Anundoram Borooah

Award Scheme:
Impact Assessment
Study

June 2010 For @

AMTRON
 Acknowledgement
We express our sincere thanks to the Chief Minister of
Assam, Shri Tarun Gogoi and Minister of Information
Technology, Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma for establishing
ARBAS. This scheme alone speak volumes about their
foresightedness and commitment for changing the
mindset of the youth of the state.

We express our deepest thanks to Mr M K Yadava,

Managing Director, AMTRON for allowing us to
conduct the independent assessment of Anundoram
Borooah Award Scheme.

We express our thanks to Deputy Manager, AMTRON,

Mr Mukul Kalita for his constant involvement and
guidance in the study.

We owe a great many thanks to all the ARBAS

awardees without whose participation the study
would have been a distant dream.
Contents
INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................3

STUDY HIGHLIGHTS ................................................................................8

AWARDEE PROFILE .................................................................................9

USAGE & SATISFACTION .......................................................................19

Usage ............................................................................................20

Satisfaction....................................................................................30

SOCIAL IMPACT ....................................................................................31

Recognition ...................................................................................32

Case Study .....................................................................................33

Awardee Outlook...........................................................................34

METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................36

ABOUT THE AUTHORS ..........................................................................37

Introduction
 The prestigious Anundoram Borooah Award
(ARBAS), instituted by the State Government of
Assam in 2005 by Chief Minister Shri Tarun
Gogoi, is a scheme which awards high school
graduates with personal computers on achieving
first division (greater than 60% marks overall) in
their school leaving examinations. ARBAS provide
citation in the form of a Certificate along with a
personal computer (PC) to honor the meritorious
students securing First Division in the HSLC, High
Madrassa and FM Examinations conducted by SEBA and State Madrassa
Education Board, Assam. The scheme is synonymous with the Assam
Electronics Development Corporation Limited (AMTRON), a Government of
Assam Undertaking which has been instrumental in implementing the
award scheme.

Number of Awardees

19,034
17,084 17,137
12,756 13,352 12,594

P
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Widespread Impact:
Over 72,000 awardees in the past 5 years!

Around 17,000 to 19,000 students receive the award with the scheme
involving an outlay of approximately 30 to 40 Crores for the government
every year. Under this scheme, in 2009 each awardee was provided with a
15.6” TFT monitor, 160 GB hard disk, UPS and CPU with 2.4 GHz
processor and 1 GB RAM.
4
P: Projected for year 2010
 The Anundoram Borooah Scheme has been widely
acclaimed as one of the most successful schemes of the
Government of Assam, of which there does not seem to
be a parallel anywhere else in the country

The award was instituted in the honour of Late Anundoram Borooah, an

Assamese and a sanskrit scholar, who was also the first Indian to be
appointed as Deputy Commissioner under the erstwhile Indian Civil Service.
The award was instituted to infuse healthy competition and motivation
among young students. After five years of successful operations, the
ARBAS scheme is widely acclaimed to be one of the most successful
schemes in Assam.

5
 Introduction to Anundoram Borooah
Anundoram Borooah, born in Rajaduar, North
Guwahati on 21st of May 1850, was not only a
extraordinary scholar, but also the first Assamese
and fifth Indian to join the Indian Civil Service. He
was the first Indian Civilian to be appointed as a
District Magistrate.
Anundoram completed his school education from
the Guwahati Government Seminary (now known
as the Cotton Collegiate School), passed the
entrance examination of Calcutta University in 1864
and joined the Presidency College. He graduated in 1869 and topped in the
examination held by the College to select candidates for studies in England.
He arrived in England in the spring of 1869. He was selected for the Indian
Civil Service in 1872. He served in many capacities in Assam and the
undivided Bengal.
Anundoram published some important and rare Sanskrit classics such as
Mahavircharita, Saraswatikanthabharna and Namalinganusasana, along
with his own commentaries, among them noted being Janakiramabhashya.
His other works include “Bhavabhuti and His Place in Sanskrit Literature”
and “Ancient Geography of India”. He started compilation of English
Sanskrit Dictionary during 1873-74 and completed the same in 1877.
Anundoram, also known as Assamese Amarsingha, for having mastered
Amarkosa at an early age of fourteen, planned his magnum opus in twelve
volumes on Sanskrit Grammar, an enterprise more arduous and prodigious
than undertakings of any other scholar of his time. Two of the volumes,
which he could bring out alone before his demise, were devoted to prosody
and lexicography, and the elicited admiration of Max Muller.
Anundoram breathed his last on the 19th of January, 1889. During a short
span of a decade and half of his administrative and literary career,
Anundoram, amidst engrossing duties of his office, devoted himself to
literary creations of formidable volume, reflective of his innate prolific
erudition. His life was an embodiment of dedication and hard work. He was
undoubtedly, one of the finest civil servants and a great scholar that Assam
ever produced.
6
About the Report
In the fifth year of the award scheme, TechAtEdu has undertaken an
independent assessment of the award scheme to understand the
satisfaction levels of the awardees with respect to various aspects of the
scheme and to understand the key issues that need to be addressed in
order to better deliver the intended benefits of the scheme to the target
population. In this context, TechAtEdu has undertaken a primary research
study of the scheme by surveying recipients of the award scheme across the
27 districts of the state to understand their background, usage of the
awarded PCs and their outlook towards the scheme's positives and
drawbacks.

7
 Highlights
TechAtEdu's report “Anundoram Borooah Award Scheme – Impact
Assessment” analyses the awardees of FY 2009-10 and FY 2008-09 in
their usage of PC awarded and perception toward the award scheme. The
survey was carried out across 27 Districts in Assam by interviewing 2,104
awardee students. Following are the highlights of the study:
Majority of the students are satisfied with the quality of the PCs
provided to them.
Of the displeased students, the quality of the UPS has been the key
cause for dissatisfaction, this could be due to poor power scenario.
A significant number of students are not able to use the awarded PCs
as they have to move out of their home for their higher studies.
Lack of awareness of opensource benefits has resulted in several
students switching over to Microsoft Windows.
Internet usage is very low among awardees which has also hindered
maximization of open source knowledge/ usage.
Paradoxically, affluent awardees use open source software more than
awardees from economically challenged families.
Recognition for the girl awardee has been a major positive factor
among families and has helped improve societal attitudes to
educating women.
There is a considerable increase in the number of students securing
first division since the inception of the award, with clear feedback
from students indicating that the prestige of the award has increased
motivation.

8
Awardee Profile
 The ARBAS Programme has
Reached Every Corner of Assam
Impacting the Lives of Thousands of
Young Students across 27 districts
Every year thousands of young students across the state appear for the
high school examination. In 2010, 2,70,930 students appeared for the
exam. Of these 1,71,276 passed their exams. However, only 11% of these
(19,034 students) achieved 1st division and hence were eligible for the
award under the ARBAS programme.
Among the ARBAS Awardees, more than one fifth awardees are from
Kamrup district. Apart from the Kamrup district, the division across all the
other districts is more or less equivalent. This has been the trend since the
past 5 years.
The number of awardees under the award scheme has been growing at a
CAGR of 9.2% from 2006 to 2010. Kamrup accounts for maximum
number of awardees winning under ARBAS scheme since inception of the
award. No other district accounts for more than 7% of the awardees and
most of them have seen a stable contribution of awardees over the years.
But districts such as Baksa and Udalguri have been progressing in the
number of awardees.

Percentage Contribution of Awardees

Udalguri & Baksa - Rapid growth

in share of awardees from zero
to 2% in last two years
Kamrup has 1-in-5
awardees under
ARBAS. However,
Kamrup’s share has
fallen from over
25% in 2006 to
Less than 5%
20% in 2010 –
5%-7% other districts are
20% rapidly growing in
10
share of awardees
The Award has Highlighted
the Progressive Gender Ratios in
Assam's Educational System
Though the majority of the ARBAS awardees are male (57%), the
females are not far behind (43%). In an encouraging sign, the
proportion of female awardees has witnessed growth by 2% over
the past 5 years.

Awardees: By Gender

43%
57%

Male Female

11
 Science Leads Among Options
Chosen by Awardees
Science is the most preferred subject followed by commerce and arts
amongst male students. While in case of female students, preference of
Arts stream prevails over commerce stream. Over half of the awardees
choose to study science after their matriculate exam.
An almost equivalent proportion chose commerce and arts (19% and 18%,
respectively), however, just 7% opted for other courses like BBA, diploma
courses, etc. While the proportion of males choosing to study commerce
and other diploma courses is almost equivalent to the proportion of
females, but in case of arts stream the proportion of females is almost triple
that of the proportion of males (28% of the females vis-à-vis 10% of the
males). A small percentage (less than 3%) of the students were found to be
discontinuing their studies because of financial problems being faced by
their families.

Awardees: Stream of Study

Science Leads as 7%
Science
the Most Preferred
18% Commerce
Stream Of Study
Arts
after Matriculation 57%
19% Others (BBA/
Diploma etc.)

Of the students who chose science as their stream, about two-thirds are
males and just one-third are females. However, it's the converse in case
of arts stream, where two-thirds are females and one-third are males. Of
the students choosing commerce, 55% are males and 45% are females
and among the students going in for diplomas, 61% are males and 39%
12
are females.
Majority of the Awardees Live
with Their Parents
A large share of 77% of the award recipients live with their parents. The
proportion of those living in a hostel/PG/rented/shared accommodation
increases among those who come from households with income levels
above Rs. 50,000 – one-third of such students live in a
hostel/PG/rented/shared accommodation.

Awardees: Residence

1%

At home with parents

22%
In a Hostel/PG/Rented/
Shared Accomodation

77% With relatives

Today, young Assamese are moving out of their homes and staying in hostel
in pursuit of higher quality education. Out of all the respondents surveyed,
approximately 22% live in a hostel/PG/rented/shared accommodation and
just 1% live with relatives. Of those living in outside their homes, the
majority are males (63%).

13
 Almost One - Fifth of the
Students do not have PC in their
Current Location

Awarded PC: Location

20%

80%

Current place of residence

Somewhere else

The location of the PC is not always with the awardee. The survey indicated
that ~20% of the students did not have their PC with them and among the
students living in hostels, nearly 80% didn't have their PC at their place of
residence. The inconvenience of transporting the systems to the place of
study/ hostel/ outside accommodation was cited as the key reason behind
not having their PC with them. A high need and desirability of a laptop was
noted among such students.
This was also compounded by the fact that a small percentage of the
awardees (primarily in the less than Rs.10, 000 per month income bracket)
sold their PCs when moving to a new location for studies.

14
Majority of Awardees Use PC
at least 3 days/week
Almost 33% of the awardees use the PC every day with 1-in-4 awardees
using it once in 3-4 days, while another fourth hardly use it. The segment
of the population staying away from their place of residence constitutes the
bulk of the segment that hardly uses the PC. Also, as could possibly be
expected, frequency of usage has been much higher in the awardees
coming from the higher income bracket.

Frequency of PC Use

23% Every day

33% 3-4 days a week
1-2 days a week
18% Hardly
26%

Only One - Third of the Awardees

Use the PC Daily

15
 Lack of Awareness of Open Source
Software is a Major Handicap
The overwhelming majority of the awardees are not aware of open
source software, i.e., freely available software on the internet which
does not require license. Although the PCs are provided with Ubuntu, a
free source OS, the awareness of open source software is still low
because most of the award beneficiaries install MS Windows OS. One
of the surprising findings is that the higher income bracket awardees
seem to be the most prolific users of open source software, which
might be driven by access to
information and resources,
Open Source Software:
whereas awareness and usage
Awareness
are low among the lower
income brackets. While the 13%
government does issue a
manual to assist awardees with
the basics, a more
87%
comprehensive information
docket and / or training might
be useful in improving Aware of Open Source Software
awareness and usage. Unaware of Open Source Software

Awareness of open source software

correlates to household income

Awareness of Open Source by Income Segments

43%
16%
15%
13%
5% 14% 14%
11%
Up to 5,001- 10,001- 15,001- 20,001- 25,001- 30,001- Above
5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 30,000 50,000 50,000
16 Income in Rupees
Of the awardees that are aware of open source software, 12% have never
tried it whereas out of the awardees that have used it, the majority 82%
find it useful, and only 6% do not find it useful. Considering it's free
availability and with a majority of users finding open source software
useful, students across all households should be given adequate exposure
and made aware of its use and presence. This will especially benefit
students from lower income households who cannot afford to purchase
different software solution. Driving trial, providing information/ training
could make a significant difference to the impact of open source software.

Open Source Software: Opinion

3%
3%
12%

Not useful
Does not work
Useful
82% Have not tried

Open Source Software found useful

by four-fifth of its users

17
 Majority of ARBAS awardees are
from families with income less than
Rs.15,000 per month
Nearly 58% of the award recipients are from households with income
below Rs.15,000 per month. While 4-in-10 awardees are from households
with incomes between Rs.15K-30K per month, and only 5% are from
households with incomes above Rs. 30,000. This highlights the fact that
majority of the beneficiaries of the award may not be otherwise able to
purchase PCs which are priced at more than a month's household income
for them. Clearly ARBAS significantly benefits such families.

Awardees: Monthly Household Income Level

26%
23%
17% 17%
Almost
60% of the
9% Awardees 3% 4%
1%
Up to 5,001- 10,001- 15,001- 20,001- 25,001- 30,001- Above
5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 30,000 50,000 50,000

Income in Rupees

18
 Usage &
Satisfaction
 Usage
Award Attractiveness: Overwhelming
Majority Accept the PC over money
Under the ARBAS scheme, an awardee is provided with an option of
choosing a cheque of fixed amount or the PC. An overwhelming majority of
awardees are inclined towards receiving the PC with a small number of
awardees preferring cheque over the PC. The incidence of accepting a
cheque in lieu of the PC was higher in cases where the awardee already
owns a PC or if the awardee's household income is very low.

Forms of accepting the award

4% 5%
4%

Received a Personal Computer (PC)

Received a Cheque and bought a PC
Received a Cheque and did not
buy a PC, already had a PC
87% Received a Cheque and did not
buy a PC, and currently have no PC

Only 4% of the awardees owned a

computer before ARBAS award

Of the total respondents, 13% of awardees opted for cheque. One third of
awardees receiving the cheque used the amount for buying a PC or a
laptop with their own choice of configuration. Another one third of the
awardees preferred cheque over PC as they already owned a PC.
20
 Usage
Rest of the awardees receiving cheques do not own a PC. Half of them feel
that they do not need a PC, while one-fourth face monetary problems and
so did not opt for the PC. The rest of the awardees plan to purchase a PC in
near future with the award money.

Income Wise Distribution of Awardees Who Received

a Cheque, Did Not Buy a PC and Have no PC

13%

6%

5% 3% 3%
1%
2% 0%
Up to 5,001- 10,001- 15,001- 20,001- 25,001- 30,001- Above
5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 30,000 50,000 50,000

Income in Rupees

Almost half of the students who opted for

cheque, did not buy a PC and never had a PC
at home have monthly income of less than
Rs. 10,000 per month

An overall 87% students opted for the PC as award. Of these, 4% claimed

to have received a PC but have sold it due to reasons such as the family’s
financial problem or dissatisfaction with the PC. Majority of them have low
household income of less than Rs. 5,000 per month.

21
 Usage
The Awarded PCs are Predominantly
in Working Condition
An overwhelming 92% of the awarded PCs are in working condition and
only 8% require repairs. Most of the repair work was related to UPS and the
second most common cause of complaints was the monitor. Satisfactory
working condition of PC translates into the user satisfaction with the
computer, its parts and finally the scheme. In a few cases, awardees
reported that low availability of servicing options of the PCs was a concern.

Condition of Awarded PC

8%

92%

In working condition
Not a working condition, requires repairs

Working condition of PC translates

into scheme satisfaction

22
 Usage
The PC is a “Family Device”
in Awardee’s Household
The awarded PC is being used primarily by the awardee as well as his/her
siblings. Parents use it in just 19% of the cases, though in households with
higher income groups the proportion of parents using it is noticeably
higher. The award has been helpful in exposing siblings to technology.

PC Usage
89%

64%

19%

4% 4%

The Awardee’s Parents Friends/ No-One

Awardee Siblings Neighbors/
Relatives

In fact, in cases where the awardee is living in a hostel/PG/rented/shared

accommodation, the PC is lying idle in 1-in-10 cases. In 4% of the cases it is
being used by friends/neighbors/relatives and in another 4% of the cases it
is lying idle as the awardee has relocated for higher studies and no one else
in the family knows to use the computer.

23
 Usage
Education is a Key usage
factor for the Awarded PC
Entertainment and education are the major purposes of PC usage with 80%
of the awardees using it for entertainment/gaming and 71% for educative
purposes. Another interesting facet is that in 1-in-10 cases, the PC is used
for work or professional purposes indicating the multi-purpose use the
awarded PC has in the awardee household.

Purpose of PC Usage

80%
71%

11% 9%

Accessing Study/ Work/ Entertainment/

Internet Education/ Job/ Games
Learning Business

7-In-10 Awardees
Use the PC for Education

24
 Usage
Lack of Internet Connection
Viewed as Major Drawback
Only 17% of the ARBAS award winners have an internet connection. In
some of the cases, the receipt of the PC drove the interest in accessing the
internet with 7% subscribed to an internet connection after winning the
award, while 10% had a connection even before winning the award.
There is a small but noticeable difference between the genders here with
only 5% of the girl awardees subscribed to the internet as against 8% of
the male awardees.

Internet Usage
Subscribe to net after Small but significant
winning award 7%
percentage of awardees
Always had net subscribed to internet
connection
10%
Do not have net
post receiving the award
connection 83%

Subscription to the net has also been influenced by the income levels to
some extent – with the households with lower incomes subscribing
proportionately less.
Internet subscription vis-a-vis the household income
18%

9%
6% 6%
9%
2% 7%
5%
Up to 5,001- 10,001- 15,001- 20,001- 25,001- 30,001- Above
5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 30,000 50,000 50,000
Income in Rupees

More than 40% of the students subscribing to internet

have household income of more than Rs. 20,000 per month 25
 Usage
For the Internet Users,
Entertainment & Education are
Equal Attractions
While 69% of the internet using awardees access the internet for
entertainment/gaming, an almost equivalent 68% access it for education/
learning. Barely 5% access internet for work/business and just 4% use it
for banking and other online services. Lack of access to internet is due to
non-availability and difficulty in affording it. Though the PCs have reached
all nook and corner of Assam, but internet has not. The Government of
Assam needs to take a major initiative in this direction to empower the
rural youth.

Purpose of Internet Usage

68% 69%

4% 5%

Study/ Banking/ Work/ Entertainment/

Education/ Other online Job/ Games
Learning services Business

26
 Usage
Government Need to Allocate More
Resources to Popularise Opensource
Ubuntu was provided as the default operating system (OS) with the award
PC but majority of the recipients have uninstalled Ubuntu and installed
Microsoft Windows on their PC. This indicates the popularity of windows
and reflects the lack of knowledge and awareness about the advantages of
Free and Open Source Software among the awardees. A huge 90% of the
PCs use Windows as their OS, while 5% use Ubuntu, 3% use Linux and just
1% use Unix. Lack of familiarity with the open source operating system,
inability to use desired programs on it and lack of resources were cited as
the key factors driving the switchover to Microsoft windows.

Awarded PC: Operating System Used

3%
5% 1%

1%
Windows
Unix
Abuntu
Linux
90% Others

27
 Usage
Awardees Using Multiple
Software Packages on the PCs
The awardees have been very proactive in installing numerous software
packages of their interest on the PCs with various entertainment,
professional and office packages dominating the usage. As can be
expected, entertainment leads the usage with music software like Winamp
being most commonly installed, followed closely by video players. Microsoft
Office too has widespread usage coming in at the third most widely used
software package. Several professional packages like accounting, image
editing & programming software are also being used widely among the
awardee community.

Software Usage
1
2
3 84%
74%
69%
64%

29%
18% 22%

Photo Office/ Accounting Programming Music Video Games

Editor Productivity Software Software Software

Software to Play music and Videos

28 on the PCs are the Most Installed
 Usage
Recipients Are Satisfied
with Accessories
The majority 80% of the awardees have not bought any accessories for
their PC. Of the accessories purchased, printers and speakers seem to be the
key accessories in demand.

Accessories Bought

80% None

7% 5% 1%

Speaker System Printer Scanner

10%

Others
29
 Satisfaction
PC Performance Leading to
Awardee Satisfaction
Majority of the award PC users are satisfied with the configuration of the PC
provided. More than 3/4th of the awardees are highly satisfied with the
performance of processor, memory, UPS, monitor and the operating speed
of the PC. Nearly 2% were highly dissatisfied.
The general performance problems faced by awardees were related to
malfunctioning of UPS and monitor in some cases.

Satisfaction Levels with PC

1% 1% 1% 1%
2% 2% 2% 2%
6% 5% 6% 6%
17% 16% 19% 15%

75% 77% 73% 77%

Processor Monitor Memory Operating

Speed Speed

Highly Satisfied
Somewhat Satisfied
Neither Satisfied Nor Dissatisfied
Somewhat Dissatisfied
Highly Dissatisfied

30
Social Impact
 Recognition
The ARBAS Award has Strong
“Merit Recognition” Social Status
in Assam
In the course of five years of Opinions: Award Improved
implementation of ARBAS, people Societal Recognition
have started associating the award 3%
with the social standing of 4%
awardees and their family as well.
A majority of awardees agreed that
the award has helped enhancing
their social standing. This is more
prominent a feature among the 93%
award recipients from districts
other than Kamrup. Yes No
Don’t know/Can’t say

Even among peers, a recipient's social standing increases. This has

been especially relevant for the standing of the girl awardees.
77% of the recipients feel that the award helps in enhancing the
standing of the girl students in society. This was corroborated
with a large majority of 86% of the girl awardees stating so

Opinions: Award Improves Social Standing of Girl Awardees

7%
12% 16% 7%
10% 13%

77% 71% 86%

All Awardees Male Female

32 Yes No Don’t know/Can’t say
 Case Study

Pankaj Kumar Shah

Can a boy who was born to gatekeeper and has two siblings ever dream of
becoming a computer professional? The answer will ring as “No” for most
of us. But ARBAS has proven this wrong by not only providing the boy with
a computer but encouraging him, his siblings, parents and neighbors to
help him achieve his dreams.
This is the true story of Pankaj Kumar Shah, who was born to Ram Prasad
Shah in Guwahati. Ram Prasad works as a gatekeeper in a private
organization and earns a meager salary to sustain his family. He realized the
importance of education in today's life and was determined to expose his
children to the education.
Pankaj got to know about ARBAS through his seniors in school who won
the award. Being form a poor family he could not have afforded a PC and
he sought ARBAS as his only way towards technology. He studied hard for
his HLSC exam and secured first position in 2006. His hard work paid off in
the form of ARBAS. After winning the award, Pankaj had an option of
selling the PC and arrange some money for his family but his father
encouraged him to learn about computers and aspire for a professional
course. But affording electricity was a steep challenge for the family. Moved
by the situation, their land lord Mohammed Naseeruddin Ahmed decided
to provide a power connection so that Pankaj can operate and learn
computer.
As a result of his efforts, Pankaj is now pursuing a distant learning course of
Bachelor of Computer Application from Sikkim Manipal University and plans
to pursue Masters in same course. He is striving hard towards his dream. He
provides tuitions to school children to support his family financially. He also
encourages his siblings to study hard to achieve the award.

33
Awardee Outlook
With ARBAS recognizing the students' talent and awarding them, the
award is not only acting as a motivating force in improving their outlook on
education but also helping improve their skills for future jobs.
Almost half of the students agreed that the award was the motivating force
for them to choose science as fields of study, with majority of them desire
to choose career fields related to scientific studies. Almost 86% of the
awardees agreed that the award helped improve their outlook on
education/career. The majority of the awardees believe that the awarded PC
has also helped improve skills/ability for jobs in 84% of the cases, thus
acting helping in giving them an edge over their peers.

Award Impact

86%
84%

9% 9%

Award improved outlook Award improved

on education/career skills/ability for job

Yes No

34
 Almost All the Recipients are Extremely
Satisfied with the Award Under the Anundoram
Borooah Award Scheme

ARBAS Awardee:
Taking Home the
Satisfaction and
Motivation to Move
Ahead in Life

Awardees: Satisfaction with ARBAS Scheme

92% 6% 2% 1%

Highly Satisfied Satisfied

Neither Satisfied Nor Dissatisfied Dissatisfied

An overwhelming 98% of the recipients are

satisfied with the award, of which 92% are highly
satisfied. Only 1% of the awardees are dissatisfied
with the award scheme. As evident from the survey
it is apparent that ARBAS has successfully managed
to achieve its goals and has created an impact on
the society that it intended to bring in.
35
Methodology
Anundoram Borooah Award Scheme has been a well established award
scheme instituted by the government of Assam. Making the program
financially viable and executing it on a state level has been a mammoth task.
The program has touched and impacted a majority of young students in
Assam. Almost 19,000 students receive the award every year. In order to
gauge the impact of award on the usage of PC awarded, girl child
empowerment, impact on awardees’ career,perception among students,
parents and society, TechAtEdu carried out detailed face-to-face interviews
with the awardees across urban and sub-urban areas in the State. The
interviews were conducted on the basis of selected parameters for the study.
The samples were selected by “probability proportional to population (ppp)
with replacement” method. The data of Anundoram Borooah Awardees for
2008 and 2009 was used to identify the sampling frames for urban & rural
and gender based survey frames. The object of Stratification was
implemented with an objective to (i) increase efficiency of the survey design,
and (ii) ensure administrative and operational convenience. The field data
was collected by data collection agents hired by TechAtEdu. The field data
was organized and studied using SPSS after suitable verification and
validation of responses to eliminate errors.

Coverage
The research was conducted based on the following coverage:

Scope Number Details

Districts 27 All districts in Assam
Respondent Sample Size 2104 12% of the total number of
awardees in 2009
Urban 631 30 % of the total sample size
Rural 1473 70% of the total sample size
Male 1226 Representative number of total
male awardees
Female 878 Representative number of
36
total female awardees
 About the Authors
Madhu Sudhan
Madhu Sudhan is the Chief Editor of TechAtEdu.

With significant experience in the media and

research space, also he has a deep
understanding of the education sector. He has
considerable experience with the Network18
group and in consulting major KPMG. He holds
a degree in business management and an
undergraduate degree in electronics & communications engineering.

He can be reached at madhu@techatedu.com

Priyank Jain
Priyank is the Senior Analyst with TechAtEdu. He
has significant research experience with
Evalueserve and Capgemini. He tracks the Indian
Education space. His past projects were related to
market sizing, industry overview, competitive
analysis, and company profiling. He has also
worked on web-technologies for more than a year. His passion for
discovery and thirst to engage in new challenges lend immense scope
and dimension to this field.

He holds a certificate in business management program from IIM

Calcutta and an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering.

37 He can be reached at priyank@techatedu.com

Research Team

Key members involved in field research, validation

and analytics.

Photo - Left to Right: Prachi Bansal, Lata Pattra,

Shiv Kumar, Arusha Mishra and Jyotsana.

A special thanks to Sushil Kumar for conceptualizing

and executing the report design.

38
 TRANSFORMING EDUCATION
THROUGH TECHNOLOGY
w w w. t e c h a t e d u . c o m

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