Page:SELECTED ESSAYS of Dr. S. S. KALBAG.pdf/101

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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY : A BREAKTHROUGH IN EDUCATION If India is to meet the challenges of the new millennium, we shall have to overhaul our education system, starting with vocational education and also covering school education from primary to high school. We have to increase several folds, the effectiveness in imparting skills, as also the size of the student population covered in a given time frame. We shall also have to change our work culture. To do this, we have no choice but to turn to the new Information Technology (IT). The main concerns to tackle will be: Quality, Finance and Coverage. We shall first see in what form the IT can help us in our task. We shall also see what else will be required to make our vocational education effective. The IT will be used in two ways: a) Speed up communication, b) give training. Speed up communication It stands to reason that, if we have to have interaction between different schools on the one hand and the supporting groups (resource groups, administrative group, etc.) on the other, we must have fast and clear communication. The present postal system (snail-mail, as it is called, when e-mail becomes common) is too slow Rural Development Through Education System 88