Kochi: The state government may soon herald another revolution in IT education with the introduction of Raspberry Pi, a low-cost credit card-sized single-board computer, in schools. The scheme, a first in India, will be implemented by IT@School with the support of IT department and the Startup Village in Kochi.
Created by a British Foundation to train children on code writing, Raspberry Pi is now turning out to be a magic device for which the limit is only your imagination. It's widely used now in home automation and robotics. Based on Linux operating system, Pi along with accessories are available under Rs 4,000.
“We are planning to train 5,000 students this year before September as a pilot project and for this 170 boot camps will be organised across the state. The government has allotted Rs 4 crore for the project,” said Mr Babu Sebastian, executive director of IT@School.
The selected students would also be given the Raspberry Pi. According to Mr Sebastian, the list of the beneficiary students, winners of the IT Fest, are already with the department.
A recent two-week long workshop on Pi, organised at the Startup Village for schoolchildren, as a trial run ahead of the project launch, drew encouraging response from them. “The students were allowed to do various projects with the machine and they enjoyed it,” said Pranav Kumar Suresh, chief operating officer of Startup Village, here.
The Startup Village is also planning to set up a permanent lab for schoolchildren, offering micro-processor based computing education. “The idea is to organise two to three-week long workshop for children round the year,” said Pranav.
Capabilities of Pi
Raspberry Pi can use a television as a display and hence a different monitor isn't necessary. Add a keyboard, a mouse and an SD card memory and your mini-computer is ready.
The Pi can be used to programme robots, browse the web, to design webpages, to play audio and video, for home-automation, making a camera or even as a retro gaming console!
