The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is going to put its first education satellite in space in July-August next year. The satellite, christened EDUSAT, will beam 72 channels dedicated to students.Senior education planner at the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), Professor Marmar, says: ‘‘This could bring about a sea change in education at all levels.’’ Although education through the television medium has been tried out in a restricted manner, a survey shows that only eight per cent of the students exposed to audio-visual education had really gained.The plan on how these channels will be used has been finalised by the HRD Ministry and has been drafted with support from NIEPA.Mukhopadhyay adds that 56 of these channels would be dedicated to the spread of elementary, secondary and higher education. Of these, two each would be handed to the education department in each state where they would plan their curriculum. For this, the state would have to set up a hub and NIEPA experts have already started visiting each state to convince ministers and bureaucrats handling education.Some states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh have already started work on these hubs. Every state will have to push in Rs 2 crore for the project.HRD officials say they have to ready the ‘‘technology to receive’’ and also develop the ‘‘software to uplink’’. The satellite will help in both telecasting and broadcasting. For example, in the case of higher education, the satellite will make video-conferencing possible. The universities would have to spend Rs 15 lakh each if they want to install downlinking facilities. But schools will have to procure just receive-only-terminals (ROT).
