PARLIAMENT LIBRARY AND REFERENCE, RESEARCH, DOCUMENTATION AND INFORMATION SERVICE (LARRDIS) RESEARCH AND INFORMATION DIVISION REFERENCE DIVISION REFERENCE NOTE No.20/ RN/Ref/June/2021 June 2021 EDUCATION AND E-LEARNING DURING COVID TIMES. 10 mins read At a Glance Need for E-learning and Digital Education in India o Statements of Hon. President and Hon.PM on Online Education Position of Digital Infrastructure in India. Government Policy and Initiatives for Online Education in India o PM e-Vidya Progress of Online Education in India Key Recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports Lok Sabha Debates on Online Education Budget Allocations for Online Education Steps taken to Boost Online Education after Budget Session 2021. Steps Taken by Parliament Library towards E-Learning Challenges of Online Education 1. INTRODUCTION In the wake of Covid-19 pandemic, social distancing has become a norm, regular offline education has been prudently discontinued and focus has been put on online and digital learning. India characterized by multifarious diversity and constraints in terms of availability of resources (ICT infrastructure, electricity, budget, skilled manpower), switching over to digital modes of education has its challenges. Feedback : [email protected] Concerned Desk Officer :7620647498 Prepared by HRD Desk, Reference Division; Officers associated with the preparation – Shri Sai Dinesh Shetty, Research Officer (7620647498) ; supervised by Shri Pradosh Panda, Director (23035632/23035391) and Smt. Kalpana Sharma, Additional Secretary (23034845). The Reference Note is for personal use of the Members in the discharge of their Parliamentary duties, and is not for publication. 2 Hon`ble President`s Statement on Online Education During the ongoing pandemic, when online education was emphasized upon in the country, Hon`ble President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind on 5th September, 2020 said “the online education system has made it obligatory for the parents to join hands with the teachers and encourage children to evoke interest in new fields of learning. Pointing out at the digital divide, he also emphasized that steps should be taken so that children from tribal and far- flung areas are also benefitted.” https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/PR_NAT_2020.pdf Hon`ble Prime Minister`s Statement on Online Education In a meeting on the issues and reforms required in education sector on 01 May ,2020 Hon`ble PM Narendra Modi also put special emphasis on the use of technology in the education sector and enhancing learning and adapting by the use of technology such as on- line classes, education portal and class-wise broadcast on dedicated education channels. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1620208#:~:text=Overall%2C%20the%20 emphasis%20was%20given,on%20early%20vocationalization%20of%20education. 2. DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE IN INDIA. The platform for E-learning and Digital Education depends upon ICT Infrastructure, Internet connectivity, access to Electricity etc. There is an urban and rural divide with regard to Tele- density in our country. Overall in the country , with only a minor difference in urban tele- density, there has been an increase in the number of telephone and broadband subscribers over the years in both rural and urban areas. The Table 1 and Table 2 below give certain details as per availability in this regard. INTERNET CONNECTIVITY Table 1 : Tele-Density in India from April 2019 to April 2021. 200 159.83 141.17 150 140.07 All India Tele-Density (percentage) 90.4 100 86.57 88.26 Urban Tele-Density 57.31 58.77 60.37 (percentage) 50 Rural Tele-Density (percentage) 0 Jan/19 Jan/20 Jan/21 2 3 Table 2 : Total Telephone and Broadband Subscribers in India from April 2019 to April 2021. 1400 1183.51 1177.97 1201.2 1200 1000 778.09 800 687.44 Total Telephone Subscribers 563.31 (in million) 600 Total Broadband Subscribers 400 (in million) 200 0 2019 March 2020 March 2021 March 3. GOVERNMENT POLICY AND INITIATIVES FOR ONLINE EDUCATION IN INDIA. The National Education Policy (NEP 2020) focuses on Digital Education in India. PM e-Vidya has also been initiated in this regard with details given in Box below. Some of salient aspects related to online education are1 : An autonomous body called the National Educational Technology Forum (NETF) is to be created to provide a platform for the free exchange of ideas on the use of technology to enhance learning, assessment, planning, administration. Appropriate integration of technology into all levels of education will be done to improve classroom processes, support teacher professional development, enhance educational access for disadvantaged groups and streamline educational planning, administration and management2. As far as E-content is concerned, the NEP 2020 says that it will continue to be developed by all States in all regional languages, as well as by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), Central Institute of Educational Technology (CIET), Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), and other bodies/institutions, and will be uploaded onto the Digital Infrastructure for School Education (DIKSHA) platform. Central Institute of Educational Technology (CIET) will be strengthened to promote and expand ‘Digital Infrastructure Knowledge Sharing’ (DIKSHA) platform as well as other education technology initiatives. 1http://164.100.24.220/loksabhaquestions/annex/174/AU1269.pdf 2 https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=1642049 3 4 PM eVidya PM eVidya unifies all efforts related to digital/online, on-air education to enable multi- mode access to education. This will benefit students in schools and higher educational institutions. This includes: DIKSHA (one nation-one digital platform) which will now become the nation’s digital infrastructure for providing quality e-content in school education for all the states/UTs DIKSHA the nation’s digital infrastructure for providing quality e-content for school education in states/UTs: QR coded Energized Textbooks for all grades (one nation, one digital platform), One earmarked TV channel in SWAYAM PRABHA per class from 1 to 12 (one class, one channel) SWAYAM Portal, Community radio and CBSE Podcast- ShikshaVani Special e-content for visually and hearing impaired developed on Digitally Accessible Information System (DAISY) and in sign language on NIOS website/ YouTube. This will benefit nearly 25 crore school going children across the country. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=1654059 http://164.100.24.220/loksabhaquestions/annex/174/AU228.pdf 4. PROGRESS OF ONLINE EDUCATION IN INDIA3. Ministry of Education through the MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) platform, 'Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds' (SWAYAM), offers online courses in all disciplines. Till date more than 2000 courses have been developed and more than 4200 online courses have been offered in the portal. About 1.8 crore students have enrolled in these courses. ‘Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA) : It aims to usher in digital literacy in rural India by covering 6 crore rural households (one person per household) in February 2017. Under the PMGDISHA Scheme, as on 12.03.2021, around 4.54 Crore candidates have been enrolled and around 3.69 Crore candidates have completed the training out of which more than 2.71 Crore candidates have been certified4. As per the Union Budget 2021-2022 announcement, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 30 lakh elementary school teachers have been trained digitally. NISHTHA -National Initiative for School Heads’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement has been launched to motivate and equip teachers to encourage and foster critical thinking in students, handle diverse situations and act as first level counsellors.. In 2021-22 , the initiative aims to enable training of 56 lakh school teachers5. Besides these, online resources are being provided through National Digital Library 3http://164.100.24.220/loksabhaquestions/annex/174/AU228.pdf 4http://164.100.24.220/loksabhaquestions/annex/175/AU3586.pdf 5http://164.100.24.220/loksabhaquestions/annex/175/AU3586.pdf 4 5 (NDL),e-Pathshala, e-PG Pathshala, Virtual Labs, Free and Open Source Software (FOSSEE) etc. Parliamentary Research and Training Institute for Democracies (PRIDE) in Lok Sabha Secretariat has selected some courses from ‘Coursera Portal’, which is a global portal for online education.Under this online courses from field of finance, financial services, team building, leadership, and Human resources can be beneficial for the use of Hon'ble Members of Parliament, Members of Legislative Assembly, Officials of Lok Sabha/Rajya Sabha Secretariat and State Legislatures and officials of Ministry of External Affairs and their families6. National Digital Education Architecture (NDEAR)7 The Union Budget 2021-22 has laid a major emphasis on strengthening country’s digital infrastructure for education by announcing setting up of a National Digital Educational Architecture (NDEAR) which is being envisioned to be a digital infrastructure for Education. 5. KEY RECOMMENDATION OF THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, WOMEN, CHILDREN, YOUTH AND SPORTS. The Department Related Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports also deliberated on issues related to Online Education. The Committee presented its 323rd Report on Demand for Grants for 2021-22 of Department