Question : Children without Digital Devices

(a) whether the Government has undertaken a national assessment of the number of children
in the country who lack access to digital devices ;
(b) if so, the number of children who lacked access to mobile devices and DTH television
respectively during the pandemic in each State and UT (divided by gender) and if not, the
reasons therefor ;
(c) the strategies are being followed for children lacking access to digital gadget (mobile
device/ DTH television);
(d) the Number of teachers trained on provided education in digital modes ;
(e) the number of teachers able to extend academic support through home visits/online ;
(f) whether the Government is preparing to undertake a national assessment to understand the
impact on learning ability of the children due to continued school closures and discontinued
education during the pandemic; and
(g) whether the Government is undertaking specific steps to meet the learning
gaps/discontinuity of education in context of new challenges?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

(SMT. ANNPURNA DEVI)

(a) & (b) Education being 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.
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. States/UTs were advised vide letter dated 01.02.2021
to conduct survey of children with access and without access to digital devices.
(c) 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, and
community/mohalla classes are being organized. Innovation Funds of Department of School
Education & Literacy 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, preloaded
tablets under Samagra Shiksha in various states and UTs are effectively used in
remote/rural areas where online classes are difficult.
(d) & (e) 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. In majority of the States/UTs, teachers are
providing academic support through home visits/online.
(f) The National Achievement Survey (NAS) was held on November 12, 2021 across India
to assess the learning outcomes of students and schools across grades 3, 5, 8, and 10.
(g) 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.
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 5th 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.
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
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