CHAPTER I

THEORETICAL ORIENTATION

1.0INTRODUCTION

Education is essential for all-round development of human

beings. It is endowed with the responsibility of propagating and
spread of knowledge from one generation to another. We have
many agencies for imparting education. Though school is treated
as a formal institution for spreading knowledge in a systematic
manner through a specialist known as teacher but that cannot be
taken as the only rescue. Right from the birth of a child, it learns
the wa ys and means to lead life from its the famil y members. As it
grows, it gets additional inputs from friends and relatives in the
society. The local environment further adds to its knowledge
bank. All these accommodated in its mind as knowledge and form
the process of learning.

Ever since 1986, when the National Policy on Education

(NPE) was approved b y Parliament, efforts to redesign curriculum
have been focused on the creation of a national system of
education. The NPE-1986 recommended a common core
component in the school curriculum throughout the country. The
policy also entrusted NCERT with the responsibility of developing
the National Curriculum Framework, and reviewing the framework
at frequent intervals.

So far NCERT has come-up with four National Curriculum

Framework (NCF) i.e. in the year 1975, 1988, 2000 and 2005.
After the development of National Curriculum Framework, the
process of developing the syllabus, textbooks and teacher
manuals are taken up subsequentl y in phased manner, which is

1
completed in three years time. National Curriculum Framework
(NCF) -2005, is the recent one in the series.

1.1 N ATION AL CURRICULUM FR AMEWORK 2005 - NCERT

Curriculum designing has a special place among the diverse

responsibilities envisaged in the charter of NCERT. As an apex
national agency of educational reform, NCERT is expected to
review the school curriculum as routine activity, ensuring the
highest standards of rigor and deliberative openness in the
process. The 1986 National Policy on Education (NPE) and the
1992 Programme of Action assign a special role to NCERT in
preparing and promoting a National Curriculum Framework (NCF).
The Policy views such a framework as a means of establishing a
National S ystem of Education, characterized by certain core
values and transformative goals, which might be consistent with
the constitutional vision of India.

The Executive Committee of NCERT had taken the decision,

at its meetings held on 14 and 19 Jul y 2004, to revise the
National Curriculum Framework, following the statement made by
the Hon'ble Minister of Human Resource Development in the Lok
Sabha that the Council should take up such a revision.
Subsequently, Education Secretary, Ministr y of HRD
communicated to the Director of NCERT the need to review the
National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCFSE-
2000) in the light of the report, Learning without Burden (1993).
Accordingly, five structures to undertake the NCF review with
wide-ranging deliberation have been set up. These structures are:

National Steering Committee

National Focus Groups

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Committee for Consultation with states

Research Unit

Coordination Committee

Chaired b y Professor Yash Pal, an eminent scientist and

scholar, the National Steering Committee had 35 members
comprising scholars, school teachers and principals,
representatives of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and
members of the NCERT faculty.

Twenty-one National Focus Groups covering curricular

areas, national concerns and systemic reforms were created to
generate ideas and prepare position papers on the respective
themes. These themes are:

Curricular Areas: National Concerns

• Teaching of Science • Problems of Scheduled Caste

and Scheduled Tribe Children

• Teaching of Social Sciences

• Teaching of Mathematics • Gender Issues in Education

• Teaching of English • Education of Groups with

Special Needs

• Teaching of Indian Languages • Education for Peace

• Habitat and Learning • Early Childhood Education

• Heritage Crafts • Health and Physical Education

• Art, Music, Dance and Theatre • Work and Education

3
 Systemic Reforms

• Aims of Education

• S ystemic Reforms for Curriculum Change

• Curriculum, S yllabus and Textbooks

• Teacher Education for Curriculum

renewal

• Examination Reforms

• Educational Technology

Renowned scholars and practitioners, some of whom are

also members of the National Steering Committee, chaired the
focus group and each group has members ranging from 11-16.
Other members of the Focus Group are drawn from the NCERT
faculty, schoolteachers, experts and practitioners. Each Focus
Group, through discussions, produced a research-based position
paper providing a comprehensive view of existing knowledge in
the area and future directions. Reports of these focus groups,
which provided input for formulation of NCF-2005.

Approved b y CABE on 7 September 2005, NCF derives its

objective of student learning and development from the values
enshrined in the constitution and contemporar y concerns for
strengthening unity and national identity in a multi-cultural
context and enabling the nation to face future challenges.

Affirmation of the primacy of an active learner and a

distinctive focus on the nature of knowledge gives NCF the
potential to put the Indian system of Education at par with
international practices. The main features of the framework are:

4
Strengthening of a National System of Education with Special
Focus on

• values enshrined in the constitution of India.

• reduction of curriculum load.

• ensuring quality education for all.

• systematic changes;

• common school system

Guiding Principles of NCF-2005

• connecting knowledge to life outside school;

• ensuring that learning is shifted awa y from rote methods

• enriching the curriculum to provide for overall development of

children rather than remain text book centric

• making Examination more flexible and integrated with

classroom life and

• Nurturing an overriding identity informed by caring concerns

within the democratic polity of the countr y.

Learning and Knowledge

• correspondence between learner development and learning is

intrinsic to curricular practices,

• knowledge is different from information

• organising learning experiences for construction of Knowledge

and fostering creativity

• connecting knowledge across disciplinary boundaries for

insightful construction of knowledge

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• learning experiences for developing critical perspectives on
social issues

• plurality of text books and other material incorporating local

knowledge mediated through constitutional values and
principles.

Curricular Areas

• implementation of three language formula with renewed

efforts;

• the idea that home language/mother tongue as the best

medium to build a foundation for education applied to tribal
languages as well;

• multi-lingual character of Indian society is a resource for

promoting language proficiency

• teaching mathematics to focus on developing child’s

resources to think and reason, to visualise abstractions and to
formulate and solve problems;
• teaching of science to be recast to enable learners to acquire
methods and processes that will nurture thinking process,
curiosity and creativity;
• social science to be considered from disciplinary perspective
while emphasising integrated approach in the treatment of
significant themes;
• enabling pedagogic practices are critical for developing
thinking process, decision making and critical reflections on
social issues;
• the art and heritage crafts, and health and physical education
to form critical components of school curriculum.

For implementation of NCF-2005 vision training and

retraining of teachers and teacher educators are essential.But

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today, our country engages nearl y 55 lakhs teachers spread over
around 10 lakhs schools to educate about 2,025 lakh children
(Source: Chapter-I, NCF-2005, page 1). Also if we look at and
anal yse the data on the growth of teacher education organizations
in the countr y, it reveals that the number of these institutions
have been multiplied i.e. as on 31.03.200 there were 2051 such
organizations and as on 31.03.2005 the figure is 4550 (Source:
NCTE-Annual Report, 2000 – 2001 and 2004-2005). Orientation of
teachers and teacher educators of such a huge system at regular
intervals is always a challenging task. Covering such a system
onl y through face-to-face training and orientation programmes is
virtuall y impossible as a lot of untrained teachers are created
every year. Organization of orientation programmes through a
multi-tier (Key - Resource Persons, Master Trainers etc.) training
strateg y may be one of the modalities for training and re-training
of a large number of teachers and teacher educators of our
country. The role and importance of electronic media in
ameliorating the education system is too obvious.

In the recent years Media and Educational Technolog y are

being employed to revitalise the entire education system all over
the world. In India, the National Policy on Education, 1986 has
emphaticall y emphasised that "Educational Technology will be
emplo yed in the spread of useful information, the training and
retraining of teachers, to improve quality education, sharpen
awareness of art and culture, inculcate abiding values etc., both
in the formal and non-formal sectors. Maximum use will be made
of the available infrastructure.

However, keeping in view the transmission loss through

multi-tier training programmes and the resource crunch with the
states, training of teachers through distance mode i.e.
teleconferencing (video and audio-conferencing) could be a better

7
option in hand to cover the arm y of teachers. Success of such
strateg y has alread y been established by NCERT in the year
1996-97.

1.2 CONCEPT OF TELE-CONFERENCING

In the fast developing world and the explosion of knowledge

access to current literature through print media has become
somewhat different. An emphasis on flexibility and on
independence of learning is opening new doors. Use of
communication technology opens up increasing avenues for
sharing up-to-date material at the doorstep. The students and the
faculty need not be confined to the four walls of an institution for
learning people living physically apart can share knowledge, skill
and resources. Power of modern information technologies to
increase access to education resources need to be understood for
this. It may be useful to employ a framework developed by Ta ylor
(1996) in describing the evolution of distance education delivery.

Without debating the validity of Ta ylor ’s anal ysis on the

modes of communication and their evolution, it can be observed
that these models have all been tried at length and used in the
country and abroad for various purposes including education.

Though sincere efforts have been made on the part of the

government of India to spread technolog y to the remotest part of
India, yet it may take time for a common man to have all these
media with in one’s reach. The fourth generation flexibility-
learning model of Tayler is still not with in the reach of more than
half of the Indian population. But it was observed that the third
generation model of Distance Education was discovered to be
suitable and gradually focussed greater attention on learning

8
support to individual student and was appreciated as student
entire system.

The major changes in the deliver y mode that followed with

satellite and television expansion was one wa y broad casting
communication from central source to the learners in two wa y,
teacher-learner interactive broadcast popularly known as
teleconferencing though this teleconferencing mode is being tried
in India for more than two decades, but it could gain popularity
and expansion with respectability only in the last decade.

No doubt personal contact is the most powerful mode of

training and no other media can replace it but it can not be said
to be self sufficient and remed y to all educational problem.

1.3 CONCEPT OF VIDEO-CONFERENCING

Besides the organisational part Video-conferencing involves

three major elements of the system configuration, which need
their linkages. They are the learning centres as receiving end at
one and linked to the teaching end in the studio via the space link
i.e. Satellite.

1. Receiving End

2. Space Link

3. Delivery End

Johnson (1983), “The history of video-conferencing is, of

course, more recent than that of audio teleconferencing. The first
public showing of television occurred in 1939, the same year as
the first application of educational audio teleconferencing.
However, applications of video-teleconferencing did not appear
until the 1960’s and these used closed circuit television”. Toda y,

9
with reductions in cost and with new deliver y systems such as
satellite technolog y, video-conferencing has advanced.

True video-conferencing provides for a two-way exchange of

both live television images and audio signals between two or
more sites and three or more individuals. In this wa y the students
can see the teacher and the teacher can see the students. The
major disadvantage of such a system is the enormous
technological problems that arise as the number of site increase.

Often there is a mistaken impression that new technologies

in education are used primarily for individualization while this is
one very worthwhile direction, communications technolog y may
also bring people together. Teleconferencing is one educational
method that brings participants together over geographical
distances.

1.4 THE CONCEPT OF INTER ACTIVE TELEVISION

Interactive Television is emerging as a new media and tool

for conferencing, training and education. Interactive Television
(ITV) is a television with interactive content. It refers to two wa y
electronic communications between two or more groups or three
or move individuals who are in separate locations. It combines
traditional TV watching with interactivity of the internet and
personal computer. This two-way electronic communication is also
known as Teleconferencing. It is divided into three major types:
audio, and computer.

Audio-Teleconferencing: Audio-Teleconferencing is
actuall y telephone conferencing. In this, the speakerphones are
available in the classroom. This system can be used for upto ten
participants. If there are more people, more sophisticated speaker
can be used which are available all over the world. Also

10
conferences can be arranged at a short notice. Compared to
other technologies, the cost is low. There are different types of
audio-conferencing like: dedicated conference networks, Dial up
Networks: meet me conferencing and Direct Dial Conferencing
S ystems. There is another type of audio-conferencing known as
Audio-Graphic.

Audio-Graphic is the transmission of print and graphic

information through telephone lines.

Video-Teleconferencing: This is a combination of and visual

media which provides interactive voice communication and
television pictures. This system comprises one-wa y or two wa y
video and two-wa y audio networks. Motion video is the most
common Technology

Other options also exist, such as freeze-frame television,

compressed video systems and full motion audio systems. Video-
conferencing is a national conferencing format but involves high
cost.

Computer-conferencing: In this system two or more people

communicate with each other via computer terminal. Here,
participants can write their message into the computer, which can
be retrieved and answered later.

Many educational institutions and corporations are using

ITV for Tele-Training and group meetings. It provides rich
entertainment and more information. In education, ITV is useful
as it:

• Provides expert instructors to remote schools, colleges,

universities and offices;

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• Offers uniform, quality, instruction to learners scattered
over many sites or over a large area;

• Allows learners at multiple locations to interact with expert

and with each other; and

• Provides in-service training without leaving the workplace.

Training and Development Communication Channel (TDCC)

Government of India, particularly the department of space,

allocated the spare life of earlier generation satellite for
experimentation in human resources development. It is called
Training and Development Communication Channel (TDCC). The
Training and Development Communication Channel provides one-
wa y video and two-wa y audio teleconferencing network for the
interactive training and education. The TECC on INSAT is
operational since Februar y 1995. Since its inception, the TDCC is
being utilized considerabl y. The activities are being expanded to
cover new users, areas and applications. The aim of TDCC is for
training and Development communication in the countr y. TDCC is
not a channel for one-wa y broadcasting, it is for interactive
training and education. (Maddhu Parhar 2006)

1.5 DD-GYAN D ARSH AN

Envisaged as a Doordarshan Education Channel, this

satellite-based channel will be on C-band of INSAT 2B (C-12,
4170MHZ) and free-to-air. The programme will be telecast from
EMPC-IGNOU. It will be a 16-hour Channel with 8 hours of
original programming and 8 hours of repeat telecast daily. There
will be an attempt to make the Channel, interesting, useful and
relevant for the ‘niche’ audience as well as various potential
audiences.

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 The software for the Channel will flow in free various
eminent and premier institutions such as the-UGC/CEC,
NCERT/CIET & SIET’s, NOS, DST, TTTIS, IIT’s Department of
Space/DECU, Ministries of Rural Development, Health/NACO,
Labour, Environment etc. which are involved in the production of
specialized electronic media software.

Different segments of the population i.e. pre school

children, school students, non formal system learners, teachers,
university students, technical & management students, adult
learners and so-on, especially those residing in far flung remote
areas, the physically challenged & socio-economicall y
disadvantaged are expected to benefit .

1.6 INTRODUCTION TO EDUS AT

Educational television in India and its beginning in the earl y

1960’s. One of the important landmass was the SITE Experiment
in Early 1970’s. Exclusively on elementary education that
influenced later development of educational media classroom
2000+ was b y the first experiment in interactive television. A
much larger leap was taken at he initiative of ISRO when it
created DECU to experiment with in interactive television for
education and development with one way video and two-wa y
audio interactivity all these efforts led to the creation of a
dedicated channels for education named Gyan Darshan.

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 The Precursor to EDUSAT was contained in the National
Action Plan for in service Education of Primary Teachers through
distance education. It is in this document, for the first time that
the concept of a Nation wide reception network for two-wa y video
based learning was articulated. This was done as a follow up of
E-9 summit in Delhi in 1993. The documented was authorised by
Professor Marmar Mukhopadh ya y as UNESCO consultant, funded
b y Asian Development Bank in 1996.

EDUS AT Vision and Missions

Conceptuall y, if National Action Plan was a seed, EDUSAT

is a full-grown tree with a massive vision, the title of the concept
document, published b y DECU is “Educating the Nation: Need for
a Dedicated Satellite”. The vision of EDUSAT is the most
succinctl y stated in the title itself, namel y ‘education the nation’
Mukhopadha ya argued about the need for a dedicated satellite for
continuing education of one billion people for creating a learning
community which is necessar y for India to emerge as a nation.’

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 ‘Educating the nation’ agenda has been seen to be
translated through the satellite-based education. This is visible in
the allocation of the 72 channels for achieving the three
articulated missions. EDUSAT document proposes provided 28
channels each to school and higher education so that curricular
programmes can be offered in various regional languages. Other
channels are for language learning, culture, women’s
development, health education of the senior citizens, toddlers,
etc.

Pedagogy:

On the issue of pedagog y EDUSAT visualizes creating a live

virtual classroom. The main pedagogical proposition is to invite
competent and effective teachers of different subjects into the
studio at the teaching ends. With the teacher support material like
power point presentations, computer graphics, animations charts,
models etc. The expert teacher will present the curricular lesson
that will be uplinked to the EDUSAT. The reception centres in
various schools, colleges and other educational institutions will
be able to receive the presentation. The students will also be
able to ask questions and present their views within their own
classroom settings. Such students communications will be
uplinked to EDUSAT and downlinked into the teaching centre. The
teacher shall be able to respond to such questions and
comments, generating an interactive virtual classroom. This
pedagogy is distinctl y different from me broadcast pedagogy
where prerecorded programmes are uplinked and broadcast.

The issues of software and content generation directl y

informed and influenced by the choice of the pedagog y,
particularly the instructional design. In the proposed design of the
pedagogy, the conventional software in the form of video

15
programmes or CD-Romes, either interactive or non-interactive,
are not of particular importance. On the contrar y, the expert
presentations from the teaching ends are proposed to be
recorded, digitized and archived facilitating retrieval by the
learners according to their learning needs and convenience. The
need and importance of conventional software is relevant onl y
when such software can be used as teacher support material.

Technology Configuration:

One of the important dimensions of EDUSAT is the

technology configuration. There are two specific segments in
technology configuration. One is the space segment, which
basically means provision of dedicated satellite. The second is
the ground segment that is equipped with uplink facilities as well
as reception facilities in different educational institutions and
organizations.

5 Spot Beams in
EDUSAT Ku Band
Covera EIRP=55dBW;
G/T=+7.0 dB/0K
ge 1 National Beam in Ku
Band
EIRP=50dBW
G/T=+3.0 dB/0K
1 National Beam in
Ext C Band
(6 Channels)
EIRP= 38.0dBW

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 The dedicated satellite was launched on 20 t h September
2004 by ISRO. The first component of the ground segment is at
the teaching ends with uplink facilities, usually with a studio and
other associated facilities. Such facilities have been proposed to
be installed at apex institutions at the national & state levels,
universities and other such organizations that need to develop
their own network for delivering education. The second
component is the reception stations.

EDUSAT (GSAT-3) Concept

System Features
2000 Kg class satellite
GSLV launch
5 regional beams
One All-India beam
Ext-C band 37dbW
Ku band 54 dbW

Two kinds of reception facilities have been recommended-

Satellite Interactive Terminal (SIT) and Receive Onl y Terminal
(ROT) have been proposed to be provided to the universities,
colleges, senior secondar y and secondary schools. Colleges
include both general and professional colleges including teacher
education institutions. ROT has been proposed to be provided
and installed into elementar y and primar y schools. Given the

17
 number of existing educational institution the complete network
should comprised more than 1.2 million reception centres; about
one million with ROT facilities and remaining with SIT facilities
(Madhu Parhar, 2006).

1.7 HOW EDUS AT WILL OPER ATE

In the first phase of pilot projects, a KU-band transponder

on broad INSAT-3B, which is already in orbit is being used. In this
phased, Visveswaraiah Technological University (VTU) in
Karnataka, Y.B. Chavan State Open University in Madh ya Pradesh
are covered.

THE NETWORK CONFIGURATION OF PROPOSED

GSAT-3 (EDUSAT) PILOT PROJECT

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 In the second phase, EDUSAT space-craft, once
commissioned in orbit, will be used in a semi-operational mode
with at least one uplink in each of the five spot beams. About 100-
200 classrooms will be connected in each beam. Coverage will be
extended to two more sates and one national institution.

In the third phase, EDUSAT network is expected to become

fully operational. ISRO will provide technical and managerial
support in the replication of EDUSAT ground systems to
manufacturers and service providers. End users are expected to
provide funds for this. In this phase, ground infrastructure to meet
the country’s educational needs will be built and during this
period, EDUSAT will be able to support about 25 to 30 uplinks and
about 5000 remote terminals for uplink. Currentl y we are
beginning the second phase.

Typicall y, two kinds of connectivity have been proposed

Satellite Interactive Terminals (SIT) and Receive Onl y Terminals
(ROT). The details are as follows:

1) SIT with 1.2 meter antenna for low data rates (other equipment
include a well connection a PC, a telephone and a television
set) and colleges. It can be used for TV broadcasting and data
broadcasting.

2) SIT for high data with an antenna of 1.8 meter. It is considered

suitable for direct interactivity over satellite channel for higher
rates and for video-conferencing and is capable of receiving
TV and data broadcasting Professional and University network
can use this SIT with telephone and a PC for two video and
two audio facilities.

19
3) 0.7 meter KU-band antennas TV receive only terminals these
shall comprise of antenna TV set and a PC. It can be used for
TV and data reception b y the schools as and when required.

Each of the national and regional beams can be split into

number of channels. The EDUSAT is designed to support about 72
channels, which are proposed to be distributed as follows.

• State Channels 56 (28 for higher education & 28 for school

education)

• 14 National Channels each for various sectors for Education,

higher education, school education, technological education &
adult education etc.

What CIET, NCERT has so far done and how it is proposing to

use EDUS AT?

CIET (NCERT) has been utilizing Satellite Technologies for

about three decades. It has gained a wide range of experience in
design and organization of programmes using such technologies.
Some of these experiments are:

• Participation in Satellite Instructional Television Experiment

(SITE) in 1975-76 in collaboration with ISRO

• Training of 48000 Science Teachers using multi-media

programmes.

• Conduct of Classroom 2000 Project in 1993 using technique of

teleconference for direct teaching of Ph ysics and Mathematics
to Senior Secondary Students.

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• Undertaking four experiments in the year 1996 and 1997 in the
Orientation of Teachers under SOPT programme of MHRD and
Hard Spots of Mathematics in the State of Karnataka and M.P.

• Telecast of video programmes on National Network of

Doordarshan and the cable channel Gyan Darshan.

The EDUSAT configuration will allow us to develop a

network of institutions, together constituting a national network.
This network will facilitate an on demand two-wa y communication
between institutions and within the schools of each institution.

The school sector is to get a National Channel along with

necessar y uplink and down links. CIET (NCERT) has taken an
initiative in this regard and entered into an MOU with ISRO for
this purpose. It has been agreed that a KU-Band Sub Hub will be
installed at the CIET along with 100 terminals for installations at
different locations.

Initiall y it is proposed to install terminals at five Regional

Institutes of Education, one Central Institute of Vocational
Education, seven State Institutes of Educational Technolog y and
about 30 State Councils of Educational Research and Training
with two-wa y Video-conferencing facilities.

These are proposed to be expanded to include institutions

like Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Boards of
Secondar y Education, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sanghthan (KVS),
Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS), National Institute of Open
Schooling (NIOS), Central Tibetan Schools, Schools of AICSE, All
India Progressive School Conference and so on for one wa y video
and two-wa y audio-conferencing facilities.

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 This infrastructure will enable various departments of
NCERT and other Central level organisations to mount their
training programmes using this distance education mode. Large
numbers of functionaries viz. Teacher educators, teachers,
students, parents community at large, and administrators can be
reached out to for updating of information and Upgradation of
skills in various aspects of school education.

The proposed school network could be used by various

agencies for undertaking training programmes directl y with the
target groups as against the current approach of training master
trainers key resource persons and then reaching out to the target
groups. The NCERT conducts more than 100 training programmes
each year in face-to-face mode. It has been involved in
undertaking training on mass scale under the P-MOST and SOPT
programmes. Some of the other categories of agencies and target
groups, which the Council is required to liaise and conduct
training, are as follows:

• Central Organisation working in school education viz. CBSE,

NIOS, KVS, NCTE, etc.

• IASEs/CTEs/University Departments of Education/DIETs and

other teacher education organizations.

• Tribal Research Institute and Academ y of Tribal Languages.

• Counselors of State Guidance and Counseling Bureaus

• Pancha yatiraj Institutions and Active Women Organisations

including NGOs involved in Women Education Programmes

• Instructors of Special Education Programmes

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• Writers at State Textbook Bureaus

• Evaluators of State Education Boards

• Field workers undertaking educational surve ys

• Researchers and evaluators of various projects

• Instructors of Vocational Schools (5600 in number approx)

• Food Craft, Hotel Management, Technical Engineering,

Commerce, Paramedic Institute for Vocational Education
programmes

• Training Centres of Emplo yment Officers

• Workers at Anganwadies/ EGS Centres (Amrendra Prasad

Bahera, 2006)

The various institutes of NCERT require distance mode of

satellite education for conduct of training programmes, holding of
virtual conferences, exchange of data and other services viz.
Linking of libraries and media resources of various Institutions.

Recentl y, NCERT has planned for orientation of school-

teachers on NCF-2005 and how to use the new text books through
using the existing EDUSAT network (two-wa y video and two-way
audio-conferencing). This exercise will cost lakhs of rupees.
Therefore, it is essential to measure efficacy of such
programmes. The present study has been designed in this
direction.

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 EDUSAT Network

Receive Only Ext C 0.75 m

Terminals
Ku
ROT

3m

DRS School

1.2 m

SIT

(For Existing
Network) WLL

Studio 1.8 m
Higher
HUB SIT Secondary&
College

WLL

Professional/Universi
State Capital
ty

Technological Possibilities

Radio Broadcast TV Broadcast

Night time Loading
Video Conferencing at Receiving end

Asymmetric Internet Technological Online Education

Through TVRO Possibilities through Internet

Telephone as
Voice Chat on Return Link
Internet
Internet as
Webcam as Return Link
Talkback Channel
Return Link
as Return Link

Effective Multimedia Delivery is Planned

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1.8 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The Problem of the present stud y is stated as under:

“Effectiveness of Video-Conferencing Programme in Imparting
Training to the Teachers through EDUS AT Network”.

1.9 NEED AND JUSTIFIC ATION OF THE STUDY

Teacher performance is the most crucial input in the field of

education. Whatever policies may be laid down in the ultimate
anal ysis, these are to be interpreted and implemented by
teachers as much as through their personal example as through
teaching learning process (cited in POA 1992 of the National
Policy on Education, 1992) [chapter 22, Teachers and their
training, Page –109].

Following the approval Central Advisor y Board of Education

(CABE), NCF-2005 is to be disseminated among the states and
the various levels of stakeholders to facilitate manifestation of
NCF ideas in the school system and ensure its practice at micro
level. Today, our country engages nearl y 55 lakhs teachers
spread over around 10 lakhs schools to educate about 2,025 lakh
children (Source: Chapter-I, NCF-2005, page 1). Also if we look at
and anal yse the data on the growth of teacher education
organizations in the country, it reveals that the number of these
institutions have been multiplied i.e. as on 31.03.200 there were
2051 such organizations and as on 31.03.2005 the figure is 4550
(Source: NCTE-Annual Report, 2000 – 2001 and 2004-2005).
Orientation of teachers and teacher educators of such a huge
s ystem at regular intervals is alwa ys a challenging task. Covering
such a system onl y through face-to-face training and orientation
programmes is virtuall y impossible as a lot of untrained teachers
are created ever y year. Organization of orientation programmes

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through a multi-tier (Key - Resource Persons, Master Trainers
etc.) training strategy may be one of the modalities for training
and re-training of a large number of teachers and teacher
educators of our country. However, keeping in view the
transmission loss through such programmes and the resource
crunch with the states, training of teachers through distance mode
(two-wa y video and two-wa y audio-conferencing) could be a
better option in hand to cover the arm y of teachers. Success of
such strategy has alread y been established by NCERT in the year
1996.

Another such programme has been planned by NCERT in

the month of July-August, 2006 and planning to train about
12,000 teachers of different types of schools on NCF-2005, and
how to use the new Text Books.

This exercise is to be done by using the existing EDUSAT

network (two-wa y video and two-wa y audio-conferencing). No
doubt it will cost lakhs of rupees. Therefore, it is essential to
measure efficacy of such programmes. The present study has
been designed for this purpose.

Therefore it was decided to observe the video-conferencing

programme through EDUSAT network at SCERT Solan rela yed by
NCERT (CIET) all over the countr y. Since it is a newl y started
programme and studies have not been conducted in this area.
Therefore it speaks itself the importance of the study. The present
research is likel y to add corpus of knowledge related to
effectiveness of these type of the programmes and their
relevance to the class room teachings. The results of the study
will be helpful in restricting NCF-05 and the other programme
through video-conferencing. The stud y also will be helpful to the

26
administrative and educational planners. Therefore the present
stud y is fully justifiable.

1.10 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The following objectives were formulated in the present study:

1. To analyse the discussion of the panelist on video-

conferencing as observed by the participants.

2. To assess the involvement of the participants in the

programme as observed by the investigator.

3. To assess the operation of the programme as observed by the

investigator.

1.11 DELIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

The stud y has been delimited in terms of objectives,

h ypothesis, samples, tools, design, statistical techniques etc. The
obtained result of the stud y may be generalized only with in the
framework of delimitation of the stud y.

1.12 OPER ATION AL DEFINITIONS OF THE KEY TERM:

1. NCF-2005- National curriculum Framework-2005 owes its

present shape & form to the flurr y of ideas generated through a
series of intensive deliberations by eminent scholars from
different disciplines, principals, teachers and parents,
representatives of NGO's, NCERT faculty, and several other
stake holders at various levels.

2. NCERT- National Council of Educational Research and

Training is an autonomous organization established on 1st
Sept. 1961 at New Delhi to improve School Education as it

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 functions as an academic wing of the ministry of education
under the ministry of Human Resource Development.

3. NIEPA- Set up b y the govt. of India in Ma y 1979. The National

institute of Educational Planning and Administration, is an
autonomous bod y in the field of educational planning &
Administration Playing a significant role in training educational
planner and Administrator.

4. SCERT- State Council of Educational Research and training is

a state level agenc y set up in the year 1971 to discharge
specific responsibilities such as Qualitative improvement of
School & Teacher Education.

5. DECU- Development and Educational Communication Unit of

ISRO, was entrusted the responsibility of steering the project
on dedicated satellite for education, which was later christened
as EDUSAT.

6. National Focus Group- As a part or revision of National

Curriculum Framework (NCF), 21 National Focus Groups were
set up on various themes related to Curricular Areas, National
Concerns, Systemic Reform which provided input to the
National Steering Committee for formulation of NCF-2005.

7. INTEND- National Action Plan proposed to set up a four-tier

Indian Training and Education Network for Development
(INTEND), these tiers being national, regional, state, district
(and block) levels.

8. ICT- Information and communication technolog y is

strengthening education through its wonderful attributes
namel y, speed regency, immediacy, omnipresence, variety view
compositions and comprehensiveness.

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9. EDUS AT

• Acronym for educational satellite

• Launched on 20 September 2004

• EDUSAT is technology new work comprising

- Up link station in selected state and National

location (teaching ends)

- Down links stations in various educational institutions

(as learning ends) and the Satellite

10. VIDEO-CONFERENCING

• S ynchronous two-wa y interactive video and audio

communication.

11. SEITA

Satellite based Education and Instructional Technology

Authority set up to provide direction and manage EDUSAT.

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