the standard of education across the nation,” says Santanu Paul, CEO, TalentSprint. In his view, if the traditionally deprived and backward sections receive the same kind of education through the more advanced centers in India, it will go a long way in creating a more equal India. He also argues that Indian government has traditionally concentrated investment in university education only. Even with the recent enforcement of compulsory education as a fundamental right of all children between 6 and 14, India is still lagging behind in education at the primary level.

Another reason behind the higher dropout rate is that people in rural and urban backward belts do not value female literacy. Sheetal is just one example and so was deliberately chosen. In 2011 the literacy rates were 82.14% for men and 65.46% for women (as per the Census 2011). Can ICT be an enabler and fill the gender gaps? “We need a support system, which technology is capable of offering. My belief is that it is not rocket science to deploy technology even in rural schools. It can help change the mindset of the people and encourage them to focus also on female literacy,” remarks Veena Raizada, head, academics, Next Education and a prominent educationist.

A section of educationists even rests great faith in females when it comes to inquisitiveness and learning ability about information technology. This section says that since technology is of great interest to female students than their male counterparts, it can be a big tool to curb the problem of female dropouts. The most recurring examples emerge from the IT sector where thousands of females are driving operations for Indian and global IT giants. Perhaps this is the reason that the last decade (largely dominated by ICT and telecom sector in India) has seen an encouraging move in the growth of female literacy rates (11.8%) over male literacy rates (6.9%) as per the census. But it is just one aspect which is seen to have worked, if not as a benchmark, as a precedent for young females in rural or urban areas. “From our experience in the rural areas, we've seen girl students using computers and ICT tools more easily than their male counterparts, which strengthens our belief that ICT can really be an enabler in addressing the dropout problem in the schools,” shares Pallavi Rao Chaturvedi, director, AISECT (a Bhopal based education group that has centers located at the panchayat and block levels).

ICT: Answer to Infrastructure Issues

On one hand, a push to introduce ICT based learning is making the rounds in government circles, while on the other, there are schools bereft of even proper buildings, toilets, and the quality teaching staff to accommodate a set of students and educate them. Can technology be an answer to address infrastructure issues?

“The improper facilities and inefficient teaching staff are affecting the delivery of education in the backward regions. The appointment of poor quality teachers under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan is no hidden truth. These things have to change in a certain time-frame. There is no reason that technology can not address this issue if all factors are kept in mind. Availability of innovative ICT based learning tools is a way,” emphasizes Jayaram K Iyer, professor, Loyola Institute of Business Administration.

Technology also seems to answer the absence of a teacher in a classroom, when Paul shares his views on the infrastructure issue. “The lack of infrastructure and dedicated teachers who would foray into backward areas can also be mitigated by concept schools like that of Chamanpura village, Gopalganj district, Bihar where children are learning algebra, chemistry, without a teacher in the classroom but on Skype,” says Paul of TalentSprint, citing some real examples.

But the classrooms without teachers is an idea that is discouraged by most experts and educationists. “Technology is an aid, which teachers can best use to make the students understand concepts. Technology can not replace teachers, rather is an advanced tool to empower teachers,” says Shantanu Prakash, managing director and CEO, Educomp Solutions.

It also has not been possible to take computer-aided teaching even into schools with proper civic amenities. Experts suggest that private and public players need to work together to evolve ways. “To prepare a generation of young people to connect by helping them learn how and when to use technology, at least, there should be a fully equipped computer lab in each school. It has its impact, given our experience in many schools where we set up at least one lab in each school under Sarva Siksha Abhiyan,” suggests S Sridhar, director, marketing (Dell Education), Dell India.

Obviously to believe that ICT would be a quickfix is an effort to reside in the ivory tower. Information technology can be, upto an extent, an answer to infrastructure roadblocks in the educational system and might accomplish pedagogical needs but cannot be the solution that will rid of all pains overnight. “Extending access by the use of ICT is a good way to minimize the infrastructure pains. But it is wrong to believe that it is easy to deliver technology in every part,” argues Anand Ekambaram, vice president, HCL Learning. Perhaps, that is the reason most experts bet big on incremental approach and steadily work in this direction.

Discouraging Picture

If the figures are to be believed, there was a shortage of 6 lakh classrooms to accommodate all the students in 2006-07. Similarly a study of 188 government-run primary schools in central and northern India revealed that 59% of the schools had no drinking water facility and 89% no toilets. According to another study, 25% teachers used to be absent from school on any particular day in 2005. The average Pupil Teacher Ratio for all India is 1:42, implying teacher shortage. These inadequacies result in a non-standardized school system where literacy rates may differ. Furthermore, the expenditure allocated to education was never above 4.3% of the GDP from 1951-2002 despite the target of 6% by the Kothari Commission, writes Wikipedia.org.

Hand in Hand

Creating common education infrastructure and offering opportunities to learn and grow is, without doubt, the government's duty. But that does not mean the industry or private players remain laid back; they also need to play a supportive role. It is an issue which can only be resolved through multi-pronged approach and that too, when all stakeholders including the government, academia, and companies sit together.

It would be wrong to mention that the education sector has seen no private-public partnerships. Upside down, PPPs are there for quite sometime now. The trend began with the opening of many government-aided schools. Even at present, when the tech-talk is doing the rounds, the companies like Educomp, Dell India, Microsoft, HCL Infosystems, and several NGOs are engaged in several educational initiatives of the government.

Educomp boasts to have adopted close to 11,500 schools under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan and is working in different states to offer solutions and making schools ICT ready. Similarly Microsoft India has partnered with 12 state governments (including Maharashtra, Uttaranchal, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Bihar, Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh) to set up 14 Shiksha academies and operate close to 100 DIETS so far to offer a spectrum of education resources. Not lagging behind, Dell's signature YouthConnect program has received the funding from Dell Giving Foundation, of $6.5 mn which boasts to have benefited over 300,000 children and youth across cities including Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi, Chennai, Mohali, and Pune. The program is operational through partnerships with 13 NGOs in India, claims to have trained over 2,000 teachers through its capacity building program. In addition, there are many other companies and NGOs that claim to perform an active role in rural and urban slum areas.

But to understand the compatibility of the involvement, it is important to measure the impact of such partnerships and engagements. “If technology has emerged as an effective tool for education, it would be a mistake to undermine the strength of technology providers in taking technology into the education sector in a big way. They have the strength and expertise. But it is for the government to look into the needs and make it easier for the private players in this sector where money seems like a distant dream right now,” adds Iyer of Loyola Institute of Business Administration. Professor Iyer sounds right when he supports his argument with an example from Tamil Nadu. “Giving computers to students solves no problem. We've seen the failure of the laptop concept in Tamil Nadu schools. Government must understand the need of an expert in this area to make ICT an enabler for education sector,” adds Iyer further.

But technology also calls for a change of mindset. “Technology needs support from everyone-including teachers, parents, school management, government, and other agencies involved in it. It is significant to ensure that our thinking does not prohibit the introduction of technology,” says Raizada.

In addition, public-private engagement is an inevitable step and has to be guided in the right direction. “Public-private partnerships are the need of the hour and call for support, roadmap, and commitment. It is the perfect blend of expertise and support which should not miss the goal,” suggests Abhinav Dhar, director of K-12 business and operations, Educomp Solutions.

Blackboard vs Whiteboard

As stated earlier, the technology has evolved and changed the way teaching and learning used to be done in atleast the affluent private schools. Wall-mounted and computational whiteboards have replaced the conventional blackboards. The solution providers like Educomp, HCL Infosystems, Smart Technologies and Panasonic, etc have continuously developed solutions and created market for them. So, if it is perceived more as a battle between the blackboard and the whiteboard, we are not on the wrong side of things. More than a piece of hardware, a whiteboard symbolizes change of an attitude to welcome new ideas into the classroom environment. The change equally seems to direct us to make instant efforts and grope for ways that lead to the brightness which the whiteboards represent in some way. But it has to be a common decision to see what are the cost-effective and viable measures to do all this.

“The intervention of technology into classrooms helps students understand complex concepts easily. In addition, it gives the choice of throwing several examples at the click of a button. The emphasis should be on grabbing attention of the child and internalize concepts for simplification. Technology is capable of both,” vouches Dhar of Educomp.

Raizada of Next Education also emphasizes on the whiteboard based teaching in the government schools. “Our experience suggests that if a class of odd 50 students makes contributions of `150 each, installing a whiteboard and projector for the delivery of digital content in a classroom should not be a hindrance. We've done this in schools where students from poor strata come and study. Certainly it has helped. The approach is surely going to help in government schools, if implemented,” suggests Raizada.

Taking the argument a little further, Sanjiv Pande, country director, Smart Technologies India and South Asia sees whiteboard based teaching as a platform through which delivering digital content will no longer be an issue even for the distance learning environment. “This mode of learning is highly effective in allowing collaboration and learning amongst students and provides them a holistic immersive learning environment and experience. ICT also makes accessible a library of quality study material from across the world to teachers and students,” says Pande.

Need for Fecund Faculty

The inclusive education would be a distant dream, unless who will teach is decided upon. At present, India is short of 6 mn teachers, out of which a considerable number is untrained or sub-standard. On that, teacher-absenteeism further adds to the woes.

ICT also promises assistance on this front. “Teacher-training is, to my understanding, the first and foremost thing we should focus on. Teachers need to be great story-tellers. But every teacher is not a story-teller. To fill the gap, the technology can be used to train and upgrade their skill levels,” Dhar of Educomp says.

Skill-enhancement and capacity building should also be undertaken to meet country's educational needs. “To take to the students the benefits of ICT enabled education, we first need teachers proficient in the same. Not only should pre-service and in-service training include ICT, teachers must have access to high quality teaching material in order to impart their knowledge in the best possible manner,” insists Ghose of Microsoft. It can probably lead to greater awareness of best practices in knowledge dissemination.

In addition, the capacity building has to happen in an on-the-job training method. “Training of teachers can happen on the job as they can be trained in the class through technological means as happened in the western countries,” suggests Arup Datta, associate director, education, PwC.

But while it is done for the teachers in job, stress on imparting ICT-based teacher-training for prospective teachers during their B.Ed or any other training is essential. “In my view, ICT based curriculum should be introduced in the B.Ed courses so that the teachers who come out are prepared to take on the role in new ICT-based environment,” regards Anand Joshi, professor of Welingkar Institute of Management.

It is easy to pass the buck on to the teachers-but there are usually good reasons why they are not equipped to deal with the needs. Teachers are just a part of the process and not the process itself.

Connotations of Content

While the resonance of infrastructure, approach and technology brings forth serious thoughts, the discussion will be inconclusive or largely bereft of soul if the value of content which will ultimately be transmitted through any technological medium into the young minds is undermined. While the industry boasts of the best in class whiteboards, communication channels for the teaching communities and schools, isn't it necessary to know what is being transmitted through these mediums?

When most companies and schools are laying focus on developing and possessing hardware for the classrooms, less value is given to content-not in terms of text books or related material but in terms of the diverse multilingual set-up of the Indian geography. The reason is obvious, as points Rupesh Shah, founder and CEO of InOpen Technologies (education content developer for ICT based solutions). “Since private sector schools have implemented the ICT based solutions and since their focus is largely on English-based teaching, it is true that most ICT based content being developed is available in English language,” says Shah. He further eulogizes government initiatives in many states like Assam, Maharashtra, Kerala and Bihar, etc to create content in local, regional languages through various partners. Not only, many state education boards under the guidance of NCERT are paying heed for a local, regional content which is easy to understand and learn.

But ICT has to go to the grassroot level and bring about a change which can not happen if the content delivered through ICT-based solutions is in English language. “Content in regional languages will drive the growth, adoption and interest,” advocates Raizada.

Perhaps, the Union Human Resource Development Ministry also understand the worth of the regional content and thus has called upon content and application developers recently after the rollout of Aakash tablet. “Similarly in the education sector you have to have some excellent content and then you can put the same as TextBooks, e-learning or a Tablet App,” further adds Shah.

But does it show the value chain also for the content developers? It is something which application developers and content creators would obviously look into before putting in any money and effort. The duty is
of the government which has to
show commitment and promote the need for content in local and regional language.

Employability Within Reach

As this debate inches to a close, it is irresistible not to ask: “Why do we need education?” To a common man's understanding, it is to enable a person to get a job. But is the Indian education system such that it enables people to get jobs? “In India, unfortunately, we suffer from a 90/90 syndrome-90% jobs are skill related but 90% education is knowledge based. If we continue this way, we are fast heading towards a deadlock of quantity
versus quality,” expresses Ghose
of Microsoft.

Most experts believe that the emphasis should be on the education that lays thrust on employability. And this is the reason, say educators and industry peers, that education loses steam even after staring big. There is a need to differentiate between a 'literate' and an 'educated'.

"For me it was a challenge to teach students computers in sign language. But I didn't lose heart"


Shweta Walishettar
a computer teacher in Karnatakas BD Tatti School for the hearing-impaired

Shweta: An Example for Teachers

When all suggestions seem valid and well-pointed, it is equally important for teachers to understand their role in the whole process. They must be forward-looking and keen to innovate in their own right as did Shweta Walishettar.

Shweta was afflicted with polio and crippled for life but defied the forebodings to acquire a diploma in computer applications and found a job as a computer teacher in Karnataka's BD Tatti School for the hearing-impaired. Here her challenge was the sign language. For me it was a challenge to teach students computer in the sign language. But I didn't lose heart. With my colleagues and training which I took under Microsoft's Project Shiksha, I worked on devising a new sign language to teach computers to the hearing impaired. The credit goes to all the team who also helped along, says Shweta while taking us through the journey she traversed to overcome the odds and become an innovative teacher. She introduced this new language in her school, miraculously transforming computer learning for the specially-abled children. As a result, BD Tatti School is now recognized as a premier institution for the differently-abled and is a role model for the community. Perhaps, the teachers need to adopt Shweta's attitude to learn and bring about change.

Dataquest's 3-Step Approach

The country has one of the largest student populations (approximately 300 mn) in the world. The question is simple. How can the 1.2 mn schools, over 400 universities, 18,000 colleges and over 6 mn educators, to start with, get the benefit of ICT to leapfrog? How can the reach be extended? How can quality be enhanced? And how can education serve to earn livelihoods and accelerate economic growth?

Based on the discussions with experts, Dataquest presents a three-step approach. The government needs to assess the applicability and take the necessary sub-steps to ensure that the gap is effectively addressed. While they appear sequential, the approach could be customized. For example, trying to better the learning experience without solving the problem of access would help only a section of the society. Similarly, waiting to provide highest class reliability in connectivity before taking the next step looks impractical and time consuming. The middle path has to be found and taken. That is why it is advisable to involve educationists at every step.

Here are the three gaps and the solutions that can be built leveraging ICT:

#Enhance the Reach of Education:

Mandated (subsidized, if required) connectivity for schools in all regions. Operators should have incentives and penalties.
ICT based teaching (both approach and tools) as an essential part of the curriculum in teacher education courses such as B.Ed apart from the on-the-job training
Localization of content to make it relevant and interesting for children
A monitoring system with a few parameters to be monitored and reported

#Enhance Quality of Learning:
Use of technology to better classroom experience. Incentivize sales to schools. Subsidies wherever needed.
Private public partnerships to create, support, and operate (if required) ICT based education systems. Integrate content creation if needed.
Incentivize local, small scale content creation (extremely important, but ignored at present)
Use of participatory education means such as internet (web 2.0), tele education etc

#Make Education More Relevant:
Make vocational education a part of school curriculum. (This will make the educated employable and hence will attract them to education)
Use ICT-based platforms to connect them with opportunities
India has a chance to leapfrog. And be a role model for the next billion students globally who do not have access to basic education. The time is now.