Using IT in Education in the New Millennium Opportunities and Threats

Information Technology is one of the most potent tools for imparting education making it reach the masses. The developed countries have already made great inroads in this area. This progress and and its exponential rate of development is being viewed as a big threat by many in the developing countries. These countries thus have started frenetic efforts to embark upon the IT highway. But the threat that is posed by such an action is that of greater harm than good. The efforts towards revamping of the education system got defocused on account of IT. This mindless rush is the concern of the authors of this paper. The authors feel that before embarking upon the IT highway, the developing countries should first decide to redesign the educational model so as to suit the needs of tomorrow. Use of IT in the existing education system would merely be a patchwork and wastage of resources. The old system that is already in smithereens will not be able to tolerate the sophistication of IT. Also, the inherent lacunae of the education system shall not be removed by the advantages that IT can provide. Hence, the authors propose that first radical changes must be brought about in the already existing education system and then IT should be used to impart education.