Govt to distribute computers at 200 madrasas

A notification to this effect was issued by the MAMED recently. The main aim of the policy is to bring these students at par with other convent-educated students.

At present, only a handful of the madrasa schools in the state have computer facilities. The notification also mentioned sorting out all issues relating to computer education in madrasas. A six-member expert committee has also been constituted, which will submit its proposal to the government very soon.

The team of experts comprises professors from Jadavpur University, Calcutta University, Bengal Engineering and Science University8217;s BESU information and technology school, besides one representative each from the state IT department and the madrasa education board.

8220;The government approached us to work on issues like what methodology needs to be used, what should be the syllabus for computer studies, who will be the teachers and how they should be trained. We have already had our first meeting and by next week we should be able to give a proposal to the board,8221; said Professor Nandini Mukherjee, computer science department, Jadavpur University, who is also one of the committee members.

The main objective of the committee is to decide on the technical specifications both hardware and software, instructor8217;s qualifications, teaching methodologies, curricula, monitoring and supervision system that needs to be implemented.

8220;There has been a need to integrate the students of these madrasas into the mainstream. In today8217;s age, computer education is a must, without which one may lag behind in the race for good jobs,8221; said another committee member, Professor Hafizur Rahaman, School of IT, BESU.

As per the notification issued, the committee8217;s work will also consist of selecting an agency, which will supply hardware and software, provide qualified instructors and related services for the 200 madrasas. The committee will have to follow the usual government procedure for selection of the agency through an open two-bid process.

With a lot of madrasas having Bengali as the medium of instruction, some of the committee members propose that the computers might have the option of both English and Bengali language software.

8220;We might be using the new Linux software which enables Bengali to be used in computers,8221; said Rahaman.

According to Professor Sankar Sen, former vice-chancellor of Jadavpur University, who is also the chairman of the committee, the software used in the computers might be open software, which 8212; unlike Microsoft Windows 8212; does not require license money.

8220;We are thinking about making computer education compulsory for students from Class V to VIII, while making it optional for Class IX to XII,8221; said Sen.

Every student needs to have an idea of computers no matter in which field they will work at the end.

8220;The government has asked us to come up with the framework and the entire process is at a preliminary stage. We hope to complete the mission by May 2009, before the new session begins,8221; he added.