Jammu, July 30: After much delay, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has finally shifted the EDUSAT facility provided to 104 educational institutions in Jammu and Kashmir from GSAT to INSAT-4CR with a bandwidth of 4.35 Mega Hertz.
 Sources said that this will allow the Education Department to restart the long suspended distance learning classes through satellite, mainly targeting the rural students in the state.
 The service to these institutions is being provided and regulated from two central hubs, one each at Srinagar and Jammu.
 Earlier, because of the bandwidth problem, the online class room sessions were suspended which had created problem for thousands of students across the state.
 The facility will be operational at 104 educational institutions of the state which have configuration of the Satellite Interactive Terminals (SITs). The facility would be restored in Jammu region from the upcoming session, while in Kashmir Valley it is already operational”, said an official.
 Officials said that Kashmir province has a total of 60 SITs, while in Jammu region the number of SITs is 44.
 These SITs have been installed and adjusted by M/s Huges Pvt Ltd, a Bangalore based company, which was entrusted the task by ISRO.
 At the moment, there are two main hubs in the state one at Government College for Women, Gandhi Nagar and another at Government College for Women, M A Road, Srinagar. The shifting of these hubs to new bandwidth would facilitate better connectivity and clarity.
 “In view of bandwidth problems and shortage of technical manpower, the much hyped project to link government schools at district level with
 V-SAT facilities had almost been put to back burner, but now things will move,” said a senior official from the Education department. Nearly 44 educational institutions would get benefited due to restarting of the facility.
 Sources said that despite taking a lead in the initiating the project in 2007 to overcome the shortage of teaching staff in educational institutions including degree colleges and ITIs, the state has failed to achieve its targets so far, with government taking little interest in the implementation of the project.
 Pertinently, to overcome the shortage of the teachers and lecturers, government had planned to install 600 terminals in far flung primary and secondary schools across the state, but it failed to meet the target due to frequent technical snags in the system and lack of manpower.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 30 Jul 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 30 Jul 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 31 Jul 2011 00:00:00 IST