Lok Sabha Question No. 832 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-07-23
Subject: Use of Digitalization in Education System
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: UDAY PRATAP SINGH, RAM TAHAL CHOUDHARY, LAXMAN GILUWA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 832 TO BE ANSWERED ON 23.07.2018

## Use of Digitalization in Education System

†832. SHRI UDAY PRATAP SINGH: SHRI RAM TAHAL CHOUDHARY: SHRI LAXMAN GILUWA:

Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether the Government proposes to digitalize all the schools in the country and if so, the details thereof;
- (b)  if not, the reasons therefor and the reaction of the Government thereto;
- (c)  whether the work relating to providing education through digital means along with the formulation of new Education  Policy  has  been  completed  by  the  Government  and  if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the  main features of the said policy; and
- (d)  whether any time limit has been fixed for submission of the Report by the expert Committee relating to New Education Policy and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SHRI UPENDRA KUSHWAHA)

- (a) & (b) The Central Government has launched an Integrated Scheme for school education- Samagra Shiksha,  which subsumes the three erstwhile Centrally Sponsored Schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) , Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education, from the year 201819. Under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Samagra Shiksha, Information & Communication Technology (ICT) component envisages covering all Government and Government Aided schools from classes VI to XII, subject to the availability of budgetary provision.

So  far,  about 88994 secondary & senior secondary schools (both government and government aided schools) were approved under the ICT component of erstwhile RMSA and about 92,886 upper primary schools have been approved to be covered under Computer Aided Learning (CAL) component of erstwhile SSA. Further, the government has undertaken v arious initiatives for providing education through digital means such as:

-  ICT in  Education  Curriculum  for  School  System  ICT  curriculum  for  teachers  and  students  has  been developed by NCERT. Students' curriculum was piloted in 588 Navodaya Vidyalayas for one year. 805 MRPs/ KRPs of thirty states  were  oriented  on  roll-out  of  ICT  curriculum  for  students  and  teachers  in  the  respective states.
-  e-pathshala -  e-pathshala has been developed by NCERT Training)  for  showcasing  and  disseminating  all  educational  e-resources  including  textbooks,  audio,  video, periodicals and a variety of other print and non-print materials. So far, 3311 audios and videos, 650 e-books (epubs) and 504 flip books have been made available on the portal and mobile app.
-  National  Repository  of  Open  Educational  Resources  (NROER)  The  National  Repository  of  Open Educational Resources (NROER) is an initiative to bring together all digital and digitisable resources across all stages of school education and teacher education. So far, 13301 files including 401 collections, 2722 documents, 376 interactive, 1664 audios, 2581 images and 5958 videos have been made available over the portal. State/ UTs are motivated to contribute resources on NROER and create OERs for their own State/ UT.
-  SWAYAM:A  Massive  Open Online Courses (MOOCs) platform popularly known as SWAYAM (Study Webs of Active learning for Young Aspiring Minds) has been launched. The portal is offering various online courses  for  school  education  and  higher  education.  NCERT  has  started  development  of  course  modules  for Massive  Open  and  Online  Course  (MOOCs)  for  school  education  system  in  12  subject  areas  (Accountancy, business  studies,  biology,  chemistry,  economic,  history,  geography,  mathematics,  physics,  political  science, psychology and sociology) for classes IX-XII.

NIOS is one of the National Coordinator of SWAYAM. NIOS is offering 14 secondary level courses, and all courses of Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed.).

The courses hosted on SWAYAM are in 4 quadrants i.e., E-tutorials as Audio/Video lectures, E-text in the form of PDF as specially prepared reading material that can be downloaded /printed (3) self-assessment tests through tests and quizzes and (4) an online discussion forum for clearing the doubts. Steps have been taken to enrich the learning experience by using audio-video and multi-media and state of the art pedagogy/technology.

-  SWAYAM  PRABHA:A programme for utilization of satellite communication technologies for transmission  of  educational  e-contents  through  32  National  Channels  i.e.  SWAYAM  PRABHA  DTH-TV has been launched. CIET-NCERT is the national coordinator for one DTH TV channel i.e., Kishore Manch (#31) and  has  started  feeding  a  24x7  educational  TV  channel  w.e.f.  09.07.2018.  Everyday  four  hour  fresh  slot  is telecast and repeated six times in 24 hours to provide learning opportunities for the stake holders.

NIOS has been allocated 4 SWAYAMPRABHA DTH Channels. These channels individually cater to secondary education, senior secondary education, teacher education and teacher education in regional languages (Bangla, Assamese, Odia and Telugu).

-  CBSE initiatives:SARANSH is a tool for comprehensive self  review  and  analysis  for  CBSE  affiliated schools  and  parents.  It  enables  them  to  analyse  students'  performance  in  order  to  take  remedial  measures. SARANSH brings schools, teachers and parents closer, so that they can monitor the progress of students and help them improve their performance. It helps schools to compare their performance vis-à-vis all CBSE schools at  various levels and also helps parents to compare their ward's performance within school State, Region and National level.

It is currently available for Standards IX - XII and provides a comprehensive overview of Standard X performance since 2007 and Standard XII performance since 2009, till the current academic session.

-  KVS initiatives:ICT Skills are imparted in all the Kendriya Vidyalayas to the students of classes III to XII. 12011 e-Classrooms (9711 e-Classrooms established and 2300 under process) have been established in Kendriya Vidyalayas throughout the country for facilitating effective learning through digital mode. Besides, 276 Digital Language Labs and 1137 Computer labs have been established in 276 KVs across the Country.

Further, a pilot project e-Prajna has been started for providing tablets pre-loaded with e-content in Maths  and  Science.  5076  Touch  Tablets  have  been  distributed  among  Class  VIII  Students  and  teachers  for classroom transactions in subject Maths and Science.

-  Operation Digital Board:An initiative has been taken by Government of India to provide interactive digital boards to nearly 15 lakh classrooms across the country for 9 th standard to post graduate level, where they can receive lectures from best teachers/professors and access quality e-content, in order to enhance overall learning process and experience of the students.
- (c) & (d) The Committee to Draft National Education Policy constituted under Dr. K. Kasturirangan to prepare the Draft National Education Policy is due to submit its report by 31.08.2018.