Lok Sabha Question No. 1190 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-12-06
Subject: Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic
Ministry: Education
Asked by: Pushpendra Singh Chandel

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1190 TO BE ANSWERED ON 06.12.2021

## Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic

## †1190. SHRI KUNWAR PUSHPENDRA SINGH CHANDEL:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

(a) whether education and educational institutions have been adversely affected by the Covid19 pandemic;

(b) whether the Government has taken any initiative to assess the situation;

(c) if so, the details thereof;

(d) whether the Government is contemplating taking special measures to reform the education system adversely affected in rural and urban areas; and

(e) if so, the details thereof?

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

(a): 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  preschool 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.

(b) & (c): 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.National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has conducted  a  survey  in  the  month  of  July,  2020  with  the  help  of  Kendriya  Vidyalaya Sangathan  (KVS),  Navodaya  Vidyalaya  Samiti  (NVS)  and  Central  Board  of  Secondary Education  (CBSE)  to  understand  the  scenario  of  Online  Learning  of  school  students  in COVID-19 pandemic situation. 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.

(d) & (e): 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.

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 2021under the aegis of the centrally  sponsored  scheme  of  Samagra  Shiksha  which  is  an  integrated  scheme  of  school education covering from Pre-School to Senior Secondary level. 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.  under  the  aegis  of  the centrally  sponsored  scheme  of  Samagra  Shiksha  which  is  an  integrated  scheme  of  school education covering from Pre-School to Senior Secondary level.

In order to mitigate the impact of challenges thrown by the COVID-19 pandemic for migrant  children  and  for  preventing  drop  outs,  lower  enrolments  and  loss  of  learning,  the Ministry  of  Education  issued  guidelines  for  identification,  smooth  admission  process  and continued education of migrant children on 13.07.2020. To ensure that children have access to education with quality and equity and to minimize the impact of the pandemic on school education  in  the  country,  the  Department  of  School  Education  has  prepared  and  issued detailed guidelines on 7th January, 2021, on the steps to be taken by the States and UTs. The guidelines,  among  others,  include  identification  of  out  of  school  children  from  age  6-18 years, enrolment drives and awareness generation, student support while schools are closed, continued  Education  for  children  with  Special  Needs  (CWSN),  student  support  on  school reopening and Teacher capacity building.

The Department of School Education and Literacy vide letter dated 4th May, 2021 has shared  a  comprehensive  Covid  Action  plan  with  States/UTs  and  other  stakeholders  for mitigating  the  loss  of  learning. This  Department  has  also  developed  an  online  module  for compiling the data of Out of School children identified by each State/UT and their mapping with Special Training Centres (STC) on the PRABANDH Portal (http://samagrashiksha.in). The  portal  requires  the  concerned  State/UT  to  validate  the  child  wise  information  of  the identified OOSC and STC uploaded by the concerned Block Resource Centre of the State for monitoring the progress of mainstreaming of OOSC. Also, 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

In  view  of  the  COVID-19  challenges  and  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. Around 24 lakh teachers completed NISHTHA online training at elementary level by June, 2021. Further, NISHTHA online training has also been initiated for secondary teachers and teachers teaching at foundational level.

Further, University Grants Commission (UGC) has also issued notices/advisories to Higher Education Institutions from time to time to contain the spread of COVID-19 and other academic related matters.UGC has framed guidelines for reopening of the campuses which inter alia deals with the safety and well being of the students.  UGC has also issued a letter dated 06.07.2020 regarding Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for Conduct of Examinations in Higher Education Institutions to be taken in view of COVID-19 situation.

The  UGC  vide  letter  dated  27.05.2020  issued  an  Advisory  to  the  Universities  and colleges that in view of the prevailing extraordinary difficult circumstances, universities and colleges  may  consider  the  matter  regarding  payment  of  annual/semester  fee,  tuition  fee, examination  fee,  etc.  sympathetically  and  if  feasible,  may  consider  offering  alternative payment  options  to  students  till  the  situation  returns  to  normal.  The  UGC    has  issued Guidelines on Examinations and Academic Calendar for the Universities in View of COVID19  Pandemic  and  subsequent  Lockdown  on  29th  April,  2020.  The  guidelines  were subsequently  revised  and  notified  on  06.07.2020  directing  the  universities  to  complete  the final  year  /  semester  examination  by  the  end  of  September,  2020.  These  guidelines  are available on UGC website at www.ugc.ac.in.

In  order  to  promote  the  online  education,  UGC  has  notified  necessary  regulation, which facilitates the Universities to offer full-fledged Online Program. Further, the current provisions  of  20  per  cent  Online  courses  in  a  programme,  as  per  provisions  of  UGC SWAYAM and ODL Regulations, enhanced up to maximum 40 per cent for implementation considering 'National interest during COVID-19' and also to ensure effective utilization of e-resources.  The Ministry of Education has also launched Annual Refresher Programme in Teaching  (ARPIT),  a  major  and  unique  initiative  of  online  professional  development  of  1 higher education faculty using the MOOCs platform SWAYAM. Various digital initiatives are being undertaken by Ministry of education viz. SWAYAM, SWAYAM Prabha, National Digital  Library  (NDL),  Virtual  Lab,  e-Yantra,  FOSSEE  (Free  Open-Source  Software  for Education)etc  to  ensure  quality  education  to  the  students.    Quality  Online  courses  are provided through SWAYAM which is an indigenously developed MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course) platform.

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