President Pranab Mukherjee launched two programmes to take education to the remotest corners of the country. This will be done with the help of technology. Mukherjee also launched a ‘National Academic Depository’ where verified educational records would be digitally stored by universities or a board to counter forgery.
The programmes Swayam and Swayam Prabha were launched for making education more accessible. The depository were conceived and executed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development.
Swayam’s Highlights
1. Courses would be offered through digital classrooms with online study material available free of cost in videos.
2. Students who want certification will have to be registered
3. Will be offered a certificate on the completion of the course for a nominal fee
4. Students will have the opportunity to raise queries which would be answered in real time
5. Students would be assessed through proctored examination
6. Marks/grades secured in this exam would be transferred to their academic record
Swayam Prabha’s Highlights
1. Would tap into the potential of Direct to Home Service
2. A person can install a dish antenna for about Rs. 1,500 and have access to 32 digital educational channels run by the HRD Ministry
3. Every day, there would be new content for at least four hours which would be repeated five times in a day
4. Will allow students to choose the time of their convenience
5. Course content would cover almost every aspect of education in various fields from class nine and will include preparatory courses for institutes such as the IITs.
Speaking on the occasion, Mukherjee said he had always emphasised on the “quality” of teaching and learning process in higher educational institutions. Mere physical expansion might provide access but without physical infrastructure and quality teachers, “the talent which is hidden in the young minds would not get the opportunity to blossom”.
