The Evolving Role of Media in Education in Contemporary India

When we think about education, the classroom is usually the first image that comes to mind – a teacher, a blackboard, a set curriculum. But in reality, a large part of what people in India learn throughout their lives comes from somewhere else entirely: the media. From a farmer catching an agricultural advisory on All India Radio, to a school student watching a science demonstration on Doordarshan, to a working professional completing an online course at midnight – media has quietly been one of the most powerful educators in the country. From early print technology to electronic communication, media has played a central role in shaping the personality of individuals and transmitting knowledge across every age group and geography.

Understanding media as an educational agency 🔗

In education studies, an “agency of education” refers to any institution or channel that shapes learning and behaviour. Schools and universities are formal agencies – structured, certified, and curriculum-driven. Media, by contrast, functions primarily as an informal agency of education: it operates without a fixed timetable, has no set syllabus, and does not award certificates. Yet its influence on knowledge, values, attitudes, and skills is continuous and often deeper than what formal schooling alone can achieve.

That said, the line between formal and informal is not always clear-cut. When radio or television takes up curriculum-based programming broadcast during school hours, it assumes the character of a non-formal or even formal educational tool. This flexibility – the ability to shift between informal socialisation and structured instruction – is what makes media such a distinctive and indispensable educational agency in contemporary India.

Print media: the foundation of knowledge dissemination 🔗

Long before screens became ubiquitous, print was the primary medium through which knowledge travelled. Newspapers, magazines, journals, and books remain central to India’s educational landscape today. Print media has always been an essential part of India’s educational infrastructure, offering learners the ability to read at their own pace, revisit information, and engage with in-depth analysis across fields.

Newspapers such as The Hindu and The Indian Express carry regular educational supplements that discuss science, civics, economics, and current affairs – helping students contextualise what they study in school within the real world. Magazines like Frontline and Down to Earth provide substantive coverage of social and environmental issues that encourage critical thinking. For educators and researchers, academic journals remain essential tools for staying current in their disciplines. What print offers above all else is depth – the kind of sustained, focused engagement that builds understanding over time.

Radio: reaching where classrooms cannot 🔗

Radio holds a particularly significant place in India’s educational history. It was the first broadcast medium to carry structured learning to communities beyond the reach of schools. Radio widens students’ knowledge, transports listeners through time and place, informs them of current events, develops values and imagination, and aids visually impaired and slow learners. Its greatest asset is accessibility: a battery-operated radio costs very little and works even where electricity is unreliable.

India’s major push in educational radio came through institutional initiatives. Gyan Vani is a network of educational radio stations established by IGNOU, created to promote lifelong learning through broadcasts in multiple languages, covering science, literature, history, and vocational training. The station reaches learners who have no access to formal educational institutions. Complementing this, All India Radio has historically broadcast school programmes, adult education content, and farm advisory broadcasts that serve rural communities directly. These programmes are not simply informational – they are educational in the fullest sense, building skills and awareness among listeners across all age groups.

Television: education made visible 🔗

If radio brought learning to the ears, television brought it to life. The combination of audio and visuals makes television particularly effective for explaining complex concepts, demonstrating procedures, and engaging learners who struggle with text-based material alone.

India’s journey with educational television began in earnest with the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) in 1975-76, which used NASA’s ATS-6 satellite to broadcast educational content to over 2,400 villages across six Indian states. Programs addressed agricultural techniques, health, hygiene, family planning, and adult literacy – demonstrating that television could serve development goals at scale. Building on that legacy, India launched Gyan Darshan in January 2000 as the country’s first dedicated 24-hour educational television channel, a joint venture between the Ministry of Education, IGNOU, and Prasar Bharati. Gyan Darshan broadcasts across subjects from science and history to vocational education and competitive exam preparation, serving learners from pre-school through higher education in approximately 13 regional languages.

Doordarshan, India’s national public broadcaster, has also carried educational programming for decades, making curriculum-linked content available to students who live far from well-equipped schools. Television’s power in this context lies in its ability to combine visual elements with audio narration, making abstract subjects tangible and allowing learners to observe demonstrations they could not access in under-resourced classrooms.

The internet and digital media: a new era of learning 🔗

The internet has fundamentally transformed what media can do for education in India. Where radio and television delivered content to passive audiences, digital platforms enable interactive, personalised, and on-demand learning. Radio, television, and the internet together comprise an important strategic application in India for educational development, and the arrival of the internet completed this triad by enabling two-way communication between learners and content.

India’s flagship digital learning platform, DIKSHA (Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing), offers a compelling illustration of scale. DIKSHA currently offers over 8,900 courses and 200,000 diverse pieces of content across thirty Indian languages from 11,500 contributors, and has reached around 180 million students and seven million teachers. This is one of the world’s most expansive school education platforms, built as a public good that any state, board, or school can adapt.

Beyond government platforms, social media networks, YouTube channels, podcasts, and ed-tech applications have become part of everyday informal learning. Social networks have been recognised as a fertile learning environment, particularly in encouraging the exchange of knowledge – students use online communities to share learning materials, discuss concepts, and support one another’s understanding. The COVID-19 pandemic made this digital pivot urgent and visible: with schools closed across the country, media platforms became the primary mode of educational delivery for millions of Indian students overnight.

Media as an agent of socialisation and values 🔗

Beyond transmitting information, media plays a vital role in socialisation – the process by which individuals internalise social norms, cultural values, and civic awareness. Since the last century, technological innovations such as radio, motion pictures, recorded music, and television have become important agents of socialisation. News coverage of elections, public health campaigns, documentaries on environmental issues, and programmes on gender equality all shape how citizens understand society and their place in it.

This dimension of media education extends well beyond what any syllabus can cover. A student who follows climate journalism, watches a documentary on the Indian freedom movement, or listens to a podcast on constitutional rights is learning – informally but meaningfully. Informal education is a lifelong process that enables individuals to acquire knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values from daily life and environment. Media is perhaps the most consistent and pervasive source of this lifelong informal education in contemporary India.

Media education across all age groups 🔗

One of media’s most distinctive qualities as an educational agency is that it is not age-restricted. Formal schooling serves children and young adults within structured age brackets. Media, however, educates everyone – from a child watching an animated science series on television, to a homemaker learning cooking and nutrition through a YouTube channel, to a senior citizen following news analysis to stay civically engaged.

This is especially important in the context of adult and vocational education. Gyan Vani and EDUSAT broadcasts serve as effective means of reaching adult learners who want to pursue education while managing their other responsibilities. IGNOU’s blended model – which combines printed self-learning materials with Gyan Darshan television content, Gyan Vani radio broadcasts, and the eGyanKosh digital repository – is a deliberate effort to ensure that no learner is excluded on the basis of geography, age, or socioeconomic status. By not relying on one form of media, IGNOU creates multiple pathways to learning, ensuring that a bad internet connection or a remote location does not become a barrier to education.

Challenges and the way forward 🔗

Despite its reach and potential, media as an educational agency faces real challenges in India. The digital divide remains significant: the number of internet subscribers grew from 251.59 million in March 2014 to 954.40 million in March 2024 under the Digital India initiative, yet access alone does not ensure effective learning. Rural youth, girls, and economically disadvantaged communities continue to face barriers in converting digital access into educational opportunity.

The quality and reliability of media content is another concern. Information acquired from the internet, social media, TV, or radio may lead to disinformation, and many learners lack the critical media literacy skills needed to evaluate what they consume. Additionally, subjects that require laboratory work, hands-on practice, and direct supervision still benefit significantly from in-person instruction alongside media resources – media supplements but cannot fully replace the classroom in every domain.

The path forward lies in integration. Combining the wide geographic reach of radio and television with the interactivity and personalisation of digital platforms creates a more equitable and effective educational ecosystem. Government initiatives like NEP 2020’s National Educational Technology Forum (NETF), the DIKSHA platform, and EDUSAT satellite services reflect a recognition that bridging geographical barriers through digital access while improving educational processes and outcomes at all levels requires a multi-media, multi-channel approach.

Media, in all its forms, is not a replacement for thoughtful teaching or structured learning. But it is an indispensable companion to both – one that has been democratising knowledge in India long before the word “edtech” entered our vocabulary.

What do you think? In a country as linguistically and geographically diverse as India, which form of media – print, broadcast, or digital – do you believe has had the deepest educational impact, and why? And as digital platforms continue to grow, how can educators and policymakers ensure that the benefits of media-based learning reach those who are still left behind?

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