Satellite Supported Interventions to Improve the Quality of Delivery in Rural Schools — Experiences from the RGPEEE

The poor quality and reach of school education, particularly in rural and remote areas has remained a cause of concern in Indian school education since independence. With the sincere efforts done by the Government the situation has drastically improved in terms of the reach of the school education, however the quality of delivery has left a lot to be desired. Among other things the poor infrastructure of the school education, low motivational level of the teachers to go such areas and their poor capacities have been the major reasons which have plagued the school education .The issues involved are complex and deeply rooted in poor socio economic conditions of the Rural India. During the past few decades the Technology Mediated solutions have been perceived to be a viable opportunity to mitigate some of long pending problems in the area of school education. It has emerged as a promising solution and has attracted huge investments from the side of the Government.Among other things, the launching of the EduSat, a dedicated satellite for the cause of education has been a major milestone which signifies the policy thrust for the technological interventions in school education.

Rajiv Gandhi Project for EduSat Supported School Education (RGPEEE), is a major collaborative Project of the IGNOU, MHRD, ISRO and Hindi Speaking States of India which utilizes the potential of EduSat to improve the quality of School Education in rural and remote areas. It aims to compensate for the availability of the trained school teachers in rural classrooms, to empower & build capacities of already available school teachers, utilizing their wisdom for content generation and stimulate their interest in technology oriented teaching learning. The Project has made the provisions of one way telecast from its Jabalpur based hub (ROTs) and two way interactivity through Satellite Interactive Terminals (SITs).The interventions made by the project has not only made teaching interesting for target groups but also opened new possibilities for continuous skills up gradation of teachers. Within a short span the project has expanded from its pilot phase at District Sidhi of Madhya Pradesh to 7 Hindi Speaking States in India. Authors of this paper have been involved in the Content Development, Project Implementation and Management of RGPEEE right from its inception. This case study has focused on critical appraisal of the initial conditions, the strategic initiatives taken by the project officials to meet project’s objectives, constraints faced in the implementation process and lastly Recommendations for the future possibilities.