BANGALORE, India, April 22, 2011 – Cisco announced the first pilot project based on Cisco Education Enabled Development (CEED) platform for its Inclusive Growth architecture. This pilot will deploy specialized remote intervention teaching for two government pre matriculation social welfare boys hostels in the Shimoga district of Karnataka. To enable implementation of this pilot, the Government of Karnataka has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Cisco.
The project will be on a Public Private Partnership model where Cisco will deploy its solution and maintain it as a service that includes remote access and support. About 450 students in the two Pre-Matriculation hostels at Vidyanagar and Shikaripura will receive intervention training in English, Math, Social Sciences and Science. Sessions would be conducted after class for these sixth to tenth standard students. Children's Lovecastles Trust, a NGO that specializes in pedagogy and providing access to quality teaching for remote government schools using technology, will deliver these training sessions.
Cisco's cloud technology and architecture is the ideal vehicle to achieve inclusive growth. The technology is scalable because it allows rapid aggregation of solutions and addition of participants. Due to the intrinsic nature of cloud technology the solutions are available ubiquitously and therefore replicable. Since the participants of a cloud could choose the services they desire, it is granular.Based on the requirements services can easily be modular. Most importantly, since the technology is focused on delivering customized and personalized solutions, it becomes measurable.
Cisco's experience with Project Samudaya, an undertaking to work with the Government of Karnataka to rehabilitate the lives of flood-affected communities in the state, propelled it to look at self-sustaining methods to deliver education services ubiquitously. As part of Project Samudaya about 11 schools were networked to successfully impart remote education to 1500 students. The Corporate Social Responsibility program is using the power of the network, to create a sustainable society where urban amenities, such as quality education and healthcare, are available in remote and rural parts of the country.
Executive quotes
"Cisco Education Enabled Development platform makes remote delivery of education a reality. Education is an important element to inclusive growth and networking and cloud technologies are the best ways to accelerate this process. Cisco's technologies will help provide access to basic urban amenities such as education, healthcare, marketplace, and public services to remote and rural areas across the country. We have created an architecture that brings high-quality educational content in a virtual teacher-student environment to children in these regions. We are happy that the Government of Karnataka is seeing value in what we have to offer and we are very happy to partner with the government in this pioneering pilot," Aravind Sitaraman, President, Inclusive Growth, Cisco said.
"We wanted to engage Cisco and work with them in this remote education project. Cisco's technology is making it possible for our rural students to have the confidence to compete on par with students in urban areas in the important school board-level exams. By enabling students to attend after hour classes and get special training, I'm sure they will be ready to face the board exams without anxiety and with a lot of confidence," Mr Ponnuraj, Deputy Commissioner, Shimoga District, Government of Karnataka said.
"We are happy that Cisco's innovative technology will help the Government of Karnataka achieve its vision of providing education to children in rural parts of the state. We hope children will reap benefits that this technology offers," Mr. A.B Hemachandra, CEO Zilla Panchayat, Shimoga District, Government of Karnataka said.
"Through Cisco's technology we are able to provide our students in rural areas with supplemental training in core subjects. I'm certain this will enhance the learning experience for both teachers and students and we should be able to attract more students to pursue their studies with facilities like this," Mr. Chandra Naik, District Social Welfare Officer said.
