Question : Education During CORONA

(a) whether the Government has conducted any study on the impact of COVID-19 induced disruption on the education levels of students of our country;
(b) if so, the details thereof, State-wise along with the manner in which different learning outcomes have been impacted including tribal population of the country;
(c) whether the Government has made any special arrangements to promote online education in view of COVID - 19 pandemic and if so, the details thereof and if not the reasons therefor;
(d) whether the Government has taken into account the remote villages where there is no internet facility and if so, the details thereof; and
(e) the other steps taken by the Government to reduce the impact of COVID-19 on learning outcomes of students?

MINISTER OF EDUCATION

(SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)

(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. Details of outcome of survey conducted by States/UTs on children without digital devices is at Annexure.
(c) to (e) A multi-pronged approach has been adopted leveraging technology to reach the students. Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing (DIKSHA), study webs of active-learning for young aspiring minds (SWAYAM), PRAGYATA guidelines on digital education, e-textbooks and e-content on national repository of open educational resources (NROER), online virtual labs
(OLABS) for practical’s related e-content, activity-based and highly engaging modules for special resources for teachers focusing upon experiential learning and competency-based education, NISHTHA (national initiative for school heads and teachers for their holistic advancement) online for capacity building programme for elementary school teachers and school heads etc. are used by schools, to provide learning facilities.
In order to further 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.
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
Initiatives like DIKSHA, Swayam Prabha, Swayam MOOCs, ePathshala, NIOS content are being used extensively by students.
The initiatives taken by the Government are available in public domain. Link of the same is
https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/DOSEL_COMPILATION_ON_COVID_ACTIVITIES.pdf.
Where the internet facility is not available, Ministry of Education has taken many initiatives like One Class One Channel of SWAYAM PRABHA is being used to impart education through TV and One DTH channel is being operated specifically for hearing impaired students in sign language. Community Radio Stations and a podcast called Shiksha Vani of CBSE, Textbooks, worksheet supplied to residence of learners, Handbook on 21st Century Skills. 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, pre-loaded tablets under Samagra Shiksha in various states and UTs are effectively used in remote/rural areas where online classes are difficult.
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