Parliamentary committee seeks ISRO's help to bridge learning gap in school due to COVID

On Monday, June 21, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education decided to take the help of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientists to implement satellite TV classroom in the country, to bridge the learning gap due to COVID-induced lockdown in the country. 

The panel discussed issues concerning the content and design of school textbooks and plans to bridge the learning gap arising out of the prolonged shutdown of schools due to the COVID pandemic.

A panel member said, "The majority of the panel members of the committee has decided to take help from ISRO for the satellite TV classroom. As Odisha and Gujarat have already started. Students, especially from the rural areas can take advantage of bridging the learning gap due to pandemic."

The Vinay Sahasrabuddhe-led parliamentary panel for education had raised concerns over the knowledge gap of students and discussed taking the help of senior ISRO scientist to implement satellite TV orbit as Odisha and Gujarat have already started.

A panel member added, "We have noted that in rural areas of the country, not every household has a smartphone and it is not practical for students to take online classes from a smartphone. Sometimes the network is not good for online classes".

A third party satellite company which comes under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEIT), currently provides services to both the states for satellite TV classroom.

The committee explored satellite TV classrooms which will broadcast school-based education program and students can take advantage of it in cluster classrooms. They also looked into the issue of smartphone and data connectivity if can be solved especially in the rural areas.

Further, the panel for education has also taken note of the issues of convening about five state education secretaries for a detailed presentation about satellite TV classroom and presenting the states of Odisha and Gujarat as role models.

Sources said, "The committee plans to convene the education secretary of the states for detailed briefing and ask them to implement the Odisha and Gujarat model for satellite TV classroom for students and if necessary the committee members and ministry officials of the states can also visit the states."

There has been no substantive discussion on the opening of schools, the members raised the issues. The chairman of the committee informed the panel that "opening of schools is a state subject and detailed guidelines for the opening of schools were sent to the states."

Several other panel members said that in Monday's meeting, waiver of school fees and other charges were not discussed, but, it will come soon during the meeting as it is an important issue which the panel need to discuss.

Tele-education by ISRO

‘EDUSAT’, India’s first thematic satellite dedicated exclusively to educational services, was used extensively to cater to a wide range of interactive educational delivery modes like a one-way TV broadcast, video conferencing, computer conferencing, web-based instructions, etc. 

The EDUSAT (GSAT-3) satellite provided its services till September-2010, supporting Tele-education, Telemedicine and Village Resource Centres (VRC) projects of ISRO. 

In early May, ISRO had offered an online course called ‘Space Technology and Applications’ from 31 May to 4 June, 2021.

(With ANI input)

(Image credit: HTTPS:.ISRO.GOV.IN/PTI)