KITE Kerala

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Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE)
Native name
കേരളാ ഇൻഫ്രാസ്ട്രക്ചർ & ടെക്നോളജി ഫോർ എഡ്യൂക്കേഷൻ (കൈറ്റ്)
Formerly
IT@School
IndustryEducational
FoundedAugust 7, 2017; 6 years ago (2017-08-07) in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
Headquarters
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
,
India
Area served
Kerala
Key people
  • Prof. C. Raveendranath (Minister for General Education)
  • A Shajahan, IAS (Chairman)
Services
OwnerGovernment of Kerala
ParentDepartment of General and Higher Education (Kerala)
Websitekite.kerala.gov.in

Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE) is a state owned special purpose company under education department of the Government of Kerala.[1][2] It was developed to support ICT enabled education for schools in Kerala. The erstwhile IT@School Project was transformed into KITE for extending its scope of operations in August 2017.[3][4] KITE was the first SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) company to get funded by KIIFB (Kerala Infrastructure and Investment Fund Board).[5]

History[edit]

IT@School project was established in 2001 and IT campaigns were conducted statewide. Initially, Microsoft had shown interest in the IT@School project, but this was rejected and government went with Free Software.[6] In 2003, IT became a compulsory subject in state school curriculum with IT practical exams. The transition to Free Software was completed in 2006.[7]

In 2017, IT@School project was promoted into a government company named KITE. This promotion from a project to a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) gives company more freedom and authority to grow further and makes it eligible for receiving funding from KIIFB. KITE was the first new SPV of Nava Kerala Mission.[8]

VICTERS[edit]

Main article: Victers TV
New logo of Victers shows the signals pointing to form a pencil implying education, art and sharpness at one point.

KITE is the nodal agency for implementing the EDUSAT network, and runs an exclusive channel for education called VICTERS (Versatile ICT Enabled Resource for Students), which is aired from 6am to 11pm. India's epoch making first broadband network on EDUSAT for schools, VICTERS was inaugurated by A P J Abdul Kalam, the president of India, on 28 July 2005 in Thiruvananthapuram. VICTERS offers interactive virtual classrooms that enable the school students as well as the teachers to directly communicate with the subject experts and educationists. It also ensures the dissemination of high quality education to the students and teachers from the original source.[9]

Training programmes[edit]

Camera training for students
  • ICT training: Training given to familiarise the basics of operating systems and office software packages and other application software.
  • Hardware training: 3 day training programme on hardware maintenance and basic support.[10]
  • Internet training: This 20 hour training programme was given to all SITCs and interested school teachers. The trained SITC then trained all High School teachers in their school. The government also issued strict instructions that every student in Std X in the school should get at least 10 hours of internet exposure per year.
  • IT training for the visually challenged: In association with Insight scheme of Kerala State IT Mission, the Project has successfully imparted IT training using free software for teachers of special schools for visually challenged, by exclusively using free software based screen reading software named ORCA.[11]
  • Camera handling training: Two day training on camera handling was given to the teachers, enabling them to create educational videos which could be beneficial in implementing ICT enabled education.
  • Training on ICT enabled content: Specific training on ICT enabled content was provided to teachers so as to enable them to use ICT enabled content in all subjects in order to equal teachers in classroom transaction.[12]
Video conference class for English teachers
Animation training session in progress

IT@School GNU/Linux[edit]

Linux distro IT@School GNU/Linux logo

IT@School GNU/Linux is a Debian based Linux distribution that was created for the IT@School project to impart ICT education in public schools in the state. The distribution was originally developed by SPACE[15] and is currently being maintained by the internal team at IT@School project.[16]

Content Development[edit]

IT@School Project has rolled out several programmes which included the development of its own Operating System - IT@School GNU/Linux- which is now being used in all the schools in the state. Apart from this, several educational software like Dr. Geo, Rasmol, K-Tech lab, Geogebra, Chemtool, Kalzium etc. are being extensively customised by the Project in developing teacher friendly applications for facilitating complete ICT enabled education in the state. The project prepared interactive multimedia CDs, handbooks and training modules for ICT, as well as text books for IT. All content developed by the project was per the approach based on the National Curriculum Framework 2005.

FOSS initiatives[edit]

Some of the free software applications developed or customized by the Project include the following.

  1. Application software like OpenOffice, GIMP, Dr. Geo, Rasmol, KEduca, Klab etc.
  2. Examination software – to conduct IT practical examination to more than 1.6 million students
  3. Handbook for Linux – prepared as a user manual
  4. Training modules in Linux – to train teachers in open source
  5. Textbook for standard 8th, 9th, and 10th classes– Prepared in association with SCERT
  6. ICT training programme based on Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) for students who require special attention
  7. ICT training to all visually challenged teachers in the state using the free software – ORCA.[17]

Public awareness[edit]

The project also engaged in organizing statewide awareness campaign, exposing the everyday computer user to the possibilities and advantages of using Linux-based software. Resource persons of the IT@School project in these sessions, demonstrate how there is a free software alternative to each and every computer application that an average user requires on a daily basis.[18]

E-governance[edit]

IT@School project implemented several e-governance initiatives in the state. The major e-governance initiatives are the single window admission system and the online transfer and posting of technical assistance to teachers. The online transfer and posting of teachers benefits 60,000 teachers in the state. Some of the other e-governance initiatives of the project include the noon meal distribution computerization, youth festival software, pre-metric scholarship online, centralised online text book intend system, implementation of "Service Payroll Administrative Repository for Kerala" (SPARK) within the general education department, total physical fitness programme software, etc.

Implementation of SPARK[edit]

The "Service Payroll Administrative Repository for Kerala" (SPARK) is a program of Department of Information Technology (DIT) of the state's government for digitizing the service book details of all employees of the state so that the database could be used for the decision makers and to ensure the welfare of the employees.

School Wiki[edit]

Schoolwiki-logo.png

School Wiki, modelled on Wikipedia, attempts to foster the culture of collaborative learning in Kerala's schools. The portal at www.schoolwiki.in provides a comprehensive knowledge database of all schools in the state. The innovative portal include the learning outcomes of students derived from group activities as well as various educational contents prepared by the teacher groups. This collaborative website is completely prepared in Malayalam.

All high schools in the state include their educational contents and other details in their allotted space. Each school would be able to enter details such as basic elementary data, their historical references, statistics, infrastructure details, details of alumni, school websites and blogs, various clubs and forums, class magazines, supporting images and videos. Apart from these contents, analytical language projects such as 'Pradeshika patram' – school newsletter, 'Nadodi Vijnanakoshan' – local encyclopedia and 'Ente Nadu' - 'My Village', which are part of learning Malayalam language, would also be entrusted to all students in Std 8, 9 and 10 respectively, which, under the guidance of language teachers, would be completed and the reports and findings would enrich the knowledge base of School Wiki. School Wiki also features an "ICT Learning Corner", which include the various contents prepared by schools for all subjects in ICT enabled education. By facilitating the students to access and modify all contents in School Wiki, the project also ensures the participation of the general public including school alumni.[19]

Total Physical Fitness Programme software[edit]

The "Total Physical Fitness Programme" software manages fitness details of 30 lakh students are available for further action.

Little KITEs[edit]

‘Little KITEs’ IT Clubs is a unique[20] initiative of KITE, which feature over 1 lakh student members. The Hi-School Kuttikootam programme, which was part of the Public Education Rejuvenation Mission of the State Government, through which students were given intense training in 5 areas such as Animation, Cyber Safety, Malayalam Computing, Hardware and Electronics, has been structurally upgraded in Student Police Cadets model, thus becoming ‘Little KITEs IT Clubs’. Little KITEs is set to become the largest Student IT Network in the Country.

Hon. Chief Minister, Shri. Pinarayi Vijayan has launched this unique initiative on 22 January 2018 at Thiruvananathapuram. In addition to the already identified 5 Core areas, more topics have been added such as Development of Mobile Apps, Programming, Robotics, E-Commerce, E-Governance, Video Documentation, Web TV etc. to the activity bouquet of 'Little KITEs`.

Little KITEs Camps are the occasional IT camps conducted under the Little KITEs units.

IT camps conducted under the Little KITEs units.

Accolades[edit]

Title Category Year
National e-governance Awards Best project 2005
e-India Awards 2008[21]
World is Open Awards 2008[22]
Open Document Format Alliance Awards 2009[23]
Kerala state e-governance Awards 2010
Stockholm Challenge Awards Honorable mention in the education category 2010[24]
e-India Awards Best skill development initiatives of the year for ANTS 2011

References[edit]

  1. ↑ "Kerala's 'IT@school' project now a government company 'KITE'". indianexpress.com. 7 August 2017. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  2. ↑ "Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education". Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education about us page. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  3. ↑ "Kerala's IT@school project now a govt company". www.thehindubusinessline.com. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  4. ↑ S, Shihaubudeen Kunju (7 August 2017). "Kerala Government's IT@school Project Formed Into Government Company". NDTV. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
  5. ↑ "Government incorporates IT@school as KITE to get KIIFB funds". Deccan Chronicle. 7 August 2017. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
  6. ↑ "rediff.com: Gates to support Kerala's e-literacy project". www.rediff.com. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  7. ↑ "KITE". itschool.gov.in. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  8. ↑ "Kerala's 'IT@school' project now a government company 'KITE', CM Vijayan launches logo". The Indian Express. 7 August 2017. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  9. ↑ "KITE".
  10. ↑ Hardware clinics for school computers. The Hindu (2008-09-03). Retrieved on 2015-04-21.
  11. ↑ IT@School initiative lauded. The Hindu (2011-09-19). Retrieved on 2015-04-21.
  12. ↑ IT's a great success here. Deccanherald.com (2011-05-26). Retrieved on 2015-04-21.
  13. ↑ "IT@School Animation Training for Students".
  14. ↑ IT@School attempts a record. The Hindu (2011-09-05). Retrieved on 2015-04-21.
  15. ↑ "Free as in Freedom: The Story of Free Software in Kerala, India". swatantryam.blogspot.in. 31 August 2007. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  16. ↑ Krishnaswamy, Girija. "Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in Education–IT@ School Project, Kerala, Region of India". Journal of Free Software & Free …. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  17. ↑ FOSS-Based ICT training for Kerala students Archived 27 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Efytimes.com (2011-11-03). Retrieved on 2015-04-21.
  18. ↑ News Archives. The Hindu. Retrieved on 2015-04-21.
  19. ↑ School wiki getting ready for launch. The Hindu (2009-10-29). Retrieved on 2015-04-21.
  20. ↑ "Little Kites". kite.kerala.gov.in. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  21. ↑ IT@School bags national award. The Hindu (2008-08-04). Retrieved on 2015-04-21.
  22. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 13 October 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  23. ↑ http://www.odfalliance.org/blog/index.php/site/2009/05/
  24. ↑ "IT@School Project - programme for ICT interventions in schools in Kerala, India". Stockholm Challenge. Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 22 August 2019.

www.kite.kerala.gov.in

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