From June,ICT a compulsory subject for Class IX

The paper will be divided into 40 marks theory and 10 marks practicals. The medium of instruction will be English and Marathi. A total of 60 classes per year (40 for theory and 20 for practicals) with two classes per week will be held. Introduction to concepts of web browsers,e-mails,downloading web content,chatting,video conferencing using Skype,creation of audio visual content,translation softwares are also a part of the syllabus.

Dhekne has ruled out the possibility of recruitment of new staff for the new subject. “As per the decision of the state government,no new teachers are to be recruited. Among the 34,000 teachers that we will train now,there will be mathematics and science teachers who will teach ICT in schools.” He said in case of rural locations that don’t have access to Internet,a group of few villages will be allowed to arrange combined classes at a mutually accessible location. The grade secured by a student in ICT will be printed on the marksheet from 2013-14.

Kamini Saxena,principal,Shamrao Kalmadi School,said,“We have not received any notification from the Board so far about the introduction of this new subject. I was told that junior college teachers will attend an IT training programme,but I’m not sure if the two are related. As of now we do teach IT to our students along with other subjects under the ‘work experience’ group.”

Jaya Bhaskar,principal,Abhinav Vidyalaya English Medium School (SSC),said,“The notification was sent to us about two weeks ago. But we haven’t received the details of this new subject,including the syllabus etc. We have been asked to send two teachers for the training. We’ve been teaching computers in the school for the last seven years now.”