Chennai: To provide digital literacy and teach basic programming to govt school students in rural areas, IIT Madras Pravartak Technologies Foundation and Asha for Education are planning to open three more rural technology centres (RTCs) in Tiruvallur district.
The new centres will come up in Tiruttani, Uthukottai, and Thirupatchur. More than 800 students are currrently being trained under this initiative in nine RTCs in Tiruvallur, Tuticorin, and Tiruvannamalai districts.
“Along with other projects, we are also planning to commence programmes in robotics and artificial intelligence in the coming months,” said K Rajaraman, coordinator, Asha for Education, Chennai.
The RTCs will be opened only in underserved areas. “The students who secure 75% attendance, clear assessment, and complete a basic project will receive certificates from IIT-M Pravartak,” he added.
Trainers from the RTCs teach school children in Classes VI to IX basic digital literacy and the basics of programming. Each RTC teaches about 80 students per semester. They use advanced block-based programming tools such as ‘Scratch’ from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and ‘Blockly’ from Google to teach programming.
Three of the courses – web development, physical programming, and animation using JavaScript – are taken from the CS discoveries course created by Code.org. One-third of the course is dedicated to project work where the children create a presentation or software program of their own.
“RTCs are providing a platform for students to have opportunities for innovation and out-of-the-box thinking. This will also help rural students create solutions for social problems and requirements in agriculture,” said V Kamakoti, director of IIT Madras.
IIT Madras had conducted ‘RTC Impressions’ to showcase the talents of govt school students, on February 13.