E-book to be launched to assist Madhyamik students

The students of Madhyamik syllabus will get this facility as soon as the e-book hits the market, the organisers have informed.

The techies, who were associated with several renowned IT firms, have constituted an organisation called ‘Uttaran Edutech’ to extend education with the help of information technology. The book, named Uttaran, a first of its kind project in the school education sector, will help the Madhyamik students with their new syllabus which has been announced. This book will comprehensively help students to read, understand and answer in a better way and to nurture the creative mind.

The learning content of the seven mandatory subjects have been developed into PDF, video, and audio formats and is packaged into a micro SD card. The buyer will have to install the micro SD into their mobile phone and only then will they get two separate folders within it. The first folder will have documents encrypted within it and the second folder will have an app that will need to be installed. After the installation of the app, the documents will be automatically readable.

The buyers can use the SD card in any mobile phone or tab. But what will happen to those students, who are not using smartphones? “They also can get the facility by buying a tablet in which Uttaran app will be inbuilt,” said one of the organisers, Nilanjan Nath. Uttaran has tied up with an electronic gadget making firm to develop the tablets.

Students can get the digital book online for which online payment facility is also available. Uttaran will send the consignment via speed post.

The micro SD card, which can be installed in the mobile phone, will cost Rs 1800, but students can get it at Rs 700 as an introductory offer. The package of the Uttaran tablet will cost Rs 5000, but the introductory offer is around Rs 3700.

The organisation has designed the content to serve students of different levels according to their learning maturity. The concept of each chapter has been explained with videos and discussions.

This year, the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) has introduced a new curriculum and the question pattern will be applicable for 2017 Madhyamik examinees.

In this new pattern, there will be 36 marks for multiple choice questions, which consist of 40 per cent of the question paper. The three and five marks questions will be increased in the paper and 8 and 10 marks questions will be decreased.

The videos within the package are aimed at developing fundamental understanding of the students.

Several bright minds of the industry have engaged their skills in this project. US-based techie Gour Gopal Nandi, an experienced mobile app developer, is working on the project along with Rajhrita Dutta, an android application developer. A Shiksha Ratna award winner in 2013, retired teacher Arindom Bhowmick is also a part of the project. He was the teacher of Nagarukhra High School.