The perfect combo in the 21st century, Education and Information Technology

Humans after fulfilling their subsistence requirement, the only thing that hunts their mind and soul is the search for knowledge. Knowledge to survive, strive, substantiate and sourcing for superiority and this knowledge can be amassed only by Education. The human being as the most thanked creation by the almighty always has the benefit of the brain and utilizing to its best to create the unattainable and unthinkable. The searching mindset has brought many revolutions starting from Neanderthal revolution (the property of incandescence), the industrial revolution and the latest dot com revolution(uses of Information and technology)

Now in the twenty-first century where a person encounters information and technology in each and every walk of life. Hence time is ticking fast to the use of technology in education at its best. We must not stay far behind to utilize it even in the worst of instances like pandemic COVID-19. Information technology has made education more useful than ever. It gives such a launchpad which can be the base for future miracles.

In recent times India has not remained out of the ambit of digital education. There are many means and mediums to give it the right shape to substantiate its outreach even to the hinterlands of India. The importance of education in almost all walks of life has increased with the support of information and communication technologies (ICT). During the past 20 years, the use of ICT has fundamentally changed the working of education. In the current environment-conscious world, the importance of education and acceptability of ICT as a social necessity has been increasing. Social acceptability of information and communication tools is necessary to improve the mobility in society and increase the pitch for equity and social justice. Education as a qualitative development is not confined within the classroom structure. The modern tools of ICT such as e-Learning and online practice of learning and getting information are much sought after by the students as well as by the institutions.

The government is spending a lot of money on ICT. In the higher education sector, the National Mission on Education is emphasizing on the role of ICT in increasing the enrolment ratio in higher education. School education in India has a problem with a high dropout rate and we need to work on how to decrease this rate. Similarly, in the field of higher education, we need to increase the number of students. Therefore, if we make our learning more engaging with the use of ICT, it can completely change how our education system works. Also, we should examine the challenges of cost-factor and availability of trained teachers in the process of dissemination of education with the help of ICT.

India is developing as a knowledge economy and it cannot function without the support of ICT. The gap between demand and supply of higher education has necessitated the governments and institutions to formulate the policies for the better use of ICT. And, in order to bridge the gap, it is necessary to evolve the cooperation between the public and private sectors. The education ICT policy should identify specific ways in which the application of ICT will enhance the educational capacity and the capability of higher education institutions. According to a recent study, innovations such as using Twitter to send messages are really helpful in disseminating education. In a similar fashion, the use of YouTube in sharing video information will go a long way in disseminating education. During the last decade, higher education has gained importance in India’s changing policy landscape as the government realizes that India’s strength lies in education.

Some of the key e-Learning Projects being run by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) are as follows:

ICT in Education Curricula for the School system

ICT in Education Curricula for students, teachers, and teacher educators has been developed at the national level and being implemented across the country. 805 MRPs/ KRPs of thirty-six States/UTs were oriented on ICT curriculum for students and teachers and their roll out in respective states. Guidelines for the teacher, student, and schools on cyber safety and security have been published. NMEICT and the Aakash project played a crucial role in normalizing the notion of online self-learning, and thus that of the online, in the Indian public imagination.

e-pathshala

e-pathshala has been developed by NCERT (National Council for Educational Research and Training) for showcasing and disseminating all educational e-resources including textbooks, audio, video, periodicals, and a variety of other print and non-print materials. So far, 3444 audios and videos, 698 e-books (e-pubs), and 504 flipbooks have been made available on the portal and mobile app.

Shagun portal

A web portal called ShaGun (from the words Shaala and Gunvatta) which has two parts, one of which is a Repository of good practices, photographs, videos, studies, newspaper articles, etc on school education, State /UT wise has been developed which is in the public domain. Its purpose is to showcase success stories and also to provide a platform for all stakeholders to learn from each other. This also instills a positive competitive spirit among all the States and UTs.

National Repository of Open Educational Resources (NROER) –

The National Repository of Open Educational Resources (NROER) is an initiative to bring together all digital and digitizable resources across all stages of school education and teacher education. So far, 13635 files including 401 collections, 2722 documents, 565 interactive, 1664 audios, 2581 images, and 6105 videos have been made available over the portal. State/ UTs are motivated to contribute resources on NROER and create OERs for their own State/ UT.

SWAYAM

The ‘Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds’ (SWAYAM) an integrated platform for online courses, using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and covering school (9th to 12th) to Post Graduate Level.  SWAYAM provides one integrated platform and portal for online courses, using information and communication technology (ICT) and covering all higher education subjects and skill sector courses to ensure that every student in the country has access to the best quality higher education at an affordable cost.  It also offers online courses for students, teachers, and teacher educators. It may be accessed on swayam.gov.in.  Besides, the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) is promoting education through e-learning methods by providing courses on Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) on the portal. There are 44 courses of NIOS offered on SWAYAM platform – 14 at the secondary level, 16 at the senior secondary level, 4 vocational courses, and 10 courses of Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed.).

SWAYAM PRABHA

A program for utilization of satellite communication technologies for transmission of educational e-contents through 32 National Channels i.e. SWAYAM  PRABHA DTH-TV has been launched. CIET-NCERT is the national coordinator for one DTH TV channel i.e., Kishore Manch (#31), and has started feeding a 24×7 educational TV channel w.e.f. 09.07.2018.

Every day four-hour fresh slot is telecasted and repeated 5 more times in 24 hours to provide learning opportunities for the stakeholders, as per their convenience.  Besides, NIOS is running 5 channels for teachers, for secondary and senior secondary levels, and for sign language.

National Digital Library (NDL)

The National Digital Library of India (NDL) is a project to develop a framework of a virtual repository of learning resources with a single-window search facility.

Several successful development Government has also implemented in advanced education like NPTEL, an initiative by IIT’s and IISC has been very helpful for all those college graduates who have not been able to attain education in IIT’s, plus it has enhanced the knowledge skills, plus made IIT level education affordable.

As Socrates cited “I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make think.”So its human intuition with his subconscious education can make wonders with the help of Information and technology and who knows the next revolution can be in the field of digital education.