Technology to educate should be so easy that everyone concerned can use and access it. The kind of technology that offers minimum constraints can actually go a long way to help transform the educational scenario in rural India. This is especially crucial as most rural areas in the country still face a lack of internet connection, availability of computers, information on how to go about adapting technology for their convenience, etc.

So, the question is, can we help the whole of rural India overcome these technological constraints? And even if we achieve some amount of success in doing so, what are the chances that it is really going to transform education? The measurement of effectiveness of teaching as well as the quality of education are issues of crucial concern. How do we disseminate quality education among the underprivileged sections of rural India as well as judge the effectiveness of what is taught?

Questions like these remain unanswered till date. The biggest challenge remains the quality of education, which is more relevant today than it was before. We have to ensure that the best teacher is available to every student in the classroom. One example of it is the Khan Academy, wherein one single source is available to millions of people across the globe. Such models of e-learning definitely have a place in India.

In India, distance learning starts from the fourth row of the classroom itself, and there is no guarantee that everyone in the classroom has understood what is taught. Measurement of effectiveness of teaching is the biggest issue in today?s environment. If we play a serial for 30 minutes in a rural region of India, the people there would be probably answering more questions than the live traditional classroom where the same activity is done for 40 minutes. The primary reason behind this is the richness of the medium we are using. If we have a gifted teacher who can teach in a creative class and if the same kind of learning environment can be provided to a rural classroom, I think the learning is going to be far better.

Therefore, in a country such as India, we should consider enabling e-learning in a major way while creating the requisite number of facilitators of the same.

The biggest problem faced by rural India is the student-teacher ratio where a large number of students are taught by a relatively small number of teachers. This kind of disparity is bound to grow in the near future. The only way forward is to e-enable learning at all levels in India and measure the outcome through regular tests. A good test is a well-designed objective-type test. Another aspect is capturing the essence of a great learning environment that is designed for it, encapsulates it and gives it back to the eager recipient. Clarifying a doubt in the local language is permissible but the fundamentals and the way of delivery should be in the English language. This is what is going to take India forward. Knowing and speaking in English shouldn?t be looked at as elitist but it should be perceived as a requirement to improve the overall quality of life.

Television is deemed to be a preferred medium to a computer in the field of rural education. This is because everybody would know how to use a television. A direct-to-home (DTH) device could come in handy as a simple instrument that could leverage the learning environment that we want in rural India. The amount of time to teach rural Indians how to switch on and select the things that they want to study will take less than five minutes. Suppose a class wants to learn the first chapter of physics of class 11th, all they need to know is how to operate a DTH remote. In a way, an affordable and easy medium to operate and understand is what is needed to transform the educational system in rural India. A centralised system of educating rural India is what will actually make this idea affordable and accessible to everyone concerned.

The idea is to encourage adaptability of technology in the real-world scenario, which benefits the young from an early age so as to reap long-term benefits.

Jawahar Doreswamy

The author is pro-chancellor, PES University, Bangalore, and CEO, PES Institutions.