Launching an exclusive
Technical Education Channel Gyan Darshan –III marking the 54th
Republic Day, here today, the Minister for Human Resource Development
and Science and Technology, Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi urged the
authorities concerned to see that there is no difference in the
content and quality of formal and distance education. This is
all the more important with distance education having come to
play a greater role in achieving the goal of education for all.
With the launching of the Sarav Shiksha Abhiyan to cover primary
education, the pressure would build up for middle level in about
eight years. In twelve years, the pressure would mount on technical
education. So as to turn out technical graduates in large number,
Dr. Joshi said, the Distance Education Programmes like Gyan Darshan
and Gyan Vani will be highly useful.
Dr. Joshi named
the Gyan Darshan –III as the "Eklavya Channel", in reverence
to the immortal mythological character "Eklavya" who
learnt the skill of archery by keeping the bust of "Dhrona"
in front. He said it is wrong to say that technology came from
the West as technology was very ancient to India which gave to
the world the binary system on which modern education and computer
systems are based.
Dr. Joshi also
inaugurated four Gyan Vani, FM Radio Educational Channels for
Bangalore, Coimbatore, Lucknow and Visakhapatnam. The Minister
for Information and Broadcasting, Smt. Sushma Swaraj who presided
released the programme content of these channels.
Lauding the endeavour
of the Ministry of Human Resource Development for the spread of
literacy, Smt. Swaraj said that the I&B Ministry has taken
a policy decision to allow IITs, IIMs and Residential Schools
to have their own local FM Radio Stations. She said that by the
end of this year, 400 to 500 such stations would come up in different
parts of the country. She pointed out that Gyan Darshan –III Channel
would be highly beneficial to those who could not get into educational
institutions like IITs. However, lakhs of engineering students
across the country will get technical education at par with that
of the IITs through the Technical Education Channel. She said
that to begin with, the Gyan Darshan –III, will have a 16 hour
transmission daily and would be increased to 24 hours taking into
consideration the response received. 5000 hours of material for
transmission is already available. She described the use of broadcasting
and telecasting facilities for the spread of literacy, as a true
example of convergence of Education and Technology.
The Gyan Darshan
–III is a joint initiative of IIT Delhi and IGNOU. The transmission
is totally curriculum based and student-centric.
