Gvernment schools in Tamilnadu, India, which educate children for very low, subsidized costs, are slowly but definitely moving towards giving computer education,which has been long lacking with such schools.
The good news is : Recently another such school, in Medavakkam has opened its doors to computer education. Thanks to (No, not the government..) but the UK based organization that set-up the whole thing.
Read this article in the Hindu.
The sad news is : Look at the number of children per computer, in the above news link.
It only proves that computer education is still a long way, for the not-so-rich students. Will be complex to train any student into a potential programmer from such an environment.
The Irony:
The Medavakkam schools computers were donated by an UK-based organization...not Indian software biggies.
Medavakkam is not too very far from the buzzing software outgrowths in the chennai city. While the geeks get busy with their work everyday in their software parks, the rise of Chennai as any software hub hasn't propogated to the surroundings.. same with bangalore and all those halli's (villages) around bangalore.
India.. is known for its dilemmas and two-faces.. one face showing incredible growth and demand for indian graduates, another face showing millions deprived of even high-school education.... one face showing rise in software graduates, another showing millions deprived of even getting to see a computer until they reach college (if they reach college).
Brings up many tough questions :
Are Indians so closed and careless of their surroundings? Shouldn't Indians have taken efforts to propogate the impact of software growth into their schools atleast in so many years now?
Would it be any cost at all for some of this big MNC companies to provide a couple atleast their old used computers to the schools rather than dumping them to the second sales market for a stupidly low price?
What happened to the 'Communications minister Dayanidhi Maran and HCL' combine's 10,000 buck computers.. Where are they? Why aren't they in schools?
Some big software companies like Infosys, Wipro have regular interactions with colleges such as IIT, BIT, NEC etc, and even get to train there, and have industry-customized courses targeted to make graduates for the industry. Are they only seeing only the big colleges and the rich colleges as potential sources? What has the industry even attempted to do for schools?
Are Indian software biggies, and their employees SELFISH to this extent? Do Indian corporates need the cue all the time from foreigners to be inspired to do something for their country?
Every Indian software biggie has a Foundation or something to do work that helps the society... but are they doing it and thinking about it as seriously as they think about making money? Are these Foundations putting the money in the proper places?
Are Indians waiting for politicians to become computer literate and understand the importance of computers and then do something? what another 50 years for quality computer education in schools closer to or even within these buzzing sofware populated cities?
Where are we heading? What are we doing? Why is India having two faces in each and everything..
