India
Hole-In-The-Wall Training Systems
The International Finance Corporation, a World Bank subsidiary has invested $1.6 million in a project called 'Hole in the Wall', where computer kiosks are being placed in urban slums and street children with almost no education are teaching each other on the use of computers. The project encourages underprivileged children in India to learn from a web-based curriculum through Internet kiosks, which will be installed in more than 60 locations over the next three years. The aim is to improve education for poor children, ensuring equal access for girls and boys.
The project began in early 1999, on the initiatve of Dr. Mitra, who heads research and development at the National Institute for Information Technology Limited (NIIT), a leading computer software and training company in New Delhi. Just outside his office is a wall that separates his air-conditioned 21st-century office from a slum. Mitra decided to place a high-speed computer in the wall, connect it to the Internet, and watch who, if anyone, might use it. To his delight, curious children were immediately attracted to the strange new machine. Within minutes, the children had figured out how to point and click. By the end of the day they were browsing.
NIIT went on to conduct further studies to determine if illiterate slum children could use the Internet without instruction. The ICT-education firm set up continuous video tape monitoring of the computer that they had set up. The video showed that young boys and girls from the settlement became highly proficient at using various features of the computer regardless of lack of proficiency in English, and without any instruction. Already ubiquitous in New Delhi and Mysore, the Hole-in-the-wall systems are due to be spread throughout the country. (See also http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/india/thestory.html)
India IT Freedom Project for visually challenged students
Hailed as a gift of technology to blind school children in the State, the India IT Freedom Project was launched with the joint participation of the State Government, Freedom Scientific Inc USA, the Devnar Foundation for the Blind and Karishna Enterprises in Mumbai. The first of its kind in the country, the project aims to benefit over 2,500 blind students in the State pursuing education in 20 schools. A professional training programme is currently underway, with teachers, as deputed by the State Government being trained in computer software in 6-week training courses at the Devnar Foundation. The Government is also providing free computers for 20 blind schools in the State.
It took six months to put together the project. With the introduction of the screen reading software, Job Access with Speech (JAWS) developed by Freedom Scientific, it was possible to train blind children of eighth, ninth and tenth classes in computers. Added to this, Magic Magnification Software for low vision children was developed, along with Open Book OCR Reading Software and a Braille printer. The project will help blind students write examinations without the help of a scriber, as they can convert the reading material from the Braille script into normal form and vice versa. Plans to introduce a similar project for the benefit of university students and for secondary schools in other parts of the country are also underway.
The Seelampur Project: Empowering Slum Women with ICTs
Targeted towards the poor and semi-literate Muslim women of East Delhi's slums, this project directly links the use of ICTs to the alleviation of poverty, offering ICT based training in life-skills, empowerment and the usage of ICTs in vocations such as tailoring, quilt-making and food preservation. Datamation Foundation, the project implementers, and UNESCO set up an ICT Centre equipped with a server, four computers, a Scanner-cum-Printer and Internet access. In addition, a local community needs based browser "Enrich" links the community to information, including 40 different income generation specialties and health care modules that will enable the youth and women to lead healthier lives apart from earning sustainable incomes.
Datamation are also in the process of developing 50 multimedia CDs focusing on skills enhancement, women's empowerment, and life skills to reach women who can not come to the Community ICT Centre. These CDs will be shown via the existing cable network, for which local cable operators are providing free telecast time. The organization also plans to link producers with the buyers through a portal, while exploring alternate channels for selling women’s products, such as setting up sales kiosks in hotels and the local market. The project uses extensive ethnographic action research components in collaboration with teams from the London School of Economics and the Queensland Technical University, Australia.
The Intel Computer Clubhouse Project with Katha
Slum children and women from New Delhi are learning how to use a computer as a means for peer learning and for economic and social advancement in the Intel Computer Clubhouse at Katha. A learning centre has been set up for adults in the community, along with two labs for the 1200 pupil-school, where the community, including illiterate women train in and use IT. An innovative programme for those living in Bhumiheen, Navjivan and Jawahar Camps in Govindpuri, New Delhi, this project works in partnership with Katha’s Challenge 2010 Project for self-determination and addressing the economic and social needs of slum children and women through the use of ICTs. Katha is a non-profit organization that seeks to promote literacy, break down gender, cultural and social divides, and promote life-long learning.
IBM Provide Free ICT Training for Disadvantaged Students
IBM is working with Bhavan Vidya Bhavan (BVB) through the Gandhi Institute of Computer Education and Information Technology (GICEIT) to provide free IT training for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. This programme helps in bringing elementary computer literacy to participants from rural India, giving practical, vocational training such as in e-mailing, word processing, designing spreadsheets, business graphics and other related business applications. Local language interfaces have been devised using specialised software to make the learning experience more meaningful. More than 3,000 students in 15 schools have already benefited from the programme.