24x7 Online Quality Education For All Through 'Swayam'

President Pranab Mukherjee launched Swayam, Swayam Prabha - the platform of 32 DTH channels to deliver the courses - and National Academic Depository (NAD) which will facilitate online verification of certificates, on Sunday.

Speaking on the occasion, the President said that the spread of technology, telecom penetration and internet has offered an opportunity to quell the divide in terms of access and quality. And, we should seize this opportunity with both our hands. Digital technology enables good teachers to directly teach large number of students who are not physically present in classes. ICT solutions offer an interactive learning experience through which students in remote parts of the country can benefit from lectures of the top teachers. The digital modes are cheaper, more easily accessible, interactive, and offer flexibility for people to learn at their own pace. We need to work together to ensure that they are widely adopted for teaching.

SWAYAM is a programme initiated by Government of India and designed to achieve the three cardinal principles of Education Policy viz., access, equity and quality. The objective of this effort is to take the best teaching learning resources to all, including the most disadvantaged. SWAYAM seeks to bridge the digital divide for students who have hitherto remained untouched by the digital revolution and have not been able to join the mainstream of the knowledge economy.

This is done through an indigenous developed IT platform that facilitates hosting of all the courses, taught in classrooms from 9th class till post-graduation to be accessed by anyone, anywhere at any time. All the courses are interactive, prepared by the best teachers in the country and are available, free of cost to the residents in India. More than 1,000 specially chosen faculty and teachers from across the Country have participated in preparing these courses.

The courses hosted on SWAYAM will be in 4 quadrants – (1) video lecture, (2) specially prepared reading material that can be downloaded/printed (3) self-assessment tests through tests and quizzes and (4) an online discussion forum for clearing the doubts. Steps have been taken to enrich the learning experience by using audio-video and multi-media and state of the art pedagogy / technology. In order to ensure best quality content are produced and delivered, seven National Coordinators have been appointed: They are NPTEL for engineering, UGC for post-graduation education, CEC for under-graduate education, NCERT & NIOS for school education, IGNOU for out of the school students and IIMB for management studies.

Log on to https://swayam.gov.in to know more about this initiative.

राष्ट्रपति श्री प्रणब मुखर्जी ने ‘डिजिटल पहल पर राष्ट्रीय सम्मेलन’ में ‘स्‍वयं’, ‘32 स्‍वयं प्रभा डीटीएच चैनलों’ और राष्ट्रीय अकादमिक डिपॉजिटरी के शुभारंभ समारोह में कहा कि प्रौद्योगिकी, दूरसंचार और इंटरनेट के प्रसार ने छात्रों की पहुंच और गुणवत्ता के मामले में खाई को कम करने का एक अच्‍छा अवसर प्रदान किया है और हमें इस अवसर से अपने दोनों हाथों से लाभ उठाना चाहिए। डिजिटल प्रौद्योगिकी अच्छे शिक्षकों को बड़ी संख्या में उन छात्रों तक सीधी पहुंच सुनिश्चित करने में सक्षम बना रही है जो शारीरिक रूप से कक्षाओं में मौजूद नहीं हो पाते हैं। 

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