15 Feb 2022 Digital Education: E-learning
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The Corona pandemic has badly affected every important aspect of our lives. Children’s education is also no exception to this. In view of this, many big announcements were made by the government in the budget to encourage digital education and online learning.
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The Finance Minister said in his budget speech that in view of the Corona period, e-content and e-learning will be encouraged. Digital University will be established in the country. Through this university, world class education will be provided to the students. An e-portal for skill development will also be started.
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First of all, what is e-learning? The meaning of E-learning can be called “electronic learning”. In very simple language, e-learning is the process of taking education through electronic devices and digital media.
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It can take many forms which include web based learning, mobile based learning, computer based learning, virtual classroom and webinars etc.
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This year’s Union Budget has allocated Rs 1.04 lakh crore for the education sector, compared to Rs 93,224 crore last year.
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In the current budget, a lot of emphasis has been laid on digitization of education and several initiatives have been taken to promote e-learning. In which decisions like PM e-VIDYA’s ‘One Class-One TV Channel’ program, online vocational courses, development of e-content, establishment of digital university are included.
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The number of TV channels for education under PM e-VIDYA will be increased from 12 to 200. With this, all states will be able to provide supplementary education for classes 1-12 in regional languages.
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New online vocational courses will be introduced in which 750 virtual labs in science and maths and 75 skilling e-labs will be set up for simulated learning environment.
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High quality e-content will be developed for better learning. In addition, with the establishment of a digital university, the facility of “education at doorstep” will be provided to the students across the country.
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More efforts will be made for inclusive education and under this focus will be given to enhance the facilities of those people who are negatively affected due to lack of e-learning resources. This will benefit the weaker sections and students of rural areas studying in government schools.
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In addition to the existing decisions, the government is already running several programs to promote online education. These include initiatives like Operation Digital Board, Shagun, National Digital Library and Shodhganga.
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There are many benefits of e-learning such that students are free to participate in the courses of their choice and also they can decide the class timings as per their convenience.
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Students can watch the video as they feel better by accelerating or slowing down. Money and time are also saved. Also, students get access to the best subject matter experts.
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Considering the advantages of e-learning in this way, the government has taken many steps to improve it, yet many challenges still remain in its path. For example, people who have money can easily take advantage of e-learning by buying a computer or TV, but for those who are poor, it is still a far cry.
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Internet facility is very less in villages as compared to cities, due to which rural people remain marginalized in education from the point of view of e-learning. E-learning is not yet as effective in terms of artistic and practical education like beauty culture, fashion design, tailoring, travel and tourism.
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The future of online education looks very promising and it is also accessible to a wider segment of the population. Overall, looking at the current circumstances, it can be said that the time has come for the government to take major steps through e-learning to strengthen public institutions to meet the present need and bridge the education gap created by the pandemic.
yojna ias daily current affairs 15 feb 2022
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