Under a MoU singed recently with Rotary India Humanity Foundation, country’s apex school education academic body, NCERT will be collaborating with the Indian chapter of Rotary for telecast of e-learning content for class 1-12 as the Government has decided to reach our students through radio and TV where there is no internet or mobile connectivity available. Rotary has curated e-Learning content for classes 1-12 through its partners and will be provided to NCERT free of cost for purpose of telecast under this MoU.
Giving details of the MoU, Kamal Sanghvi, Rotary International Director 2019-2, shared the areas of collaboration as given below:
NCERT TV Tie-up: There will be curriculum modules telecast for classes 1-12,through twelve national Television channels of NCERT, to be available from July 2020 (content to be vetted by NCERT as per their curriculum).·
DIKSHA App tie-up: The e-Learning modules would also be available through GOI’snational mobile app, DIKSHA, at the same time.·
The content is currently available in Hindi (and Punjabi) and hence shall be implemented immediately across 12 states/ UTs schools of approx. 10 crores students. The intellectual rights to the content would be with Rotary and provided to NCERT, so that the said content can be translated to all regional languages by NCERT & the respective state SCERTs in the next few months.
Currently in India, due to the Covid pandemic, approximately 15 lakh schools and a student population of approx. 32 crores are locked down in their homes (UNESCO Report). Under the national E-Vidya program, the government intends to address the education sector need of millions of school children under lockdown. Rotary India has come forward to support the Government and address this challenge.
Shekhar Mehta (Rotary International President for 2021-22) while commenting on Rotary India’s focus on E-learning said: “Rotary has curated e-Learning content for classes 1-12 through our partners & we plan to provide it free to the nation, as a home-based teaching solution related to their school curriculum. Rotary has a vast experience in e-Learning, having installed e-Learning software/hardware toover 30,000 Govt. schools across India, in the past 5 years.”
Union Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal said that since March 2020 when the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, was declared pandemic, learners, teachers, parents and the entire education community have been gravely affected. In this scenario MHRD is working tirelessly to develop best education system rooted in Indian ethos with technology and innovation as strong pillars.