Primary school classrooms to get smarter at a cost of over ₹1,000 cr.
Work to install smart boards in 23,000 primary schools has commenced across the State; the idea behind the initiative is to help students enhance their learning skills through visuals; work is in progress to set up high-tech labs in middle schools
When this academic year begins, primary school students studying at government schools in Tamil Nadu will get access to smart boards in their school campuses.
Work to install smart boards in 23,000 primary schools has commenced across the State.
Apart from this, broadband connections will be given to over 8,000 schools.
Around 50% of this work is expected to conclude by June 2024.
“The smart boards are meant for primary schoolchildren. A total of 22,791 schools will get these boards. Some schools that have more children will get two boards,” School Education Secretary, J. Kumaragurubaran
A total of 22,791 schools will get smart boards.
said. The idea behind the initiative is to help students enhance their learning skills through visuals.
A lot of videos across various subjects have also been prepared and they would be played on the boards.
“As of now, the idea is to
allocate two hours per week for each class to learn from smart boards. The timings are being worked out. There are plans to make it part of the curriculum,” he said, adding that the project would help students understand the concepts taught in classrooms well.
As on May 1, over 500 smart boards have been xed. Schools in Andimadam and Ariyalur have got 86 boards, schools in Cuddalore (Kattumannarkoil, Mangalore, Nallur, Panruti) have got 201 boards, and at Nagapattinam (Vedaranyam), 22 boards have been xed in various locations.
In Salem region (Kolathur, Nangavalli, Pethanaickenpalayam, Tharamangalam, Yercaud) 157 boards have been installed. Smart boards have also been installed at Tiruvarur (Muthupettai) and Villupuram (Marakkanam, Melmalayanur, Thiruvennainallur).
Work is in progress set up high-tech labs middle schools.
Around 10 systems would be provided to each school.
“Around 8,000 schools will benet,” he said. “Students to in
can now learn coding, python and other programming languages in these labs. Today, most students opt for jobs pertaining to information technology, and learning IT skills from a young age will help them,” he added.
Tamil Nadu is the human capital for the Indian IT sector and a majority of students from the State get absorbed each year.
Tabs for teachers
Also, around 80,000 primary school teachers will be given tabs. Mr. Kumaragurubaran said that the tabs would be used for teaching and creating content along with doing assessments for students.
To a query on the funding for all these initiatives, he said, “The total investments for all these initiatives is around ₹1,100 crore.”