Inspired by TN’s success, Uttar Pradesh seeks to adopt QR code tech for books

UP deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma, who hailed Tamil Nadu government’s initiative, is scheduled to send his officials to the city to know about the latest technology in printing so that it can be implemented there as well.

To make learning more interactive for students, the Tamil Nadu State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) -- the nodal agency in implementing new initiatives in the school curriculum -- had last year came with QR codes in textbooks especially for Class 9 and 11, which was a big hit among students and teachers.

The QR is a device-readable code consisting of a series of colour squares, typically used for storing web-links or other information for reading by the camera on a smart-phone.

Accordingly, the latest textbooks provide more information in the form of audio and video clippings made accessible through the QR codes placed in every lesson.

A senior official from the School Education Department told DT Next that although UP has already initiated using QR codes in the school books, the results were not as good as those of Tamil Nadu’s.

“During his recent visit to Chennai, Sharma met Education Minister K A Sengottaiyan and discussed several matters in connection with the education system,” the official said. He added that during the meeting Sharma also enquired about implementation of new textbooks with added facilities for the students.

The official said the UP minister also said that he would send a team to Tamil Nadu soon for the transfer of technology, especially for introducing the same type of textbooks in his state. “The team will also discuss implementation of a new curriculum with SCERT officials,” the official said. Recent data from SCERT revealed that there have been about three crore QR code scans from these books by students and teachers over the last  year.