The Indian Express         27.11.2013

AMC school board goes tech-savvy, e-mails set to replace postal mails

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation School board opened email
accounts for 456 of its school heads on Monday even as the Internet
facility is yet to reach these schools. According to the authorities,
the e-mail scheme has been launched for real-time communication in place
of postal mails or sending and receiving information by hand. Apart
from routine matters, circulars and policy documents will also be
communicated through e-mails. “In recent years, we have witnessed a lot
of communication gap as relevant information could not reach schools or
vice versa on time. With this service, all school heads and teachers
will have instant information released from the school board,” said AMC
school board chairman Jagdish Bhavsar.

However, it remains to be seen how many takers will the proposal
have as few school heads are Internet-savvy and can access e-mails.
“Leave alone heads, I am not sure how many students in our school know
how to use Internet as we hardly have this facility in our school. The
students in municipal schools are from economically weaker sections who
hardly have computers or Internet at home,” revealed a school head at
the municipal school in Vadaj.

With an aim to make its staff, teachers and students
computer-savvy, AMC school board had launched its official website last
year. Though the website’s pages are still being developed, it started
by uploading important announcements by the board and Education
Department.

With the introduction of Computer Science as a subject since
previous academic session, it was proposed to connect all schools to
Internet. “Shala Telephone Internet Vayudoot Suvidha” was launched to
provide Internet to all municipal schools. The project was aimed at
keeping students abreast with Internet and technology updates. The move
is being seen as an attempt to compete with private schools. However,
there are questions being raised on the validity of the move as several
municipal schools lack even the basic infrastructure.