Digital Awakening during the times of #Atmanirbhar Bharat

Digital Awakening during the times of #Atmanirbhar Bharat 
Featuring Education Sector

Amidst the foreseen economic crisis and its obvious impacts, PM Modi announced economic packages for ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan' or 'Self-Reliant India Mission' on 12th May, 2020. The hashtags #AtmanirbharBharat and #VocalForLocal became an overnight trend on twitter. Well, they did receive a bag full of mixed reactions from Indian Janta; some criticizing, some wondering, some celebrating and some just ignoring! Many new reforms and policies were announced by the government to make things easier, but the inquisitive me just wanted to get into depth of how much are we already ready for this “Atmanirbharta” stuff.

Hogging on numerous debates and opinions flooding the internet, I went on a quest to understand how much “Digitally Atmanirbhar” are we really are? And, to my surprise, there is a lot to share on my findings!

Well, to start with, going by the history of Indian Government digital initiatives, the first step was taken as part of e-governance during ‘90s. However, the impact and sustainability of those reforms were short lived citing to various reasons. Of late, there has been a deep plunge taken by government of India in transforming economy digitally. Going by the latest trends, mobile apps like Arogya Setu, Umang, DigiLocker, PAYGOV, etc. have seen a big thumps up by many in MSME and Rural- agricultural sectors. Initiatives like “Digital India” have made to news bulletin across the globe. Also, interday and intraday updates on COVID-19 Cases on Telegram channel, flyers and posters on preventive measures and YouTube Channels to teach yoga or entertain with creative arts have added different colors to advancement made in analytics and digital marketing by the government.

Amongst all the different sectors, education sector lies close to my heart. Probably because being a teachers’ daughter has made me see its virtues and vices pretty closely. It became my first obvious choice to analyse the Digital #Atmanirbharta in Education Sector.

The Digital #Atmanirbharta in Education Sector

Of late, I have been intrigued by the idea of ‘School from Home’. Seeing my mom learning new tools and technologies to cope up with the new digital era, has made me wonder on various questions like What is in it for the under-privileged students, students who have face lack of infrastructure issues and there exist a huge digital divide? Why is government not doing much on providing the required infra? What could be possible solutions to cater those ‘Bottom of Pyramid’ students’ educational needs?

To my surprise, there are few answers draped in webpages of government sites! Although they do not answer all my questions, yet it is a pleasant surprise to discover them. There are plethora of web/mobile apps, tools and resources to help the stakeholders of education sector. Listing a few of them –

a)     SWAYAM PRABHA – An initiative of the Ministry of Human Resources Development started since 1989 to provide 32 High Quality Educational Channels through DTH (Direct to Home) across the length and breadth of the country on 24X7 basis. It has curriculum-based course content covering diverse disciplines. Pretty much, reminds me of our SSC past-paper questions being published in Indian Express, just that this is on TV.

b)     SWAYAM – Extension of above program with a dash of sophistication, SWAYAM (Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds) App is an Indian Massive open online course (MOOC) platform in collaboration with 7 esteemed institutes inclusive of IITs and IIMs. The content is free for everyone, certification comes with proctored test at nominal costs. Feels much like Desi version of Coursera/EdX, certifying professional courses by Indian Institutes. Do visit this app at this link for learning more about it!

c)     DIKSHA: NATIONAL TEACHER PLATFORM – MHRD’s DIKSHA is one stop solution for teacher’s experience delivering aid as 7 verticals – Content Creation, School leadership skill development, teacher’s professional development, Assessment, Innovation in Pedagogy, Teacher profile registry and learning content. Download and experience it here

d)    E-Pathshala: Learning on the Go – With several NCERT textbooks uploaded, this platforms adds value to students, teachers, educators and Parents. Experience it here.

e)     Miscellaneous - Artificial Intelligence (IndiaAI) Website and many more government websites from different ministries of Indian Government to accelerate learning and adoption of digital technologies by everyone.

A single step in right direction is much more important than taking leaps in wrong direction. These initiatives might be rookie in EdTech sector, but seems to be promising. However, a fear creeps in going by the past experiences, usually government reforms start with great rigor and enthusiasm but soon fizzle out.

Requesting the readers to feel free to share your views on these enhancements in comment section J