The hi-tech device is a portable pocket computer. Filters and firewall ensure that inappropriate content does not reach children.
Four-year-old Kushal Sharma is a student of Universal High School in Malad. Like any other child of his age, he learns the alphabets, numbers, drawing, etc. in school. But he is learning the elementary in a hi-tech way, using iPod Touch. His school, run by the Universal Education Group [UEG], has introduced the device as a learning tool for students in nursery, pre-school and grades I and II.
Even three-year-olds at the Universal High are seen thumbing iPod Touch handsets. The group runs five schools in the city, and has introduced the device in three of them. It has purchased around 400 iPod Touch handsets — each of them custom-made for kids, and comes without the phone and the camera. Nearly 3,000 students are using them on rotation basis.
Kanchan Pandhare, a teacher from the kindergarten section of the school, said, “The large buttons on the device make it easy for kids to handle it. It has several applications which are used to learn the alphabets, numbers, drawing, and maths.” Individual attention is given to students learning to use the device.
“Each of them gets to use the device at least four times a week. We just have to tell the management that we need these many iPods at a particular time, and we get them. The devices are shockproof and have been insured against damages,” Pandhare added.
The iPod Touch is a portable pocket computer with a multi-touch screen, a video player and an Internet browser. Filters and firewall in the custom-made device ensure that inappropriate content does not reach children. The UEG has plans to extend the facility to higher classes soon.
Jesus Lall, chairman and CEO of the UEG, said, “Education in future will be technologically driven, and we have taken a step towards it. The iPod Touch has a lot to offer to children of any age group. We have already placed orders for more devices.”
Samir Dalwai, paediatric and child development expert, said that it was an interesting initiative taken for children “However, it needs scientific study to determine if a student using an iPod will be turn out to be more efficient than the one who is learning it the traditional way. Also, the use of an electronic device should not limit human interaction in classrooms, at least at a young age.”
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