THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government’s IT@School project which aims at enabling information technology-based learning in high schools has been extended to the higher education sector and will now function under a new government company called the Kerala Infrastructure and Technology For Education (KITE).

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan released the logo of new special purpose vehicle (SPV) at a function here attended by Education Minister C Raveendranath and KITE vice chairman and executive director K Anvar Sadath. After the Nava Kerala Mission, this is the first SPV to be formed by the incumbent government.
“Though the main objective of IT@School’s transformation to ‘KITE’ is to avail the Kerala Infrastructure And Investment Fund Board’s (KIIFB) assistance, the new decision will give more freedom and authority to the organisation to move ahead,” according to Sadath.

“KITE will also help facilitate Information Communication Technology (ICT) in the higher education sector by fully using Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) tools. The activities of VICTERS channel will also be expanded under the new mechanism. Meanwhile, the IT@School will be retained as a brand name under KITE,” he said.

Sadath said KITE has already started implementation of the Education Department’s hi-tech school programme in which 45,000 classrooms in 4,775 schools are being equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and KIFFB has already approved a `493.50 crore assistance. General Education Department secretary Usha Titus has been appointed as the chairman and managing director of KITE while Director of Public Instruction K V Mohan Kumar will be a member of the director board . The maiden meeting of the  KITE board was held on August 2.