The School Education and Sports Department issued a government resolution announcing closing down of Balchitravani.
Balchitravani or State Educational Technology Institute (SIET), which has prepared more than 6,000 educational programmes for rural children in Maharashtra since its inception more than three decades ago, was closed down on Wednesday.
The School Education and Sports Department issued a government resolution announcing closing down of Balchitravani. With this decision, the entire infrastructure of the Balchitravani would now be handed over to e-Balbharati, the new institute being set up by state government.
The SIET was established in 1984 to implement the vision of the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who wanted to take the benefits of INSAT series of satellites to rural schools in the country. Accordingly, after the launch of INSAT satellites, the SIETs were started in various states and the Central government signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with the corresponding state governments.
As per the MoUs, the Central government had agreed to bear expenses of SIETS for the first five years. The Balchitravani was receiving 100 per cent grants from Union government for running its expenses, including those for salaries of the employees, programme production costs and allied expenses.
SIET initially was set up at Doordarshan Kendra, Worli, but was eventually shifted to Pune in 1986. Many stalwarts, including melody queen Asha Bhosale and poet Mangesh Padgavkara, have participated in various programmes and films created by Balchitravani.
The educational programmmes produced by the institute were telecast on Doordarshan, reaching out to the target audience all over the state. Balchitravani staff was trained at the prestigious national and international institutions for making educational films and videos.
The state government has said that since making educational videos is not a difficult task these days, there is no need for the SIET anymore. Moreover, the state government has pointed out that Balchitravani does not get any grant nor has it any source of income and in such a situation, it is not possible to run the institute.
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