Primary Education through Digital Slate and Telecom (PEDISTEL)Dr. Abhay GandhiVisvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, NAGPUR 440010 INDIAasgandhi@ece.vnit.ac.in

AgendaObjectivesChallengesTechnology and featuresBudget and development plan

Objectives

Development of low cost electronic slate with distance education capability.Development of complete distance education system using the electronic slate. To launch the education solution on a large scale.

ChallengesNo access to education for rural and tribal children.No school / school faraway / daily commuting not possible.Difficult access to quality education for urban slum dwellers.Children of migrant labour, construction workers do not stay at one place.

Challenges (Contd.)To provide infrastructure for a few people in each village is not economically feasible.Steady brain-drain from villages to cities over the last 6 decades.Talent pool that can teach better is concentrated in cities and towns.Teachers unwilling to stay in villages.

PEDISTEL - Technology

Digital Electronic Slate features

Digital Electronic Slate featuresDetachable solar panelWinding spring / animal or human power for battery charging.Touch screen, web-cam, speaker, micFull duplex voice(ASVD or DSVD) or GPRS/3G/landline connectivity.E-book reader, video playback, drawing etc. Useful for higher education also.

Digital slate features (contd.)Ability to store off-line content for example home work.Minimum 3 hr use per day. Patent filed for the electronic slate. (Application no. 1625/MUM/2009 date: 10/07/2009)

Digital slate block diagram

Teachers setupTraining software on Laptop/ Desktop PCWeb-cam, tablet or touch screen.Display divided in nine parts to handle 9 students at a time.Contents on slate or students face shown in the window allocated.

Who will be teachers?9:1 ratio means a large number of teachers required.College students (engg., medical, law, arts, science, commerce, pharmacy)Housewives, retired personnelPhysically challenged persons

Team and resourcesVNIT- Department of Electronics, VLSI LabA. S. Gandhi (Communications and overall solution development)Prof. R. M. Patrikar (VLSI issues)Ravindra B. Keskar (Web solution)

Team and resourcesMTech(VLSI Design), MTech(Computer Science) and BTech students.Currently, one engineer for hardware and one for software is proposed. Perhaps, the no. needs to be increased.

Budget (3 years)

I)Components procurement

II)Assembly of demo units

III) HDL (Verilog) Environment

IV) Testing Equipment

V) Web based solution

VI)Marketing Methodology

VII)Salary of project engineers

VIII)Contingency, Consumables, Travel & Miscellaneous

Recurring budget year wise break up

Recurring budget year wise break up

Summary of recurring budget

Financial outlay (year-wise)

Business model and costingTarget cost of digital slate Rs. 500 to 2500 (US$ 10 to 50). Possible due to large volumes.Franchisee model for urban areaNGO+SHG for rural areaWeb based CRM solution.

Business model and costingNRE Cost (Development cost)Operational expensesTeachers and support staff salaryTelephone usage chargesDevices (Students and Teachers)Device loss, damage, maintenance.

Development planI year: Prototype slate to be assembled, Verilog code to be ready.II Year: Web-based solution to be developed. Pilot project to be ready.III Year: Full deployment across the country.

Thank you!