By Sanjay Sharma. Madhya Pradesh, India, 12:01 PM IST

Students in the rural areas of Madhya Pradesh will no longer find themselves playing second fiddle to those in urban schools if a plan to teach them via TV comes through in the next academic session.

From July, the state plans to reach out to them through the Information Technology Enabled Learning Laboratory (ITELL), which will make use of EduSat (Education Satellite).

'The ITELL scheme costing Rs.50 million has been approved by the State Planning Board and a provision of Rs.10 million is being made for it in the state budget for 2007-08,' an official source said.

The scheme envisages providing an Internet and a dish TV connection in the high schools and higher secondary schools selected for the purpose in rural areas. These would be connected to the EduSat (the Education Satellite) facility at the Madhya Pradesh Bhoj (Open) University.

Later, Receive Only Terminals (ROT) would be provided, enabling the students to collect information on the subject of their choice or talk to experts in the related field while sitting in their schools.

A complete set-up at each school, costing Rs.600,000 each, will entail a big room, five computers, a dish TV and also a generator to meet power requirements.

'The endeavour will bring about a revolution in education in rural areas. When implemented, similar education would be imparted to both urban students and those in far flung rural areas - or at least the gap between the two would be reduced,' School Education Minister Narottam Mishrab told IANS.

'It would help to reach quality education to schools in remote rural areas and reduce the dearth of good teachers since the facility would ensure that good teaching reaches schools in all corners of the state.

'However, the objective is not only to make up for the dearth of good teachers but also to develop excellence, capacity building and an academic atmosphere throughout the state,' Mishra said.

By Sanjay Sharma (Staff Writer, © IANS)