Educational Broadcasting for Developing Countries: a Case for the Use of Satellites

The use of satellites for educational communications in developing countries is considered, by reviewing the technology and the types of relay satellites suitable for educational broadcasting. The ATS-6 satellite used in the Indian Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE), and the Symphonie (French-German) and Palapa (Indonesian) satellites reception systems, development, manufacture, installation and maintenance are discussed. Economic issues of satellite educational broadcasting are developed showing that it proved to be cheaper and as effective as conventional teaching for primary and secondary education in several developing countries, such as Mexico and the Dominican Republic, and that for large viewing areas satellite relays for direct broadcasting are cheaper than area relays. Criteria for a successful educational broadcasting system using direct broadcast satellites are a large homogeneous target population speaking the same language, a shortage of trained teachers, and economic growth and equality of educational opportunity as desirable goals. Finally it is shown that the use of direct broadcast satellites may be the only way for the Peoples' Republic of China to educate sufficient people quickly and cheaply enough.