Making education more accessible

Context: change in India’s broadcasting rules could make education more accessible.

Need for Making education more accessible

• School closures due to pandemic: 400 Million school-going age Indians affected.
• Negative fallouts: on learning outcomes, the creation of human capital, lifetime earnings, Increases inequality, loss of a school year

Challenges in broadcasting education: 

• Television

• High entry barrier for producers: requirements of ?5 crores for a TV channel, and ?20 crores for a news channel.
• Sustaining Revenue Generation: TV channels cannot telecast any content incapable of earning and sustaining high advertising revenues. 
• Will require proliferation of channels: to cater to different subjects, in different languages, using different teaching methods, for all ages.

• Internet

• High entry barriers for the consumer: due to lack of universal digital penetration (currently at 45%).

• Issue of affordability: Every Indian household cannot afford a computer, tablet, or smartphone.

• number of devices per household: most do not have exclusive use to smart devices

• Radio

• Barriers to entry are not as high as television, but high for the medium 

• No niche radio content.

• No scope for other business models: like talk radio, in a country.

Solutions to Make education broadcasting more inclusive 

• Lower the barriers to entry in radio and television broadcasting for the producer as well as the consumer. It can usher several Khan Academy TV channels airing overnight
• Increase the proliferation of TV channels in the education space.
• Enabling Superstar teachers to teach and broadcast at a low cost.
• Reduce the cost of distribution that prevents good teachers from teaching and broadcasting it over television.

Conclusion: Education through television and the internet is not a perfect substitute for good schooling. But it can serve as a second-best solution in a pandemic or natural disaster, and in the longer term, as a complement to weaker schools. 

Case study: Devika Balakrishnan, a 14-year-old girl in Kerala, committed suicide because she could not attend online classes.