bangalore chief minister sm krishna on thursday launched a distance education network for the manipal it education and sikkim manipal university powered by a software developed by hindustan technologies speaking on the occasion krishna said cooperation between private and public agencies was essential to assist governments especially in the field of education the unbundling of responsibilities through such cooperation is one of the key factors in our march to spread education similar initiatives on a larger scale would definitely have a huge impact he added krishna said bangalore was indeed a land of opportunities with the undp report terming it as the fourth important technological hub in the world the city has a lot of untapped potential it is good to hear that such a technology is being made available at low cost we would like to suggest that the technology should reach the remotest parts of the country be relevant and beneficial to the common man especially in health care he said the system developed by htl in collaboration with mentergy provides virtual teaching combined with the advantages of traditional classroom interaction currently 100 centres with over 15000 students are connected to the distance education network salman khurshid htl chairman said bangalore is a symbol of a resurgent india and would dominate the world through its innovations the distance education network technology would provide the necessary edge to eliminate geographical boundaries and provide quality education that can be easily accessible through distance education we are also looking at successful implementation of telemedicine on a multimedia network using telecommunications information and multimedia technologies to link doctors and patients he said telemedicine allows doctors at remote areas to forward patients cases to specialists at diagnostic services through satellite and also allows specialists to examine patients in the presence of local doctors manipal education and medical group president ramadas m pai said a modern studio has already been commissioned in manipal with a telecasting system the telecasts would be received through vsat at multiple study centres all over the country the lectures can be seen and heard on a computer a large screen or a tv as in a normal class students can ask questions and clear their doubts distance learning through satellite systems will enable simultaneous teaching in multiple classrooms he felt