Kerala’s ICT etender for schools worth Rs 300 crore

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education, formerly It@school Project of the state general education department, has rolled out an Information and Communication Technology etender for state schools, at an estimated cost of Rs 300 crore.

The etender for 60,250 Laptops and 43,750 Multimedia Projectors was published in the state s etender portal (etenders.kerala.gov.in ) making it the largest of its kind in the southern state, according to an official release.

KITE is the first SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) to get funded from Kerala Infrastructure And Investment Fund Board (KIIFB ) established by the state government to support projects worth Rs 50000 crore in five years.

The etenders published by KITE is for the ICT equipment to be provided under 'Hi-tech School project', said K Anvar Sadath, Vice Chairman and Executive Director, KITE.

As many as 4775 government and government-aided schools, to be covered under this programme, include 2685 high schools, 1701 higher secondary cchools and 389 vocational higher secondary schools.

With the implementation of the programme, each classroom would be equipped with laptop, multimedia projector, whiteboard and sound system.

Each Hi-tech IT Lab would feature with UPS, multi-function printers, LCD TV and a HD Camera. Specific e-security features would be installed in schools, he said.

The IT Labs and classrooms would be connected via network through a Central server in the lab, which would allow sharing of information.

High speed fibre-based broadband internet would be made available in all classrooms, the official said.

"Hi-tech School programme is a holistic integration of components like capacity building, digital content, connectivity, infrastructure, resource portal & e-governance," Anvar Sadath said.

"ICT infrastructure of this sort is only one pillar of the whole scheme and under 'Public Education rejuvenation Mission' programme we are incorporating all these components together," he said.

The tender insists on five years on-site comprehensive warranty for all the components, including battery and power adapter of the laptops and bulb of the multimedia projector.

"Such a stringent conditions that ensure hassle free support for schools for five years is first of its kind in the country and KITE will establish necessary support mechanisms including Hardware Clinics for repairing and upgrading the faulty machines," he said.

A common web portal and call centre would also be set-up to register complaints.

The deployment of equipment to schools is planned in three phases--first phase (30,000 laptops and 20,000 projectors) in NovemberDecember 2017, second in January-february 2018 and the final phase in April-may 2018.

The e-tender for other equipment like multifunction printers, 3 KVA UPS, LCD TV, HD Camera etc would be published soon. So before the beginning of next the academic year, all 45000 class rooms would be fully digitised, Sadath added. KITE had implemented the pilot phase of hi-tech school programme in 132 schools and the feedback is taken for state-wide roll out.

"With the scope of KITE being extended to Higher Education sector also, the activities of KITE including hardware deployment, capacity building for teacher and students and so on will be taken forward to these sectors, thus making Kerala the first fully digital state in education," Education Minister Raveendranath said.