Thursday, May 16, 2013

28 - After Aakash, it's time for Classpad!

21st Jan 2012

After Aakash, it's time for Classpad!

Rohit Pande's company Classteacher Learning Systems is the mind behind the creation of the progeny Classpad. A Delhi IITian himself, Rohit came up with the idea of combining different learning curves in a single device. According to him it was a dedicated effort for making education accessible according to the individual intelligence of the students. Pande has also claimed that if technology can create learning for different children then Classpad will provide the answer to it. 

The Aakash tablet launched by the Union Minister Kapil Sibal, a 7inch tablet is being provided to all the schools for as low as Rs. 1700 for mass distribution with an original cost of Rs. 2500. The Classpad is priced on a slightly higher range due to its richer media quality and interactivity along with additional apps and a wider syllabus (from CBSE, ICSE and few state boards). It also has a longer battery life of 7 hours as compared to 1.5 hours in Aakash Tabs. From April the International Baccalaureate board curriculum will also be added to it.




With a processor speed of 1 GHz to 1.3 GHz, Classpad is available in three sizes of 7, 8 and 10 inches. It runs on Android 2.2 and 2.3 OS and has over 30,000 apps based on the Android or HTML 5 platform. It is offered in two variants - Trolley for multiple student usage and One Tablet per Child for individual usage. It also includes three learning models - In-class, In-school and In-home. In ‘In-class' teachers are able to transfer class work, tests and home assignments to the students' tablet while ‘In-school' is used for out-of-class learning. The ‘In-home' model is targeted towards parents for monitoring children's school and home work. This device priced between Rs.7,500 to Rs.14,500 is available for students from Class 3 to Class 12.

The company is said to have already received more than 1200 orders from various schools in tier I and tier II cities. The survey which was conducted in 200 schools during the soft launch and 40% schools are keen on providing this device to the students from the upcoming academic session. At present, the school model does not include the voice calling or Internet facility but can be plugged into the school Wi-Fi networks. On the contrary, the retail models for remote schools in Tier II towns will be inclusive of these features. Classpad will be distributed to schools directly on order and can also be sourced from the website classteacher.com from 1st January 2012.