President Intel India Praveen Vishakantaiah said, irrespective of the laptop’s marketing success the effort of the Union Human Resource department is laudable and encouraging for the education sector.
“Technology-adoption in the education sector is vital for its growth. The effort to build the world’s cheapest laptop for the students is a step in the right direction,” Vishakantaiah told The Assam Tribune.
The Human Resource department in July this year displayed a prototype of the world’s cheapest laptop, which it says would be available for school children. The laptop evoked tremendous interest around the world, but critics doubt if the price could be sustained as claimed by the Ministry. The prototype laptop was manufactured at a cost of about Rs 1,500 by the Indian Institute of Technology, Bangalore and the Indian Institute of Science.
The idea, for the growing education sector, is to provide technological solution for the students, how it’s done is a matter of research and development, Vishakantaiah added. “The spaces in the education sector must be augmented through technology,” Vishakantaiah said.
Emphasising Intel’s effort in this direction, he said, the company has developed several solutions for the education sector. The company, in collaboration with the National Association for Blind, has recently developed an open-source computer software for the visually-impaired.
The Intel president handed a laptop fitted with the software to a visually impaired student here who topped last year’s board exams. “Technology doesn’t differentiate and stands up to challenges,” he said, after handing the laptop to thestudent recently.
Vishakantaiah said the country must lay emphasis on the education sector more so on higher education and research for its overall development. “The IT boom of the 90’s can only be sustained through continued research and higher education,” Vishakantaiah said.
~ Assam Tribune
