New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee today called upon the society to ignite the quest for education as it is an important tool to take the society forward. On the occasion of Guru Purnima, the President launched digital initiatives in the field of higher education titled ‘Swayam’, ‘Swayam Prabha’ and ‘National Academic Depository’ (NAD) in the presence of Prakash Javadekar, Minister of Human Resource Development. “It is necessary to improve quality of teaching and these digital initiatives will help in making education available to everyone”, said Mr. Mukherjee at a national convention function on digital initiatives for higher education, which was held at Vigyan Bhawan here. The 3-day conclave will end tomorrow.
The President also called upon teachers to make most of the use of these digital programmes which have been aimed to bridge the digital divide. Mr Javadekar quoting the importance of teachers said learning is an ongoing process and to make it accessible to all, its expansion is must. Digital revolution is a new dimension in this direction which makes education programmes available 24X7. “These digital programs will make learning anytime and anywhere”, said Mr Javadekar and added that accessibility, quality, equity, accountability and affordability are the main pillars of a good education system. “Education is empowerment and has become a ‘soft power’ to make country progress and prosper”, said the HRD minister adding that the technology will make the education available to the remotest part of the country through these digital initiatives. Under Swayam, four segments have been prepared – e-Tutorial, e-Text, Discussion Forum and Assignment. Subjects like engineering, science, management, commerce, language, mathematics have been included.
More than 438 courses will be available. Foreign students will also be able to make its use and mobile users can download the App too. ‘Swayam Prabha’ provides free DTH channel for education. A group of 32 DTH channels will provide high-quality educational programmes on 24X7 basis using GSAT-15 satellite. Every day, there will be new content for four hours which would be repeated five more times in a day. The NAD programme will help students to upload their certificates online. There will be no issue of theft and spoilage. Privacy will be protected. Anyone from anywhere can access their certificates. Mr Javadekar also presented special memento to the President on the occasion. Other dignitaries including MN Pandey, MoS, Arvind Subramanian, Chief Economic Adviser also graced the occasion.
