IAS Prelims Current Affairs

Education

 

Index

 

1.STRIDE

2.EKLAVYA MODEL RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS

3.LAQSHYA

4.LEAP and ARPIT

5.Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE)

6.All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE)

7.School Education Quality Index (SEQI)

8.JeevanKaushal- Curriculum for Life Skills

9.Year End Review 2019 – Department of School Education

10.Paramarsh scheme

11.Annual Status of Education Report (ASER)2019

12.National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme (NMMSS)

13.Worldwide Education for the Future Index 2019

14.THE DRAFT NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY, 2019

15.SAMAGRA SHIKSHA-JAL SURAKSHA

16.SHAGUN

17.JANAUSHADHI SUGAM

18.NISHTHA

19.DIKSHA Platform

20.Bharat Padhe Online

21.VidyaDaan 2.0

22.UGC Higher Education Leadership Development Programme for Administrators

23.Digital e-Learning Platforms

24.National Commission for Indian System of Medicine Bill, 2019 (NCIM)

 

 

 

1.STRIDE

Why in news?

• UGC announces new Initiative, STRIDE to boost research culture in India.

 About the scheme

• It is a scheme to strengthen the research culture and innovation in colleges and Universities.
• STRIDE stands for ‘Scheme for Trans-disciplinary Research for India’s Developing Economy’’.
• It is an initiative of the University Grants Commission of India, a statutory body set up by the Government of India in accordance to the UGC Act 1956 under Ministry of Human Resource Development.
• STRIDE will provide support to research projects that are socially relevant, locally need-based, nationally important and globally significant.
• STRIDE shall support research capacity building as well as basic, applied and transformational action research that can contribute to national priorities with focus on inclusive human development.
• STRIDE shall support creation, development and integration of new ideas, concepts and practices for public good and strengthening civil society.

Objectives

• To identify young talent, strengthen research culture, build capacity, promote innovation and support trans-disciplinary research for India’s developing economy and national development.
• To fund multi institutional network high-impact research projects in humanities and human sciences.

 STRIDE components

 Component-1

• It will endeavour to identify the motivated young talents with research and innovation aptitude in universities and colleges.
• This component is open to all disciplines for grant upto 1 crore.

Component-2

• It will be mainly to enhance problem solving skills with help of social innovation and action research to improve wellbeing of people and contribute for India’s developing economy.
• This component is open to all disciplines for grant upto 50 lakh – 1 crore.

Component-3

• It will fund high impact research projects in the identified thrust areas inhumanities and human sciences through national network of eminent scientists from leading institutions.
• Grant available for this component is upto 1 crore for one HEI and upto 5 crores for multi institutional network.

2.EKLAVYA MODEL RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS

Why in news?

• The component of Eklavya Model Residential School (EMRS) was part of the activities funded through “Grants under Article 275(1) of the Constitution”.

 About EMRSs

• Ekalavya Model Residential School is a Government of India scheme for model residential school for Indian tribals across India.
• It was established by the Tribal Ministry, Government of India.
• The objective of EMRS is to provide quality middle and high level education to Scheduled Tribe (ST) students in remote areas to have access to the best opportunities in education at par with the non ST population.
• It will be on par with Navodya Vidyalayas and have special facilities for preserving local art and culture.
• The government will set up an autonomous society, on the lines of the Navodaya Vidayalaya Samiti, to run the ERMSs.
• EMRSs will be set up in every district or block with more than 50 per cent Scheduled Tribes (ST) population and at least 20,000 tribal persons by 2022.
• The government has also enhanced the recurring cost per EMRS student per year.
• Ten percent seats in such schools will be allotted to non-ST students.
• Priority will be given to children of EMRS staff, those have lost their parents to Left Wing Extremism and insurgencies and children of widows.

3.LAQSHYA

Why in news?

• Till date 2427 Public health facilities across country have been identified for implementation of LaQshya Program.

 About the programme

• It is a programme to improve quality of care in labour room and maternity Operation Theatres in public health facilities.
• It is a Safe Delivery Mobile Application for health workers who manage normal and complicated deliveries in the peripheral areas.
• It’s a multipronged approach focused at Intrapartum and immediate postpartum period.
• ‘LaQshya’stands for Labour room Quality improvement Initiative.
• It is an initiative of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

 Aim

• To reduce preventable maternal and newborn mortality, morbidity and stillbirths associated with the care around delivery in Labour room and Maternity Operation Theatre and ensure respectful maternity care.

 Objectives

1. To reduce maternal and newborn mortality & morbidity due to hemorrhage, retained placenta, preterm, preeclampsia and eclampsia, obstructed labour, puerperal sepsis, newborn asphyxia, and newborn sepsis, etc.
2. To improve Quality of care during the delivery and immediate post-partum care, stabilization of complications and ensure timely referrals, and enable an effective two-way follow-up system.
3. To enhance satisfaction of beneficiaries visiting the health facilities and provide Respectful Maternity Care (RMC) to all pregnant women attending the public health facilities.

 Types of healthcare facilities identified for implementation of LaQshya program

1. Government medical college hospitals.
2. District Hospitals & equivalent health facilities.
3. Designated FRUs and high case load CHCs with over 100 deliveries/month ( 60 in hills and desert areas)

4.LEAP and ARPIT

Why in news?

• Union Human Resource Development Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ launched Leadership for Academicians Programme (LEAP) – 2019 and Annual Refresher Programme in Teaching (ARPIT) – 2019 under Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching (PMMMNMTT) in New Delhi.

Leadership for Academicians Programme (LEAP)

• To build higher managerial capabilities of existing higher education leaders and administrators and to draw fresh talent into the management of higher education systems, a National Initiative “Leadership for Academicians Programme (LEAP)” was launched to design and deliver a structured scheme of leadership development for HEIs.
• The main objective is to prepare second tier academic heads that are potentially likely to assume leadership roles in the future.
• The mandatory eligibility conditions are:  minimum 8 years of experience as Professor;  3 years administrative experience; Impeccable Integrity; High academic standing preferably 30 publications in ‘SCOPUS’ indexed international journals or UGC approved journals; and age below 58 years.
• A maximum of Rs. 10 Lakhs per participant (including foreign training) is approved and each training institution signs MoUs with its foreign counterpart.

Annual Refresher Programme in Teaching (ARPIT)

• Ministry of Human Resource Development launched Annual Refresher Programme in Teaching (ARPIT) in November, 2018.
• ARPIT is a major and unique initiative of online professional development of 1.5 million higher education faculty using the MOOCs platform SWAYAM.
• For implementing ARPIT, discipline-specific National Resource Centers (NRCs) are identified which are tasked  to prepare online training material with focus on latest developments in the discipline, new & emerging trends, pedagogical improvements and methodologies for transacting revised curriculum.

• Through ARPIT all in-service teachers, irrespective of their subject and seniority have been given an enabling opportunity to keep abreast of the latest developments in their disciplines through the technology based online refresher courses.
• The course is a 40 hour module with 20 hours of video content and 20 hours of non-video content.
• They are offered in a highly flexible format and can be done at one’s own pace and time.
• At the end of the course, they will be a terminal assessment which will be an online examination in a proctored environment conducted by the National Testing Agency.

 

5.Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE)

Why in news?

• Union HRD Minister Chairs the Special Meeting of Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE).

Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE):

• The Central Advisory Board of Education, the oldest and the most important advisory body of the Government of India in education was first established in 1920 and dissolved in 1923 as a measure of economy.
• It was revived in 1935 and had continued to exist till 1994, and then the CABE has been reconstituted by the Government in July 2004.
• CABE is chaired by the Union Human Resource Development Minister, the tenure is for three years.

CABE comprises of:

• Education ministers of all the states
• Six Members of Parliament
• Heads of different bodies such as UGC, CBSE, NUEPA and
• Nominated members from civil society, NGO and educational institutions.

 

6.All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE)

Why in news?

• Union Human Resource Minister released the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2018-19.

Key Findings of the survey

• Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in higher education has increased from 25.8 in 2017-18 to 26.3 in 2018-19, while in absolute terms the enrolment increased from 3.66 crore to 3.74 crore students. 
• GER for SCs has also shown a growth from 21.8 to 23.0 and STs from 15.9 to 17.2.
• In terms of increase in the number of universities, they have grown from 903 (2017-18) to 993 (2018-19) and total HEIs from 49,964 to 51,649 in the same corresponding period.
• The number of faculty increased from 13.88 lakhs to 14.16 lakhs.
• General trend indicates gender gap is narrowing with an improvement in female enrollment ratio from 47.6% in 2017-18 to 48.6% in 2018-19.

All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE):

• To portray the status of higher education in the country, Ministry of Human Resource Development has endeavoured to conduct an annual web-based All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) since 2010-11.
• The survey covers all the Institutions in the country engaged in higher education.
• Data is being collected on several parameters such as teachers, student enrolment, programmes, examination results, education finance, and infrastructure.
• Indicators of educational development such as Institution Density, Gross Enrolment Ratio, Pupil-teacher ratio, Gender Parity Index, Per Student Expenditure will also be calculated from the data collected through AISHE.

7.School Education Quality Index (SEQI)

Why in news?

• The NITI Aayog released the SEQI – School Education Quality Index

School Education Quality Index (SEQI):

• It is released by NITI Aayog.
• It is developed through a collaborative process including key stakeholders such as MHRD, the World Bank and sector experts.
• SEQI evaluates the performance of states and union territories in the school education sector.
• The index helps to review the status of school education quality.

• States are categorized as small and large states for ease of comparability.
• States and UTs are ranked on their overall performance in the reference year 2016-17 and the base year (2015-16).

Index is categorised into two:

Outcomes

• Learning outcomes and Quality                    
• Access outcomes
• Infrastructure & Facilities for Outcomes                      
• Equity Outcomes

Governance Processes Aiding Outcomes

• Student and teacher attendance
• Teacher availability,
• Administrative adequacy,
• Training,
• Accountability and transparency

Findings of the report:

• 18 of the 20 large states have improved in overall performance.
• The highest incremental performance was recorded in Kerala.
• The other states that have shown incremental performance following Kerala were Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.
• Of all the large states, Rajasthan made a quantum jump by scoring 8% more than the previous score.
• Karnataka and Uttarakhand declined in overall performance.
• Among the small states, the incremental performance was shown by Tripura, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Goa.
• The scores declined in Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim.

 

8.JeevanKaushal- Curriculum for Life Skills

• It is designed by University Grants Commission (UGC)
• The program has been framed for Undergraduate courses across the country.
• The curriculum is designed to impart and strengthen the knowledge, skills and dispositions believed to be the best requisites of the current Industry and thereby empower the talent.

9.Year End Review 2019 – Department of School Education

why in news?

• Year end review 2019 – department of school education, mhrd launched several new schemes in higher education department to boost research & innovation culture in the country.

Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+):

• To ensure quality, credibility and timely availability of information from all the schools in the country, the revamped UDISE + has been launched by the Department.
• The GIS based mapping portal gives information about location of more than 15 lakh schools in the country along with some salient highlights.

Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing (DIKSHA) 2.0:-

• Diksha Portal was launched in 2017 for providing digital platform to teachers giving them an opportunity to learn and train themselves and connect with teacher community.
• This initiative has been taken forward to enhance coverage and improve the quality of e-content for teachers.

Performance Grading Index (PGI)

• To objectively evaluate the performance of the school education system in the States/UTs, MHRD has designed a 70 indicators based matrix called Performance Grading Index (PGI) to grade the States and UTs.

Operation Digital Board (ODB):

• The aim is to provide by March 2023, two smart classrooms for every Secondary/Senior Secondary schools in all States/UTs.

Self Defence Training for Girls:

• Self-defence training is being imparted to girls of class VI to XII belonging to Government Schools under Samagra Shiksha.
• Fund for this purpose is provided for three months @ Rs. 3000/- per school per month

Shaala Darpan portal

• It eliminates the prevailing manual system of service processes & to improve access to real-time data and to enhance efficiency and transparency of school operations.

• It was developed with the help of C-DAC, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

10.Paramarsh scheme

Why in news?

• Ministry of Human Resource Development has launched ‘Paramarsh’ scheme.

• To improve the global ranking of the Indian higher education institutions.

What is the Scheme?

• It is a University Grants Commission (UGC) scheme for mentoring National Accreditation and Assessment Council (NAAC) Accreditation Aspirant Institutions to promote Quality Assurance in Higher Education.
• The scheme will be a paradigm shift in the concept of mentoring of institution by another well performing institution to upgrade their academic performance.
• Scheme will be operationalized through a “Hub & Spoke”model wherein the Mentor Institution, called the “Hub” is centralized and will have the responsibility of guiding the Mentee institution through the secondary branches the “Spoke” through the services provided to the mentee for self-improvement.
• This allows a centralized control over operational efficiency, resource utilization to attain overall development of the mentee institution.

Eligibility criteria by UGC

• The eligibility guidelines laid down by UGC say the mentor and the mentee can be government, aided, private or self-financing institution.
• The mentor institution should be NAAC accredited with an A grade.

About NAAC

• The NAAC is an autonomous body that assesses and accredits higher education institutions (HEIs) in India.
• It assesses the higher learning institutes on the basis of seven parametres.
• The parametres include teaching-learning and evaluation, infrastructure and learning resources, research, innovation and extension, curricular aspects, governance, leadership and management, student support and progression and institutional values and best practices.

11.Annual Status of Education Report (ASER)2019

Why in news?

• Annual Status of Education Report flags poor learning outcomes in schools.

More about the news

• It is an annual status report released by the Non-Profit Organization Pratham.
• ASER surveyors visited almost 37,000 children between 4 and 8 years in 26 rural districts across 24 States.
• They asked each child to do a variety of tasks testing cognitive skills, sort images by colour and size, recognize patterns, and fit together a four-piece animal puzzle as well as simple literacy and numeracy tests.
• Social and emotional development was tracked through activities using cards with faces showing happiness, sadness, anger and fear.

Key findings of the survey

• Number of girls enrolled in government schools is higher than number of boys. On the other hand, number of boys enrolled in private institutions is higher than that of girls.
• Only 39% of girls aged 6-8 are enrolled in private schools in comparison to almost 48% of boys.
• Only 16% of children in Class 1 in 26 surveyed rural districts can read text at the prescribed level, while almost 40% cannot even recognize letters.
• Of six-year olds in Class 1, 41.5% of those in private schools could read words in comparison to only 19% from government schools.
• Similarly, 28% of those in government schools could do simple addition as against 47% in private schools.
• The report also found that more than a quarter of Class 1 students in government schools are only 4 or 5 years old, younger than the recommended age.

12. National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme (NMMSS)

Why in news?

• National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme (NMMSS) has helped to reduce the drop-out rate at the secondary and senior secondary classes- HRD Minister

More about the scheme

• It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme and was launched in May, 2008.
• The objective of the scheme is to award scholarships to meritorious students of economically weaker sections to arrest their drop out at class VIII and encourage them to continue the study at secondary stage.
• Under the Scheme one lakh fresh scholarships @ of 12000/- per annum per student are awarded to selected students of class IX every year and their continuation/renewal in classes X to XII for study in a State Government, Government-aided and Local body schools.

• The selection of students for award of scholarships under the scheme is made through an examination conducted by the States/UTs Governments.
• Students whose parental income from all sources is not more than Rs. 1,50,000/- are eligible to avail the scholarships.
• The students studying in Kendriya Vidalayas and Jawahar Vavodaya Vidalayas are not entitled to get scholarship under this scheme.
• The scheme is boarded on National Scholarship Portal (NSP) since 2015-16.
• The NSP has been developed by Department of Electronics and Information Technology (Deity) for streamlining and fast tracking the release of Scholarships across Ministries / Departments with efficiency, transparency and reliability.

Scheme impact

• An evaluation study of the NMMS scheme conducted by National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) in 2017 states that the scheme has a positive impact.
• The data reveals that about 70.1 % beneficiary students are unable to continue their studies without this scholarship and students are very conscientious about their studies as well as the need to perform well after qualifying in NMMS Scheme.
• They register better performance in Class IX, X, XI and XII in order to continue getting the scholarship for four consecutive years.
• Heads of all the institutions disclosed that the NMMS Scheme has reduced the drop-out rate at the secondary and senior secondary classes, particularly from Classes VIII to XII.

 

13.Worldwide Education for the Future Index 2019

Why in news?

• India jumps five ranks to 35th in Worldwide Education for the Future Index 2019

Worldwide Education for the Future Index 2019:

• Report published by The Economist Intelligence Unit.
• The index and report are commissioned by theYidan Prize Foundation.
• The index ranks countries based on their abilities to equip students with skill-based education.
• The report analyses education system from the perspective of skill-based education “in areas such as critical thinking, problem-solving, leadership, collaboration, creativity and entrepreneurship, as well as digital and technical skills.”
• India ranked 35th on the overall index in 2019
• based on three categories – policy environment, teaching environment and overall socio-economic environment. 
• Finland topped the index followed by Sweden.

14.THE DRAFT NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY, 2019

Why in news?

• Union Human Resource Development Minister holds a series of meetings with Members of Parliament of South Indian states in connection with draft NEP.

 The Draft National Education Policy, 2019: More about:

• The Government of India had initiated the process of formulating a New Education Policy to meet the changing dynamics of the requirements of the population with regard to quality education, innovation and research, aiming to make India a knowledge superpower.
• The Draft National Education Policy, 2019 is built on the foundational pillars of Access, Equity, Quality, Affordability and Accountability.
• The Committee led by the Chairman Dr. Kasturirangan submitted the Draft National Educational Policy.

 Key recommendations:

• The Committee has proposed to rename MHRD as Ministry of Education (MoE).
• In School Education, a major reconfiguration of curricular and pedagogical structure with Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) as an integral part of school education is proposed.
• The Committee also recommends Extension of Right to Education Act 2009 to cover children of ages 3 to 18.
• Schools will be re-organized into school complexes. It also seeks to reduce content load in school education curriculum.
• There will be no hard separation of learning areas in terms of curricular, co-curricular or extra- curricular areas and all subjects, including arts, music, crafts, sports, yoga, community service, etc. will be curricular.
• The Committee proposes for massive transformation in Teacher Education by shutting down substandard teacher education institutions and moving all teacher preparation/education programmes into large multidisciplinary universities/colleges.
• A new apex body Rashtriya Shiksha Ayog is proposed to enable a holistic and integrated implementation of all educational initiatives and programmatic interventions, and to coordinate efforts between the Centre and States.
• The National Research Foundation, an apex body is proposed for creating a strong research culture and building research capacity across higher education.
• The four functions of Standard setting, Funding, Accreditation and Regulation to be separated and conducted by independent bodies:
• National Higher Education Regulatory Authority as the only regulator for all higher education including professional education.
• Creation of accreditation eco-system led by revamped NAAC.
• Professional Standard Setting Bodies for each area of professional education o UGC to transform to Higher Education Grants Commission (HEGC).
• Promotion of Indian and Classical Languages and setting up three new National Institutes for Pali, Persian and Prakrit and an Indian Institute of Translation and Interpretation (IITI) has been recommended.

15.SAMAGRA SHIKSHA-JAL SURAKSHA

Why in news?

• Union Minister for Human Resource Development will launch ‘Samagra Shiksha-Jal Suraksha’ drive on Friday to create awareness about Water Conservation among all school students in the country.

 More about the news:

• It is a time bound campaign with a mission mode approach.
• The Department of School Education & Literacy, MHRD has launched the ‘Samagra Shiksha-Jal Suraksha’ drive to promote water conservation activities for School Students, so that they can become competent, conscientious and committed water citizens of our nation.

Major Objectives:

• To educate students learn about conservation of water
• To sensitize Students about the impact of scarcity of water
• To empower Students to learn to protect the natural sources of water
• To help every Student to save at least one litre of water per day o To encourage Students towards judicious use and minimum wastage of water at home and school level

 Target:

• One Student –           One Day          –           Save One Litre Water
• One Student –           One Year         –           Save 365 Litres Water
• One Student –           10 Years          –           Save 3650 Litres Water

16.SHAGUN

Why in news? 

• Union Human Resource Development Minister launched one of world’s largest Integrated Online Junction for – School Education ‘Shagun’ in New Delhi.

 School Education Shagun:

• School Education Shagun (URL: htpp://shagun.govt.in/) is an over-arching initiative to improve school education system.
• It creates a junction for all online portals and websites relating to various activities of the Department of School Education.
• Report cards of 15 lakh schools all over the country will be available on the newly created junction.

 Integrated National School Education Treasury (INSET):

• Setting up of the Integrated National School Education Treasury (INSET) also announced, which envisages a fully integrated, instantly accessible and seamless information network for all parameters relating to the students, teachers, and schools in the country.

The main focus will be on the following areas:

• Reinforcing and cleaning the data of the Integrated Online Junction through feedback from Stakeholders.
• Creating high quality e-contents, including quizzes and puzzles to enhance learning and also for teachers in aiding classroom transactions
• Using artificial intelligence and deep machine learning in a variety of ways to enhance the quality of school education including for designing evidence-based inventions.

 

17.JANAUSHADHI SUGAM

• “Janaushadhi Sugam”, a recently launched mobile application will enable people to search Janaushadhi generic medicines and the stores.
• The mobile application would have user-friendly options like- to locate nearby Janaushadhikendra, direction guidance for location of the Janaushadhikendra through Google Map, search Janaushadhi generic medicines, analyse product comparison of Generic vs Branded medicine in form of MRP & overall Savings, etc.
• It can be downloaded free of cost by the user from Google Play Store and Apple Store.

18.NISHTHA

Why in news?

• Union Human Resource Development Minister launched the National Mission to improve Learning Outcomes at the Elementary level- NISHTHA in New Delhi.

 NISHTHA (National Initiative for School Heads and Teachers Holistic Advancement):

• Basic objective of this massive training programme ‘NISHTHA’ is to motivate and equip teachers to encourage and foster critical thinking in students.
• Teachers will get awareness and develop their skills on various aspects related to
• Learning Outcomes, Competency Based Learning and Testing, School Safety and Security, Personal-social qualities, Inclusive Education, ICT in teaching-learning including Artificial Intelligence, Health and well-being including yoga
• Initiatives in School Education including library, eco club, youth club, kitchen garden, School Leadership qualities, Environmental Concerns.
• Pre-school and Pre-vocational Education.
• The programme aims to build the capacities of around 42 lakh participants covering all teachers and Heads of Schools at the elementary level in all Government schools, faculty members of State Councils of Educational Research and Training (SCERTs), District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs) as well as Block Resource Coordinators and Cluster Resource Coordinators in all States and UTs.
• However, States and UTs can contextualize the training modules and use their own material and resource persons also, keeping in view the core topics and expected outcomes of NISHTHA.
• Teachers are also expected to be aware of the provisions regarding, The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
• The integrated programme therefore seeks to train all heads and teachers as first level counsellors to be alert and responsive to the needs of the students, in addition to promoting joyful learning and taking special care of the requirements of special children.

19.DIKSHA Platform

Why in News?

• The Government of India launches a training module for management of COVID-19 named ‘Integrated Government Online training’ (iGOT) portal on the DIKSHA platform of MHRD.

More Information

• To take care of the training needs of the frontline workers, the Government of India has launched a training module for the management of COVID-19 named ‘Integrated Govt. Online training’ (iGOT) portal on the Ministry of HRD’s DIKSHA platform.

About DIKSHA Platform:

• MHRD’s ‘Digital Infrastructure Knowledge Sharing’ (DIKSHA) platform is an initiative for education and training.
• DIKSHA leverages the existing highly scalable and flexible digital infrastructures while keeping teachers at the centre.
• DIKSHA is intended to serve as a national digital infrastructure for teachers.
• All teachers across the nation will be equipped with advanced digital technology.
• DIKSHA portal will enable, accelerate and amplify solutions in the realm of teacher education.
• It will aid teachers to learn and train themselves for which assessment resources will be available.
• It will help teachers to create training content, profile, in-class resources, assessment aids, news, and announcement and connect with the teacher community.
• Both government and private organisations can integrate DIKSHA into their respective teacher initiatives.
• Currently, DIKSHA supports 10 Indian languages viz. Hindi, English, Gujarati, Bengali, Assamese, Marathi, Odia, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu, both for creating and viewing content.

 

20.Bharat Padhe Online

Why in News?

• Union HRD Minister launches ‘Bharat Padhe Online’ campaign to invite ideas to improve online education ecosystem

More Information

• The campaign aims to invite the best brains in the country to share suggestions/solutions directly with the HRD Ministry to overcome constraints of online education.
• Further educators across the country can also come forward to contribute with their expertise and experience in the field of education.
• Thus limitations of the current online education scenario of India and challenges they face in traditional classrooms can be addressed through online education.

21.VidyaDaan 2.0

Why in News?

• Union HRD Minister launches national program VidyaDaan 2.0 for inviting e-learning content contributions.

More Information

• VidyaDaan is a common national programme to develop and contribute e-learning content and a chance to be recognized nationally.
• The content will be used on DIKSHA app to help millions of children across the country to continue their learning anytime and anywhere.
• VidyaDaan has a content contribution tool that provides a structured interface for the contributors to register and contribute different types of content (such as, explanation videos, presentations, competency-based items, quizzes, etc.), for any grade (from grade 1 to 12), for any subject as specified by the states/UTs.
• The contributions can be made by educationists, subject experts, schools, colleges, universities, institutes, government and non-government organisations, individuals, etc.

 

22.UGC Higher Education Leadership Development Programme for Administrators

Why in news?

• Union HRD Minister launches UKIERI-UGC Higher Education Leadership Development Programme for Administrators in New Delhi.

More about

• It is a joint initiative of University Grants Commission (UGC) and British Council under the auspices of UK India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI).
• The main objective of the programme is to train the senior and middle level academic administrators to enable them to bring about systemic changes with renewed approaches, capacity, tools and skill in Universities in India.

UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI)

• It was started in April 2006 with the aim of enhancing educational linkages between India and the UK.
• Since then UKIERI has been recognized as a key multi stakeholder programme that has strengthened the research, leadership, and education and now skill sector relations between the two countries.
• UKIERI Phase 1 (2006-2011) was set out to establish a framework that enables a step change in the bilateral relationships on education and research.
• UKIERI Phase 2 (2011-2016) narrowed the focus by working on thematic areas of national concern to both countries.
• The UKIERI Phase Three (2016-2021) is a bilateral project between the UK and India that aims to promote institutional and individual excellence in educational practices, research, and employability.

23.Digital e-Learning Platforms

Why in News?

• Union Human Resource Development Minister has asked students to continue their learning by making full use of the available digital e-Learning platforms during the period the educational institutions are closed as a precautionary measure against COVID-19.

Highlights

• Educational institutions have been urged to promote digital learning and make students aware of the various digital/e-learning platforms which are provided by MHRD for online education.
• DIKSHA: Diksha has more than 80000 e-Books for class 12th created by CBSE, NCERT and States/UTs which are available in multiple languages.
• e- PATHSHALA:In this web portal NCERT has deployed 1886 audios, 2000 videos, 696 e-books (e-Pubs) and 504 Flip Books for classes 1st to 12th in different languages.
• National Repository of Open Educational Resources (NROER):It is an initiative to bring together all digital and digitizable resources across all stages of school education and teacher education.
• The e-platforms of Ministry of HRD for school education & Higher Education are as under:
• SWAYAM:SWAYAM is the national online education platform hosting 1900 courses covering both school (class IX to XII) and Higher Education (undergraduate, post graduate programs) in all subjects.
• A unique feature of SWAYAM is that it is integrated with conventional education.
• Credit transfers are possible for SWAYAM courses
• SWAYAM PRABHA:It has 32 D2H TV channels transmitting educational content on a 24/7 basis.
• The channels cover both school education (class IX to XII) and Higher Education (undergraduate, post graduate, engineering, out of school children, vocational courses and teacher training) in arts, Science, commerce, performing arts, Social Sciences and Humanities subjects, engineering, technology, law, medicine, and agriculture.

24.National Commission for Indian System of Medicine Bill, 2019 (NCIM)

Why in News?

• Rajya Sabha has recently passed the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine Bill, 2019 (NCIM).
• It seeks to repeal the Indian Medicine Central Council Act, 1970.

About the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine:

• It will consist of 29 members, appointed by the central government. These posts will have a maximum term of four years. They will be recommended by a search committee.
• The Search Committee will consist of five members including the Cabinet Secretary and three experts nominated by the central government of which two should have experience in any of the fields of Indian System of Medicine.

Its Functions are:

1. Framing policies for regulating medical institutions and medical professionals of Indian System of Medicine.
2. Assessing the requirements of healthcare related human resources and infrastructure.
3. Ensuring compliance by the State Councils of Indian System of Medicine of the regulations made under the Bill. Ensuring coordination among the autonomous boards set up under the Bill.

• Autonomous boards to be set up are Board of Ayurveda and the Board of Unani, Siddha, and Sowa-Rigpa; Medical Assessment and Rating Board for Indian System of Medicine; Ethics and Medical Registration Board.

Entrance Exams:

• There will be a uniform National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for admission to under-graduate education in each of the disciplines of the Indian System of Medicine in all medical institutions regulated by the Bill. It also proposes a National Teachers’ Eligibility Test for postgraduates of each discipline of Indian System of Medicine who wish to take up teaching that particular discipline as a profession.