Almost every single student studying in the Kendriya Vidyalaya and Navodaya Vidyalaya schools across India had access to some form of online education during the pandemic, said Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
During the Rajya Sabha session, Mamata Mohanta, a member of parliament in Rajya Sabha from Odisha and a member of the Biju Janata Dal questioned the Education Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan if the government has done an assessment to find out the number of children impacted due to closure of schools in view of COVID-19 pandemic. To this, the minister replied, "During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Education has held several consultations with the states and UTs to assess the various aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic. He said, "Education is in the concurrent list of the Constitution and a majority of the schools are under the domain of respective State and UT Governments. A sample survey was conducted in the month of July, 2020 for schools of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS), and Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS) by the Department. Subsequently, further surveys were conducted in early 2021 regarding availability of various forms of digital devices with children."
The survey has revealed that NVS has reported 92.95% and KVS has reported more than 98% of students having full or partial access to some digital device. The National Achievement Survey (NAS) was also held on November 12, 2021 across India to assess the learning outcomes of students and schools across grades 3, 5, 8, and 10.
Mamata also asked what methods did the government implemented to ensure online classes can reach every student of the country, State/UT-wise including Odisha. To this. Pradhan replied, "After discussion with the states and UTs, a multi-pronged approach has been adopted leveraging technology to reach the students in States/UTs. Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing (DIKSHA), Study Webs of active-learning for young aspiring minds (SWAYAM), PRAGYATA guidelines on digital education, e-textbooks and e-content on National Repository of Open Educational Resources (NROER), online virtual labs (OLABS) for practicals related e-content, activity-based and highly engaging modules for special resources for teachers focusing upon experiential learning and competency-based education, NISHTHA (National Initiative for School Heads and Teachers for their Holistic Advancement) online for capacity building programme for Elementary school teachers and School Heads etc. are used by schools, to provide learning facilities."
He also highlighted how the Ministry of Education has taken many initiatives like One Class One Channel of SWAYAM PRABHA to impart education through TV, One DTH channel for hearing-impaired students in sign language, Community Radio Stations and a podcast called Shiksha Vani of CBSE.
The minister added, "Textbooks and worksheets were supplied to residence of learners and community/mohalla classes are being organized. Innovation Funds of Department of School Education & Literacy were used to set up mobile school, virtual studios, virtual class rooms in schools. Continuous Learning Plan (CLP) for States/UTs has been initiated, pre-loaded tablets provided under Samagra Shiksha are effectively used in remote/rural areas where online classes are difficult."
