Seven VDCs in Kavre come together as an e-village

RAJ KUMAR PARAJULI

KAVRE: Kavre is set to carve the names of villages on the map of entwining technology as they get set to become e-village of the country. Four Village Development Committees (VDCs) of Mandan and three of Deupur area of Kavre are being changed into technologically-equipped villages with modernisation in education, health and agriculture sectors, hence getting the new identity of e-village. Jaisithok, Mahadevsthan, Chandeni and Jyamdi of Mandan, and Nayangaun, Gairibisauna and Baluwapati VDCs of Deupur are the chosen seven.

To develop this northeast region of the district into an e-village, local Education Model Rural Development Centre in coordination of the Mandan area Village Education Coordination Committee had floated an action plan concept about three years ago.

For the e-village concept, work was started from e-education in all VDCs simultaneously. In the e-village concept, it was planned to implement the

concepts of e-education, e-medicine as well as e-agriculture

together.

For e-education, it has been planned to prepare materials for schools here in coordination with the Ministry of Education. Back then, Information Technology High level Commission had carried out a survey for the

e-village by making the maximum use of information

technology.

Work related to e-education concept is in full swing in 53 schools including primary, lower-secondary and secondary levels of this region.

Also the work of e-medicine and e-agriculture have been started. For e-medicine, the Dhulikhel-based community hospital with coordination of local health posts has set up tele-medicine centres, while for e-agriculture, Agriculture Information Centres have been set up in all the seven VDCs.

According to the centres’ chairperson Krishna Prasad Sapkota, they have planned to develop a common website to provide the locals with information about local markets and products for e-agriculture.

For running the projects of e-education, e-medicine and e-agriculture, wireless Internet has been managed. It has been planned that towers will be constructed at Nagarkot and the Chandeni Mandan-based Uma Co-education Secondary School and Internet network will be expanded to the schools of this region for connectivity.

Now the Internet network has been expanded by establishing a centre at the Dedithumka Higher Secondary School of Mandan with seven secondary schools of the seven VDCs as sub-centres.

To expand the network in other schools, a survey has been conducted to plant the optical fibre. For the expansion of the Internet service, one computer along with a photocopy and a fax machine each with printers have been managed at rest of the schools.

Similarly, for e-medicine, a laptop has been provided to all the seven health centres in the seven VDCs. In order to develop an internal network among the seven VDCs by using wireless technology, Mahabir Pun, an expert in this sector, has been extending help from the very

beginning.

With the e-village programme, it has been envisioned that local students will be familiar with technology and that locals will get to learn about the world and know about health and agriculture products and bazaars through e-bulletin.

For the same purpose, tele-centres will be set up at all the schools and seven places of this area. Presently, except for the centre and sub-centres, other schools have been doing the account and administration related works on the computer.

For e-medicine, the Dhulikhel hospital has provided necessary training to the AHWs and teachers of this area. Similarly, for e-education, different bodies have trained the teachers of schools, as a result, even the teachers who were not familiar to computers earlier, have learned to work at a computer and surf the net. Most of the schools are managing computer classes on their own resources or being assisted by different bodies and the VDC concerned.

Under the e-village concept, Deupur-based Mahakali Higher Secondary School and Jaisithok-based Chandeni Secondary School are now managing a science laboratory.

The secondary-level students are learning to surf the Internet and get basic education. Some schools have been running their English, Mathematics and Science classes using projectors in their primary classes.

According to Binod Adhikari, Principal of Chandeni Secondary School, the new method has been very effective in teaching as it has been able to make students more curious towards learning.

In Mahakali Higher Secondary School, students now do not pay attention to the books arranged on racks or shelves. Instead they now read books on their computers and select their course books. With the school running e-library recently, students no longer need to choose their books from the library. The school is operating an e-library as per the e-education programme being run in the seven VDCs of the Kavre districts. It is the first e-library of the

programme.

According to Principal Shiv Kumar Poudel, students here now can take computer classes and use their leisure time by searching for the new course books.

Using the e-library, students select course books from Internet and get them printed if deemed important, said Poudel. The school is running computer classes and also planning to make a well-facilitated

laboratory.

Poudel is now planning to establish a computer training centre at his village for the youth. “It is a matter of happiness to get to run an e-library at the local school of our own village,” said former minister Ganesh Sah.

Sah along with CA members Binda Pande, Sunil Babu Panta and Krishna Prasad Sapkota had reached there to look at the e-village of Mandan and Deupur.