NEW DELHI, NOV 18: To make information technology available to the poor children, the Delhi government today launched a pilot project of setting up 30 internet kiosks in six colonies in the Capital.Delhi Assembly speaker Prem Singh inaugurated the project, aimed at spreading computer and basic literacy in economically and socially disadvantaged areas, at Ambedkar Nagar in South Delhi in the presence of Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.More such kiosks would be set up in other areas of the city if the pilot project in the Ambedkar Nagar and Madangir colonies was successfully carried out.The project has been hammered out in collaboration with the National Institute of Information Technology (NIIT).The total cost of the three-year project will be around Rs 80 lakh which will be borne by the Delhi government, while NIIT and MTNL will chip in with software and internet facilities respectively.Known worldwide as the "hole in the wall" experiment, the main objective of the project is to help children and also adults acquire basic computer knowledge through use of these kiosks, using "minimally invasive education pedagogy''.Besides, provisions will be made to provide local information pertaining to health and education. Information about the important schemes launched by the government would also be available at these kiosks.The project is based on the recent experiments by NIIT which have proved that illiterate slum children could easily use the internet.
