Plan to float a new web portal in Tamil
Madurai:S. Tamilselvan of National Literacy Mission speaking at a workshop in Madurai. The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC), a research wing of Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, has planned to float a web portal in Tamil to help people from rural areas gain knowledge about child rights, education and technology.The Centre of India Development Gateway (INDG) and Hyderabad-based Centre for World Solidarity and Littles Trust organised a State-level workshop on `Universalisation of education and child rights' here on Thursday.A discussion was organised to decide on the contents of the portal, content providers, validators and translators.Briefing about the workshop, T.R. Parvatha Varthini of Littles Trust, a Madurai-based non-Governmental organisation working for children, said that the portal would focus on strengthening first-level service providers to discharge services more effectively. It would also educate the actual end user on various issues in five identified areas such as agriculture, healthcare, rural energy, education and e-governance.
The portal aimed at facilitating technology to serve as means to provide information and share knowledge.The participants discussed 13 topics, including database, programme policies, laws and legislation, child rights and protection, e-forum and teaching methodologies. They wanted the portal to give more details on `Sarva Siksha Abhiyan' and space for students to assess their teachers' performances annually.The portal would also serve as a platform for the rural children and the public to post their views on Government policies and schemes, provided if the information is properly validated at various levels, Ms. Varthini said.
Inaugurating the workshop, S. Tamilselvan of National Literacy Mission, said that education should be demystified and the interests of children protected.As many as 45 participants from 18 districts, including representatives from non-governmental organisations, teachers, doctors and advocates, took part in the workshop.Persons interested in contributing to the portal can log on to http://www.indg.in/
