Digital education centre to benefit 1,250 students

Updated on: Saturday, July 03, 2010

Students of Sri Ramakrishna Mission Higher Secondary School at T. Nagar here will now have digital modules to supplement classroom learning with the launch of a digital education centre on Friday.

The centre, which will benefit about 1,250 students mainly from underprivileged sections, is a joint venture of the Cognizant Foundation, philanthropic arm of Cognizant, and the Everonn India Foundation that uses technology to enhance education.

The computer laboratory has 26 personal computers provided by the Cognizant Foundation and learning content for classes X, XI and XII developed in digital form by Everonn.

“Developing computer infrastructure is just the first step to overall betterment of student performance, teaching methodology and school administration,” said N. Lakshmi Narayanan, Director, Cognizant Foundation.

While the computer provides value-added education to students, it also provides the school management an opportunity to put to use technology-driven applications that can facilitate good governance, he said.

S. Madhavan, the foundation's CEO, said the initiative went beyond merely providing computers to deliver quality education.

“The value addition comes from the software in the form of digital content.”

This is the fifth Cognizant-Everonn partnership for quality education in rural and tribal areas and the first in Chennai to address the learning needs of the urban poor. The education modules are compatible with the Tamil Nadu State Board curriculum and an important component of the programme is teachers' training on content facilitation and future software upgrades, said Tapan Kumar Panda, president-Marketing and Corporate Affairs, Everonn.

The key feature of the computer lab is the way in which it changes the transfer of knowledge by providing a learning methodology that is not based on rote learning but on a sound understanding of concepts, N.R. Krishnan, the foundation's Director.

S. Balasubramanyan, Director, Chennai Willingdon Corporate Foundation; Sukanya Venkatachalam, general manager and Padmasthananda, school secretary, also participated.

Digital education centre to benefit 1,250 students

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