Published by UNESCO, the 2023 Global Education Monitoring Report has three mentions of Kerala's education sector, specifically the use of technology, stated a report in The New Indian Express.
KITE's (Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education) School Wiki portal was mentioned as an international model under "Collaborative work will improve the quality and diversity of content creation". It was noted by the school that it is a commendable feat to develop content for more than 15,000 schools in a collaborative manner.
It may be recalled that the SchoolWiki (www.schoolwiki.in) portal is a huge repository of information on schools, paintings, magazines and more. It is the largest of its kind in any Indian language.
The model of conducting digital education in Kerala schools using free software was mentioned under the title "Some countries have become champions in Free Software".
The report mentioned the Kerala government's free software policy, highlighting that two lakh laptops were distributed in schools which helped Kerala save about Rs 3,000 crore.
Earlier, even NITI Aayog, and other national and international agencies, had made note of the project.
Thirdly, the UNESCO report mentions Kerala in the list of states with the highest internet connectivity in schools in India.
Education Minister of Kerala, V Sivankutty, said that new ICT textbooks will be prepared using the latest free software technologies as part of the curriculum reform. "Kerala will become a topper in digital education by ensuring effective use of textbooks, strengthening the framework based on free software for mentoring, support, and by creating language labs," he said.
The mentions in the UNESCO report are a recognition of Kerala in integrating technology in education, the minister said.
