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<p><span><span style="color: rgb(121, 6, 25);">Sukumar Anikar</span> <span><<a href="mailto:anikar@azimpremjifoundation.org" target="_blank">anikar@azimpremjifoundation.org</a>> [1] and </span></span><span><span style="color: rgb(91, 16, 148);">Prasad</span> <span><<a href="mailto:prasad@azimpremjifoundation.org" target="_blank">prasad@azimpremjifoundation.org</a>>
managed to get across to me a copy of a DVD … and what a DVD at that!
It contained a whole lot of fascinating educational software for school
children. </span></span><br>
<span><span><br>
</span></span>A couple of nights ago, I ended up 'playing' some educational games with <span>Aren</span>, 5, and told him that my friends had sent the same across free. "Did you say '<span>thank</span>
you'?" he asked me in turn. In fact, he kept 'playing' on these games,
though it was almost midnight, and even though he's too small to
obviously understand many of the concepts being taught here (decimal
fractions, and what not … but big enough to be interested in the wild
animals of the jungle and to try and comprehend how fruits and a
balanced diet gives us the energy we need to do work). The 'games' sent
across in this DVD work excellently and without flaw (so far) on my
Ubuntu laptop. They have been adjusted to work with the GNU/Linux
operating system.</p>
<p>It drew my interest enough to dash across another email to Sukumar
and Prasad, requesting more programmes.Given the medium of instructions
being used (and subjects taught) in Goa, I am particularly interested
in software dealing with:</p>
<ul><li> English language</li><li> Hindi language</li><li>Maths</li><li>Environmental Science</li><li>General Science</li><li>Social Science</li><li> Co-curricular subjects</li></ul>
<p> Check out the long list of what's available. <a href="http://www.azimpremjifoundation.org/html/E_Learn_Mat_table1.htm" target="_blank">http://www.azimpremjifoundation.org/html/E_Learn_Mat_table1.htm</a></p>
<p>The Azim Premji Foundation is actually keen to work with educational
institutions (rather than with individuals, if I understood right) for
obvious reasons. </p>
<p>Said the APF in a mail to me: "<font color="navy" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy;">We
always support the state governments by providing them the Digital
Learning Resource (DLR) for deployment in Government schools.
Generally, the support is by providing the right to replicate our
content to the state, without any costs. Our </span></font><font color="navy" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy;">Digital Learning Resource</span></font><font color="navy" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy;">
is not provided if the intended use is for commercial purposes. We also
share content with NGOs and other institutions who manage schools where
there is no barrier on admissions and where no fee is being charged."</span></font></p>
<p><font color="navy" face="Arial" size="2">And Mr Anikar added, "</font><font color="navy" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy;">Almost all our titles or </span></font><font color="navy" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy;">Digital Learning Resource</span></font><font color="navy" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy;"> are trilingual i.e. in English, Hindi and in any one of the regional languages. </span></font><font color="navy" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy;">While
we have just 10 titles in Marathi the same is not available for
immediate release as they have to be validated by a state government.
However, we will share other titles that are in English and Hindi. </span></font><font color="navy" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy;">Further,
we are also in the process of making our content compatible with
[GNU]Linux platform and hence for the present we will be sharing only
such titles which are compatible with both windows and Linux and those
that have been tested. The remaining titles would be shared on a
future date and on completion of testing. We will be clustering our
titles in a couple of DVD's and send it across to you in the next
week…. </span></font><font color="navy" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy;">We also wish to state that there is a process that needs to be followed in implementing the </span></font><font color="navy" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy;">Digital Learning Resource</span></font><font color="navy" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy;"> in schools which we will share the same with you once you confirm the receipt of </span></font><font color="navy" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy;">Digital Learning Resource</span></font><font color="navy" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy;">."</span></font></p>
<p><font color="navy" face="Arial" size="2">And: "</font>A note of caution — our <font color="navy" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy;">Digital Learning Resource</span></font> are not meant to help in computer literacy. The target group is children in the age group of 6-14 years and the <font color="navy" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy;">Digital Learning Resource</span></font>
primarily presents concepts related to Maths, Science and Language
related to the curriculum for classes Standard I to Standard VIII."</p>
<p>By way of background, from their website: "<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Azim
Premji Foundation has commenced the digital content creation effort in
the year 2002. So far, Foundation has created over 100+ master CD
titles for the classes 1 to 8 and the same have been translated into
various regional languages in India including few tribal languages. The
content is created with the pedagogical focus to enable the children to
directly use and learn where the teacher will act as facilitator. The
attributes of the content are; curriculum oriented, child-centered,
self paced, interactive and multimedia based content."</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">You
probably know that Azim Premji is the Chairman and CEO of one of
India's largest software companies, Wipro. Wikipedia
[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azim_Premji" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azim_Premji</a>] says he was rated the
richest man in India between 1999 to 2005 (and is probably among the
top five now). This impressed me: "</font>Premji is known for his modesty and frugality in spite of his wealth. He drives a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota" title="Toyota" target="_blank">Toyota</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Corolla" title="Toyota Corolla" target="_blank">Corolla</a> and flies <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_class" title="Economy class" target="_blank">economy class</a>, prefers to stay in company <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guest_house_%28lodging%29" title="Guest house (lodging)" target="_blank">guest houses</a> rather than luxury <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel" title="Hotel" target="_blank">hotels</a> and even served food on paper plates at a lunch honouring his son's wedding."</p>
<p>Check it out. Really useful stuff. The educational content on the DVDs, I mean!<br>
<font color="navy" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy;"><br>
–<br>
</span></font><span><span>[1] </span></span> Head - Technology for Education, <span>Azim</span> <span>Premji</span>
Foundation, #134, Doddakannelli, Next to Wipro Corporate Office,
Sarjapur Road, Bangalore - 560 035 Tel: 91-80-66144900/901/902
(Board) 91-80-66144922 (Direct) Fax: 91-80-66144903 Mobile:
09449820054 <a href="http://www.azimpremjifoundation.org/" target="_blank">www.azimpremjifoundation.org</a>
</p>-- <br>FN * Independent Journalist <a href="http://fn.goa-india.org" target="_blank">http://fn.goa-india.org</a> <br>784 Nr Convent, Saligao 403511 Goa India<br>Ph +91-832-2409490 M: +91-9970157402<br>16,000+ photos from Goa: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/" target="_blank">http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/</a></div>
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