New Delhi: "The Central Government will launch a new scheme called 'National Mission in Education through ICT' to provide connectivity to the learners so that they can link themselves to the knowledge world in cyberspace and to make these learners 'Netizens' in order to enhance their self learning skills and develop their capabilities for online problem solving."

Stating this while inaugurating India's largest ICT conference, 'e-India 2008' at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi today, Union Minister of State for HRD (Higher Education), Mrs. D. Purandeswari said that the 'National Mission in Education through ICT' would also work for creation of knowledge modules with right contents to address the personalized needs of learners.

Emphasizing the importance of Information and Communication Technology in attaining the goal of a knowledge-based society, she said that in order to deliver the benefits of ICT-enabled learning, the National Mission would focus attention on achieving technological breakthrough by developing a very low-cost and low-power consuming access device, making available free bandwidth for education propose to every Indian.

Purandeswari said that the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development would like to build knowledge network between institutions of higher education and also within these institutions.

Mrs. D. Purandeswari further said that India's educational scene today is at a tipping point where opportunities abound and yet the challenges are also unprecedented.

This scenario calls for dovetailing efforts at the Information and Communication Technology level into efforts of providing quality higher education.

She said that, "We Indians are fortunate that our demographic profile is dominated by the youth, thereby providing an ideal opportunity for maximizing the benefits of ICT. Investing in education, particularly higher education, through ICT, also makes business sense for the corporate sector as this will give immense benefit in the long-run."

Giving an example, Purandeswari added that develop countries like the US, the UK and Australia have not only invested significantly in higher education but have also made this sector as one of their largest export earners.

Even the Asian economies such as Singapore and UAE have experienced the competitive advantage provided by a world-class higher education infrastructure.

In this context, Purandeswari said that an amount of Rs.85,000 crores has been provided for the expansion of higher education facilities during the 11th Five Year Plan.

"In the coming years the thrust will be on the use of Information and Communication Technology to strengthen the system in the mode of open and distance learning as well", she added.

Purandeswari also inaugurated an exhibition on e-Governance and Digital Learning.

The 3-day conference organized by the Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS), is spread over a number of sessions to be addressed by leading professionals and senior bureaucrats entrusted with the spread and implementation of e-Governance and e-Learning.

The highlight of the conference is that it will focus the importance of Information and Communication Technology not only in the fields of Governance and Education, but also in the realms of health, environment, rural development and agriculture.