27-Jul-2022: Digital education tools
A comprehensive initiative called PM eVIDYA has been initiated as part of Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan on 17th May, 2020, which unifies all efforts related to digital/online/on-air education to enable multi-mode access to education. The initiative includes:
- DIKSHA the nation’s digital infrastructure for providing quality e-content for school education in states/UTs and QR coded Energized Textbooks for all grades (one nation, one digital platform). Till date (21.07.2022) DIKSHA has more than 501 crores learning sessions, more than 5,879 crore learning minutes and more than 3,825 crores page hits with more than 4.06 crore average daily page hits. A total of 2,92,178, pieces of e-contents are live on DIKSHA as on date.
- One earmarked Swayam Prabha TV channel per class from 1 to 12 (one class, one channel): The same content is simulcast through YouTube and Jio channels. Till date 31,816calls were received to enquire about telecast of educational programmes through PM eVIDYA IVRS have been responded.
- A total of 89,55,857 unique users and 2,83,21,959 enrollment are there on SWAYAM Portal from all over the country in various courses till July 2022.
- Extensive use of Radio, Community radio and CBSE Podcast- Shiksha Vani: 3,529 pieces of curriculum-based radio programmes (Classes 1 -12) for its dissemination/ broadcast on 397 Radio Stations (11 GyanVani FM Radio Stations, 254 Community Radio Stations), 132 All India Radio stations, Podcasts on iRadio and JioSaavn Mobile apps. Till now 1,425 live programs have been broadcast on iRadio.
- Special e-content for visually and hearing impaired developed on Digitally Accessible Information System (DAISY) and in sign language on NIOS website/ YouTube: In all 3,520 textbook based ISL videos recorded and 597 videos have been uploaded on DIKSHA from classes 1 to 5. A 10,000 words ISL dictionary has been uploaded on DIKSHA. 3,474 audio books chapters uploaded on DIKSHA.
The Ministry of Education through National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) had conducted a survey related to online teaching learning in Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS), Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS) and Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) schools. As per the survey, the findings revealed that about 60-70% of the participants (students, teachers, parents and school principals across KVS, NVS and CBSE shared that teaching and learning during COVID-19 period was joyful and satisfactory. About 20-30% stakeholders shared that they had difficult experience and about 10-20% said that it was burdensome for them.
22-Jul-2021: Steps taken by the government to promote IT based education
A comprehensive initiative called PM eVIDYA has been initiated as part of Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan on 17th May, 2020, which unifies all efforts related to digital/online/on-air education to enable multi-mode access to education. The initiative includes:
- DIKSHA (one nation, one digital platform)is the nation’s digital infrastructure for providing quality e-content for school education in states/UTs and QR coded Energized Textbooks for all grades are available on it.
- One earmarked Swayam Prabha TV channel per class from 1 to 12 (one class, one channel).
- Extensive use of Radio, Community radio and CBSE Podcast- Shiksha Vani.
- Special e-content for visually and hearing impaired developed on Digitally Accessible Information System (DAISY) and in sign language on NIOS website/ YouTube.
In order to promote online education, UGC has notified necessary regulation, which facilitates the Universities to offer full-fledged Online Program. Further, the current provisions of 20 per cent Online courses in a programme, as per provisions of UGC SWAYAM and ODL Regulations to be enhanced up to maximum 40 per cent for implementation considering “National interest during COVID-19” and also to ensure effective utilization of e-resources.
Various digital initiatives are also undertaken by Ministry of education viz. SWAYAM ("Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds"), SWAYAM Prabha, National Digital Library (NDL), Virtual Lab, e-Yantra, NEAT (National Education Alliance for technology), FOSSEE (Free Open-Source Software for Education) etc to ensure quality education to the students.
To improve the internet connectivity in rural areas the CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd (CSC-SPV) of MEITY has been assigned the task of providing Fibre to the Home (FTTH) connectivity to the Government Institutions, including schools.
Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has launched a ‘Cyber Security Handbook’ to ensure safe and healthy digital habits among students. The ‘Cyber Security Handbook’ can be accessed at this link:
http://cbseacademic.nic.in/web_material/Manuals/Cyber_Safety_Manual.pdf.
An Integrated Teacher Training Programme called NISHTHA has been launched it is a capacity building programme for "Improving Quality of School Education through Integrated Teacher Training". NISHTHA can be accessed from the below link: https://itpd.ncert.gov.in//
18-May-2020: Union Finance Minister announces several initiatives to boost Education Sector
Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman has announced several initiatives to boost education sector, on 17th May in New Delhi. The Minister said that investing in the human capital is equivalent to an investment in productivity and prosperity of the nation. The present pandemic situation has presented new challenges and several opportunities for our education system.
The Minister highlighted that the education sector has taken this opportunity to plan several interventions, particularly in the area of adopting innovative curriculum and pedagogies, concentrating energies on the gap areas, being more inclusive and integrating technology at every stage, to usher in a new era of focussed investment in the human capital.
Finance Minister further said that the government is committed to ensuring learning for all, with equity, so as to cover all students at all levels of education and in all geographical locations, even in the remotest parts of the country.
Union Human Resource Development Minister ‘Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank’ expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for giving priority to education sector. He also thanked Union Finance Minister for the initiatives and hoped that they will transform the education system and bring out holistic development of students of the country.
Shri Pokhriyal said that the “One nation , one digital platform” and “one class one channel” will ensure that quality education material will reach the students present in farthest areas of the country. He said that the initiatives will boost the access and equity in education and improve the gross enrolment ratio in the times to come. He also said that due consideration is being given to the Divyaang children also and the measures will usher in a new paradigm in the creation of New India.
Union Finance Minister announced the immediate set of initiatives in this direction includes:
- A comprehensive initiative called PM e-VIDYA will be launched which unifies all efforts related to digital/online/on-air education. This will enable multi-mode access to education, and includes: DIKSHA (one nation-one digital platform) which will now become the nation’s digital infrastructure for providing quality e-content in school education for all the states/UTs; TV (one class-one channel) where one dedicated channel per grade for each of the classes 1 to 12 will provide access to quality educational material: SWAYAM online courses in MOOCS format for school and higher education; IITPAL for IITJEE/NEET preparation; Air through Community radio and CBSE Shiksha Vani podcast; and study material for the differently abled developed on Digitally Accessible Information System (DAISY) and in sign language on NIOS website/ YouTube. This will benefit nearly 25 crore school going children across the country.
- In this time of global pandemic, it is vital that we provide psychosocial support to students, teachers and families for mental health and emotional wellbeing. The Manodarpan initiative is being launched to provide such support through a website, a toll-free helpline, national directory of counselors, interactive chat platform, etc. This initiative will benefit all school going children in the country, along with their parents, teachers and the community of stakeholders in school education.
- Government is expanding e-learning in higher education – by liberalizing open, distance and online education regulatory framework. Top 100 universities will start online courses. Also, online component in conventional Universities and ODL programmes will also be raised from present 20% to 40%. This will provide enhanced learning opportunities to nearly 7 crore students across different colleges and Universities.
- There is a need to promote critical thinking, creative and communication skills, along with experiential and joyful learning for the students focusing on learning outcomes. The curriculum must be rooted in the Indian ethos and integrated with global skill requirements. Therefore, it has been decided to prepare a new National Curriculum and Pedagogical Framework for school education, teacher education and early childhood stage to prepare students and future teachers as per global benchmarks.
- A National Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Mission will be launched, for ensuring that every child in the country necessarily attains foundational literacy and numeracy in Grade 3 by 202 For this, teacher capacity building, a robust curricular framework, engaging learning material – both online and offline, learning outcomes and their measurement indices, assessment techniques, tracking of learning progress, etc. will be designed to take it forward in a systematic fashion. This mission will cover the learning needs of nearly 4 crore children in the age group of 3 to 11 years.
27-Jul-2022: Akhil Bharatiya Shiksha Samagam at Varanasi
A three-day Akhil Bharatiya Shiksha Samagam was organised from 7th to 9th July 2022 at Kashi (Varanasi) on implementation of National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) in the field of higher education, with the objectives to identify various approaches and methodologies to implement NEP 2020, effectively articulate the roadmap and implementation strategies, foster knowledge exchange through interdisciplinary discussions; discuss challenges being faced by educational institutions etc. In this Samagam, Vice Chancellors of Central/State/Deemed/Private Universities, Directors / Heads of Higher Educational Institutions, Principals / Faculties of Colleges, Educationists, Policy-makers etc. participated. The Samagam was inaugurated by Hon’ble Prime Minister.
In the Samagam, there were 9 sessions on the major thrust areas / themes namely (i) Multidisciplinary and Holistic Education; (ii) Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship; (iii) Governance and Capacity building of teachers for quality education; (iv) Quality, Ranking and Accreditation; (v) Digital Empowerment and Online Education; (vi) Equitable and Inclusive Education; (vii) Promotion of Indian Languages and Indian Knowledge System; (viii) Skill Development and Employability; and (ix) Internationalisation of Education. Apart from these, two exclusive sessions on sharing success stories and Best Practices of NEP 2020 Implementation were also held.
The outcomes of the Samagam include creating scope for stakeholders to come together for effective, smooth and timely implementation of NEP 2020, establishing strong linkages among various higher educational institutions, harnessing new and innovative strategies discussed in the Samagam to implement NEP 2020 and providing unique opportunities for Indian HEIs to learn, explore and execute future trends in higher education.
7-Jul-2022: PM inaugurates Akhil Bhartiya Shiksha Samagam on implementation of NEP
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated Akhil Bhartiya Shiksha Samagam on implementation of the National Education Policy in Varanasi today. Governor of Uttar Pradesh Smt Anandiben Patel, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath, Union Ministers Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Smt. Annapurna Devi, Dr Subhas Sarkar, Dr Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, State Ministers, educationists and other stakeholders were present on the occasion.
Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister said that ‘our education system and young generation carry a big part of realizing the pledges of the ‘Amrit Kaal’. He conveyed his best wishes for the Samagam while bowing to Mahamana Madan Mohan Malviya. Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister inaugurated the Akshay Patra Mid-Day Meal Kitchen at LT College. He said that the high level of talent of the students that he interacted with is an indication of the effort that will be needed to harness that talent.
The Prime Minister said that “the basic premise of the National Education Policy is to take education out of narrow thinking and connect it with the modern ideas of the 21st century.” The Prime Minister said there was never a dearth of intellect and talent in the country, however, the education system created by the Britishers was never part of the Indian ethos. He underlined the multidimensionality of the Indian ethos of education and asked for that aspect to mark the modern Indian education system. The Prime Minister stressed that “we should not only prepare degree holder youth but give our education system to the country, whatever human resources are needed for the country to move forward. Our teachers and educational institutions have to lead this resolution.” For creating a New India, the Prime Minister stressed that a new system and modern processes are critical. What was not even imagined earlier is a reality now, he said. The Prime Minister continued “not only did we recover so fast from the big epidemic of Corona, but today India is one of the fastest-growing large economies of the world. Today we are the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world.”
The Prime Minister noted that in areas like space technology, where earlier only the government used to do everything, now a new world is being created for the youth through private players. Sectors that used to be closed to women are now showcasing their talent.
The Prime Minister highlighted that in the new policy, the entire focus is on making children skilled according to their talents and choices of the children. “Our youth should be skilled, confident, practical and calculative, education policy is preparing the ground for this”, he said. The Prime Minister emphasized the need to work for the future with a new thought process. He said children today are displaying a very advanced degree of talent and we need to be prepared to help and harness their talent.
The Prime Minister lauded the effort that went into the preparation of NEP, however, he emphasized that the momentum was not let down after the preparation of the policy. There has been constant discussion and work on the implementation of the Policy. The Prime Minister personally attended many seminars and events to talk about the implementation of the policy. This has resulted in a situation where the county’s youth is becoming an active partner in the growth of the country.
The Prime Minister also talked of a big overhaul of education infrastructure in the country. Many new colleges, universities, IITs and IIM are opening in the country. There has been an increase of 55 per cent in the number of medical colleges after 2014, he informed. The Common Entrance Test for universities will bring ease and equality to university admissions. “The National Education Policy is now opening the way for studies in the mother tongue. In this sequence, ancient Indian languages like Sanskrit are also being carried forward”, he said.
The Prime Minister expressed confidence that India can emerge as a big centre of global education. He said guidelines have been issued to prepare Indian higher education as per international standards. Special offices have been established in 180 universities for international affairs of the institutions. He asked the experts to be aware of the international practices in the field.
The Prime Minister emphasized the importance of practical experience and fieldwork and asked for an attitude of ‘lab to land’. He asked the academics to validate their experience with verified testing. He asked for evidence-based research. He also asked for research on the demographic dividend of India and find ways to best utilize this and find solutions for the ageing societies of the world. Similarly, resilient infrastructure is another area of research. “National Education Policy’ has given us a tool to realize innumerable possibilities which were not available earlier. We need to use it fully, he concluded.
Akhil Bhartiya Shiksha Samagam
The Ministry of Education is organising Shiksha Samagam from 7th to 9th July. It will provide a platform for eminent academicians, policymakers and academic leaders to deliberate and share their experiences and discuss the roadmap for effective implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The event is being organised as part of capacity building of more than 300 Academic, Administrative & Institutional Leaders from Universities (Central, State, Deemed, and Private), and Institutes of National Importance (IIT, IIM, NIT, IISER) from all over the country. Various stakeholders would present the progress of implementation of NEP in their respective institutions and would also share noteworthy implementation strategies, best practices and success stories.
During the three-day Shiksha Samagam, panel discussions on nine themes identified for Higher Education under NEP 2020 will be conducted. These themes are Multidisciplinary and Holistic Education; Skill Development and Employability; Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship; Capacity Building of Teachers for Quality Education; Quality, Ranking and Accreditation; Digital Empowerment and Online Education; Equitable and Inclusive Education; Indian Knowledge System; and Internationalisation of Higher Education.
3-Jun-2022: Union Minister of social Justice and Empowerment Dr. Virendra Kumar launched the Scheme “SHRESHTA” today
Union Minister of social Justice and empowerment Dr. Virendra Kumar launched the Scheme “SHRESHTA”-Scheme for residential education for students in High school in Targeted Areas.
The Dignitaries attended the function shri A. Narayanaswamy, MoS for Social Justice and Empowerment, Shri R. Subrahmanyam, Secretary for Social Justice and Empowerment Department, Shri Surendra Singh Additional Secretary, Dr. Mahesh Sharma, M.P., Gautam Buddha Nagar. The Scheme will be beneficial for SC students those who could not reach for higher quality education. This initiative will bring a drastic change for the betterment of their life.
The Scheme for Residential Education for Students in Targeted Areas (SHRESHTA) has been formulated with the objective to provide quality education and opportunities for even the poorest
Scheduled Caste students, as per the Constitutional mandate. The students from the Scheduled Caste communities, for long been subjects to inequality, were kept out of quality education and a situation that perpetuates the disadvantages carried forward for generations of lack of adequate education.
The Governmental efforts to spread educational facilities without discrimination have worked well in achieving near universal access. However, the objective of providing access to quality education that provides a level playing field is still far from reality. Accordingly, the Department as a new initiative has introduced the scheme for providing quality education in top class private Residential Schools to the meritorious SC students who cannot afford the fee of such schools.
Scheme for Residential Education for Students in High Schools in Targeted Areas (SHRESHTA) provides for high quality education for meritorious but poor SC students in CBSE-affiliated reputed residential schools across the country. Approximately 3,000 seats are provided each year for admission in class 9th and 11th and the entire cost of the school fee and residential charges are borne by the Department. The students, belonging to Scheduled Castes, studying in class 8th and 10th in the current academic year are eligible for availing the benefits of scheme are selected through a transparent mechanism through a National Entrance Test for SHRESHTA (NETS), which is conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for admission in class 9th and 11th. Students belonging to marginalized income group within the SC community, whose parental annual income is upto Rs.2.5 Lakh are eligible. Successful candidates, after following the e-counselling process, are given admission in the school of their choice anywhere in the Country for their academic persuasion. The Department shall bear the total cost of the school fee and hostel charges till completion of their academic upto class 12th. There after the students of the scheme may avail benefits of other schemes of the Department for their higher education.