Education, Careers & Professional News
Varsities asked to exploit ICT to revolutionise education
Source
The Hindu
Date
2005-07-14
Information
President A P J Abdul Kalam, on Wednesday asked universities to exploit Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to revolutionise the field of education.
With the availability of an exclusive education satellite (EDUSAT), the time is ripe for making intense use of ICT to create interactive virtual class rooms in all our remote areas, Kalam said addressing the convocation of the Netaji Subhas Open University (NSOU) here.
Observing that a three-pronged approach was needed for spread of tele-education, he said since EDUSAT is providing the connectivity, the other two essential components which are vital for success of the programme are the tele-education system and quality content generation and deployment.
Kalam said Indias mission of digitising millions of books through a digital library programme would go a long way in establishing an online knowledge society.
This programme is progressing well and we have already digitised 90,000 books out of which 50,000 .
Over 21 centres spanning institutions, social organisations and Government agencies including Rashtrapati Bhavan, partnered in creating the huge repository of knowledge, he said.
He said universities like NSOU could utilise the facilities of the DLI and digitise all material to offer e-learning courses to students in remote areas.
The President, speaking on Technology enhanced distance education, recounted his own experience with a tele-education system implemented in Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Kalam said he had recently simultaneously addressed students of five colleges of Punjab through the tele-education delivery system as part of a distance education programme.
I could see all the class students from various locations. They can also see me and interact with me. Such an interactive tele-education delivery system is fully functional, he said.
Besides spreading the reach of formal education, the use of ICT would also help establish an innovation system in the country, vital for the competitiveness of manufacturing and service sectors, he said.
Such a system would involve creation of clusters, which are networks. This network can include inter-dependent firms, knowledge producing institutions, universities, research institutes, technology providing firms, bridging institutions and customers linked in a value addition creating production chain, he said.
The President, who later interacted with students of NSOU, appreciated the institute on setting up video-conferencing facilities at study centres.
NSOU Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Surabhi Banerjee, said the university had witnessed marked growth with about 60,000 enrolled at 142 study centres in West Bengal currently.
State Governor and NSOU Chancellor G K Gandhi, was present.