COMPUTERS BY THE CONTAINERFUL: EXPAT VENTURE SHIPS IN HARDWARE

Photo: Curious youngsters take a peek at the unusual cargo. (Photo FN...
not included in this mail)

By Frederick Noronha

PANJIM, Feb 1 (2002): On the dusty hillock between Porvorim and Sangolda, in central coastal Goa, a flurry of activity ended just before sunset on Thursday. Some 380 computers landed there, as the neighbourhood looked on
puzzled by the element of surprise.

Kids fooled around playfully bursting the bubble-packs that protected the computers for their journey halfway round the globe, since they set sail from New York in early December. But, if things work out -- and it's not
going to be so easy -- computers like these could make a difference to the tomorrow of Goa's children.

Continuing their unusual venture, the voluntary venture called the Goa Schools Computers Project (GSCP), brought in a second containerful of once-used donated PCs. in partnership with the Goa Education Department.

By this month-end, these are to be distributed to over a hundred schools in the state.

"(The container with the) PCs landed on January 22 and were cleared on last Wednesday (Jan 30). We had no problems (this time). The Customs and the Goa Education Department were most supportive," says Daryl Martyris, a
volunteer in his late twenties and was till recently a consultant with PriceWaterHouseCoopers.

Martyris is one of the expat Goans who got really worked-up about the possibility of expanding access to computer education in Goa. Young Goa-educated expat Romulus Pereira, from Navelim village some 30 kms south
of here, who made his millions in Silicon Valley, was one of the many others who threw his weight behind this project.

Now, the Goa Schools Computers Projects (GSCP) is drawing attention from within India and beyond... as an example of how concerned expats can team up with locals to help widen computer education back home.

Pereira is the biggest single donor for this project. "He's convinced about the benefits of IT in the kids' future," says Martyris, who himself grew up in Mumbai before doing his engineering and shifting to the US.

In end-1999, a trial shipment of 97 computers were sent across in a 20-foot container. That was not easy. By some oversight, it landed at Mumbai, 600kms to the north of Goa, and clearing it at the port took months together.

But past experience made things far smoother this time round. In Jan 2002 end, the number was hiked to a substantial 380. Computers are once-used American donated equipment. But because of the high-rate of obsolescence
in the West, only Pentium-I and above computers -- relatively high-end by our standards -- have been shipped in.

Over the next few weeks, the computers will be tested and refurbished before being distributed to schools in end-February. Both government and government-aided schools who have shown a willingness to maintain them
will benefit, while ensuring that the computers reach diverse areas of the state.

This idea which started on the Internet-based Goa networks - particularly a not-for-profit electronic mailing-list called GoaNet -- some years ago is, incidentally, catching on in other states too.

A website called computersforindia.org has been set up to show others how low-cost computers could be legally imported for use in schools. Expats from Goa are among those taking the lead in pushing for this national
initiative.

Expats have also networked with an organisation called the World Computer Exchange. This US group accepts computer donations, and refurbishes them to 'sell' to NGOs at a very concessional price of US$40 each. With the PI's
come colour monitors, some of which are a whopping 19 to 21 inches in
size.

"We're getting a lot of e-mails from NGOs in India, asking how to import such once-used equipment for schools. One shipment facilitated by SEWA, the women's group, is imminent in Gujarat. We believe the Andhra Pradesh
government is actively considering this option," says Martyris.

Due to a lack of hardware, this talent-rich, resource-poor country finds it difficult to get access its students need to study. This unusual means --getting in computers by the containerful -- is being seen as one way out.

After spending $3500 on the container shipping, the landed cost of each PC is just about $60, which is way below what it would cost a school to get purchase one from the market. Since the expats are actually funding this
project through donations and raffles, the schools pay nothing - other than a commitment to set up facilities and use the hardware to the optimum.

"We will wait till the schools can assimilate a larger number of PCs. We will work in tandem with the government's own plans to spread the computer culture in schools, by adding more computers where needed," says GSCP
local coordinator Anit Saxena.

GSCP is supported by the Goa Sudharop, a US-registered charity made up of expat volunteers, that seeks to kickstart voluntary and altruistic initiatives here by critical interventions. (See www.goasudharop.org).

"(Due to the heavy load) we had to make 13 Tempo trips, just shifting the computers from the container (which couldn't go up the narrow, wire-overhanging road) to the store-house," said Ashley Delaney. He has been involved with the getting the PCs working and moving in the past shipment too.

But some here have looked at the gift horse in the mouth, and have not been that welcoming of such gifted PCs, even though the average quality seems far better than that used by a home-user or small office in Goa.

"There's the realisation that good-quality, used PCs are better than no PCs at all, which would affect the future of our youth. People who realize this, are supportive of the efforts," said Martyris.

GSCP members however say they are thrilled with the way the Education Department is "treating us like a partner". Incidentally, they point out, plans by the government to give every school in Goa at least one computer
are being materialised this year itself. This can be supplemented with more computers, to improve computer-student ratios, specially in village schools, they argue.

The next step is to give schools access to more computers, and to use
those installed more productively -- so that possibly even nearby villagers can
benefit from the same, suggest the proponents of this project.

"By the end of this shipment, we'll have covered some 120 schools (some with only single computers though). Most will have raised funds for their infrastructure," said Marytris.

Saxena argues that for such a project to succeed, what is badly needed is a 'catalytic agent' within the school itself -- either in the form of the principal, a teacher or the management.

Silicon Valley-based CEO of Riverstone Networks Romulus Pereira, the largest donor to the project, commented earlier: "Providing access to computers and technology to schools is an essential element towards creating the same opportunities for the youth of Goa as available to youth elsewhere in the world."

Pereira should know; studying in Loyola's at Margao was no handicap for setting up and later selling a partnership-run technology company for US$300 million some time ago. Kids everywhere have the potential... if only they get the chance.

GSCP's future plans are to push for computer-integrated training -- meaning, the computer could be taught not just as one more esoteric subject, but used as a tool for students to learn other subjects in their curriculum, and more about today's world too. (ENDS)