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Abstract
We explore here public and private initiatives in technological solutions for educating the poor and the disadvantaged in India since the second half of the twentieth century. Specifically, we document Ministry of Human Resource Development’s project to develop an affordable tablet computer, named ‘Aakash,’ as a personal access device for digital courses and online learning materials. We approach this case study in relation to several educational technologies that preceded it, and with a wider interest in mapping a contemporary transition from satellite-based mass education to Internet-based mass education. We argue that this process cannot be easily seen as a transition from unilateral broadcasting to more democratic multi-casting model of communication and learning. Specifically, we study the manufacturing process of Aakash and the public debates around it, to comment on the nature of state power in India, as revealed in its attempts to imagine and develop a digital personal device to deliver mass education.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Asif Siddiqi and Martin Collins for the invitation to contribute to this special issue, and the continuous and patient support. Research on this project is funded by the Max Weber Foundation Transnational Research Group on ‘Poverty and Education in India’. We want to thank Sarah McKeever for research assistance. We would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers, Geetha Nambissan, Rajarshi Dasgupta, Ritajyoti Bandyopadhyay, Mili, Roland Wittje, and Shreya Ghosh for their comments and suggestions. The paper was originally written when Sumandro was associated with the Sarai programme at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi, India.
Notes
1. Tilak, ‘Vocational Education in South Asia.’
2. Ambani and Birla, Report on a Policy Framework.
3. Thus far, it is proposed to develop material for the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) curriculum.
4. Rabkin, ‘How the Failed Aakash Tablet,’; Singh, ‘What Went Wrong,’; Press Trust of India, ‘Kapil Sibal: Aakash Tablet,’; Anwer, ‘It’s Time We Chucked.’
5. Vishnoi, ‘No Date of Expiry.’
6. Phalkey, ‘Science, History and Modern India.’
7. Siddiqi, ‘Making Space for the Nation.’
8. Agarwal, ‘From Kothari Commission.’
9. Maharaj, ‘An Overview of NASA-India Relations,’ and ‘Satellite Broadcasting in Rural India.’
10. Test villages were chosen using 1971 census data to ensure that sites chosen were suitably isolated and lacked most basic technology. 80% of the villages chosen did not have access to electricity before the start of the project.
11. Farmer, Television, Governance, and Social Change, 116.
12. Siddiqi, ‘Making Space for the Nation,’ 41.
13. Starosta and Merriam, ‘The Impact of Media Technology.’
14. Chander and Karnik, Planning for Satellite Broadcasting.
15. Starosta and Merriam, ‘The Impact of Media Technology.’
16. Planning Commission, Evaluation Report, 3–4.
17. Siddiqi, ‘Making Space for the Nation,’ 42.
18. The National Policy on Education 1986 proposed a ‘technology mission’ to urgently address the problem of widespread illiteracy in the country. See Chauhan, ‘Education for All in India’, 232.
19. Bhatt, ‘Growth of Computing Technology.’
20. Ministry of Human Resource Development, ‘Revised ICT@Schools Scheme.’
21. Sterling, ‘Simputer.’
22. Various. The Bangalore Declaration.
23. Chandru, ‘The Simputer.’
24. The specifications of the Simputer featured 200 Mhz; 320 × 240 touch screen, 32 MB RAM, and 32 MB Flash.
25. The company PicoPeta launched another device – the Amida 4200 – based on the Simputer design in 2004. Two state governments proposed using the devices in government: the state of Karnataka used the device for land record procurements and the state of Chhattisgarh introduced projects in digital education. This is yet another story that can be followed up but beyond the scope of this paper.
26. Mitra, ‘Self Organising Systems.’
27. Mitra, ‘Minimally Invasive Education.’
28. Sociologists of education have looked at this aspect of poverty and education also in relation to the rise of private entrepreneurship in low-cost schools. See Nambissan, ‘Poverty, Markets and Elementary Education.’
29. The project has received several awards, including the ‘Digital Opportunity Award’ in 2008 by the World Information Technology and Services Alliance. Mitra was awarded the $1 million TED Prize in 2013 for the expansion of self-promoted learning. The author Vikas Swarup has claimed that ‘Hole in the Wall’ served as the inspiration for the book Q&A, which would later serve as the inspiration for the film ‘Slumdog Millionaire.’
30. National Council of Educational Research and Training, Position Paper of National Focus Group, 6.
31. Ibid.
32. De, ‘EDUSAT.’
33. The EDUSAT brochure described it as ‘the first exclusive satellite for serving the educational sector[,] … specially configured for audio-visual medium, employing digital interactive classroom and multimedia multicentric system.’ The program was rolled out in three phases. Phase I focused on delivering content to and from three pilot schools, including Visveswaraya Technological University in Karnataka, Y. B. Chavan State Open University in Maharashtra, and Rajiv Gandhi Technical University in Madhya Pradesh, were connected using a Ku-band transponder on board a satellite – INSAT-3B – which was already in orbit. Following the launch of the EDUSAT satellite, the program moved in to Phase II. In Phase II, at least one uplink in each of the five spot beams was activated, allowing the connection of 100–200 schools. The national beam connects several key institutions, and includes Indira Gandhi National Open University, the National Council for Educational Research and Training, the Indian Institutes of Technology at Kharagpur and Chennai, the Institute of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers, the National Council of Science Museums, and the Centre for Environmental Education. Phase III included a wider rollout of services, including connecting additional primary and secondary schools, but users on the ground were expected to pay for ground services and technical assistance. The audit report of the project, however, noted that lack of identification and planning of financial resources for the users of EDUSAT services eventually led to its under-utilisation. See, Indian Space Research Organisation, EDUSAT, and Department of Space, EDUSAT Utilisation Programme.
34. While some states, notably Punjab, implemented feedback and complaint systems, it is unclear how the EDUSAT programs have been used, how many uplinks were stable, or how many schools effectively utilised the program when successfully connected. It is also not clear how school infrastructure might have changed to support EDUSAT-based learning, and therefore reorganised the classroom and in turn, reshaped the broader education system – especially curricula.
35. Department of Space, EDUSAT Utilisation Programme.
36. The National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (http://nptel.ac.in/) was an initiative in developing free online courses and educational materials to enable self- and distance learning in fields of engineering and science. It ran during 2003–2007, and was led by IISc, and seven Indian Institutes of Technology (Bombay, Delhi, Guwahati, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras, and Roorkee).
37. These five areas were civil, computer science, electrical, electronics, and mechanical engineering. IIT Guwahati and IIT Roorkee also joined the project.
38. Krishnan, National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning.
39. Sakshat was also integrated into the design of the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (henceforth, NMEICT), which started in 2009, as the website through which all e-learning content produced by the Mission was to be accessed.
40. The portal was to showcase nearly 1000 courses – some for the previously mentioned NPTEL program – but it is unclear if this target was reached. The programme was seen to be important enough that the President of India A. P. Abdul Kalam launched the portal in October 2006.The portal was designed at the Indira Gandhi National Open University and features five functional modules. These include Educational Resources, that is access to e-journals, digital archives, and digital library resources, and Scholarship module where students can share academic achievements and goals. Two of the modules, Testing and Superachiever, feature links to online tests, skill upgrading tools, and guided tests to encourage self-learning and assessment. The fifth portal is Interaction, and includes an email function, blogging tools, online chats, and a discussion forum to encourage interactions between peers and between students and teachers. An interactive classroom feature was also available.
41. Press Information Bureau, ‘Low Cost Access-Cum-Computing Device.’
42. Information collected through Right to Information request by Nikhil Pahwa of MediaNama reveals that by mid 2012 (6 months after the launch of the device on October 2011), 6440 units of the device was supplied by DataWind to IIT Rajasthan, of which 650 were accepted by the latter after testing, and of that only 366 were distributed to students by the MHRD. Pahwa, ‘Aakash Tablet RTI.’
43. Express News Service, ‘Finally, a Glimpse of the $10 Laptop.’
44. Without a screen or a keyboard, the device could not offer anything more than being used by a (separate) computer to access the Internet via its networking facilities, and to store only two gigabytes of data. Mukherjee, ‘Bonsai Netbooks,’; Rangarajan, ‘Ultra-low-cost access device.’
45. Ministry of Human Resource Development, ‘The History of Aakash,’ 3.
46. Mehta et al., Report of the Evaluation Committee, 167.
47. NMEICT was initiated in February 2009 by Arjun Singh, the then Union Minister of Human Resource Development, with an aim to enable knowledge and skill development in the higher education sector through opportunities of distributed learning via the Internet. The Mission had three components: (a) provision of Internet connectivity to all colleges and universities, (b) creation of ‘high quality e-content’ available free of cost to the learners, and (c) provision of ‘low cost access-cum-computing devices’ to the learners and educators. Approximately 60% of the total budget of the Mission (Rs 46 billion, or around $1 billion in the prevailing exchange rate), was earmarked for provision of Internet connectivity to educational institutes through the National Knowledge Network. The rest of the amount was divided into supporting creation of educational content (including through NPTEL) and funding research, prototyping, and testing of the device. The National Knowledge Network (http://www.nkn.in/) is a high speed data communication infrastructure connecting various academic and research institutes in India through an optical fibre network. The project was approved in March 2010. See: Ministry of Human Resource Development, ‘The History of Aakash.’
48. Ministry of Human Resource Development, ‘The History of Aakash,’ 3–4.
49. Press Information Bureau, ‘Low Cost Access-Cum-Computing Device.’
50. Press Information Bureau, ‘Low Cost Access-Cum-Computing Device.’
51. Bhattacharya, Devi, and Foster, ‘Searching for the Aakash.’
52. Ibid.
53. Mehta et al., Report of the Evaluation Committee, 167–169.
54. Pahwa, ‘HCL Wins Contract.’
55. The XO laptop (http://laptop.org/en/laptop/) was developed by the OLPC Foundation specifically to be used by children for (‘constructionist’) learning through exploring, experimenting, and expressing with the device. The laptops are built as durable, functional and energy-efficient machines so that children – especially in developing countries – can use them under harsh conditions.
56. Julka and Aulakh, ‘Tender for $35 Laptop Project.’
57. Curiously, he could not actually show it to the journalist(s) as the device was at his home and not in the office. See Raina, ‘Is India’s Elusive $35 Laptop.’
58. Press Information Bureau, ‘Shri Kapil Sibal Launches Aakash.’
59. The first version of the Aakash device had the following specifications: ‘366 MHz Conexant ARM 11 processor, 7″ resistive touch screen, 256 MB RAM, two USB ports and wifi.’ Moudgalya et al., ‘Genesis of Aakash.’
60. Raina and Timmons, ‘Meet Aakash,’; Annanthakrishnan, ‘Power in Your Palm.’
61. Sai Gopal, ‘City Firm Develops.’
62. Julka, ‘14 Lakh Aakash Tablets Booked.’
63. Chopra, ‘Kapil Sibal’s Cheap Aakash,’; Goel, ‘Aakash Tablet Hands On.’
64. Press Trust of India, ‘Aakash Tablet.’
65. One rumour suggested that two major public sector companies, Bharat Electronics Limited and Electronics Corporation of India Limited would now manufacture the device, with R&D supervision from a network of public agencies, including the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing and the Department of Information Technology, Government of India. See Agarwal and Nanda, ‘Sibal Ejects DataWind.’
66. Raina and Timmons, ‘The Aakash Project’s Bitter Finish.’
67. Graham and Marvin, Splintering Urbanism, 139–142.
68. Sanjay Asthana maps a similar shift in broadcasting and media policies of the Indian state since independence: from the centralised efforts to create a ‘televisual nation-ness’ in the pre-liberalisation era, to the disaggregated efforts of the post-liberalisation that simultaneously partnered and competed with the emerging private media industry. See Asthana, ‘Broadcasting, Space, and Sovereignty in India.’
69. Rabkin, ‘How the Failed Aakash Tablet.’
70. Ibid.
71. Julka, ‘Datawind Breaks Ties.’
72. Press Information Bureau, ‘President Unveils Aakash Version.’
73. Raina and Li, ‘India’s Aakash.’
74. Chaudhary, ‘Updated: Aakash 2.’
75. Press Trust of India, ‘Aakash 2 Tablet.’
76. Nanda and Agarwal, ‘Government Close to Giving Up.’
77. Mehta et al., Report of the Evaluation Committee, 109.
78. Ibid., 31–32.
79. The (upgraded) specifications of the Aakash II device was as follows: ‘512 MB RAM, 1 GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor, Android 4.0 operating system and a gravity sensor … 2 GB NAND Flash, 2 GB SD Card, [and] 7″ display.’ Moudgalya et al., ‘Genesis of Aakash 2,’ 23.
80. Press Trust of India, ‘HRD Ministry may Abandon.’
81. Rajan, ‘100,000 Aakash Tablets.’
82. Agarwal, ‘Govt Plans to License.’
83. Ibid.
84. Department of Electronics and Information Technology, ‘Finalization of Technical Specifications,’; Department of Electronics and Information Technology, ‘Proposed Aakash IV.’
85. As part of the national government headed by Dr. Manmohan Singh, Kapil Sibal served as the Minister of Communications and Information Technology from 19 January 2011, to 26 May 2014. He was also the Minister of Human Resource Development from 31 May 2009 to 28 October 2012. He was succeeded by Pallam Raju as the Minister of Human Resource Development under the same government. Even after stepping down from MHRD, that Kapil Sibal continued to head Department of Electronics and Information Technology.
86. Mukherjee, ‘Bonsai Netbooks.’
87. Raina and Li, ‘India’s Aakash.’
88. Nanda and Agarwal, ‘Government Close to Giving Up,’ and Mehtata et al., Report of the Evaluation Committee, 109.
89. Chopra, ‘Kapil Sibal’s Cheap Aakash.’
90. Julka, ‘Datawind Breaks Ties,’; Parthasarathi, ‘Cloudy Outlook for Aakash.’
91. Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Report No. 19 of 2013.
92. Press Trust of India, Aakash Tablet is My Unfulfilled Dream.
93. Gooday, ‘Critical Reflections on Histories,’ 286. Emphasis as in original.
94. Bhattacharya, Devi, and Foster, ‘Searching for the Aakash,’; Chopra, ‘Kapil Sibal’s Cheap Aakash,’; Nanda and Agarwal, ‘Government Close to Giving Up.’
95. The only exercise in considering alternative software platform for the device has been IIT Mumbai's attempts at running Linux-based operating system on the device. Moudgalya et al., ‘Genesis of Aakash 2,’ 23.
96. Mudliar and Pal, ‘ICTD in the Popular Press.’
97. Kapil Sibal, the then Minister of Human Resource Development, mentioned in his address at the 36th Session of the General Conference of UNESCO that the Government of India ‘dedicate(s) this device to the children of the world [so as to] equip our children with the tools to face the challenges of the twenty-first century.’ Press Information Bureau, ‘Address of Shri Kapil Sibal.’
98. Title of an article by April Rabkin reads ‘How the Failed Aakash Tablet is an Object Lesson in India’s Long Road Ahead to Tech Innovation.’ Rabkin, ‘How the Failed Aakash Tablet.’
99. Vivek Wadhwa notes that ‘[t]he Indian government has inadvertently started a revolution’ and ‘[d]on’t be surprised to see villagers [soon] developing apps that solve their own unique problems’; Wadhwa, ‘India’s Tablet Revolution.’
100. Ministry of Human Resource Development, ‘The History of Aakash,’ 1.
101. Mehta et al., Report of the Evaluation Committee, 169.
102. Ibid.
103. Anupam Gupta, one of the co-leaders of the Aakash project team under Kalra, further clarified that the ‘hardware innards’ of the device were assembled by the IIT team by carefully selecting components that were affordable yet provided basic performance specifications. The team then offered the ‘pre-manufacture proof-of-concept’ to the agency selected to undertake commercial manufacturing, to be used either as-is or in a modified form as the basis for the final design. See Subbaraman, ‘The Big Ideas.’
104. Mehta et al., Report of the Evaluation Committee, 174–175. Italics added.
105. Ibid., 176.
106. Ibid., 170.
107. Ministry of Human Resource Development, ‘The History of Aakash,’ 5, and Mehta et al., Report of the Evaluation Committee, 181–182.
108. Rajadhyaksha, The Last Cultural Mile, 153.
109. Ibid., 159.
110. Parthasarathy, Information and Communications Technologies for Development.
111. Rajadhyaksha, The Last Cultural Mile, 39.
112. Negroponte, ‘$35 Tablet for Education.’
113. Ibid.
114. Press Information Bureau, ‘Low Cost Access-Cum-Computing Device.’
115. Ministry of Human Resource Development, National Mission on Education, 15–18.
116. Ministry of Human Resource Development, The History of Aakash, 3–4.
117. Ghosh, ‘DataWind Partners with BSNL.’
118. An ‘app store’ is a source for browsing, downloading and installing applications (or ‘apps’) into a mobile computing device. Developers of mobile operating systems (such as Apple, Google and Microsoft) often develop particular app stores through which applications can be installed to the operating system concerned, so as to control and monetise distribution of applications to users of devices running that operating system.
119. DataWind uses a patented technological system to route the web content being accessed by the user through servers owned by the company. These servers pre-process the content being send to the device so as to accelerate and smoothen the user experience. Kurup, ‘We Want to Target.’
120. Rangaswamy and Arora, ‘Mobile Internet in the Wild and Everyday.’
121. Kurup, ‘We Want to Target.’
122. See, Jasanoff, States of Knowledge. Also see, Jasanoff, ‘Governing Innovation.’
123. Scott, Seeing Like a State.