Jharkhand Launches Integrated LMS for Live Online College Classes, Bridging Faculty Gaps

Ranchi: College students will soon get access to live online classes taught by faculty members from universities and colleges located across the state under a learning management system (LMS) being developed by the state department of higher and technical education to integrate physical, virtual and online modes of teaching. A pilot project of the LMS will be held at the Jharkhand Raksha Shakti University. The programme will cover 100 colleges, including model degree colleges in semi-urban and rural areas and women’s colleges across the state, to improve access and equity in higher education in the first phase. The initiative is aimed at bridging gaps in faculty availability and subject specialisation, particularly in semi-urban and rural colleges where courses or expert faculty members were not available.Principal secretary of the higher and technical education department, Rahul Kumar Purwar, said, “Under the initiative, a student in a rural or semi-urban college will be able to learn from expert faculty across the state without leaving their campus. It will help bridge faculty gaps, expand subject choices and ensure uniform academic standards. By combining classroom teaching with digital learning, we are creating a more inclusive, flexible and future-ready higher education ecosystem for Jharkhand.”Under the proposed model, institutions will be categorised as host and recipient colleges or university departments. Academic calendars of participating institutions will be synchronised to accommodate scheduled live sessions. Faculty members from the host institution will deliver lectures online in real time, while students at recipient colleges will attend these sessions remotely, with a cap of 240 students per subject. Students will access the live classes using personal devices such as laptops, tablets or smartphones, or through shared digital infrastructure available on campus. Faculty members will conduct the sessions from designated computer systems.