New Delhi: In what marks a first of its kind initiative, the students from across the country would soon be able to watch live telecast of lectures from six IITs and some other top institutions on their Television sets.
The Union Human Resource Department is all set to launch 32 Direct-to-Home channels so that the students could attend IIT lectures from their living rooms itself.
To accomplish this ambitious project, the HRD ministry has teamed up with the Department of Space (Dos) which has agreed to allot two transponders on a GSAT series satellite, while MoUs have been signed with many institutions, which will provide lessons and content that will be beamed on these channels.
"The government is focusing on using space technology to expand the reach of high quality education. Through the 32 DTH channels the aim is to ensure that live classrooms can be transmitted from ten 'Teaching Ends' out of which six will be IITs located in Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Kharagpur, Kanpur and Guwahati," said a senior official.
The names of over a dozen other premier institutions are still to be finalised.
The ministry is working to ensure that these channels are on air in a couple of months, sources said.
These channels will be freely available on Doordarshan's Free Dish DTH platform and all that the students will need is a Set Top Box to receive them, an official said.
At a meeting last month, a high-level committee chaired by Director of IIT Gandhinagar, worked out the finer details of operationalizing the project. It has recommended that the channels be operationalized by August this year, sources said.
