Report on the Computer Wallah Project Competition for the Academic year 2009-10, Held in Conjunction with the Vicky Standish e-Education Centre and Primary Schools in the Local Area.

The Computer Wallah project was commenced in October 2009 and is currently conducted by staff at the Vicky Standish e-Education Centre (VSeEC), of The East West Foundation of India (TEWFI). With involvement of headmasters and teachers, four schools in the local area have been involved in the project – Kadapakkam Primary school, Kottaikadu Primary School, Vembanur Primary School and Alamparai Middle School.

The project is aimed at 5th standard students and involves laptop computers being taken to each school for one session each week. Each school has a scheduled session, which last 3hours. The class teacher leads the session, with the aid of VSeEC staff.

Five topics are taught to the students, using software provided by the Azim Premji Foundation. The subjects which have been taught over the course of six months are Tamil, English, Science, Mathematics and General Knowledge.

The provision of fully charged, individual laptops to students allows the school children to participate in computer aided learning, effective teaching of the curriculum and for the students to progress at their own pace.

As students may progress through the learning material at their own pace, the software is considered particularly effective for those children who have low concentration.

Objectives of the project:

v  To improve the literacy skills of the children and provide them with better understanding in their own language and the English language.

v  To develop the academic knowledge of the children through e-learning.

v  To provide the children with computer based literacy which will help them with basic computer operation.

v  To reinforce the academic syllabus taught by the class teacher.

Prior to the course commencing, children were at different levels of computer literacy and knowledge.

At the end of the course, to maintain enthusiasm and interest, a competition was held using the computer and software, to gauge the level of individual knowledge and understanding. The results of the assessment are presented in figures 1 and 2.

Figure 1. Graph depicting the competition scores.

School / Maximum score / Maximum score (%) / Minimum score / Minimum score (%) / Mean score / Mean score (%)
Kadapakkam / 760 / 95 / 560 / 70 / 638 / 79.95
Kottaikadu / 752 / 94 / 530 / 66.25 / 658 / 82.25
Vembanur / 670 / 83.75 / 520 / 65 / 601 / 75.125
Alamparai / 790 / 98.75 / 550 / 68.75 / 654 / 81.75

Figure 2. Table to show the maximum, minimum and mean competition scores.

A total of 86 students, from four primary schools, completed the Computer Wallah project competition.

The maximum score which may be achieved across the five subjects in the completion assessment is 800 marks.

Students who achieved the top marks in each school received a prize, of geometry sets and stationary.

The top ranked students in each school:

Alamparai Middle School

First place: J Lakshmi (UCH child), 790 marks (98.75%)

Second place: Sarasu (UCH child), 789 marks (98.625%)

Third place: Santiya (UCH child), 781 marks (97.625%)

Kadapakkam Primary School

First place: Jeevetha and Shaien Nisha, 760 marks (95%)

Second place: Ravikumar , 696 marks (87%)

Third place: Thinakaran, 690 marks (86.25%)

Kottaikadu Primary School

First place: Divyabarathi and Ashvathi, 752 marks (94%)

Second place: Datchayani, Geethalakshmi, S. Vaishnavi and D. Kayatre, 700 marks (87.5%)

Third place: R. Rajavel and K. Kannathasen, 670 marks (83.75%)

Vembanur Primary School

First place: Malini, 670 marks (83.75%)

Second place: Manimekalai and Vennila, 622 marks (77.75%)

Third place: Kalaivanan and Muthukumar, 630 marks (78.75%)

The maximum score achieved by a student in the academic year 2009-10 was 790 marks (95%).

Children from Uluru Children’s Home achieved scores ranked first, second, third and fourth out of all the children involved in the competition.

The average (mean) score across all four schools was 637 marks (79.5%).

The project was able to maintain the childrens’ interest and enthusiasm throughout the course and even those children who had low computer literacy at the beginning were able to successfully complete the course and improve their conceptual knowledge.

The high score achieved by all students in the competition may suggest that the Computer Wallah program is effective in the teaching of subject and curriculum material to 5th standard students. It may also suggest that the students are effectively able to retain and further utilise the information which they learn during the course.