Slashdot Mirror
India Launches World's First Education Satellite
samfisher writes "New Scientist is reporting that India has launched EDUSAT, the world's first satellite exclusively dedicated to distance learning. EDUSAT will use the virtual classroom concept to offer education to children in remote villages, quality higher education to students in areas without access to good technical institutes, adult literacy programmes and training modules for teachers. The educational programmes can be viewed on any television set through a simple low-cost receiver costing about $65."
Edusat means Channel 1.
It's a weird irony that it's cheaper to send up a satellite than it is to build schools to support everyone.
Where can one buy one of these $65 receivers? I figure the signal probably reaches about half of the globe, so mostly anybody in Asia should be able to get the signal, right?
All data is speech. All speech is Free.
I am reminded of when -- back in the 50's -- the State of Indiana sent an airplane up in the air every school day. It circled around and around, broadcasting educational films to every school in the state that had a receiver. Ain't nuttin' new under the sun... -- TE
If the classrooms have return uplinks, then this project makes much more sense than the current "Education alongside other functions", because two-way communications for students can be very important, and the multipurpose satellites would not be well-suited to the uplink needs of the classrooms themselves.
@Whee
So India has found a more cost effective way of educating the population. Not only is this bloody fantastic, I also like the way that India is able to profit from the educational progress of other countries to leap ahead of them. All the technological innovation that took place in Europe and America - satellite technology, rocketry, etc., has been picked up and used without all the preliminary development having to be repeated.
I hope Europe and America can do the same a few more years down the line to leap forward on the backs of Indian technology developed with their new low-cost education system.
Of course, international patent agreements pushed by the US may prevent that.
Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera - Jeanne D'Arc.
..if australia would find use for such a system?
having such a spread out population (besides the coastal areas) may require just such a thing...
not really sure how much of a space program they have though..
Catholic and other private schools get to cherry pick the best students. It's much easier to teach smart kids.
No matter what your criterea is if a school can get to pick who goes and who does not they will always win against a school that has to take everybody.
BTW the reason for the higher salary of public school teachers probably has to do with the fact that they are unionized. As a general rule union members get paid more in any industry.
evil is as evil does
"Really, the problem with public schools and our tax money is that the school don't have to be competitive in the marketplace."
Over 75% of all businesses fail leaving employees, customers, vendors and everybody out in the cold. Do you really want a system where 75% of all schools in the US shut down and where you have to constantly find a new school for your kids to go to?
If the voters are not doing their job electing regents and board members then it's their fault and not the schools.
Having said all that the US education system is in a sore need of being completely overhauled. Matt Groening said it best.
"school prepares you for life by teaching you to sit quietly at your desk doing exactly what you are told"
evil is as evil does
This topic will soon be relegated to the archives and there is a good chance this post wont be read, but I have to say it for the sake of posterity (of future topics that is).
Education is good. Education teaches a child to think, to pick out his fights, his goals, his aspirations. Despite what Pink Floyd told us, education, atleast in the less developed corners of the world, is a must. Else we run the risk of religious dogma being fed to these children, we run the risk of them being taught by unscrupulous leaders who do not value scientific thinking, who seeks to find answers in the religious texts and lives in the past while sucking tomorrow's future down in the drain with them.
I am proud that India has been kicking it up a notch, in the field of education. When a country truly cares about the intellect of its citizens and aspires to leave its future generation with the power of thought, only then it can shine among the rest of the world. I only can hope Pakistan and other of its neighbours do the same. Religious education is good, in moderation. It should be balanced by education that teaches a child to question his beliefs and that of the society and to work towards making his life and that of around him, better.
The Western world should be glad for India and anyone else who decides to take such paths.
Rapid Nirvana
Another major issue is that a lot, if not most non-us countries only test their high-performing students. In the US, we test *everyone*, and yet for years people have been duped into comparing those results against the top 50-25% of students in other countries. We mandate that *all* students get a moderately equal education, and that everyone gets tested. In the rest of the world, there are a lot of countries where students don't see any real equality in education, and a lot of kids don't get educated at all. Comparing scores from the US to other countries is really comparing apples to oranges.
As someone who just started teaching, I can honestly say that there isn't a lot wrong with education in the US, at least compared to much of the developed world. Standards for teachers have continued to rise, and the people I see entering the workplace now are more skilled than teachers were 30 years ago. Is everything roses and chocolates? Hell no! But we're not doing badly. There's always plenty of room for improvement, but I'm not worried about this country collapsing due to the educational deficiencies of the next generation.
What could be done to improve the educational system in this country? All sorts of things. The problem is that nobody can agree on those things. Personally, I think standardized tests are a crock of shit, and that they don't reliably test content knowledge nor the ability to use what one has learned. Do I have a better method to reliably and fairly assess a student's knowledge, which works flawlessly across all cultures and languages? No. And neither does anyone else.
Would more funding help? Yes. But funding is useless without training and direction. I would love to see technology fully integrated into public schools, where we teach students to make good use of it. But until we get both funding and knowledgeable teachers and administrators, that won't happen. At the moment, my high school doesn't even teach programming, and it's one of the largest schools in the area. I have a celeron 400 for a workstation, running XP, Novell desktop environment, with mandated use of Gradequick for attendance and grades. I can't run multiple apps on it at once. But it's the best we have, because the funding isn't there, and the administration doesn't see better computers as a priority. Combine these things with a school board composed of non-educators, primarily concerned with chopping down the school budget, and there will be no change in how the school views technology for years to come.
The bottom line is that in the US, we have made equality the goal, rather than maximizing the abilities of our top students. While it's a noble goal, we still aren't there, and the system is set up to force all students to a middle-point. We're a country that wants everyone treated equally rather than fairly. Education reform is tied to the government, the economy, and the citizens. The only way to make education better is to educate the general public on education, and hope that it trickles up to the government. We've been debating educational reform for hundreds of years, and we will continue to do so for hundreds more. If you want change, be sure to vote, and get on a school board, because they help set the policies and goals for schools.
Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor