Tamil Nadu: In the morning Mr. Craig Barrett met with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister-Karunanidhi and signed a MoU with the Tamil Nadu government. As a part of this MoU Intel announced helping the Tamil Nadu government provide WiMax broadband access through an appropriate carrier partner, for 50 government schools in Phase one in tier 2 towns like Coimbatore, Trichy, Madurai that already have a WiMax base.
Intel would assist the government in providing the Internet-based content to students and teachers of over 1,800 higher secondary schools. This would help in rolling out an education content framework that would provide accessibility to the students. Intel would also donate 500 PCs to government schools.
To help the state achieve the leadership position in broadband connectivity, Intel would assist making available WiMax connectivity to 50 schools in tier 2 towns of Tamil Nadu. The Chief Minister’s attitude was “very forward looking and encouraging for Intel”. Commenting on the MoU on WiMax and how it will facilitate the state to enable the accessibility of education content to the students and teach essentials for teachers in the schools, Dr. Barrett said, “This will show what wireless can do.”
On the same day Dr. Barrett visited Tindivanam in South India and announced a new effort to transform healthcare in rural India. He unveiled two projects in Tindivanam that included a tele-health program for community hospitals and a school health-monitoring system.
Dr. Barrett participated in the inauguration of the tele-health pilot project at Tindivanam Taluk Hospital. At the hospital Union Health Minister Dr. Anubumani Ramadoss applauded the efforts of Intel to set up the telemedicine project. Partners like Narayana Hrudayalaya hospital and Chennai Sankara Nethralaya hospital, Microsense, S.N. Informatics and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) were present at the inauguration of the telemedicine project.
On the same day Dr. Barrett also visited the St. Philomena Girls’ Higher Secondary School for a firsthand look at a children’s health monitoring system developed by TCS. This project addressed both healthcare and education by installing technology that helps ensure that children from these areas are regularly monitored for their basic health parameters.
Delhi: On the afternoon of his second day visit, 4th September, Craig Barrett met with Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and Group CEO, Bharti Enterprises and had a discussion with him on how technology can help bridge the digital divide in the presence of key editors of The Economic Times.
On the fourth day of his visit on 5th September, Craig Barrett met with the Honorable Prime Minister, Shri Manmohan Singh. At the discussion Craig Barrett reiterated Intel’s commitment to education and bridging the digital divide in India.
During his visit to Delhi, Dr. Barrett announced in a conference the formation of the World Ahead Alliance in India. The World Ahead Alliance was formed by 16 Indian organizations to expand Intel’s efforts to provide people in developing countries access to technology. These organizations include non-profit companies, educational establishments, hospitals and service and technology providers like Appollo, Comat Technologies, the Digital Empowerment Foundation, Educomp Solutions Limited, eGovServices, Fortis Healthcare, Karishma Software Limited, Manipal University, Narayana Hrudayalaya, NIIT Limited, Sankara Nethralaya, Tata Consultancy Services, Vidya Pratishthan’s Institute of Information Technology (VIIT) and Zoom Developers Pvt. Limited.
Commenting on the alliance he said, “This alliance is a perfect example of the industry partnerships emerging in India today.” He added, “We hope to initiate other efforts like these that can scale to produce positive outcomes and benefit citizens around the world.”
In addition, a MoU was signed between UNESCO’s Minja Yang, Director and Representative, and Intel to work jointly in areas that include teacher professional development, developing policies for the innovative use of technology in curriculum and promoting scientific research in higher education. Talking on the UNESCO Agreement to Extend Reach of Education Initiatives he said: “As a grandfather, I have realized that the best gift you can give the next generation is a better education, every child deserves that opportunity.”
In the afternoon Dr. Barrett addressed over 700 teachers and felicitated them for the great work that they had done in the 8 years since the launch of the Intel® Teach Program in India.
BANGLADESH:
Objective: Partnership with Grameen and commitment to the World Ahead in Bangladesh and spreading the message across the world together
In Dhaka, for the country wide launch of World Ahead programs and commitment from Intel to bring Intel’s education programs – Intel® Learn, Intel® Teach, etc., along with PC donation program, Dr. Barrett had a meeting with Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed, Chief Adviser (acting Prime Minister) of Bangladesh where the Chief Adviser welcomed Intel’s initiatives under the World Ahead program and expressed his desire to support Intel to make these efforts successful.
Dr. Barrett also attended a telecentre showcase done by Bangladesh Telecentre Network (this is a consortium formed by organizations driving telecentres in Bangladesh). Here, two NGOs - BRAC and DNet, demonstrated their telecentres to Craig and Barbara Barrett; they made real mock-ups of their projects inside the venue and brought the real users/entrepreneurs from village locations to demonstrate the usage models and dynamics.
