Live video streaming is making prodigious inroads into the realms of education the world over, and contemplation is rife regarding the development of more ideas and methods which can enable people to utilize this technology further – to the greater advantage of all.
Herein comes the idea of how live video streaming can help in the development of education in rural India.
As we all know, there cannot be much of a difference between the
- Mental Attributes
- Physical Attributes
and therefore, the
of children – be they from rural, or urban areas.
is equal for every child – and adult.
The only difference then can be that of circumstances -- which modern times and technology can find solutions to. Here comes the role of video streaming for the purpose of education. Let us look into this matter deeply.
Though there seems to be no difference between the rights and abilities of rural and urban children in the matter of gaining education, there does exist a huge difference or gap where
or
of the two kinds of children is concerned.
As per survey reports, rural children have been found to lag behind urban students in subjects like
- English
- Science
- Math
- Social Science
and more. The reasons?
- Lack of facilities
- Lack of adequate infrastructure
- Shortage of quality educators in the rural areas
- The socio-economic environment
Let us look at what the urban students have easy access to, that the rural ones do not:
Let us now look at what rural students have to contend with:
- Poor infrastructure
- Lack of teachers
- Outdated modes of learning
- Absence of good libraries
- Absence of well-equipped laboratories
- Lack of development of modern tools to aid pedagogy
- Minimal cultural diversity
- Inadequate interaction with students from different countries, or communities
These factors, and more, bring impediments in the way of the widening horizons of the skillsets, knowledge, and information of rural students.
The central and state level governments are aware of this situation. However, since India is so vast, varied, and heavily-populated a country, changing the educational infrastructure altogether can involve an immense amount of money, time, planning, and more.
Most of such changes can be rendered unnecessary with the development of live streaming video for the dissemination of education, thereby saving a massive amount of time, efforts, and money in the process of overcoming impediments on the way to educating every possible person and corner of India.
1. Education Extending Over Geographical Borders. The technology of video streaming can enable a teacher in Mumbai to teach students at a remote corner of Bengal; and students in, say, Bihar to access the lectures of a professor in Tamil Nadu. Without any of them having to travel out of their cities, classes, or even homes. In fact, a teacher / professor can teach students located at several parts and corners of India at the same time. Imagine the amount of time, efforts, money, and energy that can be saved – and the number of minds that can be developed through the instruction given.
2. Overcoming Any Shortage Of Expert, Experienced Educators. When an educator from any part of the country can take the help of live video streaming to ‘reach’ – virtually – every student in the country that has access to this technology, any shortage of good teachers can be overcome. Students from any corner of India can access the classes, lessons, and lectures of the best teachers of India – and also the world.
3. Improving Modes And Methods Of Teaching. There might be many schools in India – as in other countries of the world as well – where students might be sitting on the floor, looking at a blackboard on the wall, and learning from nothing but books to prepare for their exams to learn at the next level. The curriculum is one that is decided by the central, or state board. Teachers still use chalk sticks to write on the boards. Times and technology have developed elsewhere. There are students who use laptops, and tablets. There are new age classes that have neither blackboards nor chalk sticks. And students from both such studying conditions can now have access to the same level of education – through video streaming. Students can watch a lot of phenomena in real time with the help of live video streaming. For example, students who have only heard or read about snowfall can witness one taking place, through live video streaming. Students can be taken on a virtual tour of places that they need to know about, through video streaming, too. Such methods of imparting education can enable students to learn much deeper and retain the matter much surer. The results can be much better than just memorizing answers and reproducing them on paper, without any personal interaction with all that is read and thus committed to memory. It has already been established by science that visual learning can have way better effects than text learning.
4. Being Cost Effective. All that live video streaming needs to connect students, teachers, and information from all over the world is a
- Sound internet connection
- Display screen
The display screen can be one of the TV, laptop, or even a smartphone device. What we need to note is that even for a student in the most rural of areas, subscribing to a live video streaming educational portal, or even affording a smartphone and internet connection, for that matter, can be a lot more economical than
- School / college / university fees
- Traveling expenses
- Hostel expenses
- Price of books, stationery, etc.
- Tutor/s
and so on. Thus, video streaming technology can be appreciably more cost effective than many traditional ways of acquiring education.
5. Schooling Via Smartphones. Smartphones have reached even the farthest corners of the world – AND India. An internet connection, a smartphone, and the knowhow to operate both is common – even in the technically illiterate milieu. People tuning into various channels of entertainment, and using various apps on their phones is common everywhere. Now these very smartphones can be turned into ‘classrooms’ with the help of live streaming video technology. Learners can learn through these very smartphones that they can carry and operate from almost anywhere.
6. Tackling Clashing Teacher-Student Timings. Often, we get to know of situations where school / college / class timings clash with other important chores / errands that students or learners must attend to – and in the process, many of them are forced to miss the lessons. Live streaming / video streaming technology can tackle this. A student in a rural area tending to his / her father’s farm / shop can watch a teacher on the smartphone, learn from VODs, and acquire knowledge from various sources at various times suiting him / her.
Since the development of the means for a learner to access knowledge almost anytime and from anywhere, missing classes – and being unable to acquire the 21st century skills that can become as important as survival in the next few years -- can get very difficult, actually, in these times of video streaming.
The ones mentioned here are just some of the major ways in which video streaming, and the further development of solutions related to this technology, can take education to the rural areas of India – and also the world. There can come more ways, and better ideas for using the technology of video streaming – with time, and even from you.
We would love to hear your ideas. We would also be happy to help you with the further development of your ideas by sharing our experience and expertise related to video streaming and VOD with you, too. You are most welcome to contact us here for a consultation – totally free of charge.
You can also get completely customized solutions from us.
