Rural students ask: Why are we discriminated in the study of English and IT?
An 11 year-old enthusiastic and knowledgeable girl from the Meewanapalana Maha Vidyalaya in Horana asked me when I walked into the school IT lab; “Why are we not taught English Language and Information Technology (IT) just like students in Colombo, who speak English well and know to operate a computer?”
Students at a Commercial Bank-supported School.
She made this query, identifying me as a visitor who had come from Colombo, in expressing a widely-held view in rural schools in the country. Today quality education with all facilities and equipment is provided in almost all schools in Colombo. Every student is able to operate a computer with the knowledge and skills they have obtained from the school. IT has become a mandatory subject in schools starting from grade one together with English being prioritised.
Is quality education and knowledge only for the wealthy and city residents in the country? Going back around 25 years ago, the first day a person looks at a computer would have been the most unforgettable day in his/her life. In today’s context however children are quickly getting exposed not only to computers but to tablets, smartphones and many more technologically advanced devices. Is technology only for the educated and the privileged?
For a child in a rural school when he/she looks at a computer for the first time in life, it is something they have never seen before. They want to know and experience how a computer works and how to make use of it. There are schools that have the equipment but no teacher. It’s not only IT that has to be taught but the English Language which is necessary to learn IT as a subject. Well trained teachers fluent in English language have to be there to guide the students and teach the subject correctly.
The Commercial Bank, which has donated several IT labs to rural schools around the country under its IT education programme, recently took the media including the Business Times on a tour to three schools in Horana and Panadura.
The three schools were Meewanapalana Maha Vidyalaya, Thakshila Maha Vidyalaya in Horana and Agamathi Balika Maha Vidyalaya in Panadura. Around 20 computers have been donated by the bank to each school and the students (both boys and girls) were enthusiastic in learning IT. The habit of removing the shoes and entering the IT lab is followed in all schools ensuring proper maintenance of the lab.
In some schools each computer is shared by at least two students depending on its availability. In all three schools IT is taught as a subject during school hours starting from grade six. For GCE O/L and A/L examination it is an option for the students to select.
The bank has also provided a software called ‘Sipnana’ which allows the teachers to teach Mathematics and Science online. Software provided by a US-based networking company Cisco helps students who wish to learn IT not as a subject but as an external programme after school. The students have to pay extra and do the programme. This programme is conducted only in three rural schools in the country which is an initiative taken by the bank.