Teacher-to-Teacher

Silent Edusat revolution

Almost a year ago on may 19, 2007 prime minister Manmohan Singh launched 100 multi-media lessons developed by IL&FS ducation Technology Services (IETS) and the Haryana state government to provide interactive, animated learning material for 1.6 million children in 9,000 government schools in the state. These learning programmes for primary school students have been incorporated into the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) programme of the Central government and are relayed into primary schools via Edusat — the world’s first education satellite launched by the government of India and ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) in 2004.

Overcoming constraints of resources, manpower and technology, IETS has evolved and implemented a participatory process for content creation under which teachers from Haryana’s government schools have been groomed and trained to write scripts and deliver lessons on camera. Students have also been taught acting and articulation skills and they have become the little stars of their own learning content! Simple, everyday, cost-effective props like balloons and puppets have been used to add vibrancy to the learning of English, science, and maths. The learning modules are not merely educative — they are innovative, economical, and good fun.

The creative process of mixed-media lecture formats involved enlisting the help of NCERT (National Council of Education Research and Training) professionals to stage workshops for teachers of Haryana’s government schools in script writing. Since the teachers had experience of working with local school children, they were trained by IETS to create the scripts and story boards. Each episode was developed by teachers and school children rehearsing and enacting lesson scripts which were recorded on film. This process has not only generated high quality, culture specific, effective classroom content but also enhanced the content development skills of teachers.

In its multitude of uses, Edusat helps to extend the reach of educational infrastructure and can be used to address issues of education, training, inclusion, child rights, women empowerment, gender disparity, etc. Edusat applications include radio and television broadcasting, video conferencing, internet-based learning, among others. Moreover this pioneer learning empowerment satellite helps bridge education lacunae — deficient infrastructure, paucity of qualified teachers, variations in syllabi, restrictions imposed by multiple languages, cultural differences, taboos, and problems caused by migration due to natural disasters and lack of job opportunities.

Moreoever Edusat has already proved its utility by addressing the issue of providing access to quality education programmes for all. Large populations of children from socially disadvantaged groups and those suffering from locational and cultural distadvantages are currently accessing quality classroom education through Edusat.

The Union government’s SSA programme for primary education encourages states to use computer-aided learning through Edusat to supplement curriculum-based teaching and enhance the reach of education through distance education models. Several states including Karnataka, Uttaranchal, Haryana and Tamil Nadu have proactively used Edusat for supplementing classroom teaching as well as teacher training.

Edusat provides for both synchronous and asynchronous distance education formats. In most states, schools have been provided ROTs (receive only terminals) while at the district and block levels SITs (satellite interactive terminals) enable children to receive educational television programmes based on the curriculum. SITs provide the additional facility of interactive teleconferencing between teachers and experts to clarify doubts related to curricular areas.

In July 2005 former President A.P.J. Kalam inaugurated the first phase of Edusat operations by connecting 15 teacher training centres and 50 government schools in Kerala. Since then, this satellite-based learning programme has expanded to cover a large number of schools. Institutions like IGNOU, UGC, IITs, NIOS, and NCERT are among the many that benefit from the Edusat facility. For instance earlier this year, tele-education services for the country’s top engineering colleges were launched by ISRO and IIT-Bombay. This initiative offers 13 fully-fledged degree courses of 50 engineering colleges country-wide with the Visvesvaraya Technological University, Karnataka, becoming the largest satellite connected technical university in India with all its 113 engineering colleges and 120,000 students connected by satellite.

Nevertheless despite its impressive progress, Edusat is in its nascent stage. It has the potential to benefit students at all levels and across all segments of society. Subjects can be taught by experts in multi-media formats to thousands of students across vast geographical spaces. In time, Edusat will erase boundaries and limitations of time and space, reaching quality education to a hundred million students, thus empowering the nation and contributing to the development of India’s abundant human resources.

(Dr. Shabnam Sinha is the Mumbai-based chief executive of PPP Initiatives at IL&FS-ETS)