The Virtual Classroom Program
Using Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) satellite communication
technology, the Municipal government of Mumbai has connected 480
classrooms to four studios, from where teachers can deliver live lectures
to dozens of schools simultaneously. At the studio, teachers have access
to digital blackboards so they can show videos, interactive presentations,
and use other multimedia tools.
Live lectures are filmed at the studio and simultaneously beamed to the
classrooms with the help of VSATs. The images are picked up through an
antenna on the terrace of both the studio and the government schools.
This is then projected on 60 inch plasma screens installed in special
classrooms in every school. At any given time, students in particular
classrooms can communicate with the teacher in the studio (VC expert)
using a microphone. Every class also has an in-class teacher-facilitator to
facilitate the sessions and ensure success of the lesson.
Leveraging the existing VC setup, two private partners came together
with MCGM in 2014 to deliver a three year English Reading Program (ERP)
to students in these 480 schools. Figure 1 illustrates how this particular
partnership works. The technology, infrastructure, classrooms and
technical support is provided by the government. The content design,
delivery and teacher professional development, as well as on-going
monitoring and evaluation is conducted by private partners3. The next
section describes the role of each stakeholder of this public-private
partnership in greater detail.