Mouse clicks to giant leaps

THE BELL rings and the tiny-tots clad in blue uniforms troop silently into the cosy confines of an air-conditioned hall. They eagerly sit in twos, before a series of computers in a hall that resembles a top-notch computer training centre.

Not a familiar scene at a corporation middle school. But the school at Velacherry attempts to be different.

The children are on with their business. Instructors Mr. A.V. Lakshmikanth and Mr. R. Raghavan, ask the students to log on to their maths exercise. Senthilkumar of Std. III gets all his addition sums right and shouts excitedly, ``Sir, I saw three Ettukkal Poochis (Spiders)''. ``Those are our incentive animations that appear when students get the correct answer'', explains Mr. Raghavan. ``They get enthusiastic about counting dolls. Doing maths just comes by the way''. ``Parents were moved to tears of joy when they saw their little ones fingering the computer keyboard'', says Mr. K. Rajiv, Chief Executive, Sales at the Citadel Fine Pharmaceuticals Ltd. He too has reasons to be happy. The centre was set up last year by the Citadel Fine Pharmaceuticals Educational and Social Trust.

And what the children got in the classroom was reflected in the 75 per cent attendance even on Saturdays and during summer vacation. The demand for admission to the school has also increased, says headmistress Ms. S. Subbalakshmi.

The teachers and instructors have put their heads together to implement the Corporation's `Joy of Learning' syllabus into the computer programmes for the children. For the UKG students, classmate S. Karthik has given the voice over for spelling numbers One to Ten. For Std. VIII students, they can see the atom, its electrons, protons and neutrons. Another student, G. Karthik of Std. VIII is now a mini-expert in creating animations. ``I want to become a computer engineer''.

Mr. Rajiv says that the project envisaged to give students and teachers not just a computer training but a syllabus-oriented interactive training programme. This was made possible with 25 computers at a cost of Rs. 31 lakhs. An IBM server and a snap server helps them access CDs simultaneously.

According to school records, the computer sessions have improved the performance of the students.

``It's indeed surprising'', continues Mr. Rajiv. ``When we were about to launch last year, people warned us that naughty children will pull at wires and damage machines. Though there is enough room for playing pranks, the children displayed commendable discipline''.

Thanks to their exposure to computers, the students' English has improved, says Mr.Rajiv. However their lessons in regular classes are in Tamil. This will be overcome now with a Tamil version.

The Trust does not intend to stop with developing this as a model centre for teaching through computers in Corporation schools, but wants to adopt the school and upgrade it into a High School. ``Once students leave the portals of the school on completing Std. VIII, there is no other school in the vicinity with computer facilities they are used to'', he says.

``The computer room has replaced their playground,'' adds a teacher.

By Akila Dinakar

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