With Information Technology (IT) an optional subject for secondary schools since May 21 this year, the Directorate of Education, Pune, is planning big, and has formulated a pilot project where 100 secondary schools, connected by the Internet, can conduct computer-aided education, at no expense to the State coffers!

``The Government will not provide a single computer, just co-ordinate the project,'' says the brain behind the idea, Director of Education Vasant Patil, adding that more than 100 schools have on record expressed their willingness to adopt the project. ``Schools are expected to raise resources through donations or the MLA funds which are reserved for developmental purposes,'' he says, brushing off any doubts about resources standing in the way of implementation.

However, the question of the increased burden of fees on students lies unanswered, for, ``Fees will rise to a certain extent,'' says Patil.

Not all schools can qualify for this project, only those with the capability to muster the funds necessary to set up and maintain a computer laboratory of a minimum of 15 computers, (two per student in a class of 60) and conduct regular theory and practical classes.

Sounds unrealistic? It may never be a reality for the 63,000 primary and 15,000 secondary schools in Maharashtra, for the earlier computer education scheme, `Class Project' for Maharashtra, had reached only 304 schools, and Patil admits that the machines and technology are now outdated. It now stands abandoned and a Central scheme called `Introduction of Modern Tools of Education in Schools (IMTES)' will replace it if the new government finalises it, says Sunanda Inamdar, Joint Director Administration, adding that it is difficult to say when it will see the light of the day.

But the education officers are not skeptical, for the State Government has joined hands with the Education to Home Research Laboratory, Pune, (ETH) which will train the school teachers to use the computers for effective teaching, before the scheme is implemented, says Patil. If it is successful, it will be extended to at least 6,000 of the 14,000 secondary schools in Maharashtra, medium of instruction no bar, but no deadline has been fixed to accomplish this. ``We wanted to make a concentrated effort with a target of 100 in Pune, as a start.'' says Patil. ``Once the schools are connected by the Net, we are planning to prepare special CDs to enhance teaching.''

Though officials at the Directorate of Higher Education are already thinking of virtual classrooms, where the best of teachers can conduct classes going beyond the barriers of distance and time, the State has no plans to monitor the project to check whether the schools are actually providing computer-aided education optimally.

However, another progressive step of the State Government this year toward increasing computer literacy in schools and junior colleges through free computer education is slowly finding acceptance in certain institutes, which have been directed to finance the project by using the computers for commercial purposes after school or college hours, says Patil, naming some who have adopted it, like the Sadhana Vidyalaya, Hadapsar, St Hilda's High School, Apte Vidyalaya, All Saints High School, R C M Gujarati High School and the Sant Tukaram Vidyalaya, Dehu.