One such e-governance system for educational institutions -- the M-Star Education Expert System -- has been piloted in scores of schools in India. This system currently runs in a variety of schools and colleges in the country.

M-Star has been developed by MGRM NET after a deep study of educational systems. It is highly flexible in that it can apply to any educational system and yet be customised to a very high degree to fit in with all the required parameters and diverse needs of an institution.

It takes the life cycle approach and works all the way up the education chain -- from kindergarten right up to the university level -- for all kinds of curriculum and structures. The system bridges the gap between different stakeholders in a school, such as students, parents, teachers, principal and education administrators.

For administrators like school boards and education directorates, which have to keep tabs on the functioning of many schools, M-Star offers immense value to monitor academic performance of individual schools as well as impact of schemes like mid-day meal or Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Education for All Campaign).

The application runs on proprietary OmVcard or an Online Multi-domain Value Card, costing just a few hundred rupees. Every child and staff member are given the OmVcard which they can insert into any computer where the application is loaded.

Incidentally, the card can be used to check the oft-quoted issue of teacher truancy. Teacher performance in a 'single teacher' school can be monitored by his supervisor remotely, not merely by looking at his or her attendance records, but by gauging the effectiveness of teaching as borne out by the academic performance of the pupils.

Ultimately, if the Education Expert System gets linked to other national e-governance systems, such as the national ID project headed by Nandan Nilekani, then the possibilities are endless. It could analyse the reasons of dropping out from the system and the teachers become more accountable. The Right to Education could thus become a reality through technology.

(10.09.09-N.N. Sachitanand is a Bangalore-based technology writer. He can be contacted at Nnsachi@yahoo.com)