Educomp Solutions Ltd, an education service provider that acquired US-based learning.com for $24.5 million earlier this week, has a tie-up with 6,000 schools across country under public-private partnership of information and communication technologies (ICT) programme of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA). The company aims to expand in the Bimaru states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana to increase the number of tie-ups with schools to 12,000-15,000 by the end of this fiscal .
“We are already present in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu, besides Assam, Chhattisgarh, Orissa under the computer-aided learning (CAL) programme of the SSA. Our target is to expand base by tying-up in MP, Rajasthan, UP, Haryana etc where a lot can be achieved by expanding the information technology-based learning in government schools,” said Soumya Kanti, president of the company.
Educomp is also in talks with the Centre to use its service?Smart Class(involves use of videos, 3D images and animation) to teach in government schools. The company is already providing the service to around 933 schools in India.
“Currently the entire project is in the discussion stage but we would like to replicate the success of Smart Class in all the 6,000 schools under SSA. The use of multi-media tools in teaching will be a big leap,” added Kanti.
In a related development, the company has unveiled MagiKeys, regional language keyboards in 11 major Indian languages, developed by Israel-based FTK Technologies and supported by Intel’s World ahead education programme. The company claims that the software is much easier to use in comparison with others.
“According to Frost & Sullivan, less than 10% of Indians can read or write English. The lack of easy-to-use vernacular languages keyboards have prevented majority of population from utilising IT-enabled services. Our software will go a long way in solving the problem,” said Kanti.