City corporation to tickle students’ brain cells

Students, don’t you think you have better and smarter options for learning things than by pouring over black letters printed on white paper? And how about getting an all-new way of learning experience during the lengthy hours spent in classrooms?

 Listening to the call of an ever-evolving world, the City Corporation is arranging state-of-the-art smart classrooms for science stream students in select government higher secondary schools by launching an ambitious project, ‘Brain House’

 It will soon identify a set of higher secondary schools in the city to launch the project. “We would draw up a detailed plan to ensure that students in these schools have state-of-the-art learning facility. The aim is to provide them with an advanced learning experience in science and mathematics,” said K S Sheela, Education Standing Committee chairperson of the Corporation.

 An expert committee will be formed to identify the schools and thrash out the details on how to execute the project.

 An amount of Rs 15 lakh is earmarked for this project, which would also help the students to prepare for the engineering entrance examination and work out model question papers. Though said to be benefiting the higher secondary students only, the students studying in tenth standard too can utilise these classrooms. ‘Brain House’, a 2013-14 budget announcement, is a key project in the education sector this fiscal.

 The criteria for selecting the schools will depend on the number of students and the facilities the schools have to accommodate the technology. “It will be good if the system can be arranged in labs. We expect that a school can be provided one system each, which would cost Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh,” said Sheela.

Some private firms have already approached the civic body to set up the technology, and tenders will be called or expressions of interest invited from government or accredited agencies for implementing the project.