Edusat gets going

A satellite-aided distance education programme that aims to make good quality schooling accessible to the villages took off on Monday.

Chief minister Dharam Singh inaugurated the first link in Chamarajnagar district, set up by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

The primary education programme, based on ISRO's Edusat spacecraft, will be extended to all the backward districts in the state, Singh said at the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command network (ISTRAC) here.

Under the programme, ISRO and the state had set up 885 satellite receiver terminals for primary schools in various taluk headquarters like Gundlupet, Yelandur, Kollegal and H D Kote. The government proposes to add another 200 terminals.

In the long run, programmes like these will help reduce the discontentment among people in remote areas. It will help turn them away from violent actions, the chief minister said, referring to the Naxalite activities in the state.

Edusat-based distance learning would be extended to Bidar, Gulbarga, Raichur and Bagalkote which had heavy drop out rates. ISRO's chairman, G Madhavan Nair said Karnataka led the rest in taking primary education to the remotest villages where 75 per cent of the population was illiterate.

The project, with virtual classrooms using visual media will not only attract children to school but will reach a much larger student population.

EDUSAT held the promise of touching some 200 million students in villages, who would otherwise need 10,000 schools, Nair said.