THE COST

עמוד:45

Individualized learning in the pilot projects in IIdevelopment areas" costs about as much as teaching by conventional methods . If it is adopted in more schools , economies of scale would come into play and would reduce costs . The proposed science and technology centres would call for substantial expenditure on construction and equipment for the proposed 100 to 150 centres . On the other hand , there would be savings on the present 500 laboratories in the intermediate and secondary schools . The proposed research centre would be a new cost item . Its operating cost , in the first years , may come to about $ 500 , 000 per annum . The pay of the educators would be substantially higher than at present , but there would only be a comparatively limited number of the highly paid master educators . The higher salaries might be covered , in part , by a Salary Equalization Fund levied on trade and industry . The student related cost at E . U . for six courses , at 1983 / 84 prices , came to $ 1 , 064 per student . This figure would probably be lower if a larger number of students took the E . U . courses . The comparable cost at the conventional universities appears to be higher . Technological equipment would be a new cost item . One estimate forecasts the cost of introducing the computer to the twelve grades as $ 34 . 60 per pupil per annum . Assuming that by the year 2000 each of the 700 , 000 school children were to use the computer on an average of one hour per day , it has been estimated that for twelve grades , we might need software for about 3 , 000 hours of computer programmes . If it takes , on average , about 400 man-hours to prepare a one-hour programme and if the cost per man-hour is about $ 30 , we arrive at a direct cost of $ 12 , 000 per hour of programme . We multiply this by two to cover management and overhead and arrive at $ 24 , 000 per hour of programme . The cost of 3 , 000 hours of computer programmes would then be $ 72 million . Assuming the life of software and courseware to be eight years , the annual replacement cost , as from the eighth year , would be $ 9 million per annum ( $ 72 million divided by eight ) .

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