21-Dec-2022: Several new initiatives on Vocational Education including Hub and Spoke Model introduced under Samagra Shiksha
The Government of India has initiated various convergence efforts across the skill ecosystem under “Skill India Mission (SIM)”. Under the Mission, more than 20 Central Ministries/Departments are implementing Skill Development Schemes/Programmes to enhance skill levels of millions of people including School Children on pan India basis to create skilled workforce as per the requirement of the Industry.
The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has also given special emphasis on vocational education through integration and mainstreaming of vocational education with general education which will help students in acquiring various skills to meet the needs of the industries and to improve the quality of education.
The Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL) is implementing the scheme of Vocationalisation of School Education under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme - Samagra Shiksha by aligning it with the aims of the Skill India Mission. It aims at integrating Vocational Education with general academic education in all Secondary/Senior Secondary schools; enhancing the employability and entrepreneurial abilities of the students, providing exposure to work environment; and generating awareness amongst students about various career options so as to enable them to make a choice in accordance with their aptitude, competence and aspirations. The scheme covers Government and Government aided schools.
Under the Scheme, NSQF compliant vocational courses are offered to the students from class 9th to 12th in the schools covered under the scheme. At the Secondary level i.e. Class IX and X, vocational modules are offered to the students as an additional subject. At Sr. Secondary level, i.e. Class XI and XII, vocational courses are offered as a compulsory (elective) subject. Vocational Courses are selected on the basis of notional hours, age & educational qualification prescribed and suitability for school students.
In order to fulfil various objectives of NEP, the existing scheme of Samagra Shiksha has been revamped and various new interventions relating to Vocational Education have been incorporated. Some of them are as under:
- Coverage of Vocational Education has been expanded to cover Government aided schools also in addition to Government Schools.
- Hub and Spoke Model of Vocational Education has been introduced providing for the utilization of the infrastructure available in the Hub schools by the students of nearby schools (spoke schools) for vocational training.
- Exposure of pre-vocational education at Upper Primary level.
- Internships, bagless days etc. have been included under Innovation component of Samagra Shiksha.
Under the Scheme, Employability Skill module has been made a mandatory part of the vocational Courses. It consists of Communication Skills, Self-Management Skills, Information and Communication Technology Skills, Entrepreneurship Skills and Green Skills.
3-Aug-2022: Salient features of Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan
The major features of Samagra Shiksha for improving the access, infrastructure and quality of education throughout the country are:
- Universalising access to quality education by provision for new/ upgradation of schools from pre-primary to senior secondary level and strengthening of existing schools including provision of barrier free access for Divyaang children. Addition of new subjects instead of Streams in existing senior secondary schools.
- Support for mainstreaming of out of school children extended from elementary level to children in the age group of 16-19 years through open schooling.
- Provision of upgradation of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) to provide residential and schooling facilities upto Class-XII. Provision of Incinerator and sanitary pad vending machines in all girls’ hostels.
- Provision of free textbooks to all children and free uniforms to all girls, SC, ST and BPL boys at elementary level including primers/textbooks for tribal languages with bridging materials.
- Transport facility extended to secondary level @ upto ₹ 6000 per annum, for children in difficult sparsely populated areas.
- Residential schools/hostels named Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Avasiya Vidyalayas in hilly terrain, small and sparsely populated areas for children without adult protection who are in need of shelter and care.
- Provision of upto₹ 500 per child per annum for Teaching Learning Materials, indigenous toys and games, play based activities for pre-primary sections in Government Schools.
- Support for NIPUN Bharat Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy through provision of TLM upto ₹ 500 per child per annum, ₹150 per teacher for teacher manuals and resources, ₹ 10-20 lakh per district for assessment, Teacher training on FLN.
- Provision for qualitative and innovative interventions such as Holistic Progress Card (HPC), sports grant, library grant, composite school grant, teacher training, strengthening of TEIs, assessment cell, Bagless days, school complexes, internships with local artisans, curriculum and pedagogical reforms etc.
- Self-Defence training for girls under ‘Rani Laxmibai Atma Raksha Prashikshan’ and amount for the same has been increased from ₹ 3000 to ₹ 5000 per month.
- Provision of upto₹ 3500 per child with special needs, per year, studying in government, government aided and local body schools for aids and appliances, teaching material, home based education etc.
- Separate provision of stipend for CWSN girls @ ₹ 200 per month for 10 months, in addition to student component from pre-primary to senior secondary level.
- Annual identification camps for CWSN at block level @₹ 10000 per camp and equipping of Block Resource centres for rehabilitation and special training of CWSN, and training of special educators & Block Resource Persons.
- Academic support of BRCs and CRCs extended for pre-primary and secondary level.
- Enhanced emphasis on convergence with Skills and other Government departments/agencies undertaking development works for providing exposure and internships to children on different vocations.
- Support under Vocational Education extended to Government aided schools also in addition to Government Schools and grant/number of job roles/sections linked to enrolment and demand.
- Provision of Classroom cum workshop for Vocational Education in schools serving as Hub for other schools in the neighbourhood. Provision of transport and assessment cost for schools serving as spokes.
- Provision of ICT labs, Smart classrooms including support for digital boards, virtual classrooms and DTH channels.
- Child tracking for tracking the learning level of children for students of Government and Government aided schools.
- Support States & UTs for implementation of provisions of RTE Act including reimbursement under Section 12(1) (c) of the Act.
2-Feb-2022: Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan for school education
The Department of School Education and Literacy has launched an Integrated Centrally Sponsored Scheme for School Education- Samagra Shiksha with effect from the year 2018-19. The Scheme subsumes the three erstwhile Centrally Sponsored Schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE). It is an overarching scheme for the school education sector extending from pre-school to class XII and aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education at all levels of school education. The scheme treats school education as a continuum and is in accordance with Sustainable Development Goal for Education (SDG-4).
Samagra Shiksha scheme has been aligned with the recommendations of NEP 2020 to ensure that all children have access to quality education with an equitable and inclusive classroom environment which should take care of their diverse background, multilingual needs, different academic abilities and make them active participants in the learning process. The scheme has been continued for a period of five years with effect from 01.04.2021 to 31.03.2026.
The major objectives of the Scheme are: (i) Support States and UTs in implementing the recommendations of the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020); (ii) Support States in implementation of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009; (iii) Focus on Early Childhood Care and Education; (iv) Emphasis on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy; (v) Thrust on Holistic, Integrated, Inclusive and activity based Curriculum and Pedagogy to impart 21st century skills among the students; (vi) Provision of quality education and enhancing learning outcomes of students; (vii) Bridging Social and Gender Gaps in School Education; (viii) Ensuring equity and inclusion at all levels of school education; (ix) Strengthening and up-gradation of State Councils for Educational Research and Training (SCERTs)/State Institutes of Education and District Institutes for Education and Training (DIET) as nodal agency for teacher training; (x) Ensuring safe, secure and conducive learning environment and maintenance of standards in schooling provisions and (xi) Promoting vocational education. Under the Scheme, financial assistance is provided to all the States and UTs including the State of Rajasthan for undertaking above activities including training for universalization and delivery of quality school education.
21-Dec-2022: Digital Literacy Mission
India over the last 7 years has become a prominent nation in deploying technologies for the benefit and transforming the lives of its citizens. Keeping this in view, the Government is focusing on providing digital literacy to citizens across the country, especially in rural areas. In line with this, the Government has taken various steps as under:
During the years 2014 to 2016, Government of India had implemented two Schemes on providing digital literacy to the masses namely “National Digital Literacy Mission (NDLM)” and “Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (DISHA)” with a cumulative target of 52.50 lakh persons (one person from every eligible household) across the country including rural India. Under these two schemes, a total of 53.67 lakh beneficiaries were trained, out of which around 42% candidates were from rural India. Both schemes has been closed now.
In the year 2017, Government has approved a Scheme titled ''Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA)'' to usher in digital literacy in rural India with a target to cover 6 crore rural households (one person per household) across the country. So far, a total of more than 6.62 crore candidates have been enrolled and 5.68 crore have been trained, out of which 4.22 crore candidates have been duly certified under the PMGDISHA Scheme across the country.
22-Jul-2022: Outreach of PMGDISHA
The Government has set one trillion dollars as the goal for digital economy. Over the next coming years, India will emerge as one of the largest digitally connected and digitally enabled countries in the world. To help achieve this and to enhance digital adoption, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is focusing on providing digital literacy to the citizens across the country especially in the rural areas. In line with this, the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA) was approved by Union Cabinet in February 2017 with the approved budget outlay of Rs. 2351.38 crore, to usher in digital literacy in rural India with a target to cover 6 crore rural households (one person per household) across the country.
So far, a total of more than 6.15 crore candidates have been enrolled and 5.24 crore have been trained, out of which 3.89 crore candidates have been duly certified under the PMGDISHA Scheme.
The PMGDISHA scheme is being implemented through CSC e-Governance Services India Limited, a Special Purpose Vehicle (CSC-SPV), incorporated under the Companies Act 1956, under the overall supervision of MeitY, with the collaboration of the State Governments and UT Administrations. To ensure that the benefits of the program flow to the rural India, a centralized Project Management Unit (PMU) has been put in place by CSC-SPV to provide the requisite infrastructure backbone, logistics, co-ordination support among various agencies and monitoring mechanisms to oversee the implementation of the Scheme right up to the Gram Panchayat level.
Under the scheme, digital literacy training to the beneficiaries is imparted through the select Common Service Centres (CSCs)/Training Centres that are operational at the Gram Panchayat Level. As per the Scheme guidelines, such training centre should have minimum of 3-5 Computers (Laptop or PC) with genuine/licensed software and minimum of one teaching faculty. So far, more than 4.13 lakh such Centres are approved under the PMGDISHA scheme.
Certification of the trained beneficiaries is carried out through online remotely proctored examination conducted by nationally recognized Certifying Agencies namely National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT), National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), ICT Academy, Haryana Knowledge Corporation Limited (HKCL) and Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC).
The PMGDISHA Scheme is funded as a Central Sector Scheme, hence, funds are not sanctioned and allocated to States/UTs. The targets under the scheme are expected to be achieved within the approved duration of the scheme i.e. upto 31st March, 2023.
30-Mar-2022: Objective of PMGDISHA
Skill development and creating skilled talent is an important mission to ensure that the rapidly growing Digital Economy of India is provided with the trained and skilled manpower that is required. To further aid digital adaption, the Ministry has focused on digital literacy for citizens across the country especially in rural areas. In line with this, the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan(PMGDISHA) was approved by Union Cabinet in February 2017 to usher in digital literacy in rural India.
The main objective of the PMGDISHA Scheme is to impart digital literacy training by covering 6 crore rural households (one person per household), so that they are able to operate computers/digital access devices (like tablets, smartphones, etc.), send and receive emails, browse internet, access Government Services, search for information, undertake cashless transactions, etc. and hence use IT to actively participate in the process of nation building.
The Government has taken up several steps to connect the villagers of the country under the PMGDISHA Scheme, which include the following:-
- Scaling up the awareness and promotional activities towards Digital literacy through campaigns, workshops, seminars, digital vans, etc.
- In order to address the low internet connectivity issues, Wifi-choupals have been established at remote locations.
- Rural schools have been engaged for training and examination of candidates in order to penetrate the rural populous districts of identified states
- Hon’ble MPs/MLAs/District Collectors have distributed the PMGDISHA certificates at various events organised by the local PMGDISHA team.
- Some rural schools have been engaged for training and examination of candidates in order to cover the rural populous districts.
- Various mechanisms have been adopted to disseminate information regarding the scheme to the intended beneficiaries such as word of mouth publicity, online, print & electronic media including posters, banners, radio, newspaper, television, social media etc.
The PMGDISHA Scheme covers candidates in the age group of 14-60 years. So far, around 5.66 crore candidates have been enrolled and 4.81 crore candidates have completed the training out of which 3.54 crore candidates have been certified under the scheme.
8-Sep-2021: PMGDISHA and CSCs have emerged as the enablers for digital literacy, MoS IT Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar
Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Ministry of Electronics, Minister of State for Electronics & IT, graced today the ‘Launch Program of PMGDISHA Drive & Announcement of 100% Digital Literacy of all digital villages’ under Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. Shri Ajay Prakash Sawhney, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology and senior officials from ministry also attended the virtual event.
The PMGDISHA drive has been launched under PMGDISHA scheme, a flagship Digital Literacy scheme of the Government for rural areas. Under the campaign, a three day certification drive for rural citizens especially women and disadvantaged communities will be conducted from September 8th to 10th. From September 11th to 13th September, a certification drive for PMGDISHA scheme will be conducted in a similar manner.
Apart from this Common Service Center (CSC) also proposed to make all the Digital Villages 100 percent Digital Literate.
Speaking at the event, Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, said that India is a unique country where we have used technology for digital inclusion and CSCs role in this is of paramount importance. PMGDISHA and CSCs have emerged as the enablers for digital literacy and they are important in realizing the vision outlined by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, to transform lives of common people and to bridge the gap between government and citizens through digital technology. He also stressed upon expanding the digital footprint of VLEs to create an enabling environment for digital inclusion.
The Government of India introduced its flagship Digital Literacy Programme, “Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA)” in February, 2017. The Scheme envisages to make six crore persons in rural areas, across States/UTs, digitally literate, reaching to around 40% of rural households by covering one member from every household where there is no digitally literate person.
6-Aug-2021: Digital Literacy Among Women
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India implements a scheme titled “Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA)” under Digital India programme to usher in digital literacy in rural India by covering 6 crore rural households (one person per household) by 31.03.2022. To ensure equitable geographical reach, each of the 2,50,000 Gram Panchayats across the country are envisaged to register an average of 200-300 candidates. The Scheme aims to bridge the digital divide, specifically targeting the rural population including the marginalised sections of society like Scheduled Castes (SC) / Scheduled Tribes (ST), Below Poverty Line (BPL), Women, differently-abled persons, and minorities.
Digitally literate persons are able to operate computers/ digital access devices (like tablets, smartphones, etc.), send and receive emails, browse the internet, access Government Services, search for information, undertake cashless transactions, etc. and hence use IT to actively participate in the process of nation-building.
As on 02.08.2021, approximately 5.01 crore beneficiaries have been enrolled and 4.21 crore have been trained under the PMGDISHA Scheme. So far, over 2.59 crore women beneficiaries are registered which is 52 % of the cumulative registration count. Out of the above, over 1.78 Crore women beneficiaries are certified under the scheme which is 54 % of the total certified beneficiaries under the PMGDISHA Scheme.
In addition, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education is administering ‘National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology’ (NMEICT) Scheme, 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) etc. to ensure quality education through e-learning to students across the country.
8-Feb-2017: Cabinet approves 'Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan’.
The Union Cabinet chaired has approved 'Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan' (PMGDISHA) to make 6 crore rural households digitally literate. The outlay for this project is Rs.2,351.38 crore to usher in digital literacy in rural India by March,.2019. This is in line with the announcement made by Finance Minister in the Union Budget 2016-17.
PMGDISHA is expected to be one of the largest digital literacy programmes in the world. Under the scheme, 25 lakh candidates will be trained in the FY 2016-17; 275 lakh in the FY 2017-18; and 300 lakh in the FY 2018-19. To ensure equitable geographical reach, each of the 250,000 Gram Panchayats would be expected to register an average of 200-300 candidates.
Digitally literate persons would be able to operate computers/digital access devices (like tablets, smart phones, etc.), send and receive emails, browse internet, access Government Services, search for information, undertaking cashless transactions, etc. and hence use IT to actively participate in the process of nation building.
The implementation of the Scheme would be carried out under the overall supervision of Ministry of Electronics and IT in active collaboration with States/UTs through their designated State Implementing Agencies, District e-Governance Society (DeGS), etc.
Background:
As per the 71st NSSO Survey on Education 2014, only 6% of rural households have a computer. This highlights that more than 15 crore rural households (@ 94% of 16.85 crore households) do not have computers and a significant number of these households are likely to be digitally illiterate. The PMGDISHA being initiated under Digital India Programme would cover 6 crore households in rural areas to make them digitally literate. This would empower the citizens by providing them access to information, knowledge and skills for operating computers / digital access devices.
As the thrust of the Government is on cashless transactions through mobile phones, the course content would also have emphasis on Digital Wallets, Mobile Banking, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) and Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS), etc.
15-Dec-2022: Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Ko Kaam Karyakram (PMKKK) now named as Pradhan Mantri Virasat Ka Samvardhan (PM VIKAS) Scheme
The Minister of Minority Affairs, Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today informed that the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Ko Kaam Karyakram (PMKKK) has now been named as Pradhan Mantri Virasat Ka Samvardhan (PM VIKAS) Scheme. The integrated scheme converges five erstwhile schemes of the Ministry viz. Seekho aur Kamao, USTTAD, Hamari Dharohar, Nai Roshni and Nai Manzil. The scheme has been approved by the Cabinet for the period of 15th Finance Commission.
PM VIKAS aims to improve livelihoods of the minorities, particularly the artisan communities, using the components of skill development, education, women leadership & entrepreneurship. These components complement each other in the ultimate objective of the scheme to increase the incomes of the beneficiaries and provide support by facilitating credit and market linkages.