A Study of Satellite Networks and Educational Technologies for Ubiquitous Education

Indian educational satellite, EDUSAT, launched from GSLV was the world's first dedicated satellite to provide education to rural and urban students through Virtual Classrooms. Around 15 million students across 26 States of India receive education each year. UNESCO's Institute for Statistics (UIS) suggests that, over 68 million trained school teachers will be needed across the world to achieve the objective of Universal Education Goal. To realize this, we require conventional education, as well as Satellite Networks that foster interactive and inexpensive distance education through e-learning. This type of learning process will provide education for all. The Indian educational satellite networks are compared with those of other nations to understand the methodologies to improve literacy. The value addition provided by educational technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing, Big Data, Augmented Reality, Virtual Classroom, etc. in association with satellite networks, is also investigated. In the urban areas and Smart Cities, high tech education is best implemented by using high bandwidth satellite networks in conjunction with high speed terrestrial optical fiber links and modern EdTech. This paper examines the synergistic utilization of educational technologies with ubiquitous connectivity of satellites to provide education to tribal as well as remote hilly regions like the recently created Union Territory of Ladakh. This study gives input to the initiatives of the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) of the Government of India for the proposed New Education Policy (NEP), which envisages equitable and inclusive education for all.