International Journal of Advance and Innovative Research Volume 5, Issue 3 (III): July - September, 2018 52 ISSN 2394 - 7780 PROSPECTS OF ICT INTEGRATION IN SCHOOL EDUCATION: AN ANALYTICAL STUDY OF THE GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS IN WEST BENGAL, INDIA Arnab Kundu Research Scholar, Kalinga University, Chhattishgarh ABSTRACT Information & Communication Technology (ICT) is recognized as an important catalyst for social transformation, and an important tool for education. This paper attempts to analyse the role and performance of ICT in enhancing quality of school education in the state of West Bengal in India. The study covers 75 government run secondary schools encompassing 100 respondents of West Bengal. It has proven that adoption of ICT as a strategic management tool is a welcome sign for all the surveyed schools. The study result indicates that ICT was successful in predicting the future of new technology for the purpose of teaching-learning and transaction of curriculum and thereby enhancing quality of education. The ‘Kendell’s Coefficient of Concordance’ shows a significant association between ICT and qualitative upliftment of education. The study result revealed a close association among the factors like ‘relative advantage’ of ICT and quality of education. However, the magnitude of quality of education lies in its ability to organize ICT through establishment of proper infrastructure in the school. This study also showed barriers and challenges of ICT integration along with important policy recommendations and how ICT has received extensive recognition as a strategy for up- gradation of quality of education through acquired relative advantage, compatibility, demonstrability and image by overcoming the factors avoidance and complexities of new technology (ICT). Keywords: ICT Technological innovations, quality of education, barriers, policies. 1. INTRODUCTION Education is the backbone of any nation. The introduction of ICTs in the education has profound implications for the whole education process especially in dealing with key issues of access, equity, management, efficiency, pedagogy and quality. Information and communication technology (ICT) is a force that has changed many aspects of the way we live in 21 st century. In developing countries, education is also linked to a whole batch of indicators of human development. Education of women influences the health of children and family size. The experience of Asian economies in particular in the past two decades has demonstrated the benefits that public investment in education can bring. Therefore, Integrating ICT in teaching and learning is high on the educational reform agenda of any country. India is no exception. The ancient education system of India was primarily based on the ‘Gurukul System’. But now-a-days Indian education has undergone various stages from the Vedic age to the post-independence period. Modern education is not restricted within the classroom. The recent development of technology has brought out the whole world outside the classroom. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) plays a crucial role in this respect. It is treated as the integral part for educational reforms and innovations at secondary and higher secondary level schools (Mondal & Roy, 2010). The National Policy on Education (1986) has modified 1992, stressed upon employing educational technology to improve the quality of education. The policy statement led two major centrally sponsored schemes, namely, Educational Technology (ET) and Computer Literacy and studies in School (CLASS) paving the way for a more comprehensive Centrally sponsored scheme- Information for a more communication Technology (ICT in short) of schools in 2004. ICT stands for information and communication technologies and are defined, for the purposes of this primer, as a “diverse set of technological tools and resources used to communicate, and to create, disseminate, store, and manage information.” These technologies include computers, the Internet, e- mail, web based PC, Mobile phone, wireless sets, projectors, interactive boards, broadcasting technologies (radio and television) and different interactive boards (Wikipedia Internet, 2010). Thus ICT is a system that gathers different information or data to communicate over some distance with the help of modern technology. The integration of ICT into education has been assumed as the potential of the new technological system. ICT is not only the backbone of the Information Age, but also an important catalyst and tool for inducing educational reforms that change our students into productive knowledge workers(Bonk et. al.,1989). It is generally argued that knowledge obtained by the students is formal and the level of grasping new concepts is very low. Therefore, we are facing a potentiality of application of ICT and thinking of how this alarm situation could be improved society’s educational systems as constructivist’s theory both teachers and students develop the necessary knowledge and skills sought in this digital age. Hence, most countries around the world are focusing on approaches to integrate of ICT in learning and teaching to improve the quality of education by emphasizing competencies such as critical thinking, decision making, and handling of dynamic situations,