Thiruvananthapuram , Kerala :

In a bid to familiarise schoolchildren with varoius facets of Information Technology at an early stage, IT@School has started the process of distributing Raspberry Pi computer kits free of cost to select students of Class VIII in government and aided schools. A state-wide aptitude test in computer programming was conducted recently to ensure that the computer kits reach the right target group.

In Thiruvananthapuram district alone, nearly 250 students became beneficiaries of the project, IT@School officials said.

IT@School is planning to expand the project, being implemented in association with the state Information Technology Department, so that more students are brought under its ambit.

Raspberry Pi computers comprise of a mother board which is of the size of a credit card. It was developed by UK-based Raspberry Foundation two years ago.

“The computer functions using an ARM processor which is used mainly for programming of electronic circuits and robots.

“Various Linux editions are being used as the operating system,’’ said K K Sajeev, Thiruvananthapuram District Coordinator of IT@School. The computer is capable of handling programming language such as C, Java and Pearl. The computer kit consists of an eight GB Secure Digital card, adapter, USB keyboard and mouse and HDMI-VGA converter, officials said.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Kerala / by Express News Service / February 24th, 2015