AICTE launches portal for e-learning with EdTech companies offering their courses free during COVID-19 lockdown

The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in India has caused extreme distress to the students and has caused a setback to academic activity. Fortunately, various companies have now come forward and offered their e-learning contents free of cost to learners. In order to foster digital learning and support the student community across the country, the Enhancement in Learning with Improvement In Skills (ELIS) portal (http://free.aicte-india.org/) has been designed by The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and was officially launched on Sunday, April 12, 2020.

The ELIS portal has been created to provide all students with content that not only enhances learning for regular subjects but also aims to build up valuable skill sets as required in the actual work environment. The e-learning content on the portal has been sourced from 18 leading EdTech companies with 26 different courses. Under normal circumstances, these are selectively available at prices ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000. However, all participating companies have offered to enrol students in the present lockdown period without any cost until May 15, 2020. Some of the EdTech companies who have offered their courses for free include Skyfi Education Labs, GreyAtom Edutech, Globsyn Business School and many more. Some of the courses that are up for grabs include Machine Learning, Data Analytics, Digital Marketing, Robotics and the likes. All companies have also agreed to keep the courses free. Students can avail services free of cost until the completion of their course with effect from April 12, stated the statutory body.

AICTE Chairman Dr Anil Sahasrabudhe expressed his gratitude to all the companies for rising to the occasion and offering the contents free of cost for benefit of the student community. "While they are locked down in homes to control and defeat COVID19, the process of learning should not stop. We often talk about life long and self-learning, this is an opportunity for them to get several skill-oriented, AI-based courses to improve their employability, and it is all for free. They should use this lockdown time effectively," Dr Sahasrabudhe told Edex. He also added that such offerings by the corporate world will help maintain social distancing with constructive and positive engagements and it should be the endeavour of all students to stay home and make the best use of the opportunity to improve their skills by enrolling in the courses.

The ELIS was launched by Dr Sahasrabudhe, along with Dr M P Poonia, Vice-chairman AICTE and Professor Rajive Kumar, Member Secretary, AICTE. The development team was led by Shri Buddha Chandrashekhar, Chief Coordinating Officer, NEAT and NEAT cell team members Dr Elangovan, Debanshu Srivastava and Baljeet Singh.