Editorial

Invoking ICT, the Leveler.

We often hear it said that given the disparities that exist between haves and the have nots, the Ovarian lottery has become one of the most important life determining factors. The home, country and time that the child is born determine, to a great extent, the exposure, opportunities and resulting quality of life of the child. Of course, Unbridled freedom with too much of affluence and luxury may pose a host of other problems given the poverty of prosperity. While this may determine the fate of the child to some extent, it could be acknowledged that the pre-disposition of parents, the child and Her Grace are indeed key determining factors in the unfolding of the child's life and growth. Notwithstanding nature with her supports and obstacles, nurture along with faith and Grace also clearly propel each child in the direction of unfolding her unique life and her propensity for the highest aspiration. An initiative of the Children's University, christened tapovan is a simple yet powerful effort to mitigate the fear of the Ovarian lottery and lead to the birth and development of beautiful children fortified with the best vision of divine and humane qualities as desired and designed by the parents. We will be discussing this concept in one of our subsequent editorials.

While the importance of studies, discussions, analysis and research on this gaping gap between the exposure and opportunities for children of the rich and the poor, haves and have nots, developed and developing countries, the rural and the urban cannot be exaggerated, an ounce of action is perhaps more befitting than oodles of analysis which sometimes only lead to paralysis.

One such effort is the initiative of a committed, sincere team of IIT, Madras. Acknowledging the fact that IITs are Centers of excellence, an attempt has been made through the National Program of Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) to share their knowledge by opening their class rooms to aspiring students from all over the country using technology. The best lectures of most courses at IIT, Madras are now available at over 400 engineering colleges in the country. Through dedicated studios with facilities for video shooting and editing, over 250 courses are made available in an off line mode to the colleges. With the commissioning of the National Knowledge Network, live lectures would also be streamed into these colleges to dispel doubts and light up the class with clarity and understanding. These lectures are also hosted on Youtube and statistics have it that with over 30 Million viewers, in cumulative terms these lectures are amongst the most viewed sites in the country.

For some years now, the course ware of leading institutions of the world are also placed in the public domain, open to all. Websites like academicearth.org bring lectures of some of the best Universities of the world such as Harvard and Stanford completely free to all.

A small seed of an idea that germinates, inspired from this, is that can such an effort be made for toddlers, children and youth across the country? If we were to open up the class rooms of some of the best schools and make these accessible through Technology, free of cost, to all children, including underprivileged, gifted or challenged, won't this become a great game changer! Children's University may also propose to take a lead in this and would look forward to compiling some of the best class room interactions and make them available to all.

As we move towards a new India where mutuality, generosity and sharing will be the basic foundational tenets, we could strive to make this happen by each of us taking a step forward.

Smt. Jayanti S. Ravi