India Report on Digital Education 2020

The Union Minister for Education Ramesh Pokhriyal has virtually launched the India Report on Digital Education 2020 in June 2020. This is an important topic for the UPSC exam and it covers education-related aspects of the UPSC syllabus. In this article, you can read all about the important points covered in the report.

India Report on Digital Education 2020:- Download PDF Here

What is the ‘India Report on Digital Education 2020’?

The report is a comprehensive elaboration of the various innovative methods adopted by the Ministry of HRD (renamed Ministry of Education) and the Education Departments of States and Union Territories to ensure accessible and inclusive education to all and facilitate remote education digitally. 

• It targets reducing the learning gaps that emerged during the Covid-19 pandemic. The initiatives cover educational requirements ranging from learners in schools to postgraduates.
• The report is prepared by the Digital Education Division of MHRD in collaboration with Education Departments of States and Union Territories.

Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) Initiatives

MHRD has initiated many projects like DIKSHA Platform, Swayam Prabha TV Channels, On-Air Shiksha Vani, e-Pathshala and telecast through TV channels to help teachers, students and scholars in their educational endeavours.

• DIKSHA (Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing)
  • DIKSHA is the national platform for school education for all states and the central government for grades 1 to 12. It was launched in September 2017. DIKSHA provides access to a large number of curriculum-linked e-content through QR coded Energized Textbooks (ETBs), courses for teachers, quizzes and others. DIKSHA can be accessed through a web portal or via mobile. Know more about DIKSHA in the link.
• Swayam Prabha TV Channels
  • Swayam Prabha DTH channels target people with no access to the internet. 32 channels are devoted to telecasting high-quality educational programmes by the MHRD. These channels are earmarked for school education and higher education separately. The Department of School Education and Literacy has tied up with private DTH operators like Tata Sky & Airtel to air educational video content for a better reach. Read more on SWAYAM here.
• On Air
  • Radio broadcasting is being used for children in remote areas who are not online (especially for grades 1 to 5). It focuses on activity-based learning.
• E-Pathshala
  • E-textbooks can be accessed using the e-Pathshala web portal and mobile app (Android, iOS, Windows), by students, teachers, teacher educators and parents. More than 600 digital books including 377 e-textbooks (grades 1 to 12) and 3,500 pieces of audio and video content of NCERT are available in the public domain in various languages such as Hindi, English, Sanskrit and Urdu.

Read a comprehensive note on digital education in India.

States and UT Initiatives

The report stated several digital initiatives taken by different state governments. Some of these initiatives are –

• SMILE (Social Media Interface for Learning Engagement) in Rajasthan: It ensures continuous learning for students and teachers from home. Students and teachers receive daily video content via WhatsApp. The department has curated a repository of video content for competencies across grades 1 to 12. For each topic, a module of 4 to 5 videos has been curated with 30-40 minutes of content using free and publically available resources. The content is reviewed by a team of subject matter experts from SCERT.
• Padhai Tunhar Duwar in Chhattisgarh: Padhai Tunhar Duwar (Education at your doorstep) is a post-covid initiative. The objective of this platform is to connect teachers and students by providing access to good quality educational content from the comfort of their homes.
• Unnayan Initiatives in Bihar: Unnayan Bihar is a holistic learning project providing quality education in schools through interactive video lectures, supplementing the efforts of school teachers, improving the learning outcomes of the students and increasing enrolment and attendance.
• Project Home Classes in Jammu 
• Mission Buniyaad in NCT of Delhi
• Kerala’s own educational TV channel (Hi-Tech school program)
• e-Scholar Portal and  online courses for teachers in Meghalaya 
• Online certificate programs for teachers in Telangana
• UTs like Lakshadweep have distributed tablets, DVDs and pen drives that are equipped with e-content to students.

In July 2020, the government released the Pragyata guidelines on digital education. Read more on the guidelines in the link.

Initiatives by CBSE for Digital Education

CBSE has been taking digital initiatives at various levels of education. Some of the important initiatives are –

• Vidya-Daan
  • This is a program based on crowdsourcing of content from teachers and meant to synergize countrywide developments by providing schools and teachers from the metro cities to the smallest villages with good quality e-content that can be used by them anytime, anywhere at no cost.
• CCT (Creative and Critical Thinking) Practice Test
  • These are Weekly Practice Programs to enhance the higher-order cognitive competencies of learners and to ignite curiosity by connecting learning with real-life situations. This was launched in February 2020.
• Digital Textbooks
  • All CBSE textbooks and resource books are available in digital form at the CBSE website. It is accessible to all, free of cost.

Conclusion

• Along with all the major initiatives, in remote areas with poor internet connectivity and electricity problems, States and Union Territories have distributed textbooks at children’s doorsteps. Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu have taken such steps to keep the momentum of education going forward.
• The report is aimed at providing a mix of Online-Offline Initiatives to serve the educational needs in such times as the pandemic with proper acknowledgement of the concerns regarding Data Connectivity on a pan India level too.
• Affordability and Accessibility of quality education have been of paramount importance in the report.