Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

On July 9, 2017, the President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee attended the launch of SWAYAM, 32 SWAYAM Prabha DTH Channels and National Academic Depository at the National Convention on Digital Initiatives organised by Ministry of Human Resource Development in the capital.

In his words of wisdom, Mukherjee said that an opportunity to quell the divide in terms of access and quality has been offered due to the spread of technology, telecom penetration and internet. With the digitisation of education, good teachers will be directly teaching a large number of students who are not physically present in classes. Digital technology enables ICT solutions to offer along with an interactive learning experience. Perks of digital modes range from being cheaper, more easily accessible and interactive to offer flexibility for people to learn at their own pace. Given the great attributes of this development, it should be welcomed with open arms and hearts in all big and small institutions.

Expressing his delight, President said it was time SWAYAM portal become fully functional which enables one to take courses offered by the best teachers, remaining where they are. Being a worthwhile platform as it is, the pioneers amongst teachers should put new courses in the upcoming areas on this portal in the Massive Online and Open Courses (MOOCs) format. Other teachers must also use this material and improve their own teaching capacity. In the end, Student levels most provide better results of attainment.

In his happiness, the President appreciated the fact that the scale and reach of this technology has been raised manifold through the 32 SWAYAM Prabha DTH channels. These channels will help students in the rural areas and in the remote areas where IT infrastructure have not penetrated so well.

It was also ensured that the National Academic Depository would help in easy authentication of the credentials issued by the institutions. In order to exercise more transparency and ease of operation, this would be a great source of help. To help all in going the digital way in order to improve the quality of teaching, several other digital initiatives were taken up under the National Mission on Education- through ICT (NMEICT) being showcased on Sunday, July 9.

In the last five years, there has been lots of emphasising on improving the quality of education, even by the President in his meeting with the Vice Chancellors of Central Universities, Directors of IITs, NITs and IISc/ IISERs. The conferences at Rashtrapati Bhavan have also acted as platforms for nurturing ideas. GIAN, IMPRINT, GRIN and similar initiatives and ideas came from here. He appealed the participants present to ensure that these initiatives are taken to their logical conclusion for the benefit of the nation.

The event was graced by the presence of dignitaries including   Shri Prakash Javadekar, Union Minister of Human Resource Development and Dr Mahendra Nath Pandey, MoS for Human Resource Development (Higher Education).

READ: Javadekar talks about SWAYAM – A digital education platform

READ: President shows concern over quality of higher education

By Rupal