The kids who come to FourthR, do all of them
have computers at home?
About 25 to 30% of them have computers at home, but they only play
games and things like that. In fact, their parents want them to
come to us and learn to use it fruitfully.
How do you handle areas such as creative and
interpersonal skills, value systems and attitude codes?
In
our one-hour session, we try and inculcate aspects of social skills,
value systems and attitudes, by teaching them small things that
will influence their behaviour along the way. Creativity is one
thing we give a lot of emphasis to. We do not instruct them to do
this or that, we tell them this is where we begin and end of the
project, and this is what you have to get to. And then we allow
the child to explore on his/her own, ways of getting to the end
of the project. We guide them all along, but we do not solve the
problem for them. That they have to figure out on their own. The
projects are not procedure- oriented.
What is the role of parents in computer education
of children?
Everything is becoming IT-driven today, so it is most important
for the parents to be proactive in making their children computer
literate. They need not learn great programming skills; all they
need is to learn fundamental skills. So even if IT is not their
chosen vocation, it should help them in whatever they choose to
do in future.
What is FourthR doing to target rural India?
We do have franchisees in Kumbakonam, Jalundhur, Agra etc. We do
not have any centres in the rural areas. What we plan to do is go
to the rural areas through schools. We are also planning to target
Government-run schools in these areas.
How in-step is the courseware, with what is
being practically applied in companies?
The courses we offer are very practical. The objective is that
any child should be able to handle the computer to enhance his chosen
field. They need not become programmers.
What has been Chennai’s response to this
concept?
It’s
been a mixed one. Not very extraordinary as we expected, when we
started. Basically, parents do not feel that it is a necessity.
They feel, the child is already learning something at his school,
so this is an additional burden. More awareness about the use and
scope of IT may create the need. Also there is this practical difficulty
of dropping the child and picking him/her after the classes are
over. This concept of children’s computer education is very
young here, hardly two and a half years old. Initially we had problems
convincing the parents that their child can handle computers. But
slowly it is picking up.
In
our one-hour session, we try and inculcate aspects of social skills,
value systems and attitudes, by teaching them small things that
will influence their behaviour along the way. Creativity is one
thing we give a lot of emphasis to. We do not instruct them to do
this or that, we tell them this is where we begin and end of the
project, and this is what you have to get to. And then we allow
the child to explore on his/her own, ways of getting to the end
of the project. We guide them all along, but we do not solve the
problem for them. That they have to figure out on their own. The
projects are not procedure- oriented. 
It’s
been a mixed one. Not very extraordinary as we expected, when we
started. Basically, parents do not feel that it is a necessity.
They feel, the child is already learning something at his school,
so this is an additional burden. More awareness about the use and
scope of IT may create the need. Also there is this practical difficulty
of dropping the child and picking him/her after the classes are
over. This concept of children’s computer education is very
young here, hardly two and a half years old. Initially we had problems
convincing the parents that their child can handle computers. But
slowly it is picking up.
