National Knowledge Network: Linking education beyond boundaries

No doubt India's literacy rate is on a rise but wouldn't it be nice if there was some dynamic mode via which educational needs of our growing population could be met? A means that could help in facilitating a problem faced by numerous learners i.e. shortage of teachers. With electronic media making its presence felt, the need of availing intellectual resources to general public escalated. The requirement for expert views and edification too reckoned. Keeping all these factors in mind, National Knowledge Commission came up with an idea of connecting intellectual resources just by means of a single click. Therefore, it introduced National Knowledge Network (NKN). Weaving through globe, making it a smaller place, NKN was launched in order to simplify our lives by laying numerous options open at our doorstep.

India being an abundant land has experts in various enriching fields, but owing to physical distance and geographical boundaries it isn't every time possible for them to travel and deliver lectures. Launched in 2009, National Knowledge Network was initiated for abridging the gap between demand and supply of education in our developing nation. With its help various educational institutes have been successfully linked and connected.

How does National Knowledge Network work?

NKN mainly runs out of a channel of thousands of kilometers via underground cables. These cables are responsible for connecting major cities and education hubs. One can extract data and information from these cables by placing nodes on highways. Today, many institutions connect with these nodes to share information with the others by means of a cable. It is done on prompt and without any interruptions. The biggest benefit of NKN is that knowledge can be shared live via transmission.

Helps in Unburdening Educators

It doesn't matter where a teacher is, he/she can simply deliver a lecture at his/her parent institution and students at any other part of the country can access the same, live, via transmission. Said to be better than video conferencing, NKN relieves teachers from the task of flying to and fro from various places for teaching students. Only second best to California institute of technology, NKN has been extra cautious in giving supreme emphasis to quality. Experts from India even visited California to study its robust network and functioning. Taking inspiration from the same, the Indian team launched NKN, a marvel in making.

National Knowledge Network has even simplified lives of students studying at IIT's. Irrespective of the fact whether you are in India or abroad, students can simply listen to lectures delivered by IIT professors on their I-Pods. With technology changing its air each time, the need for fresh mechanisms to transmit courses has surfaced high.

India being an immensely rich and diverse nation has a pool full of untapped human resources. For it to match the steps of developed nations, India has to properly uplift the condition of its virtual stagnation. In order to alleviate the problem arising out of lack of communication, the use of electronic devices must be appropriate. Considering the fact that the number of illiterate people in India is still very high, an all-pervasive mechanism like National Knowledge Network can play a vital part.

Connecting through the world, spreading education, NKN is here to stay!

Source: Priyanka Wali (Shiksha Team)