On February 1, 2017, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, while presenting the Union Budget 2017 announced the launch of an online education platform SWAYAM, an initiative to “bridge the digital divide” and provide over 350 online courses via Direct-To-Home channels.
Rural India needs education. Majority of India still lives in villages and remote locations. The Annual Status of Education Report survey 2016 reached out to 589 rural districts and questioned 17,473 villages. Some of their findings include:
A number of schools educate students from more than one grade in a single classroom
Over 50 per cent Class V students are unable to read a Class II textbook. In some states attendance of teachers and students is declining.
Only 27.7 per cent Class III children could do a two-digit subtraction and only 26 per cent Class V children could do simple division problems.
Due to these roadblocks, schools are unable to meet their objectives in rural India. An effective digital education platform provides a solution to a number of issues faced by remote locations including:
Accessibility: Not every village has a school which means that students have to go to another village to learn. An online platform eliminates barriers and borders, allowing everyone access to education.
Quality: The Right To Education (RTE) Act recommends a pupil teacher ratio(PTR)of 30:1 for primary classes and 35:1 for upper primary classes. However, a recent District Information System for Education report states that 30 per cent primary and 15 per cent upper primary schools have PTRs that are higher. Furthermore, not all classrooms have trained teachers. A digital platform provides a 1-to-1 educational experience and SWAYAM courses will be prepared by the best teachers in the country. Over 1,000 faculty members have been especially selected for this initiative.
Cost: Not all government schools provide the quality of education that parents are aspiring towards, and private schools can be expensive. The SWAYAM platform allows education for free of cost to Indian residents.
Flexibility: Students in rural villages may have other priorities and jobs that prevent them from attending school. A digital platform allows students the opportunity to plan their study time around the rest of their day, instead of the other way around.
Personalisation: A digital platform allows to cater and customise courses based on the barriers and requirements that a geographical region faces. In addition to incorporating rural languages, the courses can include cultural examples and relevant instances to further engage the audience and boost the learning.
Digital education is the future for India as it address the quality and accessibility issue faced by rural India. Successful development and implementation of online learning platforms is the need of the hour in India.
Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/academy/
