“It’s a very critical project with a critical role in shaping society,” said the prime minister. “It’s one of the projects that I’ve been extensively and intensively involved in since its conception.”
Renamed as the ‘Chiphen Rigpel’, the five-year Nu 2.5B project, which is funded by the government of India, will be formally launched by the prime ministers of Bhutan and India on April 30.
G Raghavan said that it was a special privilege for NIIT to be associated with Bhutan. Vivek Rao, who will be stationed in Bhutan as the project head for the next five years, accompanied G Raghavan.
The project has six components, including enabling e-governance by training 7,200 leaders, civil servants and private sector individuals. Of these, 200 leaders, including the prime minister and cabinet ministers, government secretaries, parliamentarians, constitutional post holders, service personnel, heads of dratshangs (monastic institutions), and CEOs will be briefed on e-governance and the opportunities that ICT provides towards better governance.
“Leaders will learn what e-governance is, why the country needs it, and how it can benefit society,” said the secretary of the ministry of information and communications (MoIC), Dasho Kinley Dorji.
A longer course will be designed for 7,000 civil servants and private sector employees, after the curriculum has been designed and the individuals selected.
The project will also empower teachers and take ICT to schools, where 5,000 teachers and 50 core group teachers will be trained in seven teacher training centres set up through the project. A total of 168 schools will be equipped with computer labs.
The project will also set up eight 25-seat capacity training centres in the vocational training institutes (VTIs) and train and certify 8,400 youth in basic and vocational IT skills.
Four tertiary institutions in the country, Sherubtse college, Gaeddug college of business studies, the college of science and technology, and Jigme Namgyel polytechnic will be set up with training centres with a 50 seat capacity. An international certification testing centre will also be set up and 2,400 college youth and professionals will be provided with training and certification in a range of IT skills. The project also aims at self sufficiency, so that students are trained in perpetuity even after the completion of the project.
The project will also establish 131 learning stations (NIIT’s hole in the walls) throughout the country and community centres will be established in each of the 205 gewogs.
In an attempt to make this project green, a national e-waste management system will be developed and operationalised, rules and regulations will be drafted and companies selected and trained to handle e-waste using best international practices.
MoIC will implement the overall project, along with NIIT India, and relevant agencies such as the ministry of labour and human resources, and education, the royal university of Bhutan, royal institute of management, youth development fund, and the private sector will be involved in specific components.
At a press briefing yesterday, Dasho Kinley Dorji said that this was a very exciting and dramatic project, the results of which will be seen midway through the project. “By the next generation, we may see computer wizards cropping up from villages,” he said, describing the expected impact of learning stations. “The awareness level on ICT will be dramatic,” he said.
---
Autor(en)/Author(s): Dipika Chhetri
Quelle/Source: Kuensel, 21.04.2010
Bitte besuchen Sie/Please visit:
