Lok Sabha Question No. 1269 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-09-19
Subject: Digital Education
Ministry: Education
Asked by: Sisir Kumar Adhikari

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

## DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION AND LITERACY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1269

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 19 th  September, 2020

## Digital Education

- 1269 . SHRI SISIR KUMAR ADHIKARI: Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state: (a) whether it is a fact that the proposed National Education Policy 2020 aims to create a robust digital  infrastructure  in  the  education  sector  that  ensures  uninterrupted  learning  even  during unprecedented circumstances; (b)  if  so,  whether  it  is  also  a  fact  that  legal  complexities  surrounding  the  applicability  of  two operative policies namely, the Right to Education Act, 2009 and the New Education Policy, 2020 have not been solved yet; (c) whether it is also a fact that omitting compulsory second language and/or English language in the  foundational  learning  pattern  may  effect  the  middle  and  or  higher  levels  as  still  State-wise

Hindi and/or English from class six is one of the major reason of school dropout therefor; and (d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF EDUCATION

## (SHRI RAMESH POKHRIYAL 'NISHANK')

(a)  NEP  has  Chapter  23  on TECHNOLOGY  USE  AND  INTEGRATION  and  Chapter  24  on ONLINE AND DIGITAL EDUCATION, where details of all policy initiatives and action points are given.

The highlights are:

- An autonomous body, the National Educational Technology Forum (NETF) to be created (Para 23.3) .
- E-content will continue to be developed by all States in all regional languages, as well as by the NCERT, CIET, CBSE, NIOS, and other bodies/institutions, and will be uploaded onto the DIKSHA platform (Para 23.6) . CIET will be strengthened to promote and expand DIKSHA as well as other education technology initiatives. (Para 23.6).
- Pilot studies for online education.
- Apart  from  these  other  initiatives  in  paras  24.4  &  24.5  such  as:  Digital  infrastructure, Online  teaching  platform  and  tools,  Virtual  Labs,  Online  assessment  and  examinations, Laying  down  standards,  Creating  a  Dedicated  Unit  for  Building  of  World  Class  Digital Infrastructure  etc.  will  address  the  issues  of  reach  of  digital  education  and  preparing students for the 21 st century.

(b) NEP 2020 took into consideration the previous policies and The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory  Education,  2009  and  is  built  on  the  foundational  pillars  of  Access,  Equity,  Quality, Affordability  and  Accountability.  The  policy  is  synchronized  with  the  basic  objective  of  RTE  Act which  is  to  provide  free  and  compulsory  elementary  education  and  is  also  aligned  to  the  2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and holistic development of learners.

(c)  &  (d)    NEP  2020  Para  4.13 states  that  the  three-language  formula  will  continue  to  be implemented while keeping in mind the Constitutional provisions, aspirations of the people, regions, and the Union, and the need to promote multilingualism as well as promote national unity. However, there will be a greater flexibility in the three-language formula, and no language will be imposed on any  State.  The  three  languages  learned  by  children  will  be  the  choices  of  States,  regions,  and  of course the students themselves, so long as at least two of the three languages are native to India. In particular, students who wish to change one or more of the three languages they are studying may do so  in  Grade  6  or  7,  as  long  as  they  are  able  to  demonstrate  basic  proficiency  in  three  languages (including one language of India at the literature level) by the end of secondary school.

NEP 2020 Para 4.14 states that all efforts will be made in preparing high-quality bilingual textbooks and teaching-learning materials for science and mathematics, so that students are enabled to think and speak about the two subjects both in their home language/mother tongue and in English.

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