Lok Sabha Question No. 918 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-02-07
Subject: Digital Access to Teachers
Ministry: Education
Asked by: Rajendra Agrawal, P.P. Chaudhary, Mahendra Singh Solanky, Sunil Kumar Singh, Brijbhushan Sharan Singh, Jagdambika Pal, Pratap Chandra Sarangi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 918 TO BE ANSWERED ON 7 TH  FEBRUARY, 2022

## Digital Access to Teachers

918. SHRI RAJENDRA AGRAWAL:

SHRI P.P. CHAUDHARY:

SHRI JAGDAMBIKA PAL:

SHRI MAHENDRA SINGH SOLANKY:

SHRI SUNIL KUMAR SINGH:

SHRI BRIJBHUSHAN SHARAN SINGH:

SHRI PRATAP CHANDRA SARANGI:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government has conducted any survey to assess teachers' access to digital devices;

(b)  if  so,  the  details  thereof  including  number  and  percentage  of  teachers  without  access  to  digital devices, State-wise;

(c) the measures adopted to increase the efficiency of online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic;

(d)  whether  the  Government  has  undertaken  any  measures  to  ensure  access  to  digital  devices  to teachers; and

(e) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## A N S W E R

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (Dr. SUBHAS SARKAR)

(a)  to  (e)Education  is  a  subject  in  the  Concurrent  List  of  the  Constitution  and  the  majority  of  the schools come under the jurisdiction of respective State/UT government. In order to ensure that every student gets continued access to education, a multi-pronged approach  has been adopted.  A comprehensive  initiative  called  PM  e-VIDYA  has  been  initiated  as  part  of  AtmaNirbhar  Bharat Abhiyan  on  17th  May,  2020,  which  unifies  all  efforts  related  to  digital/online/on-air  education  to enable multi-mode access to education. The initiative includes:

-  DIKSHA (one nation, one digital platform) is the nation's digital infrastructure for providing quality e-content for school education in states/UTs and QR coded Energized Textbooks for

all  grades  are  available  on  it.  35  of  the  36  states  and  UTs  have  on  boarded  on  DIKSHA platform and contextualised the content as per the local need.

-  One  earmarked  Swayam  Prabha  TV  channel  per  class  from  Class  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.

Further, an Alternate Academic Calendar has been prepared for providing learning solutions for grade 1 to 12 and 'Students' Learning Enhancement Guidelines' prepared by NCERT suggest models for the following three types of scenarios to ensure that no child is deprived of reach of education:

- a)  Learning Enhancement during COVID-19 for students without digital devices;
- b)  Learning  Enhancement  during  COVID-19  for  students  with  limited  accessibility  to  digital devices &
- c) Learning Enhancement during COVID-19 for students with digital devices.

Also, PRAGYATA guidelines issued to States/UTs to facilitate continued education through various modes.  The  guidelines  inter-alia  includes  situations  where  internet  connectivity  is  not  available  or available  with  very  less  bandwidth  where  resources  are  shared  through  various  platforms  like television, radio etc that do not depend on internet.

In order to enable online education benefit to the children of every category and teachers, Learning Enhancement Guidelines have been issued.

https://www.mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload\_files/mhrd/files/Learning\_Enhancement\_0.pdf

Besides this, various initiatives were taken by the Ministry of Education, States and Union Territories to  mitigate  the  effect  of  the  Covid-19  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

Under the centrally sponsored scheme of SamagraShiksha, financial assistance is provided to establish ICT labs and Smart classrooms in Government and Government Aided Schools having classes VI to XII.Financial assistance is also given for development of digital contents under DIKSHA. Under the Scheme  in  2021-2022,an  amount  of  Rs.  1003.8Crorehas  been  approved  for  ICT  Labs  in  10778 schools,  Rs.  956.8  Crore  has  been  approved  for  Smart  Classrooms  in  42276  schools  and  Rs.  10.98 Crorehas  been  approved  for  DIKSHA.  Also,  trainings  on  ICT  based  teaching  for  teachers  are conducted by CIET, NCERT and under NISHTHA.

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