Social and Public Impact of ICT Enabled Education

In this paper, role of technology in education sector has been highlighted. Using technology in education sector has tremendous impact on social and public life. These aspects have been discussed in the paper with an example of e-Shishu. Based on the framework of action adopted at World Education forum at Dakar (Senegal) in April 2000 to attain six specific goals relating to education for all and United Nations¿ millennium development goal (MDG) of achieving Universal primary Education by 2015, Govt of India have initiated a framework of programs called Sarva Sikhya Abhiyan (SSA) from 2002-03. SSA envisages to achieve Universal enrolment, Universal retention and Universal achievement apart from bridging all social and gender gaps at primary level by 2007 and elementary level by 2010. Development of useful indications based on reliable data and evidence are critical first steps not only in policy formulation but also in planning and implementation of any program. Under SSA, there are two separate methods to assess the problems of elementary education. They are VER & DISE. Village Education Registers records names of all pre school, in-school and out of school children of a village and are to be updated every year at the village level. VER is to be referred to bring all out of school children to school so as to ensure Universal enrolment. District information system on education (DISE) is meant to record various details about all schools with respect to infrastructure, teachers and students. DISE is extensively needed to close the gaps in infrastructure and teacher position. DISE is collected across all states & the data is fed to software maintained at Govt of India level. District report cards and school report cards are generated every year on basis of the data fed.