Evaluation of Plan Schemes of the Department of Official Language

TRAINING FOR WORKING IN HINDI ON COMPUTERS
These programmes are conducted under the auspices of the Technical
Cell. The scheme began in 1991-92 and the objective appears to be that
government servants and public sector personnel should be oriented to the
use of computers through the medium of Hindi. The programmes are
outsourced and conducted by the NIC, C-DAC NOIDA and NPTI Faridabad
at various locations within the country. The agencies conducting the
programmes are paid the cost @ Rs. 50,000/- per course (non-residential)
and training is provided free of cost to the participants. About 25 participants
attend a programme and, for the last four years of the Tenth Plan, 100
programmes have been conducted every year. The duration of the
programme is 5 days and the timings are 9 or 10 am to 5 p.m.
A study of the course structure indicates that the course packs-in too
many topics in a very short duration. Although this may have been all right
a decade ago when the objective was only to spread awareness, it does not
allow any substantive learning by participants. A perusal of the course
contents of an earlier programme, for example, showed that the topics
included Windows, Language Tools, Leap office, PowerPoint,
Spreadsheets, File Management, Internet and e-mail in one course. A
recent circular inviting application for the 5 days programme includes the
above as well as part of a day devoted to LILA, Shrutlekhan and other Hindi
software. A new learner can go impressed but dazed after the exposure.
The DOL has been able to achieve the Plan targets both as regards to
expenditure and physical targets of number of courses conducted. The
number of participants per course have often fallen a little short of the norm,
but it would not be very wrong to infer that nearly 1500-2000 persons may
have been trained annually through these awareness programmes. The
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