Lok Sabha Question No. 779 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-02-07
Subject: Digital Divide between Government and Private Schools
Ministry: Education
Asked by: S. Jagathrakshakan

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 779

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 07 TH  FEBRUARY, 2022

## Digital Divide between Government and Private Schools

## 779. SHRI S. JAGATHRAKSHAKAN

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government agrees with the view that the digital divide between private and Government schools has put Government school children at a major disadvantage and this needs to be remedied as soon as possible;
- (b) if so, the steps taken/ being taken by the Government to address this issue; and
- (c) if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

## (DR. SUBHAS SARKAR)

- (a) to (c) To  facilitate  the  online  learning  by  all  students  a  comprehensive  initiative called PM eVIDYA has been initiated as part of AtmaNirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan on 17th May, 2020, which unifies all efforts related to digital/online/on-air education to enable multimode 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.
-  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.

All these schemes/programmes are available to all the students across the nation.

## GUIDELINES FOR PAB FOR INCLUDING LEARNING RECOVERY PLAN FOR 2022-23

Covid-19 pandemic has presented unprecedented challenges for the education sector as the schools could not open for most part of this academic year and large migrations took place  all  over  the  country.  The  extended  school  closures  have  interrupted  the  learning process of children and caused learning loss at every stage. Consequently, the Department has taken several initiatives to ensure that the school going students do not lag behind in their studies during the pandemic.  The following are the guidelines that were issued in this regard:

1.  PRAGYATA guideline on Digital Education

(https://mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload\_files/mhrd/files/pragyata-guidelines\_0.pdf)

2.  Learning Enhancement Guidelines for Continuous Learning

(https://ncert.nic.in/pdf/announcement/Learning\_%20Enhancement\_Guidelines.pdf)

3.  Guidelines for Children of Migrant Labourers

(https://www.mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload\_files/mhrd/files/Migrant%20labour%20guideline.pdf)

4.  Guidelines for School re-opening on Learning with Social Distancing

(https://www.mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload\_files/mhrd/files/SOP\_Guidelines\_for\_reopening\_schools.pdf)

5.  Continuous Learning Plan (CLP)

(https://ncert.nic.in/pdf/announcement/Learning\_%20Enhancement\_Guidelines.pdf)

6.  NCTE guidelines for TEIs

(https://ncte.gov.in/WebAdminFiles/RecentAnnouncement/0\_20\_08\_2020\_637335320672297662.p df)

7.  Guidelines for Out of School Children issued on 7th January 2021.

(https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload\_files/mhrd/files/guidelines\_oosc.pdf)

8.  COVID Action plan dated 4th May 2021

(https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload\_files/mhrd/files/Covid\_Action\_Plan.pdf)

9.  Alternative Academic Calendar

(https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload\_files/mhrd/files/pr\_aac\_0.pdf)

10.  Guidelines for Parents for Home based Learning

(https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload\_files/mhrd/files/documentreports/MoE\_Home\_Learning\_Guidelines.pdf)

11.  Guidelines for Vidya Pravesh

(https://ncert.nic.in/pdf/vidyapravesh.pdf)

12.  NDEAR

(https://www.ndear.gov.in/resources.html)

13.  Guidelines on School Safety and Security

(https://dsel.education.gov.in/sites/default/files/update/guidelines\_sss.pdf)

14.  Library guidelines

(https://dsel.education.gov.in/sites/default/files/update/revised\_guidelines\_for\_promotion\_Library\_ Reading%20.pdf)

15. Guidelines of Reading Campaign

(https://dsel.education.gov.in/dsel2/sites/default/files/guidelines/Guidelines\_on\_Reading\_Campaign .pdf)

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