Last week, i was witness to a great event which could change the face of higher education in India. For a teacher, this is a remarkable milestone. Last week, my institute, IIITMK, situated in Trivandrum, the south west-tip of india was connected through a "virtual private network" to Nagaland University in Dimapur, Nagaland. Dimapur is on the north east tip of India, some 3800 kilometres away. The idea of this link is to teach students in Dimapur by conducting lecture sessions in Trivandrum. We will use material provided by the National Programme for technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL). NPTEL is a joint programme of all the Indian Instt. of Technology and the Indian Instt. of Science (these are the best and the most advanced schools of engineering in india). Thus, students in Nagaland will get to learn from the best teachers in India, without having to leave their homes.
This technologically profound project, the brainchild of Prof. Srivathsan, the Director of IIITMK, is the first of its kind in India. It has the potential of bringing education to everyone in India, at an affordable cost. It will help us to avoid all the corruption, mismanagement and apathy with which the current University system in India is suffering. And, like Prof. Srivathsan says, it will transform the current examination oriented system to a learning oriented system. If that happens, ours will soon become a great country. It will in fact be the first time when Rabindranath Tagore's dream will come true -- "Where knowledge is free and the head is held high"
There is hope for the education system in India.
partha
