Instead, the school is going to buy individual UPS units for each computer. They already bought one Intex model for Rs. 1450, and the teacher has verified that it can support one computer during the time when the school has electricity. The store in Bhopal has agreed to sell the school ten more units for Rs. 1200 each, which is still a little steep for the school’s limited budget, especially since they’ll have to shell out money again for new UPS batteries in a couple of years. We’re hoping, however, that this purchase will allow them to restart the computer literacy classes. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.

Board exams started at the school at the beginning of March and will continue until April (when the new school year starts), at which point the teachers will be busy grading and preparing exam results until the beginning of May. Everything is done by hand, so the process is time-consuming. We’re planning to restart the computer program once this process is over.

Computer maintenance

We talked to the people at two computer shops in Chhatarpur – Microworld Computers, whom we were referred to by an acquaintance who runs a cyber cafe, and Computer Care & Ware. We stopped by Microworld Computers, but there was no one in the shop to talk to, so we didn’t pursue it. Computer Care & Ware sent someone to the high school to look over the setup and give us a quote on how much they would charge for a regular monthly service contract, which includes cleaning, antivirus updates and scans, checking internet connectivity, and reinstalling any buggy software. Their quote came to Rs. 1000 per month.

This whole exercise propelled the assistant principal into taking more interest in the maintenance and upkeep of the computer lab for what seems to us the first time. He thought the quote was too high and started calling people he knew to find a better price. The same evening, we decided to go to Chhatarpur to meet with one of his new contacts at Bundelkhand Computers to see if we could get the broken UPS fixed. We met with Subhash Tiwari, who told us about other computer work he does around Chhatarpur at different academic institutions. Although no one there knew about UPS systems, we did get the name of the LG service engineer I mentioned in my last post; he eventually came to the school, but he was mostly unable to diagnose the problem. Subhash also visited us eventually and cut the ethernet cables that the assistant principal had bought last March to the right sizes and connected all of the computers to hubs. We measured the distances in the new computer lab that has been under construction for at least eighteen months to make sure that the cables were long enough to work there. We also strung a 50-foot cable to the next room so that the babus (administrative assistants) would have a dedicated internet connection. Until now, they’d been moving the DSL modem between the two rooms, creating lots of frayed and tangled wires.

The UPS still isn’t working, so the classes are at a standstill. We measured the voltage across the batteries, and they seem to be holding a charge just fine, so we’re kind of at a loss as to why the UPS is unable to funnel that power to the computers. We’re still working on getting this issue resolved. The next step is to get in contact with a store that sells and services Amaron batteries (the kind that are in the school) and have their service technician check the batteries one more time. If he says they’re okay, then we know the UPS is the problem, and we’ll have to find a way to get that fixed. We have yet to find someone in Chhatarpur who can do that kind of work, so we might have to look in Jhansi (four hours away) or Gwalior (eight hours away, with two bus changes).

Textbooks

As far as printed material goes, we picked up a book called Dynamic Memory Computer Course (ISBN: 818419255X) at the Jain Book Agency in Delhi (here’s the book on their site, but there’s no picture or good description). It’s in Hindi, and it seems to be a really good reference for the teacher and kids in Bijawar. I think the teacher also found the books that the school already had, but I’m not totally sure where they are or what happened to them.

Former students

We spoke with some of the students from the first batch, and they’re really interested in being able to use the computers on their own time. Once we get the UPS fixed and the classes running again, we’re going to see if the teacher can open up the lab on Sundays to allow students who’ve already taken the computer class access to the computers.

Girls’ HS School

At the Girls’ HS School, we’re working with a passionate, young woman teacher to see if there is some way that we can get them computers so that they can implement a program similar to that at the boys’ school. I’ll keep you updated on this as we get further along in the process.

English language education

During this visit, we also wanted to explore the possibility of teaching English language conversational skills, reading, and comprehension to ninth and tenth graders. We first needed to assess their English skills grade level as compared to American standards in order to establish a baseline from which we could work, so we took some copies of short stories from the magazine Highlights for Children (aimed at US kids, ages 6-9). We asked Divya, the English teacher at the Boys’ HS School, to send us five girls and five boys from the ninth and tenth grades who might be interested in helping us with this two-week project. Not surprisingly, there was a huge response, and we were inundated with requests from students and their parents. I’m still not sure if this response was because they genuinely wanted to learn English or just because the classes were free.

We started the project with a group of five each of ninth grade girls and tenth grade boys. Most of these kids were the best students in their classes, with parents who had the most resources, but it very quickly became evident the students had absolutely no conversational skills. They could read at approximately an American 2^nd grade level, but their reading comprehension was very poor. Their theoretical grammar knowledge was pretty good – unsurprising, as this is something that can be written and memorized – but their ability to apply that knowledge was limited to nonexistent. Along the same lines, the students are being taught to memorize English. The teacher reads short passages from their textbook aloud and either dictates or writes down the answers to all the questions in that lesson, and the kids memorize those answers word-for-word. We went through a couple of the lessons from their textbook, and each one of the students just spit out the same rote answers.

In general, though, the students were very enthusiastic, showed up on time, and were ready to learn. They usually did conversational role-playing for the first half of the hour and then reading comprehension from the Highlights short stories for the second half. This pattern seemed to hit all of the points we wanted to emphasize, but our limited time in Bijawar made it difficult to assess if they were really retaining information and skills. When we left, they all wanted to know how they could keep learning – something which we’re still struggling to figure out.

I finally got Wipro to fix the broken CPU with a new hard drive (they’d previously replaced the monitor), which we still have to test to make sure it actually works. I’m not sure whether it’s got Windows installed on it, so we might have to do that as well. This whole endeavor required harassing the people at the Wipro call center a number of times, until they finally conferenced us in with the person who’s in charge of the Gwalior area of service. He sent a service engineer from Jhansi, which is about four hours from Bijawar by car. Getting to Bijawar is such an ordeal that the qualified IT personnel in bigger cities like Jhansi and Sagar refuse to make regular trips to service the computers here.

Two new batches of students were started at the Boys’ HS School on November 3, but the UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) in the computer lab stopped working less than a week later. The UPS allows the power from the mains to supply the computers until a voltage fluctuation or the power going out forces it to switch over to ten 12V external, rechargeable batteries, maintaining a steady supply of power. This turn of events has left the teacher and students (and us!) very frustrated.

We’ve been checking out a couple of places in Chhatarpur who claim to be able to identify and fix the problem, but none of them seemed willing to send technicians to Bijawar. We’ve had a hard time trying to tell which stores have people who know what they’re doing. I have a feeling that they can do some basic computer maintenance, but that they’re just saying yes to anything we ask, in the hopes that they’ll find someone to actually do the work later. As a side note, it was great to see the teacher taking initiative to try to get the UPS fixed while we were still in the US – he wasn’t successful, but then, neither were we.

The assistant principal at the school finally managed to get in touch with a service engineer who works for LG but who repairs UPS units and other electronics and appliances. He came to Bijawar today on another call (to fix a microwave, I think), and so he took a look at our UPS as well. The life of the batteries is apparently only about 18 months, less if they’re not power cycled regularly – which they weren’t for the first year or so, because they just sat in a room, gathering dust. Someone recharged these batteries yesterday with some other machine, but they need to be replaced very soon if the computers are to be run. We’re going to test the batteries tomorrow to see how long they can hold a charge, but I doubt it’s going to be very long.

We’ve also been working with some ninth and tenth grade students on conversational English and reading comprehension, but it’s late, so I’ll write about that tomorrow.

One of the other teachers at the school had gone to Sagar a few months ago brought back, instead of 10 separate 10-meter Cat5 cords, one long 100-meter wire, 10 plugs, and a wirecutter. He had the idea that I could split the long wire into 10; leaving aside the fact that I don’t know how, there weren’t even enough plugs to fit 10 wires. We’ll see what happens with that. He also bought two 8-port switches, for some reason.

The teacher made an interesting comment about how we want to teach students whose families don’t have the money to afford computer education on their own. Wealthier students have bicycles or cars, and they live closer to the school, so it’s much easier for them to be at the school from 9-11am, then go home for lunch and come back for the regular school day. I don’t know why I was so surprised by this realization, though, given the general truth that students with money have advantages that allow them to focus on their schoolwork more than students who don’t have money.

Update (July 21, 2009): Now that I’ve finally gotten around to pulling photos off my camera, this was the view outside the window at the gate while I waited for my connection in Hong Kong. You can sort of see the reflection in the window, but I thought the mountains and water were pretty enough to make up for it.

I did make it to the Boys’ High School at 9 this morning, where there were five students and one of the teachers to whom we’d been talking. The power schedule in Bijawar right now is that it’s on from 9am-11am, 1pm-4pm, and 8pm-5am, so I’ve got to work with the students from 9am-11am, as the afternoon hours are when the high school is in session, so students don’t have any free time then.

When I got there, I was surprised to see that all of the computers had been set up on new tables (with keyboard trays!), and there were new chairs (on wheels! that rotate!). Unfortunately, all of the cables had been disconnected in this process, so we spent some time plugging everything back in. Two power strips were missing, which meant that we couldn’t turn on all of the computers at the same time. I knew that one of the computers wasn’t working – I need to call someone to have it fixed – but two others turned out to be malfunctioning as well. I may need to reinstall Windows on one, and the other is having some sort of display problem. The computer used by the administrators also needs to be set up (again) for student use.

The teacher and I then started with the students, and I was surprised (again!) by how much the teacher knew and how well he was able to keep up with the material. We went through some hardware basics, and they turned on their computers and logged in, after which we covered some basic desktop stuff. They also opened up a game of Solitaire, and we talked about the parts of a window. They played Solitaire for a while to practice their mouse skills, and then – the fuse melted. I suspected it hadn’t been replaced before this, judging by the scorch marks, but it actually melting through just confirmed those suspicions. We had to stop, even though the power was still on, because all the computers go through the UPS, which wasn’t being charged since the fuse was broken. This should be fixed relatively soon, because the administrators need to use the computers on a regular basis.

The school’s landline also hasn’t been working for a few days, so I wasn’t able to look for and test the 16-port ethernet switch. I didn’t see the speakerphone, either. I need to go to the school while it’s in session to meet with the principal and locate some of this stuff. I’m also trying to find a way to go over the whole curriculum with the teacher, so that he’s not just working off the cuff. That method is fine for the simple material, but once it gets more complicated, we’re going to need to do some advance prep.

We’d originally wanted to start training teachers at the beginning of July, but it’s been a struggle to get this program off the ground. Every time we think we’ve solved a problem, another one (usually related) pops up. To make a long story short, we don’t currently have a teacher to work with. We thought we’d identified someone, but it turns out that he’s gotten another job and most likely won’t be working at the Boys’ HS School this year; training him, therefore, would be a waste of a time. Currently, we’re trying to find another teacher – we have a couple of options, but we’ll see if any of them pan out.

The fundamental problem we’re running into is that the guest teachers who tend to be most interested in this sort of extra training and work serve at the mercy of the school and the government. Their appointments only last one year, and the list of appointments for this school year (which started July 1) comes out around July 15th (maybe even  later – no one knows), which means that the teacher roster is still in flux. Finding a guest teacher who has time and is interested in undergoing computer training, then teaching students is going to be a challenge, especially if I can’t really begin until the 15th.

I might also work with one of the teachers we trained last winter and use her as a TA to help out with the class.

If nothing comes through, I’m considering a new model. I’d work with a couple of students, instead of teachers, and train them intensively for a week or two. After that, they would teach other students the things that they’ve learned, while I continue to work with them on new material. I have yet to work out the details on this plan, but it might work. An adult would have to supervise the students, though, especially after I leave.

We’re also trying to remedy the non-availability of teachers with technology. We’re trying to find ways to communicate with the students and teachers at the school, including VoIP (Yahoo, Skype,  and MagicJack, among others).

Either way, the program is getting started significantly later than I’d hoped, but so it goes.

The good news (finally!) is that the principal seems to be completely on board with our plans and is just as frustrated as we are with all of the problems that we’ve been experiencing. Having him as an ally is making things much easier.

One of the teachers at the Bijawar Boys’ HS School called us from Sagar (about two hours from Bijawar), saying that he was at a store, looking to buy some new equipment – chairs, tables, and assorted computer hardware – for the school’s computer lab. He asked us a few questions about what kind of switch was needed to connect all of the computers to the Internet, as well as how many ethernet cables he should buy (and of what length). We were happily surprised by the school’s enthusiasm for pushing forward on the project!

It seems that the school has received money to spend on computer equipment. We also learned that the internet hadn’t been working for a couple of months, which frustrated the principal immensely, because he had to spend an extra Rs. 1000 each month to send his administrative assistants to Chhatarpur to file the payroll. We spoke with the person who initially installed the broadband line at the school, and he went to the school to fix whatever was wrong. As far as I could tell, there had been some problem with the billing, and the server in Indore had apparently been down for a few days, contributing to the problem. We had also asked him to bring a speakerphone, which he did. The school is still working on getting the 16-port switch up and running.

All systems seem to be go to start a pilot project in July. Our current plan is to spend the first two weeks of July training the teacher we’ve identified, then begin teaching students. We hope the project will go for about three months, after which we will evaluate the success of the project and determine how to move forward. We’re trying to get volunteers to sign up for one-week slots to help out in Bijawar during this time. We’re still working on a rough curriculum, which will be posted once its finished, as will more details about the project itself.

We’ve been trying to get in contact with someone at the Girls’ HS School to see whether they received computers, but we’ve had no luck so far.

We talked to the principal at the Boys’ HS school in Bijawar on April 8th. We were scheduled to start the pilot computer project at the school from April 10th, but unfortunately, this project will not take off in April, which is something of a disappointment. The principal has now agreed to start the pilot project in July when the new school year starts in earnest (although the school year officially started on April 1).

We have to deal with some issues on the ground: the general elections, communicating with the school administration, and electricity. Bijawar is on a strict electricity schedule. They have three hours off followed by three hours on. During the normal school hours, electricity is available from 9:00am-12:00 noon and then again from 3:00pm to 6:00pm. Since the HS school session goes from 12:00 noon to 4:00pm, the computer project has to run outside the regular HS hours. We need to plan for this issue, which we were certainly aware of before, in consultation with the principal.

The 2009 General Lok Sabha elections will be held through April and will suck up all resources in small places like Bijawar. The school facilities are turned over to the election commission for training election officials, setting up election booths, storing ballot boxes and other election related materials, and other such activities. The government school teachers are also mandated to participate as election officials.

We also need to develop a better strategy to have the principal at the boys’ HS school become more invested in this project. One of the fundamental issues we keep running into is the tendency to push the issue of the pilot project further and further – if it’s in the future, he doesn’t need to deal with it right now. While understandable (the principal is busy, and the school is involved in many things), this attitude is also extremely personally frustrating.

It might be useful if we are more completely able to explain the need for careful, long-term planning. We’d like to keep him informed at the different levels of planning – show him in more painstaking detail the work being done to develop a suitable curriculum, train teachers, and procure the hardware and software required for the project, among other things. We’d also like to impress upon the principal the idea that starting some project – any project, no matter how small – will give us and him the tools and knowledge to move forward in a more productive manner.

Development of computer curriculum

We’re still working on outlining objectives for the pilot project and preparing the appropriate lesson plans. To help with this process, we’re thinking of trying to reach a block education officer to find out if they already have a curriculum to introduce computers to HS students. Whether or not this will be successful or useful is yet to be seen.

Volunteer teacher network

We’re looking to start an email conversation with software engineers (and other computer-savvy people!) who are interested in working as volunteer teachers for this project. If they’re willing to donate one to two weeks of their time for this project, they would have to travel to Bijawar to work with teachers and students in an extracurricular pilot project. Their responsibilities would be as laid out in my last entry and which I’ll quote again here:

“Ideally, their role both in and out of the classroom would have been to assist the teachers and troubleshoot problems, though they would of course help the students as needed as well. I was hoping that this sort of hands-on teacher training would have allowed those teachers to carry on this program more independently in the future.”

Next visit

We’re planning a one month trip to Bijawar again at the end of this year. We hope to meet with education officials at the block and district levels to get a better understanding of what the state government’s plans are for computer education in rural schools. We also want to identify teacher and IT resources for this project in the Chhatarpur area.

The principal of the school has now indicated, however, that he wants to move the whole program back by a week or so, starting April 6. They’re running behind in getting the final examination results out, and they cannot start the program until that work is done. Additionally, the Bijawar Boys’ HS School is a block-level school, which means that the examination papers for all middle and high schools in the block (smaller than a school district, but it’s the same general concept) are graded there. The good news is that the principal is willing to let the program run through the end of April, adding a week to the time we thought we had.

The principal has already spoken to the teachers who we know to have some computer skills – Salar, Divya and Sanjay (all residents of Bijawar) – and they are on board for April. Since Ashish commutes from Bada Malehra (about an hour away) and his contract for the new school year has not yet been renewed, it will be difficult for him to join the program at this time.

It was rightly pointed out to me that this first pilot experience needs to be a relatively smooth one, or we might lose interest and momentum in moving forward. Since it’s not feasible for my family or I to fly to India for two weeks right now, we were actively working with a couple of software engineers from Noida to come down to Bijawar for two weeks to help out in April. Ideally, their role both in and out of the classroom would have been to assist the teachers and troubleshoot problems, though they would of course help the students as needed as well. I was hoping that this sort of hands-on teacher training would have allowed those teachers to carry on this program more independently in the future.

Unfortunately, the people we were talking with will not be able to spend the full two weeks in Bijawar, but they are still very committed to the program. They’ve talked about wanting to take Fridays off work to go down to Bijawar to teach on the weekends. These software engineers have also been talking about the project at work, and it looks like several other people are interested in volunteering their time.  It would be great to harness this interest, but we’ll have to see how to make that possible logistically.

Due to the elections scheduled for later half of April, it is going to be extremely difficult to find lodging for volunteers coming from elsewhere. Bijawar has only one guest house and no hotels. The guest house is fully booked due to the elections.  These volunteers may have to stay in Chhatarpur or Khajuraho and commute to Bijawar. We will also be looking for possible teacher resources in Chhatarpur.

As another follow-up to my last post, the cost of getting a speaker phone, an 8-12 port switch and associated Cat5 cables to hook up all of the computers to the Internet is approximately Rs. 3,500 – 4,000.