Assessing the Role of Information, Communication & Technology (ICT) Based Teaching Methods in Primary Education Abstract Information, Communication & Technology (ICT) has the potential to bridge the digital divide and add more value and recognition into the Education delivery in India. It can build educational pillars to bring innovative changes in the teaching profession and evade the rote learning system, omnipresent in our nation. This paper is to discuss the role of Information Communication & Technology (ICT) in rural primary education in India. The purpose of ICT in education is to advance and enhance teaching experiences and learning methodologies in the classroom. ICT also aims to convert weaknesses of primary schools in rural areas into their strengths. Useful ICT interventions with required resources will bring a new revolution in our education system and connect the rural education system with mainstream. The need of hour is to reduce the digital divide and strengthen education delivery to our rural children so that coming generation can live a respected life with essential values. Keywords: ICT in Education, Technology with education, ICT Methods in Education. Authors Dr. Ritesh Dwivedi, Assistant Professor, Amity School of Rural Management, Amity University UP, NOIDA Email:
[email protected], Mobile: 0-9415576820 Author has nine years of working experience with various CSOs / Funding Agencies / Government Projects / Universities in different positions. He has administered and monitored the functioning of Social Welfare projects at state, district and community level. He has written different articles for Development Magazines and his papers have been published different reputed Social Research & Management Journals. He has organized and felicitated various trainings and workshops on different social issues such as Community mobilization, Institution building, SHG governance, Gender Sensitisation, Microfinance, Entrepreneurship and Enterprise development, RTI, NREGA, Livelihoods enhancement.
1. Introduction After the implementation of Right to Education, Act and large expenditure programmes and schemes for promoting literacy, a little have been achieved, it is time that innovative and cost effective methods should be used to address the challenges coming in the way. There is a need for reform towards different aspects such as pedagogical, curricular, as well as institutional, the emergence of various ICT's and their increasing adoption provide unique opportunities to promote education on a large scale. There is a general consensus among practitioners and academics that integration of ICTs in education has a positive impact on the learning environment, it has also shown results on student achievement that it is higher when using ICTs in the education. A study conducted by the International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD) indicated that 80 percent of its participants felt more aware and empowered by their exposure to ICT in education, and 60 percent stated that the process of teaching as well as learning were directly and positively affected by the use of ICT. As today’s environment is very fast becoming digital in different aspects and professionals are adapting technological tools to improve their performance, teaching methods and pedagogy should also be changed to certain extent to accommodate new technological tools. National Institute of Open Learning (NIOS) and Indira Gandhi National Open University have used a combination of print and audio-visual material as well as traditional face-to-face interactions to deliver their content. National Knowledge Network in India is working to bring together all the stakeholders in Science, Technology, Higher Education, Research & Development and Governance. Several other initiatives are also ongoing for creating digital repositories and learning objects; the Sakshar Portal of Government of India, initiatives like National Program of Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL), the Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning & Online Teaching (MERLOT) seek to create quality digital content for different levels of education. The Government of Delhi, in India, has been a pioneer in using ICTs for better administration of the education system. The Department of Education, Government of Delhi, with 40,000 employees, 928 schools, and more than 120,000 students under its administrative jurisdiction has developed a comprehensive and functionally effective Web-based and GIS-based Management Information System (MIS). All the schools, zonal offices, district offices, regional offices, and various branches at the headquarters can share information using the Web-enabled software. Information for all stakeholders—students, teachers, and administrators—is available online through the Directorate’s Web site (edudel.gov.in).
2. Role of New Technologies It has been noticed that some newer technologies are spreading very fast and they have good features to be used to promote education. Integration of newer technology with the older ones can provide unique platform to make ICT applications more effective. Example: Radio Sagarmatha in Nepal is one of the first community radios in South Asia. It is a radio-browse model wherein Internet is broadcast over the radio. It discusses public issues, conducts training for public radio journalism, and provides a venue for local ideas and culture. In 2000, the station added a weekly 25-minute Internet radio programme featuring local and international ICT-related news, and ICT glossary, radio web browsing, and interviews with relevant ICT resource persons. This program has been successful among the rural areas of Nepal. In India, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), one of the largest telecom service providers with the widest reach in the country has launched “Learn English,” a spoken English mobile learning program. The program aims to teach spoken English through common everyday stories and situations that are familiar to most people. It is currently available in nine regional languages for two levels, namely basic and advanced. The service can be subscribed to at a nominal cost of Rs. 20 per month and a call browsing charge of 30 paise per minute. Other service providers have also entered the arena. IL&FS Education & Technology Services Limited (IL&FS Education) in collaboration with Tata Indicom have launched an “English Seekho” Program, which uses the mobile phone to teach English through simple 5 minute lessons that can be accessed at the learner’s convenience. Learning objects are digital assets that can be as diverse as a chapter in a book, a piece of text, a video or audio clip, or visuals on an overhead transparency or PowerPoint slide, and can be used in a variety of teaching settings, by course designers, managers, trainers, content writers, and learners. Learning objects can be identified, tracked, referenced, used, and reused for a variety of learning purposes. They are developed to function as discrete entities or to be linked in order to relate to explicit concepts or learning outcomes. Content requirements are determined through communication with educators across the target audience and then the learning object is developed by independent contractors. Various software programs have been designed to support reading lessons and enhance learning. Learning objects may be self-contained, reusable, and capable of being aggregated. Repositories may be described as libraries where learning object databases are stored and provide teachers, students, and parents with information that is structured and organized to facilitate the finding and use of learning materials regardless of their source location. Most repositories contain a Web-based user interface, a search mechanism, and a means of retrieving a learning object.
3. Role of ICT Based Teaching Methods Literacy constitutes learning how to learn, so it is the core of education. This enables everybody to become able to teach and motivate themselves towards lifelong learning. The five key ways in which ICT can support literacy are1: 3.1 Enhancing Learning In today’s scenario teaching and training program are being largely supported through audio visual methods. Audio visual tools always give an interesting way to learn and it is accepted in all across sections of learners. Course material can be developed in such a manner so that students can understand and learn easily. There are so many Television channels who are providing quality learning content through their programs and these can be accessed in far away areas also. Some major benefits can be following: Computers and multimedia computer programs provide an advantage over radio and television in that they enable interactive learning, trial and error, and manipulation of text. Computer programs can be designed or adjusted as per the requirement of learners and content can also be scrutinized on some specific benchmarks or rater it can be redesigned using different design tools to make more interactive. Student can always work at his own capacity and using feedback system can be suitably reviewed. Computers can be fun to use, especially for people who have never used them before, so can encourage learners to participate in literacy education and can motivate them to continue to learn - thereby increasing rates of retention of literacy students - as found in literacy education programs in Egypt.2 Computer program provide unique platform where classes can be conducted through use of animation and more colorful depiction of images related with lessons to increase interest of student towards classes.
3.2 Broadening Access to Education ICT can effectively remove different social, cultural, political and geographical obstacles and make things easy at delivery level. Problems like absenteeism, delivery in local language can be also be addressed through various ICT methods. Through usage of Radio and internet, geographical obstacles can be easily addressed. In some parts of the country television channels and community radio are being used to propagate social
1
Using ICT to Develop Literacy , UNESCO ICT in Education Programme, available at
http://www2.unescobkk.org/elib/publications/088/Using_ICT_to_Develop_Literacy.pdf 2 Abdul Samie M., 2005 Using Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in illiteracy eradication in Egypt (Reality and Aspirations), p. 23.
massages and advocacy campaigns. Government of India is also aggressively promoting usage of community radio for learning and awareness specifically. Box 1: Programa Escola Do Rádio The Programa Escola Do Rádio is one of several non-formal literacy education programmes in Brazil. This project was initiated by a non-governmental organization and aimed to provide low-cost literacy education for youth and adults living in remote areas in the State of Paraiba. The literacy course is five months long and uses a blend of face-to-face and distance education. Course material is provided via three forms of media: radio, television, and books. Lessons are presented via 15-minute radio programmes which are repeated three times per day each week. Each lesson involves providing reading and writing activities for learners to do during the week and provides feedback on the previous week’s activities. The radio lessons are supplemented by a weekly television programme which presents information on the various themes covered in the radio lesson. The television series is video-taped so as to enable learners to view the episodes at convenient times. Source: Jose de Almeida, F., 2004a, A Brazilian study about the best educational practices in basic education giving priority to the teaching of reading which uses information and communication technologies, pp. 37-40.
3.3 Creating Local Content ICT methods have been used exessively and successfully by diffent organisation to promote their own intervention. These methods can also be used to develope low cost, student friendly and easy to learn reading material and content.
Box 2: Malay Nursery Rhymes CD-ROM In recognition of the need to foster the continued reading and knowledge of Malay literature, including children’s nursery rhymes, and recognizing the lack of children’s CD-ROMs and software in the Malay language, the National Library of Malaysia initiated a project to create and distribute a CD-ROM containing Malay nursery rhymes. A multimedia CD-ROM was created which presents the nursery rhymes in an interactive format, enabling children to engage creatively and freely with the material. Due to the interactive nature of the CD-ROM, it is an interesting and entertaining resource for children’s reading and writing classes. Unlike a textbook, a CD-ROM can fit volumes of information into a light and small package. This technology has enabled the creation of a relatively cost-effective product which can be disseminated easily and cheaply throughout Malaysia. Source: Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU), http://www.accu.or.jp/litdbase/break/pdf/MYSf916F.PDF
Microsoft word, PowerPoint, Corel Draw, Photoshop and other animation software such as Flash can be used to develop useful content in digital form. Most laudable part of this medium of content is it’s easy to review and update features. And sending these files or programs from on place to another is also as easy as CD ROM / Pen Drive can have so many files or programs in it. 3.4 Professional Development of Teachers Teacher is most important part of whole teaching value chain and ICT methods and computers applications can support them in a very effective manner and increase their capacity to a certain extent. In some private funded education interventions teachers are well groomed with ICT method and their impactful usage. Some appreciable examples are listed below:-
In India and Bangladesh, teacher training programmes have utilized television programmes and videos to demonstrate pedagogical principles and teaching methods. Such programmes have enabled teachers to watch and learn from experienced teachers in real classroom settings. Established under the federal Distance Learning programme, the “TV Escola” project used television to provide training and refresher courses for primary and high school teachers in Brazil. The objective of the project was to enhance the ability of teachers to utilize ICT in teaching. Initiated in 1995, this project also encouraged the integration of television, computers and the Internet as tools for literacy education.3 The Literacy Teachers Formation Programme (PROFA) was initiated by the Ministry of Education and Culture of Brazil, as part of efforts to enhance literacy education. PROFA developed the competencies of literacy teachers further, using video-based teaching materials. Box 3: Initiative B@bel
Today, more than 90% of content on the Internet exists in only 12 languages, so many users of the 6,000 languages in the world are unrepresented. This limits the ability of groups who do not speak the 12 main languages to access information on the Internet, and there are implications for the continuity of the underrepresented 6,000 languages if they do not appear on the Internet - one of the most important communication media today. Recognizing this, UNESCO established Initiative Babel, which seeks to reduce linguistic barriers to information by bringing all written languages into the digital world. Initiative B@bel uses ICT to support linguistic diversity. The initiative involves activities to promote multilingualism on the Internet, enabling wider and more equitable access to information networks. Source: UNESCO, Initiative Babel Website www.unesco.org/webworld/babel
3
UNESCO, “TV Escola Brazil”, http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.phpURL_ID=12591&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.htm
4. Challenges Towards The Use of ICT In response to the Beijing Declaration, in 2004 UNESCO Islamabad commissioned the “Study on Best Practices in ICT-based Education”. Seven of the E9 countries participated in the Study, namely, Bangladesh, Brazil, Egypt, India, Mexico, Pakistan and the People’s Republic of China. The Study examined initiatives that use ICT as a tool in efforts to improve literacy. The reports from each of the seven countries describe the issues faced in literacy education and present the lessons learned in the use of ICT in literacy education in each country. The reports also provide examples of good practice for possible adaptation elsewhere and highlight innovative practices where applicable.4
4.1 Lack of learner motivation Literacy education programmes, particularly non-formal education projects, sometimes come up short because they cannot attract students. For literacy programmes to be effective it is therefore important that participants understand how literacy can be beneficial to them. 4.2 Lack of trained educators Several country reports highlight the scarcity of teachers trained in the use of ICT for literacy education.5Some studies also reveal a negative attitude among educational personnel towards the use of ICT, particularly when the use of technology will involve changes to their work routines. For ICT to be utilized successfully in literacy education, it is necessary for teachers to become aware of the potential for ICT to enhance their teaching and reduce their workloads, thereby providing them with motivation to learn how to use computers and software tools and to learn how to integrate ICT into teaching.6 4.3 Lack of policies for the use of ICT in literacy education While policy for the use of ICT in education exists in many of the countries studied, there is no clear focus on using ICT for basic (primary) education, particularly literacy. It is therefore evident that a policy for integrating ICT into literacy programmes needs to be formulated in most countries. 4.4 Little attention paid to the quality of literacy education
4
Using ICT to Develop Literacy , UNESCO ICT in Education Programme, available at
http://www2.unescobkk.org/elib/publications/088/Using_ICT_to_Develop_Literacy.pdf 5 Ali, M., Akbar, A. & Alam, S., 2004, “Study on Best Practices in ICT-based Education: Bangladesh” 6 UNESCO, 2004b, Study of best practices in education based on ICT: Mexico, p. 39.
Since the populations of the E9 countries are so large, many are still struggling to expand primary and secondary education, and achieve EFA goals, so they are yet to address issues surrounding the quality of literacy education. 4.5 Funding and sustainability issues In countries such as India and Bangladesh literacy programmes are often initiated by NGOs. However, NGO projects are by and large small-scale pilot projects, which rely on intermittent funding. So while these projects may succeed, they suffer from the problem of sustainability. 4.6 Lack of infrastructure Several of the country reports point out that an obstacle to the use of ICT in literacy education is underdeveloped infrastructure. Problems include: lack of reliable electricity supply, lack of telephone lines and low bandwidth capacity. These factors have severely constrained the use of ICT in literacy education, even in schools. Other associated factors, such as a lack of technical and maintenance personnel also constrain the extent to which ICT can bring benefits to literacy education.
5. Key ICT Based Interventions 5.1 Hole-In-The-Wall Hole-in-the-Wall Education Limited (HiWEL), an Indian initiative that provides underprivileged children and their communities’ freely available access to computer learning centres. The computers are housed in self contained robust units that are designed with ease of use in mind. HiWEL has established very good infrastructure in slum areas and providing free internet access to all students their classes running in slum areas. These kiosks or “Learning Stations,” typically located in a government school playground or in the community are unsupervised and are available to the children for at least eight hours in a day. The NIIT Institute (TNI) a not-for-profit society by NIIT set up a Community Learning Centre (CLC) in New Delhi. The objective of establishing the centre is to leverage technology to provide relevant skills to the unemployed youth in urban slums so as to make them employable in various industry sectors. NIIT in association with NGO Navjyoti India Foundation has also set up NIIT Yuva Star, a Career Development Centre to achieve the same objective. 5.2 Azim Premji Foundation – Computer Aided Learning In 2001, the Azim Premji Foundation, a nonprofit organization, set up Computer-Assisted Learning Centers (CALCs) in 35 rural government primary schools to enhance the quality of learning of children through computer-based lessons developed for the Karnataka state curriculum for grades I to VII.
Today, in association with the Azim Premji Foundation, the Education Department is creating CALCs in government primary schools across the state. In association with the Azim Premji Foundation (APF), the Education Department is creating Computer Assisted Learning Centres (CALCs) in government primary schools across the state. APF makes a range of multi-lingual CDs to assist primary school children in grasping their curricular subjects (computer aided education). Each CALC has 4-5 computers, a printer and UPS. Each CALC class normally has one grade of children per active session. Children aren’t in what could typically be classified as a “computer class” but instead use various learning content CDs to learn something that is part of their existing school curriculum. Even though the project is meant to serve children from grades 1-7, it is less common to see children below grade 3 using the PCs. The project has been spread in over 16,000 schools across over 14 states in India. A total of approximately 600,000 students have benefited in 3,000 primary schools by the program, along with a total of 15,000 teachers trained. Many of these states found the Azim Premji Foundation digital learning resources (DLR) very useful among others, the following are the key reasons:
DLR addressed some of the curricular needs of the states. DLR was in local language and there was no other significant DLR available DLR was provided free by the Foundation in the absence of internet, the CD based DLR was found to be convenient to use. There was a common feeling that the community participation and excitement had increased with the use of computers in schools.
5.3 EDUSAT (Educational Satellite) – Education Program In the year 2004 the Govt. of India launched a dedicated Satellite called EDUSAT (Educational Satellite) to serve the educational sectors offering an interactive satellite based distance education system for the country. It is to provide connectivity to schools, colleges, and other similar institutions. Initially it is proposed to use the facilities in four different states for reaching different target groups. Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Maharastra are the four States where EDUSAT programme - Satellite based Education Programme have been implemented.7 In Karnataka State the EDUSAT Project is operational in 885 elementary schools of the backward Chamarajanagar, 885 elementary schools in Gulbarga, 406 elementary Schools in Bangalore Rural & 427 elementary schools in Ramanagar which covers 3, 90,000 children, 13000 teachers and 2,000 educational functionaries.
7
Bhandigadi, Phalachandra, Impact of EDUSAT on School Students and Teachers, NCERT, available at http://pcf4.dec.uwi.edu/viewpaper.php?id=357&print=1
The schools are provided with receiving solar backed system to receive signals (programmes) in all the schools. On each day two programmes of 30 minutes were broadcast for the benefit of students of Grade III to VIII. The contents covered almost all subject areas of all the grades. In the academic year 2005-06 almost 200 video programmes were broadcast. The teachers were given training with respect to the use of television as medium of instruction and also to conduct Pre and post broadcast activities. Impact of edusat program is listed below:
The launch of EDUSAT program has helped in providing quality instruction through video programs to students studying in the interior villages. The students have benefited from the video program delivered through the satellite. Significant improvement in enrolment and attendance in these schools, Reduction in drop outs, increased interaction among students and teachers.
5.4 Educomp Smart Classes Educomp Smartclass is a state of the art tool of providing quality education. Many schools have adopted it and their students are learning in very interactive classrooms. During Classes students get more involved when they find something real before them (through Audio-visual methods) and teachers interact with them using these live pictures and programs. These Smartclasses deliver 2D and 3D digital content with active facilitation of teachers. Smart Class always remain connected with the Knowledge Centre established at server end by the Educomp. Educomp is constantly working with Central and State Governments to promote its tools and contents in Government Schools so that common students of rural areas can also be provided state of the art education. Educomp is currently working with fourteen (14) State Governments covering over 14500 government schools and benefiting 7.9 million students. Educomp has established their links with about 8000 schools and 90% of them have started using Smartclass technology in classrooms.
6. Lessons Learned To Meet Challenges With above interventions it is quiet understood that ICT is not a panacea for meeting the challenge of achieving Literacy for All but surely an effective medium and a tool to promote quality education. However, the effective utilization of ICT can enhance the impact of education initiatives and bring about successful outcomes. Hence, the objective of the new model will primarily focus on achieving literacy in all the remote areas and illiterate states in India, which are still untouched with the revolution of 21st century. 6.1 Technology does not need to be high-tech to be useful
Through the first point of the lesson, it makes sure that the main focus of the new model will be to provide quality education and make the region free from illiteracy as well as reduce drop-outs. And this is can only be achieved if innovative models with sustainable approaches are brought in primary government schools. The role of technology does not need to be high-tech, the more user-friendly and student centric the technological process delivers the more successful results and outcomes will be produced. 6.2 Understand the needs of students Several studies, found that when subject matter is determined by the learners themselves this leads to increased interest and motivation to participate and learn. Students’ ̶ who are the end users and learners of ICT for education, should therefore be given the opportunity to express their views and literacy needs. In addition, literacy teachers should utilize student-centred teaching methodologies to ensure that students remain interested and motivated. This requires that teachers should be trained in student-centred methodologies as well as in how to integrate the use of ICT into teaching and learning.8 Before the launching of any new model under ICT- education few major pre- planned steps have to be considered like: a. A survey/questionnaire should be conducted to understand the needs of the students. Understanding the basic idea on the present pedagogical tools i.e. conventional teaching methods and why there is a need for the integration of new technological tools. b. Students should be given an opportunity to express their views and literacy needs. Also the team should assist the students to make them understand the know-how of this new intervention. c. Because the model is for students, it has to be designed and should be focused on student-centred methodologies. By building this it will become easy for the students to integrate the use of ICT in learning and thus, it will make them more interested and motivated to use technology for learning. Furthermore, it is important that the technologies chosen for utilization in literacy education are relevant for the specific target group i.e. school going children. Also, ICT should not be imposed on students, but rather they should want to utilize it. In order for any literacy education initiative to be successful, the cultural context needs to be considered and the courses planned accordingly. 6.3 Literacy materials should be locally appropriate Generally in India, the digital content are not easily available, only few organisations are developing content for school education but they are not supported and promoted properly. 8
Chatterjee, B., 2004, ICT for basic education and literacy: Country study for India, p. 22
Education programmes are often hindered by a lack of appropriate learning materials. Language is also a major barrier in India, as many government schools are still teaching with the local language that they have, there is no single language that is used in our country. As language and literacy are inextricably linked, learning materials should be in the relevant language. Creativity is an important aspect for any project which is designed and developed for children. They should also contain content and images that are appropriate to the cultural context. ICT can be utilized to create relevant literacy learning material efficiently and cost effectively. Therefore, for the model the emphasis need to be given to the digital content part which will be transferred across different schools situated at different regions. The content should be need based and student centric with an appropriate literacy learning material. As the project areas are in 4 major states, the important aspect should be on the language part, Azim Premji Foundation has designed a learning curriculum in many different languages which can be widely used for our project purpose. 6.4 Integrated approaches are successful The country reports indicate that successful literacy projects are those which take an integrated approach. Rather than focusing solely on one area, such as developing software or producing a television programme, for example, successful literacy projects also tackle teacher training needs, provide technical support, produce locally-relevant literacy materials, and initiate other activities for the community like adult literacy classes after school hours, community awareness through multimedia, teaching technological methods for the development of their area. A project need not involve all of these activities, but could instead involve establishing partnerships between various stakeholders, or coordination of their respective projects. For example teacher training institutes and software developers could cooperate to develop literacylearning software in local languages. 6.5 Encourage community participation Community plays a very important role in the success or failure of any project. The importance of community participation in sustaining literacy projects and in developing a literacy-conducive environment is a must. As per the RTE, Act, parents are now a part of the school management committee, and they have a major role in the development of the school where their children are studying. Therefore encouraging them and empowering them with the knowledge of ICT for education and as a pedagogical tool for quality education, it will surely bring positives impacts into the new project. 6.6 Monitoring and evaluation is essential Policy and planning relating to literacy is constrained by a lack of reliable data. It is important, therefore, to develop good data collection strategies and better literacy indicators. Such
monitoring, and subsequent evaluation of the data, will enable better understanding of the issues and lead to more effective literacy education programmes. 6.7 Connectivity is vital As evidenced by the benefits brought to communities by Internet connected community learning centres, affordable Internet access is a key factor in creating a literacy-conducive environment. As the Internet becomes more important as a key means of information exchange and knowledge-sharing, it is vital that governments ensure that communities have the opportunity to access this resource. Also, in order to ensure reliable connectivity, computer support and maintenance are essential and must be budgeted for. 7. Conclusion In today’s scenario, ICT based teaching methods are complementary ones through which school education can be further strengthened and supported as well as they play an appreciable part in grooming and nurturing the children in a interactive manner. ICTs only help a teacher in getting good audiovisual support for conducting class but at the same time, effective use of these tools always depends upon the teacher’s own teaching skills. Again teacher’s role in a class is always supreme and it cannot be replaced with any technology. Various multimedia devices such as television, videos, and computer applications plays very important role towards creating more interactive and learning environment for students of all ages. There are very few initiatives running across India to promote ICTs in primary education and improve the learning environment prevailing at school level. In last few years, many prominent corporate entities have come forward to work towards primary education and doing excellent job also. Government authorities should establish active networking with all stakeholders and take more proactive efforts to scale up the school infrastructure to improve quality of education at grassroots level. References
Using ICT to Develop Literacy , UNESCO ICT in Education Programme, available at http://www2.unescobkk.org/elib/publications/088/Using_ICT_to_Develop_Literacy.pdf Darter, et.al. The Impact of the Computer on the Teaching of Reading: a Selected Review of the Literature Abdul Samie M., 2005 Using Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in illiteracy eradication in Egypt (Reality and Aspirations), p. 23. UNESCO, “TV Escola Brazil”, http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.phpURL_ID=12591&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.htm UNESCO, 2005, The United Nations Literacy Decade in Asia and the Pacific: Progress to date, p. 15. Ali, M., Akbar, A. & Alam, S., 2004, “Study on Best Practices in ICT-based Education: Bangladesh”
UNESCO, 2004b, Study of best practices in education based on ICT: Mexico, p. 39. Bhandigadi, Phalachandra, Impact of EDUSAT on School Students and Teachers, NCERT, available at http://pcf4.dec.uwi.edu/viewpaper.php?id=357&print=1 Chatterjee, B., 2004, ICT for basic education and literacy: Country study for India, p. 22
