Lok Sabha Question No. 87 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-09-14
Subject: Education for Vulnerable Groups
Ministry: Education
Asked by: Shashi Tharoor

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION

## LOKSABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.87 TO BE ANSWERED ON 14.09.2020

## Education for Vulnerable Groups

## 87. DR. SHASHI THAROOR:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state?

- (a) Whether  the  Government  is  aware  of  the  immense  disparities  that  exist  between students with regard to their access to online learning, which has become a necessary mode of education and may continue into the future;
- (b) if  so,  the  measures  taken  to  ensure  equal  access  to  education  even  when  done remotely, regardless of children's family's financial status, under the provisions of the Right to Education Act, 2009;
- (c) if not, the reasons therefor;
- (d) whether the Government is taking any special measures to prevent the exclusion of vulnerable groups from remote learning, considering the suicide of a young student in Valanchery, Kerala, on 1 June, caused by such exclusion; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF EDUCATION (SHRI RAMESH POKHRIYAL 'NISHANK')

(a) to (e) Government is committed to ensure equal access to online/digital education, even  when  done  remotely.  Quality  Online  courses  are  provided  through  SWAYAM which is an indigenously developed MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course) platform. Since  everyone  does  not  have  access  to  internet,  under  o ne  of  the  flagship  Initiatives, SWAYAM-Prabha,  Ministry  of  Education  is  providing  34  educational  TV  channels covering educational contents for Schools and Higher Educational Institutions. Curriculum-based contents are telecast every day as per pre-defined schedule which can be accessed by students as per their convenience. There is a provision of one class, one channel for school education. In addition to this, a comprehensive initiative called PM eVIDYA  has  been  initiated  which  unifies  all  efforts  related  to  digital/online/on-air education to enable multi-mode access to education. The initiative includes: -

- (i) Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) ranked in top 100 NIRF or NAAC score of 3.26 can offer online programme without prior approval of UGC. Institutions

with NAAC score of 3.01 to 3.25 can offer online programme with prior approval of UGC.

- (ii) For conventional courses, the online content has been increased from up to 20% to 40% in regular degree programmes.
- (iii)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)
- (iv) Study  materials  have  been  provided  on  an  experimental  basis  for  12  channels  for classes  1  to  12  and  actions  are  expedited  to  run  these  channels  in  a  full-fledged manner.
- (v) Extensive use of Radio, Community radio and CBSE Podcast- Shiksha Vani
- (vi) Special e-content for visually and hearing impaired developed on Digitally Accessible  Information  System  (DAISY)  and  in  sign  language  on  NIOS  website/ YouTube.

The  above  measures  taken  by  the  Government  prevent  the  exclusion  of  vulnerable groups from remote learning.

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