Himalayan IT Education
Site Navigation The Background The Goal The People Contact Us Organisations >> Bari Monastery CST Darjeeling Gonjang Monastery Manjushree Ravangla Tib Self Help Ctr Darj Tib Welfare Ctr Darj Resources >> Tibetan IT IT Empowerment Supporting Documents Search HimIT search the web search this site	Why IT Education :: Background "In this century people who want to live in the world with wisdom need to study and learn the computer system." — TCV student, class X Physically, the "internet" is just computers all over the world, connected together so they can send information to each other. The Internet has become the world's communication, the world's commerce, and the world's library. The internet is new, about 25 years old. And websites only started 12 years ago! Yet it is rapidly changing the world. It is a revolution comparable to the printing press or the industrial revolution in the west. It is changing how the world communicates and works. IT (Information Technology) consists of Internet technology, web development, programming, library science, and many other fields related to spreading and organizing information. It is a broad field with room for people of many different skills, temperaments, and levels of education. It is also a growing field, with many jobs opening up as far into the future as we can see. Every organization and company has to have a website these days, which makes demand high for graphics designers, writers, programmers, and web technicians. Even if a person's job is not directly in the IT field, every educated job involves computers and the Internet, indirectly if not directly. Managers, co-workers, everyone — can do their job better, manage others better, and understand our new world better, when they have more understanding of how the internet works, how websites work. In the world today, the Internet is the main source of current information for journalists, policy makers, thinkers, as well as the average person. The question arises: Why don't Tibetan youth go to one of the many IT institutions in India? The answer is: They are expensive. Most Tibetans don't have much. And these IITs don't deliver for the money: They are behind. Many are teaching years-old technologies, and have never heard of things like "linux" or "php". Many students who have been to those schools, report that the schools are more interested in getting their fees, than in any kind of quality teaching. If somebody misses a class, the school puts a lot of effort into collecting the "late fee" — but none into helping the student catch up with what you missed! And it is reported that the schools seem to teach by rote — concepts out of books, with very little hands-on practice. Many people say "I studied C, C++, and Java" — but very few can do actual programming. This observation is corroborated by IT experts in India and in the west alike. There are some good institutions, of course — the Indian reputation for engineering is well-deserved — but they are at a higher level, and are very expensive. Those who teach IT to Tibetans find that many have a real aptitude for IT work. Once IT education was introduced, many Tibetans have advanced rapidly and are making their livings doing programming, web development, and consulting. See our links section for some Tibetan IT websites, and Tibetan Geeks and Tibetan Technology Center for more information on Tibetan IT.

Himalayan IT Education

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Why IT Education :: Background

"In this century people who want to live in the world with wisdom need to study and learn the computer system."
— TCV student, class X

Physically, the "internet" is just computers all over the world, connected together so they can send information to each other. The Internet has become the world's communication, the world's commerce, and the world's library. The internet is new, about 25 years old. And websites only started 12 years ago! Yet it is rapidly changing the world. It is a revolution comparable to the printing press or the industrial revolution in the west. It is changing how the world communicates and works.

IT (Information Technology) consists of Internet technology, web development, programming, library science, and many other fields related to spreading and organizing information. It is a broad field with room for people of many different skills, temperaments, and levels of education. It is also a growing field, with many jobs opening up as far into the future as we can see. Every organization and company has to have a website these days, which makes demand high for graphics designers, writers, programmers, and web technicians.

Even if a person's job is not directly in the IT field, every educated job involves computers and the Internet, indirectly if not directly. Managers, co-workers, everyone — can do their job better, manage others better, and understand our new world better, when they have more understanding of how the internet works, how websites work. In the world today, the Internet is the main source of current information for journalists, policy makers, thinkers, as well as the average person.

The question arises: Why don't Tibetan youth go to one of the many IT institutions in India? The answer is:

They are expensive. Most Tibetans don't have much. And these IITs don't deliver for the money:
They are behind. Many are teaching years-old technologies, and have never heard of things like "linux" or "php".
Many students who have been to those schools, report that the schools are more interested in getting their fees, than in any kind of quality teaching. If somebody misses a class, the school puts a lot of effort into collecting the "late fee" — but none into helping the student catch up with what you missed!
And it is reported that the schools seem to teach by rote — concepts out of books, with very little hands-on practice. Many people say "I studied C, C++, and Java" — but very few can do actual programming. This observation is corroborated by IT experts in India and in the west alike. There are some good institutions, of course — the Indian reputation for engineering is well-deserved — but they are at a higher level, and are very expensive.

Those who teach IT to Tibetans find that many have a real aptitude for IT work. Once IT education was introduced, many Tibetans have advanced rapidly and are making their livings doing programming, web development, and consulting. See our links section for some Tibetan IT websites, and Tibetan Geeks and Tibetan Technology Center for more information on Tibetan IT.