IIT Madras Comes Up With Crash Courses For Rural Learners, To Be Televised From Friday

The lectures will be telecast on educational channels, thereby helping those who do not have access to an internet connection.

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Chennai: The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) on Thursday revealed that it is coordinating a "national effort to create crash courses" for people in rural areas who are affected by the coronavirus situation and are unable to work towards their skill development because of it.  The institution will have lectures telecast on educational channels, thereby helping those who do not have access to an internet connection. Under this initiative, around 300 hours of video lectures have already been readied to help students who are unable to attend classes due to the Covid-19 lockdown. "The core objective is to help rural students who could not attend classes due to the Covid-19 Lockdown. The focus is to create crash courses with an emphasis on the problem- solving approaches. The lectures were recorded by faculty from various central universities from their homes," the premier institute stated. The schedule of lectures is available and will be updated on the official website of DTH channel for education, Swayam Prabha: www.swayamprabha.gov.in. Swayam Prabha is a group of 32 DTH channels dedicated to telecasting educational programmes on a 24 x 7 basis using the GSAT-15 satellite, the statement read. As informed, the videos provided by NPTEL, IITs, UGC, CEC, IGNOU, NCERT and NIOS will be repeated several times during the day for students' convenience. The first broadcast is scheduled for Friday. This new content will broadcast on NPTEL (National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning) channel 11-18 till August 31 and rescheduled on channels 11-16 from September 1, it said. The project was initiated by BS Balaji, Associate Professor, School of Biotechnology, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and supported by Prof. K Mangala Sunder, Head, Department of Chemistry, IIT Madras, and Chief Coordinator, DTH SWAYAM Prabha, Union Ministry of Education N Parameswaran, Advisor, SWAYAM, and a host of academic faculty members from various central universities. (With Agency Inputs) WATCH | Will JEE-NEET exams be conducted on scheduled dates despite protests? | Namaste Bharat