| December 2005
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Tsunami Newsletter
Series no: 3 |
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| ICT based Village Resource Centers
/ Village Knowledge Centers |
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 With
the generous support of Tata Relief Committee, National
Virtual Academy for Rural Prosperity has set up Village
Resource Center at Nagapattinam during October 2005.
Nagapattinam VRC has been connected to National NVA
Hub in Chennai with the technical (satellite connectivity)
support of Indian Space Research Organization. H E the
President of India had a video conferencing with farm
and fisher families of Nagapattinam district. In the
discussion the farmers brought out some of the i ssues
related to agriculture, inputs support, problem of timely
financial support, inability to repay the loans borrowed,
market tie up etc. The other issue discussed were about
the over supply of boats to the fishermen which lead
to non availability of fish workers and the possible
quick depletion of fishery resources. The other participants
in the discussion were Dr Madhavan Nair, Chairman, ISRO
answered and Dr M Sakthivel, Chairman, Aquaculture Foundation
of India. |
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| Computer Aided Learning Programme |
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| In Nagapattinam the Computer Aided
Learning programme is being conducted in two Village
Knowledge Centres at Akkaraipettai and Prathabaramapuram.
This programme has been going for the past six months.
Children from the age group of 7 to 18 and youth up
to 24 years of age are participating in the programme.
Children from government and private schools and school
dropouts (from standard fifth to ninth) are the regular
visitors. The Knowledge Workers assist the children
to run the CDs and guide them to get through the programme.
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| The following table gives a detail
age wise classification of the users of Computer Aided
Learning Programme. |
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| Age Classification |
Akkaraipettai |
Prathabaramapuram |
Total |
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|
|
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| 0 - 5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| 6 – 14 |
249 |
148 |
397 |
| 15 – 25 |
136 |
14 |
150 |
| Total |
385 |
162 |
547 |
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| Mentioned below are some of the
schools from where the children visit the center for
the CALP. |
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- Panchayat Union Primary School, Akkaraipettai
- Government higher Secondary School, Akkaraipettai
- Sinthanai Sirpi Nursery School, Akkaraipettai
- Panchayat Union Primary School, Prathabaramapuram
- Government Higher Secondary School, Prathabaramapuram
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| On the methodology part initially
we met the school headmasters and narrated about the
programme. Also, since all our centers lie close to
the Schools the children themselves started visiting
the centers. The children spent their evening hours
and afternoon lunch session during weekdays and full
day during holidays. In summer vacation and mid term
vacations the children turnout is very high resulting
in shortage of systems for usage. |
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| It takes an hour and more to complete
CDs for each child. The children also play in team with
two or three sitting and assisting the primary user
(one who operates the system). Some children are used
to a specific CD since they found a specific game or
treasure interesting. But this practice has been stopped
after the Knowledge worker and the project staff intervention.
Generally the children like the CDs with treasure or
game than the things like how does a computer or a television
or a fan works. However, with the help of Azim Premji
Foundation now we are in the process of developing evaluation
methodology for post and pre-test for their knowledge
in a particular CD. |
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| Need based content development |
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| In the last two months our content
group developed need based contents suitable for the
Post Tsunami rehabilitation. Schemes in Tamil Nadu fisheries
department, Marine Product Export Development Authority-
Schemes, Government orders related to relief and rehabilitation
of Tsunami affected areas and communities, Composite
fish culture, Murrel culture, Fresh water prawn culture,
Mussel culture, Crab fattening, Green crab culture,
Seaweed culture, Ornamental fish culture, Preparation
of pond- shrimp culture, Electronic instruments used
to improve catching of fishes, Fish Finders, International
and Emergency signals, Fishing industries located in
Tamil Nadu, Important fishing harbors, Community halls
in fishing villages of Tamil Nadu, Diseases related
to fishes and shrimps, Symptoms and preventive measures
of diseases in fishes and shrimps, Quality measures
for fishing boats, Salt drying of fishes, Methods to
be followed to protect the quality of fishes, Preparation
of prawn pickle, Subsidies and other facilities given
by Tamil Nadu Govt. to the fisher folk, Addresses of
FRB boat manufacturers, Addresses of Boat builders,
Addresses of fish net manufacturers and modern technologies
for fish drying. |
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| Childcare meeting |
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| Discussion on Childcare was carried
out on 20th October 2005 at Akkrapattai. Twenty-five
women participated. A social worker from Karaikkal Government
hospital was brought as a Resource Person. Discussed
on pre natal care, neo natal care and timely vaccinations
to the newborn. In the discussion the participations
asked several questions and got clarified. |
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| New Village Knowledge Centres
|
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| Based on discussion with the District
Administration, and the list of villages mentioned by
the District Collector we initiated the process to establish
village knowledge centers in the following villages,
1.Thoduvai 2. Manickapanku 3. Vellapallam 4. Tarangampadi
5. Poombuhar in Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu |
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