TREND-SETTING: Students attending an educative programme at a village information centre

Puducherry: Village information centres set up to disseminate ocean information among coastal communities after the tsunami disaster are now offering a host of services, including e-learning programme for students with course contents drawn from science, mathematics and English. 

The Pondicherry Multipurpose Social Service Society (PMSSS), which set up these centres, in association with BSNL launched the e-learning programme at 10 village information centres located in coastal hamlets on Wednesday for students pursuing X and XII standards. The NGO funded by the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) will provide the course content, while BSNL will extend technical support for the online learning programme. 

The NGO will make the elearning facility available to rural students visiting the village information centres between 6.30 p.m. and 7.30 p.m. This online learning facility (http://- www.etutorpdy.bsnl.co.in) is also open to all BSNL broadband customers. “PMSSS had employed an expert team of teachers to prepare the course content while BSNL had come forward to offer the programme online to all its customers,” PMSSS executive director Fr R Ratchagar told The Times of India. 

The NGO proposes to extend the online facility to 11 more information centres in Cuddalore district and three centres in Karaikal. “The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) had come forward to provide 145 computers to our organization and we plan to equip the village information centres with additional computers to extend elearning facilities to more students,” Fr Ratchagar said. 

Apart from the regular onehour e-learning classes every day, the NGO will offer recorded versions of e-tuition for slow learners and school dropouts to help them to take the public examinations. 

These centres are also offering a host of other services like payment of phone bills, landline and mobile booking, sale of recharge coupons and top-up cards. The NGO also plans to offer banking facilities at the centres in association with public and private sector banks. “The centres initially will collect deposits and offer e-payment and online banking facilities,” he said, adding that the organization has sent a proposal to the territorial administration for opening counters at the centres to collect electricity bills.