Satcom Technology Deployed for Learning | 02 Jan 2020

Why in News

  • Recently, the Rajasthan government has started using satellite communication technology on a broader scale to enhance the learning outcomes in educational institutions and generate awareness about social welfare schemes.
  • It will give priority to the five aspirational districts, Karauli, Dholpur, Baran, Jaisalmer and Sirohi, selected by NITI Aayog in the State.

Key Points

  • The initiative has been taken 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. It will propagate various schemes in remote areas with no internet connectivity.
    • At present, there are over hundred SITs and ROTs under CEC EDUSAT network, installed at various colleges, and Universities across the country.
  • It will be used in approximately 2,000 institutions coming under various departments, such as education, higher education, social welfare, minority welfare, women and child development and tribal area development.

CEC EDUSAT Network

  • The Consortium for Educational Communication (CEC) is one of the Inter-University Centres set up by the University Grants Commission of India.
    • It has been established with the goal of addressing the needs of Higher Education through the use of television along with the use of emerging Information Communication Technology (ICT).
  • EDUSAT is the satellite exclusively devoted to meet the demands of the educational sector.
    • It was launched on September20, 2004, by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) to meet the demand for an interactive satellite-based distance education system for the country.
    • It has revolutionized classroom teaching through IP based technology.

University Grants Commission

  • It came into existence on 28th December 1953 and became a statutory organization of the Government of India by an Act of Parliament in 1956, for the coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of teaching, examination and research in university education.
  • The head office of the UGC is located in New Delhi.

Source: TH