eVidya Programme by government

The novel coronavirus pandemic is changing the lives of people in many ways including the way of school education.

Many parents are not interested to send their children to schools in the existing circumstances. Hence, many private schools are preparing their teachers to conduct online classes.

Online classes have been started by several schools since the first phase of lockdown in the country.

Now the summer vacation is going on and the biggest challenge for the schools is to convince parents to send their children to schools or else they have to opt for online classes to retain their students.

In this context, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced PM eVidya Program and multi-mode access to digital or online education.

The programme is expected to be available by May 30. Sithraman highlighted the importance of online education in the current situation of coronavirus pandemic.

Here are the highlights of her speech on eVidya Programme:

• PM eVidya Programme will be launched soon.
• 12 DTH channels will be introduced and each one is dedicated to a class from 1 to 12.
• DIKSHA is a platform for school education in states and UTs. This app is offered by NCERT in association with MHRD, Government of India. It provides e-content and can be accessed through QR codes. Teachers can access several teaching aids like lesson plans, worksheets and various activities.
• Radio, Community Radio and Podcasts are widely used for this programme.
• Special e-content is offered for visually challenged and hearing-impaired students.
• Top 100 Universities will start online courses by May 30, 2020.
• 200 new textbooks have been added in e-Paathasaala.
• Manodarpan, an initiative for psychological support of students, teachers and families for mental health and emotional wellbeing will be introduced.
• SWAYAM PRABHA DTH channels will reach the students who do not have access to the internet.
• Provisions will be made to telecast live interactive sessions on these channels through Skype.
• New National Curriculum and Pedagogical framework for early childhood and teachers will be launched.
• The central government will coordinate with the states to share air time to telecast the education content on the SWAYAM PRABHA channels.
• To improve the audience base, it has tied up with private DTH operators such as Airtel and Tata Sky.

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