AHMEDABAD: Leading technology companies in India are giving back to the society by investing in education sector for the lower segment of the society. Several new initiatives are being taken to expand young minds in order to make better opportunities available to the next generation.
Hewlett-Packard (HP) introduced its 'Lab-in-Box' for Vidyanagar Primary School students at a remote village in Ahmedabad. The initiative aims at increasing the use of technology by schoolchildren. A self-sustainable and fully operational computer lab has been created in a shipping container, which is designed as a cloud enabled infrastructure solution to spread both the reach and quality of education.
Ahmedabad-based IT company CEON also offers software management solutions to schools. Abhay Panjiyar, founder and chief executive officer, CEON and an incubatee from IIM Ahmedabad's innovation centre, is also planning to come up with various e-learning projects for schools. "We are reducing the cost of our software from Rs 9 lakh to Rs 99,000 for schools in Gujarat, so that the government and other local schools can afford the enriched educational experience," says Panjiyar.
Vodafone Foundation in collaboration with Pratham Education Foundation has come up with 'Learning with Vodafone Solution' to provide learning solutions for over 50,000 under-privileged children across India. Madhav Chavan, chief executive officer, Pratham, said, "This is for the befit of the children of India. We hope to raise the understanding of technological interventions while also helping create a delivery mechanism for better learning for the children of India."
Similarly, nCode Solutions, the IT division of Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers Company (GNFC), is manufacturing and marketing Intel's Classmate PC which will be offered at subsidized rates to Gujarat schools in the future.
"The laptops will be available at a price starting Rs 10,000. We aim to start manufacturing the laptops in a couple of months," Jagdeep Kochar, executive director, nCode Solutions said.