Page 429 - Kaleidoscope Academic Conference Proceedings 2024

TOWARDS ACHIEVING EDUCATION FOR ALL: REALIZING SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT GOALS THROUGH SPACE SYSTEMS AND ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE

Dr. Upasana Dasgupta, Member, Board of Directors, ACES Worldwide and Postdoctoral
Researcher, Laval University, Canada, upasana.dasgupta.1@ulaval.ca
Dr. Joseph Pelton, Chair, Board of Directors, ACES Worldwide and Dean Emeritus,
International Space University, joepelton@verizon.net
Ranjana Sengupta, Secretary, Nanritam, India, nanritam@gmail.com
Sarada Namhata, Joint Secretary, Nanritam, India, namhata@hotmail.com
Sukdev Mahato, Student, Class X, Filix School of Education
Sarthak Sarkar, Student, Class X, Filix School of Education

Abstract has partnered with a non-profit space policy
------------- initiative - ACES Worldwide, reiterating the
importance of interconnectedness and the need
Education for All project of Nanritam, an Indian of space systems in communications between
non-profit, is an ambitious yet necessary idea and with remote areas.
born out of the difficulties faced during COVID-
19 pandemic. One of its main projects is the Keywords: quality education; UN sustainable
Filix School established in 2014 in a remote development goals; space systems; partnerships;
rural and economically backward area of digital technology
Purulia, West Bengal, India with the aim of
providing holistic, equitable and quality ---------------------------------------------------
education to the socio-economically challenged
children of surrounding area. Filix School has 1. Introduction
very successfully implemented a unique
research-based experiential pedagogy over the In June 2024, Antarikchya Pratisthan Nepal
past decade, significantly improving the (APN), a non-profit organization which is at the
academic outcomes of these children. However, forefront of Nepal's space industry, and
the pandemic meant that the school had to Navodaya School, Nepal entered into a Space
provide education by digital means. Thus, and Sustainability Compact Agreement for
ideated that the education provided to the APN’s Slippers to Satellite program. Under this
students of Filix school could be leveraged to a program, 10 middle school children from remote
larger community. Co-created by school areas are involved by APN in manufacturing and
students under supervision, the Filix Innovation planning of Nepal’s indigenous small satellite
Hub has created an artificial intelligence on disaster management and climate action and
enabled system that provides education to these students would also be provided overall
remote areas, including through space systems. education at Navodaya School. One of the
Whereas the project is based in India, it may be Sustainable Development Goals this project
customized for other parts of the world. This helps in achieving is SDG 4 (Quality
project bolsters the idea that excellent and Education). While idea of the Slippers to
contextualized quality education with the help Satellite program was conceived by APN, the
of digital transformation can be instrumental to Space and Sustainability Compact Agreement
achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable helped the program in aligning with UN’s
Development Goals. For this project, Nanritam Sustainable Development Goals. This Space and

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