Thiruvananthapuram > Over 40,000 classrooms are set to go hi-tech across the state by June this year with the Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education developing a portal and its mobile app for the purpose.
The state government has issued an order directing educational directors to ensure proper use of the Samagra Resource Portal in 45,000 classrooms.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan would inaugurate the portal and the mobile app on May 31 at a functionpresided over by Education minister C Raveendranath, a government release said.
Samagra is different from conventional educational portals with its design structured to ensure all learning objectives in subjects in classrooms are transacted properly by using lesson plans as envisaged by the curriculum.
In addition to lesson planning, Samagra also features digital textbooks, question banks and e-resources which are accessible to everyone without the need of logging in.It also contains over 19,000 digital resources in the
form of videos, audios, pictures, interactive simulations, which can be sorted class and subject wise.
Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE) has already provided specific training in Samagra to 74,000 teachers during this summer vacation.
Under a state government initiative- IT@School Project-- that aims to impart IT education to schools, it was decided to digitise 45,000 classrooms in Kerala and make them hi-tech.
The project envisages a comprehensive upgradation of various elements of classroom learning such as infrastructure, textbooks, learning materials, teacher training, handbooks, monitoring and evaluation, and e-governance using ICT.
According to K Anvar Sadath, Vice Chairman and Executive Director, KITE, 34,500 schools have been made hi-tech and the rest are expected to be upgraded by June end. The first phase would cover classes 8 to 12 and the second phase from 1 to 7.
"Samagra would soon include a self/peer assessment features for students and teachers, to evaluate their learning in different phases. We would also incorporate various new features inSamagra including regular updation of contents, providing special log-ins for students for monitoring the academic excellence, providing a dedicated forum for teachers for subject wise discussions etc," Sadath said.
