Lok Sabha Question No. 1329 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-12-06
Subject: Education Programmes
Ministry: Education
Asked by: Girish Chandra, Sumalatha Ambareesh, D.K. Suresh, Nalin Kumar Kateel

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

## DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION AND LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1329 TO BE ANSWERED ON 06.12.2021

## Education Programmes

## 1329.   SHRI GIRISH CHANDRA:

SHRI D.K.SURESH:

SHRIMATI SUMALATHA AMBAREESH:

SHRI NALIN KUMAR KATEEL:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is cognizant of prevalent digital divide in online learning in education between urban and rural areas and if so, the steps taken to ensure that each child has access to education  viz  digital  modes  at  a  personal  level  and  the  cost  which  has  been  incurred  on  the project;
- (b) if not, the steps taken by the Government to address the gap;
- (c) whether the Government has conducted any comprehensive assessment of the digital divide or its impact on remote education across the country;
- (d) if so, the findings of the assessment ;
- (e) whether the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education recommended to the Government to compile a similar assessment of State Government-run schools;
- (f) if so, whether the Government has taken any steps to conduct the similar assessment of all the State Government schools in the country; and
- (g) the findings of the assessments and the action taken/ proposed to be taken thereon ?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SMT. ANNPURNA DEVI)

(a) to (d) The spread of COVID-19 pandemic has impacted school education. Schools in States and Union Territories were  closed as a precautionary measure to protect the students from Novel COVID-19 (Corona) virus. This has interrupted the learning of students from pre- school to grade 12. Education  is  in  the  concurrent  list  of  the  Constitution  and  majority  of  the  schools,  Colleges  and University  are  under  the  domain  of  respective  State  and  UT  Governments.  During  COVID-19 Pandemic, Ministry of Education held continuous consultations with the States and UTs at various levels to assess the various aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic. A sample survey was conducted in the  month  of  July,  2020  for  schools  of  Kendriya  Vidyalaya  Sangathan  (KVS),  and  Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS) by the Department. Subsequently, further surveys were conducted in early 2021  regarding  availability  of  various  forms  of  digital  devices  with  children.  NVS  has  reported 92.95% and KVS has more than 98% of students having full or partial access to some digital device.

The  National  Achievement  Survey  (NAS)  was  conducted  on  12.11.2021  in  717  districts  of  the country to assess learning levels of sampled children of grades 3, 5, 8 and 10.

Centrally Sponsored Scheme Samagra Shiksha has been aligned with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 in order to ensure inclusive and equitable, quality and holistic school education. The major interventions, across all levels of school education, proposed  under the scheme are: (i) Universal Access including Infrastructure Development and Retention; (ii) Foundational Literacy and Numeracy,  (iii)  Gender  and  Equity;  (iv)  Inclusive  Education;  (v)  Quality  and  Innovation;  (vi) Financial  support  for  Teacher  Salary;    (vii)  Digital  initiatives;  (viii)  RTE  Entitlements  including uniforms, textbooks etc.; (ix) Support for ECCE; (x) Vocational Education; (xi) Sports and Physical Education; (xii) Strengthening of Teacher Education and Training;(xiii) Monitoring; (xiv) Programme Management; and (xv) National Component. Samagra Shiksha also has a clear focus on bridging and eliminating gender differences in enrolment, retention and quality of learning. Further, to mitigate the effect of covid-19, Department of School Education and Literacy allocated a total of Rs. 5784.05 crores under Samagra Shiksha during the year 2020-21,

A National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy called 'National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN Bharat)' has been launched by the Ministry of Education (MoE) on 5 th July 2021 under the aegis of the centrally sponsored scheme of  Samagra  Shiksha.  The  National  Mission  lays  down  priorities  and  actionable  agendas  for States/UTs to achieve the goal of proficiency in foundational literacy and numeracy for every child by grade 3. Further, Bridge Course Modules have been developed for bridging the learning gaps of Out of School Children studying in Special Training Centers (STC) under the provision of RTE Act, 2009.

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, where work is in progress:

- 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)
- One earmarked Swayam Prabha TV channel per class from 1 to 12 (one class, one channel)
- Extensive use of Radio, Community radio and CBSE Podcast- Shiksha Vani
- Special  e-content  for  visually  and  hearing  impaired  developed  on  Digitally  Accessible Information System (DAISY) and in sign language on NIOS website/ YouTube

Where the digital facility (mobile device/ DTH television) is not available, Ministry of Education has taken many initiatives  like  Community Radio Stations and a podcast called Shiksha Vani of CBSE,  Textbooks,  worksheet  supplied  to  residence  of  learners,  Handbook  on  21 st Century  Skills Handbook on 21 st   Century  Skills  and  community/mohalla  classes  are  being  organized.  Innovation Funds of the Department used to set up  mobile school, virtual studios, virtual class rooms in schools, Continuous  Learning  Plan  (CLP)  for  States/UTs  has  been  initiated  in  all  States/UTs,  pre-loaded tablets under Samagra Shiksha in various states and UTs are effectively used in remote/rural areas where online classes are difficult.  Further in order to provide continuous professional development opportunities to the teachers at the elementary level, this Department launched the NISHTHA online training  programme  using  DIKSHA  platform  in  October  2020.  NISHTHA  online  for  elementary level covered 18 modules in 11 languages, including use of ICT in teaching-learning.

(e)  to  (g):      Yes,  as  recommended  by  the  Parliamentary  Standing  Committee  on  Education,  the Department advised the States/UTs to conduct survey of children with access and without access to digital devices. Accordingly, various initiatives were taken by the Ministry of Education, States and Union Territories to mitigate the effect of the Covid pandemic on school education. A detailed report on these initiatives may be seen at the website of Education Ministry at following link:

https://dsel.education.gov.in/sites/default/files/update/covid\_initiatives.pdf