Lost in the web!

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AM conducted a survey of 100 schools in Ahmedabad district and found only 13 had their own websites
By Yogesh Avasthi and Dhwani Pathak
Posted On Saturday, October 18, 2008 (Ahmedabad Mirror)

In this age of Internet and blogging, many schools in the state still woefully lack computer facilities. Without Internet access, most do not even have a school website! Ahmedabad Mirror checked out 100 schools, in rural and urban areas, to find out whether the schools have computer facility, Internet connection, website, e-mail id and the frequency of e-mail s being checked.

The results were surprising. Only 13 schools had their own websites!Some of the best schools did not have Internet facilities and a website. The staff lacked awareness about the difference between an e-mail id and a website. The survey sample included English-, Gujarati-, Hindi- and Urdu-medium schools. Of these 13 schools, including 5 in rural areas, had websites of their own. Ninety-two per cent had computers but 63 per cent had no Internet facility.
Of the 100 principals AM spoke to, only 28 had e-mail ids. Even here, the frequency of checking e-mails was very low. Only 10 principals checked their e-mails everyday, with clerks and computer teachers pitching in. A principal, who was a former mayor, did not have an e-mail id. Some said that they had an e-mail id, but couldn’t remember it.

While some principals said, “We do not want to comment on this right now. Call us up tomorrow or come and meet us personally.” Yet, another said, “My data is being handled by someone else, so I really do not take care of it.” Clerks and computer teachers ruled the principals’ lives online. Some said, “We understand that having a school website is really important, but we are helpless due to lack of funds.” Underscores and @ signs confused many of them.

Others tried to get away by saying, “The site is under construction and it shall be up soon.” or “We had created a website after the earthquake. Today, we have no idea whether it is working or not.” A principal asked us to call him back, as he needed to ask the computer teacher whether the school had an e-mail id or website.

DEO (Rural) K K Rathod said, “The progress will be slow as work has just begun. We have given instructions to all schools and they have already started working on their websites. The results of this drive will be visible within the next six months.”

• Schools surveyed - 100

• Schools with websites - 13

• Principals with e-mail IDs - 28

• Schools with no Internet - 63

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