The State government, on Wednesday, launched EDUSAT programme aimed at bridging the gap in teaching infrastructure between rural and urban students. The programme, through which students in government first grade colleges and government engineering and government polytechnic colleges will benefit, is being delivered with assistance from Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU).
Launching the programme, Higher Education Minister R.V. Deshpande said that the programme will be implemented in three days in 130 government first grade colleges and 32 government polytechnics in the first phase. “It will be extended to the remaining colleges within the next three months,” he added.
The EDUSAT studio, which was inaugurated on Wednesday, is housed at the Government Institute of Printing Technology building here. It is a joint project of the Department of Collegiate Education and the Department of Technical Education. Programmes will be uplinked through the hub facilities provided by ISRO at the Department of State Educational Research and Training (DSERT). Receive only Terminals (RoT) for reception of EDUSAT programmes have been installed in all the colleges for the first phase.
“There are broadcasting and live lecture facilities available now. This is a new step for higher education in the State where we are going to take advantage of technology,” Mr. Deshpande added.
Higher Education Principal Secretary Rajneesh Goel said EDUSAT was only a supplementary programme which could not replace a teacher. The live lectures related to the syllabi of undergraduate courses and polytechnics, live and recorded special lectures by experts, and recorded content produced by institutions such as the University Grants Commission, the All India Council for Technical Education and the Educational Multimedia Research Centre (EMRC) of the University of Mysore will all be used, he added.
