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Focus on virtual varsity: Kalam

By Our Staff Reporter

Students at the 16th convocation of the Indira Gandhi Open University in Chennai on Saturday. — Photo: K. V. Srinivasan

CHENNAI, MARCH 5. The President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, has urged the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) to aim for greater heights in distance education.

He was addressing audiences in 22 regional centres from New Delhi through teleconferencing on the occasion of the university's sixteenth convocation.

The President spoke of the need to extend connectivity through technology to deliver distance education in remote villages. Innovation was essential for the growth of knowledge society, he said.

On the significance of the use of technology to reach out rural people, Mr. Kalam said tele-education would be the best form of distance education.The use of Edusat, the first Indian satellite built by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for serving the educational sector, would enable interaction between faculty members and students.

"The IGNOU must dream of setting up interactive virtual classrooms.That's the real distance education," he said. The use of information and communication technology would enable the university to have "cost-effective virtual, dynamic classrooms."

Mr. Kalam promised to give three interactive lectures to candidates of 22 centres on relevant courses in four months. The Rashtrapathi Bhavan would help in providing the connectivity.

Digital libraries would be a good source of information for the IGNOU to upgrade into a virtual university, he said. He highlighted the role of faculty members in capacity building of students. Candidates should be technology-friendly and creative and must develop entrepreneurial and leadership skills.

He urged the IGNOU to use speech-enabled software for the visually challenged.

Mr. Kalam earlier presented 43 gold medals to meritorious candidates, including five from Chennai.

The Vice-Chancellor, H.P. Dikshit, conferred honorary doctorate degrees onKamil Idris of World Intellectual Property Rights Organisation and G. Madhavan Nair, ISRO Chairman. K. Gnanadesikan, Education Secretary, Tamil Nadu Government, spoke.

The Chennai Regional director, K. Soundaravalli, said of 6,041 candidates, 1,000 received their degrees in person. Interactive sessions would be made held for those living in villages once Edusat became operational this month.

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