HRD ministry pilot tests wif-fi for select colleges

Delivering the inaugural address at the awareness workshop on the implementation of Prime Minister’s Kaushal Vikas Yojana organised by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) at Anna University on Friday, MHRD’s director R Srinivasan said that MHRD had recently started a pilot project to offer wi-fi internet connectivity in 10 Central government funded institutions, including National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Himachal Pradesh. 

“Based on the success of the pilot project the scheme may be expanded to other institutions in the country. Colleges wanting to avail of the facility need to apply to MHRD and their affiliating university,” he said. Later speaking to reporters, Srinivasan said that several universities in the country had been connected through National Knowledge Network (NKN), which had internet speed ranging from 1 GBPS to 10 GBPS and the next phase would be to connect colleges. 

“Once we have connected the colleges, they can provide wi-fi internet connectivity to students through their Local Area Network (LAN),” he said. It may be pointed out that one of main objectives of Kaushal Vikas Yojana is to encourage institutions to make the best use of available higher education infrastructure during off-college hours for skill training. 

Addressing college faculty and representatives of technical education institutions, Tamil Nadu Higher Education Secretary Apoorva said that Tamil Nadu had been pioneer in education and providing skills.

“Tamil Nadu has the highest Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) and more students who complete school education are seeking higher education in our state. We are hopeful of reaching Gross Enrolment Ratio on par with developed countries in the next few years,” she said. 

AICTE vice-chairman Prof. Avinash S. Pant said that the Council had started the process to receive applications from technical institutions for the Kaushal Vikas Yojana and the online registration would be done till June 15. Prof. Pant complimented Tamil Nadu as community colleges in the state have been performing well.