Kerala IT@School to raise Rs 10 crore by disposing off e-waste

Thiruvananthapuram, June 27 (IANS) In a first, the state-run IT@School Project will raise Rs 10 crore by disposing off around one crore kg of e-waste and will use the money to buy new computers for schools, said an official.

The e-waste includes old monitors, mouses, keyboards, UPS among other things that have been lying unused at 10,000 state-run schools in the state.

K. Anvar Sadath, Executive Director of the IT@School project, told IANS that arrangements are being made to collect the e-waste and then it will be transported to the Clean Kerala Company's Hyderabad facility, where it will be scientifically processed.

"For every kilogram of e-waste, we will get Rs 10 and the proceeds of this will be used to buy new computers which would be apportioned among all the 10,000 schools," said Sadath.

This e-waste has been accumulating since 2000 and an expert committee will verify all the equipment that will be declared as e-waste, he said.

"IT@School has devised an online system to capture the quantity of e-waste in each school and to collect it in batches. This exercise would be completed by July 15. Later, we will conduct hardware clinics in selected regions to repair and upgrade machines which are repairable," added Sadath.

The IT@School Project was set up to augment IT education in schools.

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