'Headstart' proves a non-starter

Computers bought with great fanfare for students and teachers alike to give them a much-needed exposure to IT and computer-based teaching in rural areas are now gathering dust for the lack of proper computer labs and adequate maintenance. 

The machines, purchased under the ambitious 'Headstart' program of the Rajiv Gandhi Shiksha Mission, envisaged the use of modern technology to provide distance education of a high caliber. Each Jan Shiksha Kendra (People's Education Center) had been provided with three computers, a printer and a UPS under the scheme. However, there was only one small glitch that the rooms where these computers were to be kept were rarely opened. 

When quizzed about the reason, principal of a school in the small village of Lalampur near Bhopal, Mina Bathre says that the room allocated for the computers was tiny (6x8 sq ft) which leaked during the rainy season and was thus, too moist and mostly unfit for keeping computers almost the whole year round. Also, at most, only about four students signed up in one semester. The paucity of teachers was one more reason why the computers remained unused. 

The erratic power supply was what drove the last nail in the program's coffin. So much so that even the UPS remains uncharged. Complaints, written and oral, have fallen on deaf ears, or so says Mina. Computer instructor Ajit Singh shrugs helplessly when confronted with these facts. As the sole program monitor for 10 schools, he pleads a heavy workload as the reason why things can't be improved.

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BHOPAL