IIT-M coordinating "national efforts to create crash courses" for rural learners

The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) on Thursday said it was coordinating a "national effort to create crash courses" for rural learners affected by the coronavirus-induced lockdown and the lectures will be telecast on educational television channels.

The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) on Thursday said it was coordinating a "national effort to create crash courses" for rural learners affected by the coronavirus-induced lockdown and the lectures will be telecast on educational television channels. Around 300 hours of video lectures have already been created under this initiative, aimed at helping students who could not attend classes due to the lockdown, the premier institute said in a release.

"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 problem- solving approaches. The lectures were recorded by faculty from various central universities from their homes," it said. The schedule of lectures are available and will be updated on the website of DTH channel for education, Swayam Prabha, www.swayamprabha.gov.in.

Swayam Prabha is a group of 32 DTH channels devoted to telecasting of high-quality educational programmes on a 24X7 basis using the GSAT-15 satellite, it said. The content would be repeated several times during the day for students' convenience, it said.

The contents are provided by NPTEL, IITs, UGC, CEC, IGNOU, NCERT and NIOS. 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 B S 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 pool of academic faculty members from various central universities, it said.PTI SA SS PTI PTI