Project Evaluation Reports

Three Years of Success: Findings of 2003 Evalution Report

VAB has received the evaluation of its 3-year high school scholarship program.  Dr. ATR Rahman, Founder of VAB, indicated he was “very satisfied with the conduct of the evaluation and thrilled with the results.”  The evaluation noted that “the awardees’ class standing show positive results.”  The majority of scholarship holders improved their class standing in spite of being very low-income.  And, when speaking of the scholarship holders that take the SSC exam (the national test taken at the end of high school), the “results gives a clear indication that the output of the VAB scholarship program is impressive.”  “Most students got admitted into colleges . . .”. The evaluation also conducted a quick review of the computer-training program, organized only last year.

Begun in the academic year 2000 covering 10 schools, VAB secondary school assistance program has by the end of the academic year 2002, operated in 20 schools located in seven thanas (counties in the U.S.). In these three years VAB sponsored 589 scholarships, 100 in 2000, 285 in 2001 and 244 in 2002, to poverty-stricken students. Each scholarship is awarded to a student in the form of a package comprising the costs of tuition, textbooks, stationery for academic use, school uniform, including financial supports for payment of examination fees and coaching for an SSC exam (national secondary school certificate exam) in Math and English in particular, including other SSC subjects if necessary.  Prakritajan, a mid-sized Bangladesh-based NGO, has been given the sole responsibility of implementing the school scholarship program.

The evaluation covering the 3 years of VAB’s high school scholarship program was designed and conducted by Prof. Syed Giasuddin Ahmed, Dept. of Public Administration, University of Dhaka. The evaluation covered program rationale and planning, program delivery, monitoring, outputs and results and program sustainability. Field research was carried out by three graduate students.  Along with an evaluation of its existing program, VAB also desired the evaluation to probe - "what has been expected; what has been realized; and how the program can be better implemented and its goals be better realized."

The evaluation used a combination of approaches--interviews, data collected from the schools and Prak, and data the researchers compiled.  The scholarship programs in a sample of nine schools in five thanas were examined.  119 interviews were conducted with scholarship awardees, teachers, guardians, local influential persons and local staff.  In addition, researchers interviewed 18 computer trainees and computer teachers.  Of the seven computer centers now operating, the evaluation covered four; two of which had been in operation for only 2 months. 

Success was measurable for scholarship awardees all of who are very low-income.  For very low-income students who out of necessity may have to work to the support of a family in addition to attending school, it is a feat just to maintain their class standing from year to year.  Of all scholarship awardees in a single grade (IX or X), 74% improved or retained their class standing.  (65% improved their class standing).  The SSC nationwide exam taken after graduation is another critical milestone for all students.  Passing the SSC exam means the difference between attending college or not, and in the high unemployment situation in Bangladesh it will mean the difference between obtaining a job or not.  Comparative results between all students in VAB schools taking the SSC in 2001 and 2002 (2092) and awardees taking the exam (85) are remarkable.  1.3% of all students passed with an A; 23.4% of awardees passed with an A.  29.1% of all students passed with an A,B or C; 76..6% of awardees passed with an A, B or C.  62.6% of all students failed the exam; only 16.1% of awardees failed.  According to the evaluation, “most students got admitted into colleges, some even to reputed colleges like Adamjee Cantonment, Dhaka.”

The evaluation also pointed out problems that need to be resolved.  Communication and monitoring between the field and Prak was not always effective.  Selection of awardees was well done and awardees are genuinely low-income, but in some cases the selection system did not use community-based committee as specified.  Lack of baseline and current data made it very difficult for the evaluators.  Originally, a goal was to reduce low-income dropouts.   However, no schools have records of students who have dropped out.  (Evaluators could find no awardees that had dropped out during the three program years).  Smaller issues--are books to be recycled, or are supplies for all schools to be purchased in Dhaka or does each school do its own purchasing—need attention.

The intent of VAB is that each community was to develop over time a trust fund or some mechanism to permanently finance the scholarship program from the community.  This of course is difficult to do in poor communities.  The evaluation indicated that all the local elite who were interviewed agreed that “affluent people, political figures, and businessmen should contribute to a trust fund.” There was an attempt to begin this process, but it did not proceed.  .  More work obviously needs to be done.

What are the next steps?  Fortunately, VAB has established an Advisory Council and a Working Group in Bangladesh.  The Council/Group has a broad array of talent including a retired high school principal, professor, current school science teacher, doctor, former chair of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, retired police inspector, several business owners.  The skill of these volunteers will be very helpful to the program.  They are excited about it.  The Council/Group has taken as a first task to review and make recommendations regarding issues raised in the evaluation.  In addition, The Working group will be visiting the 20 school sites and making a recommendation for the four schools to be the pilot sites for the School Modernization Program.  Later this summer, Peter von Christierson, U.S. Coordinator for the Modernization Program, will discuss the issues and formulate the next steps with Prak, with the Council/Group, and with the schools.

While the evaluation identified problems and issues, it also made considered recommendations, which will be very helpful as VAB moves forward.  But the evaluation also indicated that the program is a success.   Not surprisingly, 100% of the interviewees agreed, “the scholarship program is of benefit to the students.”   “The respondents indicated in particular that the quality of education has increased with positive outputs (rankings) and that burden of poverty of the scholarship holder’s guardians lessened.”  As Dr. Rahman stated,” the evaluation shows that we are on the right track. But we need to expand the scope of our work to improve the facilities and capacities of the schools to enable them to provide quality education. We also need to link them with the communities so that schools can become an important community institution.”

Project Evaluation Report 2000

VAB-Prakritajan Secondary School Assistance Project completed in December 2000 its first year of operation which was launched effective from January in the same year. The time frame of the operation corresponded exactly with the academic year of the secondary school system in Bangladesh. Funded by a charitable organization registered with the US-IRS as a tax-exempt, namely Volunteers Association of Bangladesh (VAB), the project 2000 set a target of awarding 100 secondary school scholarships to impoverished students in rural Bangladesh. VAB through its partner NGO in Bangladesh, namely Prakritajan, received initially almost 600 applications for its scholarships, but eventually it could choose only 100 students, based on factors such as the applicants' capacity and interest in studies, parental commitment to education, and each family's level of poverty. Evaluative field investigations as regards both attendance records and mid-term examination results indicate that all of the scholarship winners have done well. Encouraged by the successes VAB did in time take a decision to expand its scholarship program during the current year (i e. 2001) to over 250 scholarships. VAB's efforts such as these are expected to go a long way toward improving the educational conditions in a country that ranks among the worst in the world in terms of public spending on education. The ultimate objective is to improve the secondary school enrollment rate (17%nationwide) and drop out rate (50% nationwide) within the regions the program operates. More details of the project evaluation report 2000 follow. In accordance with the terms of a Letter of Agreement signed in December 1999, VAB provided a grant of Tk. 2.5 lakh, approximate dollar equivalent of US$ 5000, for the year 2000 to be implemented in ten high schools : four in Bancharampur thana, two in Nabinagar thana in Brahamanbaria district, and four high schools in Sapahar thana in Naogaon district (for details, see table1). The grant included provisions to offer a total of 100 scholarships of Tk.100 each student for 12 months, arrange tutorials for scholarship recipients with four teachers for each school, training support for two teachers from each school and a modest grant for sports and cultural activities for the schools.The grant money was reimbursed in three installments xTk. 125,000 in the initial installment during December 1999, and two subsequent installments of Tk. 62,500 each subject to satisfactory implementation of the project. Prakritajan conducted during the project period six monitoring visits ‚ once every two months and the reports of these visits were subsequently sent to VAB. A detailed project performance report along with a financial statement was also submitted to VAB together with a copy to the VAB Field Representative one month before the scheduled dates of the payment of second and third installments in 2000.For detailed terms and conditions of the VAB-Prakritajan secondary school assistance project, see Box 1.

Terms and Conditions and Project Guidelines

In accordance with the terms of a Letter of Agreement signed in December 1999, VAB provided a grant of Tk. 2.5 lakh, approximate dollar equivalent of US$ 5000, for the year 2000 to be implemented in ten high schools : four in Bancharampur thana, two in Nabinagar thana in Brahamanbaria district, and four high schools in Sapahar thana in Naogaon district (for details, see table1). The grant included provisions to offer a total of 100 scholarships of Tk.100 each student for 12 months, arrange tutorials for scholarship recipients with four teachers for each school, training support for two teachers from each school and a modest grant for sports and cultural activities for the schools. The grant money was reimbursed in three installments xTk. 125,000 in the initialinstallment during December 1999, and two subsequent installments of Tk. 62,500 each subject to satisfactory implementation of the project. Prakritajan conducted during the project period six monitoring visits ‚ once every two months and the reports of these visits were subsequently sent to VAB. A detailed project performance report along with a financial statement was also submitted to VAB together with a copy to the VAB Field Representative one month before the scheduled dates of the payment of second and third installments in 2000.For detailed terms and conditions of the VAB-Prakritajan secondary school assistance project, see Box 1.

Table 1: Number of Schools and Students of VAB Scholarship Holders

Box 1: Project Terms and Conditions

1.  That Prakritajan will follow the conditions, mechanisms, processes and procedures as outlined in its proposal in implementing the project. In case of any doubts orconfusions, it will seek clarification and guidance from VAB. 2.  That, as preparation for starting the project, Prakritajan will detail the role and functions of various groups, institutions and officials (such as relevant high school, advisory group, project supervisor, Prakritajan field and headquarter officials) involved in the project; spell out the criteria, processes and procedures for key activities such as the advertisement, review and selection of scholarship recipients, disbursement of various components of scholarship grants, selection of tutorial teachers and the arrangement of tutorial classes and the payment of tutors, and the selection of teachers for training; and prepare the formats for relevant activities such as scholarship application, monitoring visits and implementation and financial reports. All these preparatory activities will be submitted to VAB for comments and approval. 3.    That Prakritajan will not grant scholarships to girl students in schools where girl students were receiving stipend under the Government assistance program. 4.    Prakritajan will ensure that in the selection of scholarship recipients, wide publicity and complete transparency is maintained in following an unbiased and objective criteria consistent with the project goals and no nepotism and favoritism takes place, especially by the members of any local selection committee. 5.    That Prakritajanwill develop procedures for project evaluation, using reduction of drop outsand improvement of education as two key criteria for which indicators will be identified and bench mark data, at least for the past five years will be established now. 6.    That it is suggested that Prakritajan form an advisory group comprising persons with relevant experience and subject matter specialists relevant to key project activities to assist in developing suitable systems and procedures and monitor their actual use in the implementation of the project.

Criteria and Methods of Selection of Scholarship Holders
In all three thanas from among the Prakritajan project areas were selected based on their general poverty level. Accordingly the Head Masters of the selected high schools in these thanas were contacted, followed by planned briefing sessions in which all aspects of the program were explained to the school authorities. Together with these efforts well-drafted leaflets in notice form also were circulated in these areas and the Prakritajan field staffs inspired group members' siblings to apply for the scholarships.The applications received were scrutinized by a Selection Committee in each school which comprised its Head Master, local educationists, social leaders, teachers of the school, Prakritajan Area Coordinator, and one representative of the Prakritajan central office.The Selection Committee met in a number of meetings to review all the received applicationsand then on completion of all these review meetings the Committee finalized alist of Scholarship holders signed by all the Committee's members. Finally the list of Scholarship holders was duly examined, and confirmed by the Chairman of Prakritajan, and thereafter was sent to VAB for necessary action.

Details of Some Very Poor Scholarship Holders
All the candidates selected for VAB-Prakritajan Scholarships were very poor. Yet most of them were found out to be very serious about their studies as well asvery ambitious. Many of them indicated their eagerness to continue their studies up to the university level. The fact remains however that all of the scholarship holders were from the remote rural areas, either having no land at all or has avery small piece of land. A select number of cases of these poor students follow:

Bishu Kisku, an aborigine known as Santal, is a student of class IX. His school is KochKurulia High School (Sapahar, Naogaon). He is the 7th boy according to merit out of 42 boys of his class. His father's age is 55 and is a day-laborer and has only 0.07 acres land of his own. He works only in fields and knows no other ways of income. They have 4 brothers and 4 sisters. He is the 3rd amongst the brothers. His elder two brothers got married and have separate families of their own. They are also day-laborers. All the 4sisters are unmarried, the eldest one having an age of 24. They cannot manage their full meals everyday, still he wants to be a doctor.

Md. Abu Taleb is in class X of Bheoil High School and College (Sapahar, Naogaon). Heis the 1st boy of his class. He has been scoring 1st for last 3 years. He has 7 brothers. His father introduces him as a small farmer because he owns 0.08 acres of land. He cannot feed his family through this, sohe works as a contract laborer in others fields. But he hates the word ëlaborer' and do not approve calling him like that. Taleb does not know what ishis dream, he only prays to cross the SSC exam barrier so that he can study in a college. But the does not know how it would be possible. His elder brother is a ësmall farmer' like his father. Taleb is the 2nd son of his father and is a part-time agri-worker to assist his family.

Komol Hemron son of late Moyra Hemron is another aborigine, is now studying in classX of Sapahar Danga Para High School (Sapahar, Naogaon). He is the 3rd boy of his class. They are 4 brothers and 1 sister. They have only the hut-shelterand no land for cultivation. He is youngest his brothers and all of them are the decided to continue with the youngest one's study because Komol is a very serious student. All of them are day-laborers. His only sister, aged 24, is still unmarried. When asked about his dream, he laughed and replied, ëto survive' and to be the 1st boy of his class. He informed us that onmany nights he went to bed just having plenty of water as supper. He explained that he stood 3rd because he did not have books last year.

Md. Zahirul Islam now studying seriously because he stood 2nd in the finalexam. He is now in class VII of Sapahar Danga Para High School (Sapahar,Naogaon). The have only 0.10 acres of land and 5 siblings, 4 of them attending schools.

Md. Rabiul Islam's father is a rickshaw puller. He is a student of class VII of SapaharDanga Para High School (Sapahar, Naogaon). They are 2 brothers and 1 sister, all of them attending schools. They have only 0.03 acres of land. He stood 4thin the last annual exam in his class.

Azina Khatoon is the only female amongst the VAB scholarship recipients, because all the female applicants get some (although very insufficient) stipends from the government. But we selected her because her father is disabled and cannot do any sort of work, and her mother is a maid-servant. They are landless and have 6 siblings. Her merit serial is 47 in class VIII but she is very eager to continue. She is in Sapahar Zaman Nagar Girls' High School (Sapahar, Naogaon).She did not have books and reading accessories last year. She used to borrow books from her friends for short terms. Her mother directly earns only Tk. 500per month, but she gets food from her employer for her which they share.

Md. Al Amin is in class IX of Radhanath High School (Bitghar, Nabinagar, Brhamanbaria). He stood 1st in his class. His father and mother are laborers and have no land at all. Even they do not have any permanent shelter. They live in other people's houses as laborers. He has 2 sisters. They read in class X and class V. his parents are very eager to continue their studies but do not know how.

Md. Jubair now read in class VII of Radhanath High School (Bitghar, Nabinagar, Brhamanbaria). He was supposed to be in class VIII this year, but has dropped last year because of their inability to spend for his studies. His parents have 5 siblings and they are reading in classes X, IX, VII, VI and II respectively. His grandfather was an school teacher. His father is a small farmer. He has only 0.60 acres of land. His residence is occupied by powerful rural tycoons, so the family have to stay at his distant-uncle's house by erecting a small shelter. The not-enough earning from his land is spent food and nothing remains for their children's education.

Items and Disbursement Methods of Scholarships
1.ÝÝ VAB-Prakritajan scholarships included payment of tuition fee, books (which the students were supposed to return after the annual exam for redistributed next year among the prospective scholarship holders), writing papers and exercise books and pencils/pens and other accessories, arranging private coaching for the scholarship holders on two main and critical subjects like English and Mathematics, and payment of their exam fees.

2.ÝÝ The scholarship holders were also provided other supports on need-based situations in specific cases. These varied from one individual to another depending on the merits of each case supplemented by reports of the Prakritajan field staffs.

3.ÝÝ No cash money was disbursed to the scholarship-holders or to their parents.

4.ÝÝ Regular monitoring and evaluation were carried out by the Prakritajan field staffs and its central office in Dhaka onthe progress of studies and performances of the scholarship holders.

5.ÝÝ One Teacher from each school was appointed to look after the affairs of the VAB-Prakritajan scholarship holders. Prakritajan field staffs regularly maintained contacts with that Teacher.

Academic Performances of the Scholarship Holders in 2000
An evaluation of the VAB-Prakritajan project 2000 indicates that all of the 100 sponsored students in 2000 passed their final exams, with the exception of one. This student was unable to take the exam, because of illness, and unfortunately not be promoted to the next grade. He was however allowed continuing his studies under a VAB scholarship in the next year. Many of the students underscholarship showed great improvement in 2000 versus their class position in1999. A few examples are cited in table 2.

Table 2: VAB Scholars' Improvement over 1999ÝÝ

Student	School	Class	Rank
			1999	2000
Arzina Khatoon	Zaman Nagar	8	47	25
Bishu Kisko	KuchKurukia	9	63	12
Md. Majidul Islam	KuchKurukia	9	47	14
Md. Ziaur Rahman	KuchKurukia	9	31	16
Kamal Hembrom	Dangapara	10	3	2

The evaluation also indicates that the drop out rate for VAB scholarship recipients stands at 0% so far. This compares very favorably with a national average secondary school drop out rate of nearly 50%. VAB and its partner NGO Prakritajan have reasons to be proud with these results and the success of all of the VAB scholars. Moreover, many of the scholars scored very well on their final exams and were allowed to v appear for the nationwide SSC (Secondary School Certificate) exam held in March 2001 (see table 3).


Table 3: SSC Exam Result of VAB-Prakritajan Partner Schools (Schoolwise total candidates against VAB Candidates).

School	# of Examinees	Results (Grades)					Comments (failed in more than 1 subject)
		A	B	C	D	F
Radanath
total school	143	-	3	11	9	10	10
VAB	10	-	1	4	4	1	-
Salmganj
total school	39	-	5	10	4	11	9
VAB	7	-	2	3	1	1	-
Saphar Danga
total school	53	-	3	5	8	18	19
VAB	2*	-	-	-	-	1	-
Bheoil
total school	24	-	2	2	4	4	12
VAB	1	1	-	-	-	-	-
Tejkhali
total school	122	1	3	14	5	-	99
VAB	6	1	1	1	-	3	-
Asmatunnesa
total school	62	4	3	8	-	2	45
VAB	4	-	1	2	-	1	-
Dariadaulat
total school	160	-	14	8	12	37	89
VAB	3	-	-	-	-	3	-
Maricha Kandi
total school	96	4	4	4	5	22	57
VAB	4	1	1	1	-	1	-
total school candidates	599	9	37	62	47	104	340
total VAB candidates	37	3	6	11	5	11	-

* One of the two VAB candidates could not appear in the exam because his family shifted to Faridpur for better work opportunities.

Note: Grade A+ (80-100), GPA 5; Grade A (60-79), GPA 4; GradeB (51-59) GPA 3; Grade C (41-50), GPA 2; Grade D (33-40), GPA 1; Grade F(0-32), GPA 0.

Growing Demands for VAB Scholarships in 2001
The VAB scholarship program's success in 2000 is shown by its results, but there remains much work to be done in terms of expanding the program. As table 4 illustrates, there is a great demand for secondary school scholarships in 2001. There were 912 applicants for 245 scholarships (there were also 37 special scholarships granted to sponsor students taking the SSC exam) in 2001. This means that only 27% of the students needing aid to continue their education could be accommodated.


Table 4: VAB 2001 Scholarship Distribution

School	# of Scholarships	# of Applicants
Upazila: Nabinagar
Bitghar High School	20	56
Shibpur High School	10	41
Salimganj High School	10	33
Upazila: Banchharampur
DariaDaulat High School	15	61
MarichakandiHigh School	15	76
SelimabadHigh School	10	34
TejkhaliHigh School	15	32
HK Asmatunnessa High School	15	83
AyubpurHigh School	10	29
Upazila : Sapahar
Dangapara High School	10	42
Koch Kurulia High School	10	39
Bheoil High School	10	43
Mohjid Para High School	10	41
Zaman Nagar Girls’ High School	5	37
Upazila: Parshuram
Mirza Nagar Towhid Academy	20	62
Fulgazi High School	20	59
Upazila: Gazaria
Dr.A Gaffar High School	10	37
DA Mannan High School	10	40
Upazila: Raipura
RM High School	10	31
AlhajBazlul Hoq High School	10	36
Total	245	912
SSC Examinees	37
Grand Total	282

Characteristics of the Awardees' Families
Analysis of occupations listed for parents / guardians of 245 scholarships awardees show 108 as small farmers; 47 as day laborers; 26 as skilled self employed workers; 25 as public and private employees; 18 in small business; and 21 as jobless with 13 widows and one beggar. While over 60% of the families are engaged in small farming and agricultural labor, nearly 20% of families have non-agricultural occupations such as small business, vending, carpentry, weaving, fishing, etc. Another 20% are employed in offices with 8 as teachers.In terms of income and family size, 62% households have a monthly income of only Tk. 1,001 to 2,000 ($18 to $36), to support a family of 6 to 8 members, thus reflecting the extreme poverty of most of the families from which our scholarship holders were selected. Another 23% of families had a monthly income of below TK. 1,000 ($18). Ninety-three percent of awardees' households had a family size of at least 5 members. The range of family sizes was 3-14. Syed Giasuddin Ahmed

 

Evaluation of VAB/Prak Computer Training Centers

July 2004

Executive Summary

The project VAB-Prakritajan Computer Training Center (VPCTC) is a noble effort jointly made by Volunteers’ Association for Bangladesh (VAB) and Prakritajan to provide a means of socio-economic development by arranging low cost high quality computer training for the poor people especially the ultra-poor segment of the society. This report is an outcome of an assessment cum study conducted during March-April 2004 to determine the effectiveness of VPCTC. The Evaluation Team (ET) arranged several meetings with the Prakritajan Management, Instructors, Current Trainees, Ex-trainees and Local Elites to gain knowledge on the training centers operations and their result. Overall conditions of VPCTCs were found good and hopeful. For an example, at least in three specific examples in Jessore and Gazaria, it has been observed that new computer training centers run by ex-trainees are operating profitably on commercial basis. In another example, couple of ex-trainees from Gazaria Pally Bidduot Samity (Rural Electrification Board) expressed their wholehearted satisfaction by mentioning that the training course was quite helpful at their work place and their service level is improving due to that reason. These are great achievements for VAB-Prakritajan.

VPCTCs are operating in different geographical locations at different socio-economic conditions. ‘One Person - One Computer’, ‘Our Trainer is the Best’, ‘Our Course Curriculums are Up-to-Date’, these are the key issues that the prospective trainees are still coming to VPCTCs. In some locations, besides VPCTC centers, there are other computer centers, but still VPCTCs are running well. As such, we can anticipate a better functional condition and increased sustainability of VAB–Prakritajan Computer Training Centers. VPCTCs are running as a non-profit organization and have many financial limitations. Instructors are poorly paid and supervisors are voluntary workers. They do not have sufficient budget for advertisement and additional services like library, extra PC for practice or maintenance. Extraordinary achievement should not be expected from such a circumstance. However, in Prakritajan a small but well motivated team led by Professor A B M Faroque is trying to move forward with these VPCTCs mostly for poor or under privileged or neglected segment of the society. Providing and continuing ICT training services in such a stringent situation is quite promising. Few modest supports from the outside world could make this noble effort to a great venture for humanity.

We are living in an era of community dominated by Internet culture – the i-Community. Government offices, business houses, public and private sectors are using computer and Internet in every days of life. VPCTC training operation helps the country to build a capable source of human resource for the future society where i-Communities on different interest groups are going to lead the country. The study also observed that well designed courseware, adequately trained trainer and regular training evaluation are the three important issues to keep the quality of performance of a computer-training center. VPCTC management should focus on these key areas.

A summary of key suggestions and recommendations in the study are as below.

Short-term issues:

1.     Formalize a disciplined management process and defined work-flow and start its implementation.

2.     Improve course quality by train the trainers and enhanced course materials.

3.     Introduce new courses as per local demand including Webpage Development and other Internet related courses.

4.     Launch target oriented marketing activities in a planned manner. The first marketing activity could be awareness building in the society on benefits of ICT learning.

Long-term issues:

1. Introduce Total Quality Management and try to build a strong management capability throughout the VPCTC.
2. Introduce integrated training service, which will provide complete solution for modern business computing.
3. Introduce Hi-end Computer Training to buildup advance ICT professional for incoming era of i-Community.
4. Upgrade the center with other ICT functions and facilities (e.g. Telephony, Fax, E-mail, Internet, Photocopy, Scanning, Word Processing, Printing and Training on Computer use, Library, Seminar Room, Radio/TV, Distant Learning, Web Hosting and Electronic Publication Services etc). It will help the rural underdeveloped society to meet the future demand of i-Community.

We cannot put aside our common people as uninformed about modern computing – we have to help our people to get into 'Digital Village' or to be a member of 'i-Community'. In this regards VPCTCs are performing a very important role by providing IT training at the root level of our society, especially on computer fundamentals, word processing and Internet usage. This process should be continued and expanded to serve for all type of people across the country. It is quite wonderful to note that besides many limitations, starting from 2002, around 350 trainees have graduated with computer literacy from VPCTCs where more than 90% of them are from the very low income group at different rural locations. This is certainly a tremendous effort to build an underdeveloped society. Hope to see this praiseworthy work of VAB-Prakritajan to continue.