The Congress government in Rajasthan has started using satellite communication technology in a big way to enhance the learning outcome in educational institutions and generate awareness about social welfare schemes, while giving priority to the five aspirational districts selected by NITI Aayog in the State.
The Science & Technology Department has taken an initiative to provide the facility of receive only terminals (ROT) and satellite interactive terminals (SIT) for getting the services of subject experts in the government schools and colleges and propagate various schemes in the remote areas with no Internet connectivity.
State S&T Secretary Mugdha Sinha said here on Wednesday that the technique would be used during the first phase in approximately 2,000 institutions coming under various departments, such as education, higher education, social welfare, minority welfare, woman and child development and tribal area development.
Subject experts
The students studying English and science subjects in the government educational institutions will get services of subject experts through ROT and SIT. Ms. Sinha said the level of English and science subjects would be increased among students of Class VI to XII in order to get better results in the board examinations of Class X and XII.
The new programme’s facility will also be provided to all the 134 model schools, Kasturba Gandhi Girls’ Schools, Social Welfare Department’s hostels, children’s homes and students of a government college in each district. The institutions with the shortage of teachers will especially benefit from the geostationary satellite uplinking facilities.
Ms. Sinha said the people going for Haj pilgrimage, who were earlier required to come to Jaipur for training, would be trained at the district level through ROT and SIT installed in the government colleges.
The special focus of the initiative will be laid on the five aspirational districts selected by NITI Aayog — Karauli, Dholpur, Baran, Jaisalmer and Sirohi — where the satellite-related resources would be installed at the old age homes and children's homes. Ms. Sinha said eight community radio stations run by the S&T Department would publicise education-related schemes in these districts.
