Page:SELECTED ESSAYS of Dr. S. S. KALBAG.pdf/71

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The Information and Referral System There is another role for the Polytechnics, namely, carrying Information Technology to the rural area. This has also been recommended in the 1987 review of the Community Polytechnic Scheme and has been included in the Programme of Action of the Education Policy in 1992. A computerised system is not effective unless it goes to the whole system. If a part is computerised, the manual part then becomes the bottleneck and the whole system is not fully utilised. But what will the role of computers be? Who will install them and at what cost? Who will do the maintenance and training functions? The Polytechnics can be trained for these functions. But how can the Information Technology fit into the rural area? Obviously, the information about the existing situation that we want to change has to be measured and sent. From the rural area we need trained people who can measure, record, do preliminary processing and then send it through the system. We talk of the Information Technology revolution now in the offing, but are not clear exactly how we can exploit it for fighting our backward economy. The general trend is for its use in the further development of the already developed section of our society. There is nothing wrong with this; but a nation cannot progress fast if only 5% of its population can contribute to the core activity and the rest are only providing passive labour. We therefore need an information system that starts with the needs and facts of the rural scene, and poses technical questions that need to be solved. These technical problems will be sent through the technical wing of the school, upwards to the Polytechnic, Engineering colleges, or the IITs and National Laboratories. In this way, the problems are posed to that group where they match the talents of the technical group. Also, sometimes a recurring problem indicates a deeper malaise, and often < Rural Development Through Education System 58