Teach India seen as a technology awareness model
Demystifying technology and making it less intimidating for the rural masses
through a one-week orientation programme conducted by student volunteers on
the lines of Teach India was an idea that emerged during the first
'Unconference' of India's premier annual IT event, Connect 2008, organised by
the Confederation
of Indian Industry.
Teach India is a social initiative launched on July 6 by the Times of India
Group to teach underprivileged children in India. During a discussion, a few
participants quoted the success of the Teach India campaign and said it could
be used a model for spreading knowledge on technology across the country,
specially rural India.
"A few of my colleagues are volunteering for the Teach India campaign run by
the Times of India and it is a very positive way of reaching out to people.
This kind of campaign can be replicated to take knowledge of technology to the
rural people as well," an IT professional said.
The Teach India campaign which encourages volunteers to enroll as teachers for
socially disadvantaged children has evoked a huge response in many cities.
More than 50,000 citizens from across the country and all walks of life have
committed their time to teach children in ill-equipped schools as part of
the initiative. In Chennai alone, over 6,000 including IT professionals,
corporate heads, housewives and senior citizens have come forward.
The idea of using a similar concept to educate rural masses on the benefits of
technology struck a chord with delegates at the CII meet. "Mass media campaigns
like the ones run by The Times of India can be used for reaching out to a
larger section of society. In fact, this kind of campaign can be used with
radio,
which is emerging as a powerful medium," said another participant.
The 'Unconference' session on the theme of 'Global Competitiveness and
Equitable Growth Driven by Innovation' saw stakeholders from industry, academia,
politics and bureaucracy taking part. Cognizant vice-chairman Lakshminarayan
and Tamil Nadu IT secretary C Chandramouli were among those present.
Small yellow sponge balls with smiley's on them were thrown at any speaker if
they spoke for more than a minute. The idea was to be simple and precise
while giving opportunity to everyone present. The two ideas that were finally
shortlisted were the ones on local language computing and on using mass media,
especially radio, to spread the use of technology.
"We need to lobby for news and knowledge to be broadcast through radio. Radio,
as a medium, has reinvented itself and is making an unprecedented foray
in the country. This is one of the ways to reach out to people on a large
scale," another participant said.
Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi seconded the view. She said she was also of the
opinion that radio as a technology medium was a powerful tool and should be
taken
full advantage of. On the 'Unconference', she opined that political parties too
should use such kind of fora to make a better impact.
The Teach India programme has been divided into two phases. The first phase is
a call to the citizens of the country to volunteer with a non-government
organisation (NGO) in their locality and spend two hours a week teaching
underprivileged children. New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai will
participate
in the first phase. The second phase will start by the end of 2008. Students
who are willing to dedicate two years to teaching the underprivileged will
be picked from top educational institutes all over the country.
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