2. Introduction
Gyan Darshan is a set of educational television
channels that release programmes from
various Doordarshan Kendras using satellite
transmission in different languages.
It was launched as the exclusive Educational
Television Channel of India.
3. History
Gyan Darshan was launched by the Ministry
of Human Resource Development, Information
& Broadcasting, the Prasar Bharti and IGNOU
jointly on 26th January 2000.
IGNOU was given the responsibility to be the
nodal agency for up linking/ transmission.
4. It started out as a two-hour daily test
transmission channel for students of open and
conventional Universities.
Within one year of its launching, in 26th
January 2001, it became non-stop daily 24
hours transmission channel for educational
programmes.
Four different Gyan Darshan channels
available today and plans are afoot to launch
Gyan Darshan-V.
5. Gyan Darshan I,II,III,IV & V
Gyan Darshan-I
Gyan Darshan-I beams round the clock
programmes acquired from UGC, National
Council for Educational Research and Training,
Central Institute for Educational Technology,
State Institute of Research and Training and
IGNOU.
6. Gyan Darshan-II
Gyan Darshan-II is a one way video and two
way audio satellite interactive system.
An exclusive educational satellite to provide
interactive education using DVB-RCS
technology.
It offers distance education through Virtual
Class Room mode and provides access to
digital repository of educational content
hosted at IGNOU.
7. DVB-RCS is an acronym for Digital Video
Broadcasting - Return Channel via Satellite. It
is a specification for an interactive on-demand
multimedia satellite communication system.
Gyan Darshan-III
Gyan Darshan-III is also known as ‘Eklavya’.
It offers programs for vocational and technical
education.
8. Gyan Darshan-IV
Gyan Darshan-IV is also known as ‘Vayas’.
It serves to the higher education sector.
Gyan Darshan-V
Gyan Darshan-V is planned to be launched
soon.
The channel will be dedicated exclusively to
the program on science, technology and
sustainable development.
9. Advantages of Television & Video
in Education
As a teaching aid Television has several
advantages and can play a very important role
in making learning effective and joyful. Some
of the advantages of television over other
media are:
Television can bring the whole world into the
class room and makes the past alive.
TV combines both sound and pictures, moving
and still, gets the attention of viewers and has
great motivation power.
10. It is a mass medium and can reach vast
number of viewers simultaneously and at
distant places. It can bring distant objects,
places, people, events and processes to the
class room.
It can magnify even small objects which can
be seen by several students at a time and it
can also show events in slow and fast motions.
11. Live and dramatized situations presented
through television can be used to educate the
viewers. Equipments and materials not
generally available in school laboratories can
be shown on television.
In teaching foreign languages, the native
speaker can be brought in the class room for
ideal demonstration of speech.
TV can also cut down the cost of education to
some extent, if more and more pupils are
allowed to have access to television
programmes.
12. Conclusion
Gyan Darshan has not only made its
presence felt in all Open Universities and most
of the prominent conventional Universities
and schools, but also has the potential to
reach to the door steps of learners through
cable TV network. Gyan Darshan is
transmitted using satellite technology. This
signifies the application of space technology in
the field of education.
