To bridge the digital divide in the country, Union Human Resource Development ministry will launch University Network Initiative to Enhance Education (UNITE) on Education Day observed on November 11.
According to media reports UNITE envisages that 4.20 lakh classrooms – 20 classrooms in 21,000 colleges would be WiFi-enabled within a year, reaching out to 1.5 crore students. Access will only be for academically relevant websites. Around 600 universities have already been connected with 1Gbps bandwidth and each of these 600 universities will have a full campus WiFi LAN.
Over 140 centrally-funded institutions will be WiFi-enabled. Moreover, web-based study portal SWAYAM offering free online courses will be launched on September 25, the birth anniversary of Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya. In the first phase, IITs at Mumbai, Chennai & Guwahati, Delhi University, Manipur University, Punjab University and Banaras Hindu University will begin offering courses.
