Jorhat, Aug. 19: The Assam education department has tied up with IIT Bombay to offer free online computer tutorial programme to college students in the state.
The premier technical institute of the country will also award certificates to students who pass the online examination conducted by the institute.
Director of higher education (DHE), Assam, Phanindra Jidung, told The Telegraph today over phone from Guwahati that IIT Bombay has developed a free online programme - Spoken Tutorial - which is being offered to those interested to learn various computer courses.
He said the programme - a self-learning tool with audio-visual aid - has a variety of pre-recorded videos with teachers giving instructions to the learners.
Jidung said the videos, having a duration of 15 to 20 minutes, are like chapters of different courses and training programmes. The videos, apart from English, are also available in different Indian languages, including Assamese.
"We want all our college students (from Plus-II level onwards) to avail of the opportunity and add value to their career," Jidung said.
Assam has 301 colleges, out of which 295 are provincialised.
He said the DHE had approached IIT Bombay last year to offer the programme to colleges of Assam and the latter agreed. The director said Don Bosco University in Guwahati, which is a knowledge partner and a resource centre of IIT Bombay, has also offered its assistance.
DHE deputy director Chinmoyee Talukdar said the government had decided to introduce the free online teaching programme in the current academic session starting from August.
Talukdar said 47 college teachers from across the state have undergone training at the Don Bosco University from faculty members of the IIT Bombay and the university. She said according to the plan, these teachers were selected from two nearby colleges in each district, which have been designated as nodal colleges, for proper implementation.
Talukdar said these teachers are like master-trainers as they will train other teachers of the colleges in their respective districts.
Pro vice-chancellor of Don Bosco University Father Joseph Nellanatt said since the past few years the online tutorial programme has been availed of by the university's students from the college of engineering.
He said there were over 750 video tutorials available on the IIT Bombay website. About 492 tutorials are in Assamese.
Nellanatt said once a student completes a particular course and wishes to sit for an examination, he/she could appear for an one-hour online test to be conducted by the IIT and the results too will be declared instantly. He said certificates would be later issued by IIT Bombay to the successful students.
Assistant manager of spoken tutorial project (IIT Bombay) Akanksha Saini told from Mumbai that the project is a pan-India initiative of the institute in association with the Union HRD ministry to promote IT literacy under the banner of National Mission on Education.
Stating that about 10,000 college students are expected to benefit in Assam within a year, Saini said the programme will be carried on and extended to schools.
She said Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh are two other states in the Northeast where the programme has been launched.
