Punjab to automate government-run schools

Chandigarh, Aug 27 (UNI) All functions of Government Schools in the State would be soon automated to develop Management Information System (MIS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) for effective planning and decision-making, Education Minister Dr. Upinderjit Kaur said here today.

The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Authority (SSAA) Punjab would develop and implement web-based MIS and GIS covering all Government Schools in the State for automation of school functioning.

About 18500 schools, 5250 of them upper primary, would be automated. All upper primary schools have already been provided with computer labs having Information Technology (IT) infrastructure-like Servers, Stablisers, Un-interrupted Power Systems (UPSs) Printers, Desktop Computers, with battery backup upto 150 minutes.

Dr Upinderjit Kaur said the main objective of building MIS and GIS systems was to monitor the delivery of education to school children and to administer and manage the internal functions of schools in an effective and efficient manner.

The SSAA had already introduced Computer Aided Learning (CAL) for classes 6 to 8 in all Government Schools for creation and deployment of multimedia-based educational content for classes 6 to 8, teacher training and monitoring services, she added.

The Minister said that the objective of CAL project was to attract the children, retain them in schools and also to improve the quality of the education through multimedia based educational content having features such as story based animated cartoons, games and riddles.

The SSAA would also develop and implement multi-media educational content in Punjabi language for classes 6 to 8 under CAL programme and also for other subjects Social Science, Science, Mathematics, and English.

Dr Upinderjit Kaur said that the scope of the project also includes development of multimedia educational content for computer based education and to provide training to minimum 4 teachers of each school (one teacher of each subject).

One multimedia manager and an assistant in each district for every 20 schools would also be made available on full-time basis.

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