A new initiative spearheaded by the Kerala government will consolidate e-waste from state-run schools and the funds earned through its disposal will be utilized to buy new computers for the same institutions.
IT@School, a state government initiated project, envisions to collect old monitors, mouses, keyboards, UPS among other things that have accumulated from over 10,000 schools and educational offices.
K Anvar Sadath, who is the Executive Director of the programme, said that about 1 crore kg of electronic waste is estimated to be processed out through the initiative.
“The project which fosters Information and Communication Technology (ICT) education and e-Governance in Kerala Education department, will address the problem of accumulated e-waste in schools since 2000 which eats-up huge space of IT labs, besides obstructing the lab activities in a large way”, he said, as reported by Mathrubhumi.
Tying up with Clean Kerala Company, a state-owned enterprise, the waste will be transported to the company’s facility in Hyderabad where these will be technically processed.
Collecting the waste in batches of 500 Kg from schools, the project intends to raise around ₹10 crore through its disposal.
“For every kilogram of e-waste, we will get ₹10 and the proceeds of this will be used to buy new computers which would be apportioned among all the 10,000 schools,” Sadath added.
He further mentioned that the project has developed an online system that can be utilised by schools to quantify the e-waste that could be collected in a batch manner.
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“This exercise would be completed by July 15. Later, we will conduct hardware clinics in selected regions to repair and upgrade machines which are repairable,” he added.
Established to boost Information and Communication Technology (ICT) enabled educational system in the state in 2001, IT@School project envisages enriching the role of IT as a teaching aid for learning all subjects.
You can know more about the IT@School project here and write to the authorities at contact@itschool.gov.in.
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