Our initial thought of introducing technology in the schools was through introducing computers. We did not even have the content to go with the computers at that time. The thought was rather amateurish, but based on our intuitive understanding of what technology could do in the school, which could be summarized as follows:

• Parental feedback indicates strong demand for English language and computers to be included in the schooling process
• Information technology can strengthen the efforts for universalising primary education
• Information Technology will have a number of applications ranging from global access to knowledge to self-based/paced learning for children
• Information Technology could also be the solution to a uniform high quality of instructions without replacing the teachers

While the long term purpose was to provide global access to knowledge, self-paced and cost effective learning, the immediate purpose was:

• Attracting children to the school
• Creating excitement in and around the school
• Simplifying difficult concepts, thereby making learning exciting and fundamentals strong
• Laying a sound foundation to IT literacy

Therefore, we started engaging with information technology through community learning centres located in or near schools in rural areas. 35 schools were supplied with hardware in 2001. Subsequently, 55 more were added in 2002 and another 135 in 2003, in tripartite partnership with government and local communities in Karnataka. Local entrepreneur and teachers were encouraged to integrate technology into teaching. In 2002, we started developing educational software, leaving the government to supply and manage the hardware. We are now the largest developer of education software in 18 languages, including 5 tribal languages. We have developed multimedia software in over 119 modules for children in class 1 to 8. Our education software is being used by more than 2 million children in over 16,000 schools across 13 states. It is provided free of cost to all government schools.

The material is child-centric, interactive and self-paced, and based on fun-animation-story-game. It is available in CD form, and each CD (barring the language CDs) is in three languages – English, Hindi and the regional language of the child. Elementary schools across India that have computer and allied accessories, necessary to deploy multimedia software, can use the curricular and co-curricular material developed by us.

We have utilized the state education functionaries for content validation, translation, teacher training, monitoring and, in some cases, joint content development.

The complete list of CDs is available on our website.

• World class content development that will relate to the environmental context of rural children.
• Content to suit different cultures and development stage
• Content development at a scale that will be affordable for any school in the country
• Emphasis on measurable impact of IT in education than blind connectivity and digitisation of curriculum
• Focus on well-directed usage of hardware and partnering with IT organisation to utilise their hardware resources
• Empanel education software vendors to produce large scale software content that focuses on
• Basic concepts that are the building blocks for education
• Parts of curriculum that teachers require additional help on
• Allied life skills that will help understanding perspective of education and make learning more effective
• Be the “Umbrella Content Provider” of a variety of education content for children of 6-14 years in school to make usage of IT affordable even for a small government school in a village

• A Study to Evaluate the Impact of Community Learning Centres Initiative (2002)
• Impact of Computer Aided Learning on Children with Specific Learning Disabilities (2004)
• Computer Aided Learning – Making Assessment Fun for Children: A Study of West Godavari District in Andhra Pradesh (2004)
• Computer Aided Learning Centres – Comparative Study of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh Models (2004)
• Assessment of Computer Aided Learning in Andhra Pradesh (2005)
• Evaluation of Computer Aided Learning in Karnataka (2005)
• Computer Aided Learning Program – A Longitudinal Study in Karnataka (2005)
• Local Content Development Program – Experiences of Three Schools In Karnataka (2005)

Technology, especially ICT, can help create learning experiences which otherwise are not possible, facilitate reaching out to large numbers, and help enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of education system. Thus technology can help: teacher deliver better learning in the classroom, in reaching out to large number of teachers and education administrators for building their capability, in conducting high-quality large scale assessment, and in management information and decision support system for the education system.

• Computer Aided Teaching-Learning:
  As stated earlier, this program was launched to create excitement in the schools to improve enrolment and attendance. A little later, we began developing education software to aim at improvement in learning of the children. The education software that we have developed has found favour with several states since they had already invested in the hardware.

  Computer Aided Learning Program (CALP) has been in operation for several years now. While it has helped us to learn a lot about what is working and what is not working, we have not been able to demonstrate beyond doubt that computer aided learning does indeed lead to higher learning achievement in disciplines like mathematics, language or EVS.

  Foundation is currently in the process of carrying out a controlled action research in this area in a few states. The details of this action research are given at Annexure


• Technology for Teacher Training:
  This effort will move hand in hand with our work on Teacher Preparation & Support mentioned elsewhere. We see a great possibility of reaching out to more than 5.5 million teachers using technology to build their capability to engage with children in a more meaningful way.


• Large Scale Assessment:
  Our Learning Guarantee Program (LGP) is helping us in enhancing our understanding of high-quality assessment. We see the possibility of developing test-item banks in cognitive as well as non-cognitive areas



• Technology for Effective Management:
  We have worked with Karnataka Education Department to develop Electronic Management Information System (EMIS) for the whole state. The prime objective of EMIS was to reduce the administrative task of teachers and education functionaries in gathering, processing and using information.

  The EMIS works from Block > District > State using hybrid – offline & online – model. Therefore, school data is collected manually by CRC or BRC and fed at the block office by EMIS coordinator. EMIS package is compatible with District Information on School Education (DISE) package of SSA/NIEPA.

  The final roll out of EMIS was done in January, 2007.

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