BSNL Chennai Telephones took one step towards its motto "Connecting India" with the launch of its video-conferencing facilities today. In a function spread over three locations, in various parts of Chennai, a virtual classroom was arranged where the sessions were rendered by AIMS education, Chennai. More than 200 academicians, school heads, teachers and students, interacted in this Virtual session that could re-define classroom education.

The launch was inaugurated by Mr. Kuldeep Goyal, Chairman & Managing Director, BSNL in which other high officials of BSNL Chennai Telephones participated. The video-conference was streamed live to two different locations -at Rajiv Gandhi Memorial Circle Telecom Training Centre, at Meenambakkam, and Greams Road Teleshoppe at Greams Road.

In his address, Mr Goyal expressed BSNL's vision to reach quality education using this technology to every hamlet in India. On the occasion, the General Manager of BSNL, Chennai telephones, remarked that students in Tamilnadu are very high on academic excellence. But due to the dearth of quality teachers at several locations, there is a huge gap which they plan to fill through the video conferencing model.

BSNL has entered into an MOU with AIMS Education, Chennai, in the education space, to cater to the academic needs of students through this model. They plan to reach this facility to many more schools and colleges in India and abroad. In this endeavour BSNL will be providing studio facility with state-of -art infrastructure and ISDN connectivity while AIMS education will be taking care of the content delivery and promotion.

Ms Gita Prabhu, Director, AIMS said that since its inception in 1998 AIMS has remained focused on teaching math and science to students The common goal of BSNL , Chennai Telephones and AIMS Education to train students of Tamilnadu to excel in National and International Olympiads and National Talent Search Examinations will be ensured through our quality content and trained faculty, she said.

Director of AIMS Education Gita Prabhu said the event had gained momentum over the years with over 91,000 students registering for the city - wide talent search test conducted by them as part of the event's fourth edition.

Video Conferencing service allows multiple participants to communicate with each other regardless of their location through the video end-points. The video conferencing service can be availed by the user through IP or ISDN interface.

Two children are whispering to each other in the middle of a class. The teacher notices this and throws a small piece of chalk in their direction. The student who sees the chalk, ducks behind the table. Just another regular day at school for both teacher and student. Except that in this case, the teacher and student were miles away from each other.