If everything works as planned, all government-run secondary schools will have computers and access to internet within this fiscal year.
The Ministry of Finance has allocated Rs 1 billion to the Ministry of Education (MoE) under a separate category to ensure 100 percent coverage of basic Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure in all 8,711 public secondary schools. At present, the ICT coverage has reached to 1571 schools.The education ministry has received total Rs 80 billion budget this year.

According to Balram Timilsina, deputy director of the Department of Education (DoE), the office would release the required amount to particular District Education Offices and through them to the schools, who would be responsible to purchase five computers, one printer and arrange internet access.
However, the Educational Manpower Development Centre would manage the skilled teachers to conduct interactive ICT classes, he added. "It´s not that the students would just see how a mouse and CPU look like. The school would be required to run courses and project works that can´t be accomplished without ICT access," Timilsina mentioned.

The ICT directive, drafted last year by the central director committee led by the MoE Secretary, also presses telecommunication companies to expand access of internet to VDCs in coordination with the Ministry of Local Development.
While the government´s ambitious plan seems unachievable within the set timeframe due to geographical complexities, the spokesperson of the Nepal Telecom Guna Keshari Pradhan told Republica that the National Planning Commission has asked the authority to expand its wi-max service to 3000 VDCs this year to make it accessible in the secondary schools.

"As per the plan, the VDC offices would be authorized to grant access to academic institutions or any other organization based on the need," said Pradhan. She added that the separate wi-max project targeting the school is in the pipeline. The Telecom´s mobile team is currently studying the feasibility in distant and geographically complex places of the country.

While most of the community school students´ performance is still poor in English subject, the digital divide is creating another barrier for the students who are chasing their dream to hold good position in all government and non-government sector, the government´s Chief Secretary Lila Mani Poudel had mentioned in the recently organized academic program. As the Prioritize Minimum Education Condition (PMEC) report last year revealed that only 2000 schools have computers, the MoF allocated the huge amount to ensure the technology in additional 7140 secondary schools this year. However, still 19860 of the total 34782 schools will lack computer facility.

The Public Service Commission which has also modified its curriculum as per which a candidate must have basic knowledge on using computer, internet use and typing. The students miss several opportunities due to their inefficiency in written and spoken English and the gap is increasing with inevitable dependency over the technology.

source: republica,7 august 2013