SUMMARY
A digital university will be built to develop world-class universal education with a personalised learning experience at doorsteps, said the finance minister
The university will be based on a hub and spoke model where best-in-class public universities and institutions will collaborate
A mechanism for development of quality e-content by teachers will be set up to empower and equip them with digital tools of teaching and facilitate better learning outcomes, she added
Working on the digital blueprints as designed in the National Education Policy, the finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget 2022 has now announced plans to set up a digital university. Speaking on the edtech plans, Sitharaman said,
“A digital university will be established to provide access to students. Across the country for world-class universal education with a personalised learning experience at their doorsteps, this will be made available in different Indian languages and ICT formats.”
On its functioning and development plans, Sitharaman stated that the university will be built on a networked hub and spoke model with the hub building cutting edge expertise. The best in public universities and institutions will collaborate as a network of Hub and spoke.
The Grand Nationwide Edtech Plan
In her Budget, the minister further stated that due to the pandemic induced closure of schools children particularly in the rural areas and those from scheduled caste and scheduled tribes and other weaker sections lost almost two years of formal education. Most of these are children in government schools.
“We recognise the need to impart supplementary teaching and to build a resilient mechanism for education delivery. For this purpose, ‘One Class, One TV Channel’ programme of PM eVidya will be expanded from 12 to 200 TV channels. This will enable all states to provide supplementary education in regional languages for classes 1 to 12.”
High-quality e-content in all spoken languages will be developed for delivery via the internet, mobile phones, TV, and through radio and digital teachers. A competitive mechanism for the development of quality e-content by teachers will be set up to empower and equip them with digital tools of teaching and facilitate better learning outcomes, she added.
