The Way Ahead In Education – Recent Government Initiatives For E-Learning

With the schools and higher education institutions having remained shut for over three months, as a precautionary measure taken against the outbreak of COVID-19, students have been facing several challenges to continue with their academics. However, learners with access to internet facilities have managed well to maintain regularity with their studies by opting for advanced e-learning solutions. This implies that online learning using e-learning tools such as learning apps, for example Learnflix, are an effective resort to carry on with the uninterrupted learning amidst these unprecedented times. 

The current updates regarding the incessant spread of the Coronavirus suggests that the ongoing situation shall prevail for a longer time and therefore, remote learning via e-learning solutions needs to be strongly promoted. Empathizing with the serious educational concern of the students, the Indian Government has recently announced several digital initiatives to boost the education sector, and enable high-quality learning for all the students across the nation.

Below mentioned are some of the key e-learning initiatives launched by the Ministry of HRD for school students and those seeking UG and PG level education.

DIKSHA

This is a digital portal launched by The Ministry of HRD to equip teachers and students into the world of e-learning. DIKSHA comprises more than 80,000 e-Books for classes I to XII, created by CBSE, NCERT, and States / UT. These e-books are available in multiple languages. To access the prescribed learning material, one needs to scan the QR code available in the books.

e-Pathshala

This is another web-portal developed for students of classes 1 to 12. Using this portal, students will be able to access no less than 1886 audios, 2000 videos, 696 e-books (e-Pubs), and 504 Flip Books, deployed by NCERT. e-Pathshala is also available in several languages to simplify the learning process for students staying in different parts of the country.

SWAYAM

This is a major initiative taken by the government for the students pursuing education from classes 9th to 12th as well for undergraduate and post-graduate students. SWAYAM is an online education platform hosting 1900 courses in a variety of subjects including engineering, humanities, and social sciences, law, and management courses. Learners can easily access a huge amount of study material available on this online platform in the form of video lectures, self-assessment tests, etc. They can also participate in online discussions and doubt sessions for improved learning.

SWAYAM is connected to national coordinators such as AICTE, NCERT, IGNOU, UGC, and few others for delivering updated and excellent quality content to the aspirants. Students registering for a course at SWAYAM need not pay any fee since the course is free. Although to attain the certification, registration is essential, this requires paying only a nominal fee.

Swayam Prabha

This is a collection of 32 DTH channels which runs educational content provided by some of the top educational bodies such as NPTEL, IITs, UGC, CEC, IGNOU, NCERT and NIOS, 24×7. School students, Undergraduate and Post-Graduate students can all access this portal for interactive learning.

National Repository of Open Educational Resources (NROER)

This is an excellent portal composed of 14527 files including 401 collections, 2779 documents, 1345 interactive, 1664 audios, 2586 images, and 6153 videos in different languages. Students who visit the NROER platform will get an exposure to e-libraries, e-books, e-courses in both Hindi and English languages. They also get a chance to participate in online educational events.

There are various other platforms such as the National Digital Library of India run by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), to deliver quality educational content to school students, and students pursuing higher education. Virtual Labs is another key initiative of MHRD under the mentorship of NMEICT to disburse online classes and study resources through Virtual labs (a consortium of 12 IITs), wherein 700+ virtual experiments are designed and promoted for the aspirants to enable effective learning.

Summing up:-

In India, online learning has been emerging and growing in popularity for quite a few years. The recent pandemic situation has further pressed the need for adopting the e-learning mode of education. As a result of which, the government has undertaken several initiatives to facilitate and encourage digital education. All of these crucial steps are taken with an objective to support the education of students and to avoid any obstacles in the path of learning.