Report for Low Cost Equipment Project (sub project of ACEN)

The Low-cost Equipment has maintained steady progress in R & D work with the development of a multi-channel datalogger. We are looking for suitable collaborators for coupling this item with a remote sensing facility.

With the adaptation of LCE to environmental monitoring, the Project has been renamed as Cost Effective Environment Science Education Project. An All-India UNESCO- sponsored Workshop was held from October 25 to 29, 1999 to set-up a Network of educational institutions (schools and colleges) who will participate in hands-on environmental monitoring.

An offshoot of the Project namely Low-cost Educational Publications Programme has received a major boost through Project SITA (Studies in Information Technology Applications: Training in Computer Skills for Low-income Women) sponsored by the Information for Development (InfoDev) Programme of the World Bank (Project outline enclosed).

Women Empower Women

A World Bank sponsored computer skill training programme for socially disabled women.

The academic community - especially in the third world - is finding it difficult to keep up with the rising prices of books, journals and other educational resource material. Another area of concern is how to organize employment-oriented training programmes in emerging technologies for the under privileged sectors.

An interesting solution to the above problems is to couple them. An informal Pilot Project to test this idea was conducted during 1992-97. The Pilot Project trained a number of women from low-income sectors in Desk Top Publishing (DTP) by processing several useful and high quality educational manuscripts which were then published as books and journals at significantly lower costs. The success of the trial attempt led to formulation of Project SITA (Studies in Information Technology Applications: Training in computer skills for low-income women) now sponsored by InfoDev (Information for Development) programme of the World Bank.

SITA's Objective:

To empower low-income women from rural, semi-urban and urban areas, through computer training, customized to meet the demands of both the public and private sectors.

Beginning July 1, 1999, the training programme will be initiated in Delhi and Haryana with the target of training 500 women by July 2000.

SITA's Methodology:

Small batches of selected trainees will be given intensive two months hands-on computer training. Wherever possible, each trainee will be attached to a potential employer. At the end of the course, successful trainees will be given a Certificate and assistance in getting employment. The entire training programme will be totally free.

The trainer group of SITA is setting up a Women's Unit which will be run on semi-commercial lines. The Unit will process top quality educational manuscripts and arrange their publication through low-cost channels. Outstanding trainees may be absorbed as employees of the Women's Unit.

SITA's Needs:

Since SITA must become self-reliant at the end of the 18-month World Bank support, it is necessary to start exploring various ways in which interested individuals/ organizations can help. Some possibilities are

Since the ways of participation in SITA by an individual/organization is flexible, any one can offer assistance in other ways by contacting. Prof. K.V. Sane, Director Project SITA, 2259, Second Floor, Hudson Line, Kingsway Camp, Delhi - 110 009, India. ( Tel: +91-11-713-7937  Fax: +91-11-725-6541   Email: sitah@bol.net.in.)

About the Director

Krishna V. Sane, Ph. D. (Princeton), Post-Doc (Stanford), was Professor of Chemistry at the University of Delhi, until his retirement in 1995. He was UNESCO-Nehru Professor for Science Capacity Building at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore, India, from 1996 to 1998. He served as the Chairman, IUPAC Committee on Teaching of Chemistry from 1991 to 1995; Director, UNESCO Low Cost Equipment Project (1979-1996); and the Chief Editor Chemistry Education (1984-98). He has received Albert Einstein Medal from UNESCO and the Brasted Memorial Award from the Division of Chemical Education of the American Chemical Society, for his efforts at improving science education in developing countries.

Krishna Sane's interest in women empowerment began after the untimely and pre-mature demise of his wife, Dr. Kamalni Sane, who first experimented with computer skill training for socially disabled women. It is his hope that SITA will become a self-evolving memorial of Kamalni.

List of Low Cost Educational Publications from the Women's Unit

S.No. Editor/Author Title