Education Minister Pradhan calls for augmenting tech usage in learning

NEW DELHI: Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday stressed the need to expand quality education by adopting technology and harnessing satellite technology to build a digital ecosystem.

In a meeting attended by ministry authorities and experts, Pradhan spoke about expanding the digital backbones like National Digital Education Architecture (NDEAR) and National Educational Technology Forum (NETF).

The minister while asking authorities to sync mainstream and skill education also advised to set up a committee led by secretary, school education to devise a roadmap and how to use satellite technology to develop a digital network.

“Discussion centred on leveraging satellite technology and the internet to develop an integrated digital ecosystem. The minister called for an innovative approach to leverage technology to further expand the existing platforms to cover all spectrums of school education, higher education, skill development and teachers training,” the education ministry said.

According to the ministry, “the minister called for strengthening and expanding the existing Swayam Prabha Initiative and synergize initiatives like National Digital Education Architecture (NDEAR) and National Educational Technology Forum (NETF). Pradhan stressed on the need to bridge digital divide and reach the unreached to bring greater inclusion in education”.

The new education policy has spoken in favour of technology usage. IT has suggested that a National Educational Technology Forum will enhance learning, planning, assessment, and administration. It says through NETF, education sector can use and explore areas like artificial intelligence, blockchain, machine learning, smart boards, computing devices, adaptive computer testing for student development.

The education ministry had last year expressed willingness to develop a digital education unit and had said that a dedicated unit for building of digital infrastructure, digital content and capacity building will be created in the ministry to look after the e-education needs of both school and higher education sectors.

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