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IT BEGAN as a dream, but ended — or rather, continues — as a government project. Here is one perspective on the attempt to take computers to schools in Goa and on how volunteerism in the project got side-tracked, and what it sometimes implies when governments enter such ventures.
It was in the mid-nineties that the impact of computers was getting noticed more widely in the smaller and remote parts of India. Rajiv Gandhi’s initial ventures were gone by more than a decade. Now, computers were going beyond the metros. Goa, as most readers would know, is a former Portuguese colony on the west coast of the Indian subcontinent (population approx 1.4 million, area 3700 sq.km). It is better known to the rest of India as a fairly laid-back beach-holiday centre. But even here ideas have their way of spreading. They only need a seed. A handful of IT professionals and schools in this somewhat more affluent (by Indian standards) state began to look at the possibilities of taking computers to the classroom. Most of Goa’s schools are privately run with government grants that just cover the teachers salaries and a little more for maintenance. So, where does computer hardware come from, even if software can be ‘pirated’? Fortunately, the once-used computer market was just beginning to open up around this time. In addition, if you believe in the innovativeness of the human mind, such problems tend to find their own solutions. The Lourdes Convent in Saligao village, a fairly middle-of-the-road school, neither an elitist nor a deprived remote rural school, approached a local professional, who made a donation. Unaware of such efforts, another school, the SFX Girls High School, one of the less-affluent schools from the North Goa town of Mapusa, was Interested? Read the complete article here. |
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