10,000 primary schools in Kerala to get free WiFi

Thiruvananthapuram: As many as 10,000 lower primary and upper primary government schools in Kerala will start getting 2Mbps Wi-Fi broadband internet powered by BSNL from November 1 -- the state`s Foundation Day, official said on Sunday.

The IT@School Project has been providing broadband internet connection to close upto 5,000 high schools, higher secondary schools and educational offices from 2007 onwards, said K. Anvar Sadath, Director of the project by the state government.

"With the addition of broadband internet to primary section also, the state`s school broadband internet network will cover over 15,000 connections and this would be the largest and first of its kind in the country," Sadath added.

State Minister for Education C. Ravindranath said this step would be the starting point of ICT infrastructure upgradation in the primary section, and as a continuation to the high tech school programme announced by the government.

This enables all 8 to 12 classes to be upgraded using modern ICT tools.

"The lower primary schools would get the new ICT textbooks prepared on Edutainment platform titled `Kalipetti` (Play Box) in November.

The ICT training for all primary teachers is all set to commence from October 24. Along with this, IT@School would also provide a comprehensive Digital Content Collection, prepared on Free Software platform exclusively developed for the primary section," said the minister.

The scheme is being provided for a package of Rs 5,000 per year including service tax, which is the lowest rate in the country for unlimited usage of 2Mbps scheme.