India Habitat Centre (IHC) has set up a Computer Learning Centre at Habitat, which is a multi-purpose learning center running a wide variety of programs.
The vision of the centre is to bring the potential of Information technology (IT) to those who have not been touched by it as yet. The centre will NOT be running courses that will provide certificates or diplomas. Instead, the centre aims to expose the computer illiterate to the possibilities that open up when the computer is used as a tool of learning. The wide expanse of the Internet will be another area of interest and developmental potential. The centre will partner with various NGO's to push its initiative of spreading the web of IT. In this area the centre will be a resource centre bringing together groups from marginalized communities for programs that will provide them with computer literacy, curriculum enrichment, skill development and training.
One of the more significant possibilities that the centre will explore, establish and improvise continually is to develop the IT learning experience by developing it as a platform to enhance life skills of those communities whose basic learning has been through the informal system or those who have had to drop out of a formal system due to economic or other compulsions. The centre will partner with various NGO's to conduct enrichment programs for the community in this sector.
One of the aims of this exercise would be that similar learning centers are set up in communities where these teachers/facilitators work and reside. The Habitat Learning Centre will be an anchor for such centres. The HLC will provide resources in terms of content renewal as and when required and connect these centres to various others resources persons and institutions in the community. We hope that mushrooming of such learning centres will work as a multiplier effect in spreading computer literacy and hence work toward closing the digital divide.
Another initiative the centre is pursuing is to develop partnerships with educational and research institutes from where we can bring modules of development for specific target groups like women on health, industry skills, career development and others.
Concurrently, a series, that helps people discover their interest would also be developed and initiated. The centre will work toward bringing programs for its members in 'aesthetic experience' wherever there is interest for example, in animation, cartooning, photography, art appreciation and others.
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