VIBHA VERMA
vibha@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Former chief minister Manohar Parrikar’s dream of making laptops and tablets freely available to students to assist in the teaching-learning process does not seem to be currying favour with teachers. With teachers citing fears of misuse and practical difficulties in implementing the scheme, the Education Department is being forced to rethink on the distribution of tablets.
Several schools have banned tablets in classrooms because they fear misuse even as they support the government’s initiative to make students tech savvy. Each student has paid a minimum of Rs 25, under the cyberage scheme, for the tablets. Moreover, the tablets serve no learning purpose since teachers have not been provided either with tablets or laptops to facilitate classroom teaching through these devices.
The Education Department is skeptical that carrying tablets or laptops (for higher secondary students) could result in theft en-route to school or home. It also clarified that every school has computer labs, having Goa broadband connection.
Dr K B Hedgewar High School recently detected that the tablets suffered technical hitches wherein, Headmaster Vilas Satarkar said the pre-loaded software containing curriculum material did not allow access to study data.
“The problem was rectified in December but it largely persists even now. Absence of e-study materials gives them (students) undue advantage to play games, which is why, we instructed students not to bring tablets to classrooms,” Satarkar told Herald.
Another high school in Chinchinim faced the same problem among students prompting the management to ban the use of tablets on campus. “The school is equipped with smart classrooms. PowerPoint is the tool of learning in this school, but it was surprising that students were strictly instructed not to carry tablets to schools. The reason perhaps could be abuse of the gadgets,” Sneha Pagi who did her BEd internship in the school, disclosed.
Even as students are barred from using tablets in schools, Satarkar asserted they have alerted parents about monitoring their child’s use of laptops and internet. “We are creating awareness through Parent Teacher Association meetings to supervise their child’s activity on tablets while at home, since we monitor them in classrooms,” he said.
The fear of theft was also expressed by Cyena Pegado, who runs Fairyland School in Goa Velha. She added it could be a source of distraction. “We would request government to revise the scheme in future considering it could be a distraction for the children. Moreover, carrying it to schools everyday is not practical. It will be better if these are provided with multimedia classrooms,” she opined, while quickly adding that the initiative is nonetheless motivating to students to learn by using modern technology.
Education Director Gajanan Bhat said the government is rethinking on the distribution of tablets while stating that the department has not made it compulsory for students to carry tabs and laptops to classrooms.
“Some carry but at their own risk. We can guarantee safety of the electronic equipments while in the campuses but it is not possible otherwise,” he said, adding the tablets and laptops are equipped with curriculum including NCERT syllabus. He also said that parents have been advised to monitor their children’s use of the tablets and laptops.
The Information Technology department has, meanwhile, ruled out abuse of tablets and laptops within the education institutions as Goa broadband connections have blocked unwanted websites. “Government is providing internet connectivity in the schools, which has blocked unwanted sites. We have taken all precautions but we have no control outside the campuses,” Director Nilesh Faldesai commented.
A senior government-aided school teacher from south Goa, while speaking to Herald, disclosed that students have been using the tabs given at schools for gaming, besides using them to connect to social networking sites. It’s a huge waste of government money as the tabs have never been used for learning.
