According to KPMG report of 2017, Indian online education industry will be a 1.96 billion industry by 2021, which actually made me think of a small village of Gujarat called Mudeti (in Idar Taluka in Sabar Kantha District of Gujarat). It was my casual visit to a primary school, Prathmik Shala, in 2016 and to my surprise they provide students with computer-aided learning once in a week. Imagine the total population of Mudeti i.e. 3,367 and education system of school follows e-learning techniques. This made me think about e-learning strategy of digital India.
Before understanding the strategy, we must focus on an understanding of e-learning. So basically e-learning is techniques wherein with the help of live lectures, people are consuming course content much in the same way as students in a regular classroom set-up. E-learning has been described in various ways as learning using a number of different technologies and methods for delivery e.g. Computer-based training (CBT), Internet-based training (IBT), web-based instruction (WBI), advanced distributed learning(ADL), distributed learning (DL), distance learning, online learning (OL), mobile learning (or m-learning) or remote learning and learning management systems (LMS).
India is a growing market for education where in traditional classrooms are being steadily replaced by the interactive whiteboards with projectors and speakers. Various government initiatives are being adapted to boost the growth of distance education market. Like Mudeti, there are many villages and urban areas transforming school education with e-learning and trying to free schools from their rigid teaching methodologies. They are also ensuring that students from even the most remote pockets of the country have access to stellar 21st- century education.
Digital India and e-Learning
The digital India programme aims at how students can learn and teachers can teach better. The digital India vision is to provide broadband connectivity to a quarter of a million rural villages by 2019 and making wifi connections available in every school. So, it’s certainly going to provide a positive thrust to the future of India’s e-learning and the progress is already touching highs. Through online and multimedia tools, students of all ages can learn what, when and how they want. Common chalkboard classroom is a backdated concept which is replaced by whiteboards, projectors, speakers and other multimedia tools. Learning is now joyful and lively. There are no longer rigid methodologies, rather smart learn classes with the most student-centric approach with more positive outcomes. Digital India is offering cloud services to the private sector providers; CSC 2.0 aims to cover 2.5 lakhs gram panchayat to enhance services. Some major steps of digital literacy environment in India are e-participation, e-bhasha, digital locker, e-Sign, Mobile Based Digital Identity, e-Taal, e-Sampark, National Digital Literacy Mission, and National Optical Fiber Network etc.
Introduction of Public-Private Partnership
PPPs are collaborations between public and private sectors with a focus on system efficiency, innovation, and accountability. In education, they bring together the scale of the government system with the innovation of the private sector to improve the quality of the system as a whole. (Uboweja, 2014)
The Number of Public Private Partnership models are increasing by the Government of India, almost all the projects are funded out of the scheme as the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and ICT @ School schemes. Tenders are floated at regular intervals by state governments for no. of schools in the district. Once the tender is approved, the private firm is awarded 4-5 yrs of contract on Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT).
The following E-Learning services have been identified as lending themselves to a PPP approaches:
Ø Providing connectivity to the education sector to enable effective use of online educational services and web-based applications to assist teachers in customizing the student learning experience to achieve greater learning outcomes;
Ø Providing centrally managed, e-learning based transversal systems (such as education management information systems, human resource planning, and development systems, or financial management systems) that facilitate the collection of, and access to, management information across all levels of the education system;
Ø Providing ICT hardware and software to enable educators and administrators to use ICT-based, time-saving administrative and curriculum/educational tools;
Ø Managing online professional development systems for educators and administrators;
Ø Making educational resources, tools, and information electronically accessible for learners and educators to use and adapt; and
Ø Providing learners with access to online, distance learning courses to help them complete subjects, courses, or programs and to meet the growing demand for education. And so.
Apart from Mudeti, Gujarat, there are many other states engaged in e-learning through digital India and public-private partnership Like Tamilnadu (contract with over 200 firms, which includes the supply of hardware, software, training, operations, and maintenance. Each firm has been allocated an area of operation, allocating particular geographical area and a number of schools.), Karnataka (PPP between Azim Premji Foundation (APF) and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)), Assam (PPP between EDUCOMP and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)) etc.
Though there are many challenges in terms of implementation and ecosystem issues as it is rightly said that challenges makes you strong, a way to push ourselves and see what we are capable of. Let us all see what future lies in as the next phase of Digital India is crucial to digital/e-learning education and will be treated as the largest category by 2021.
Works Cited
- KPMG India and Google (2017) Online education in India: 2021
- Uboweja, S. C. (2014). Public-Private Partnership in School education - Insights from India. Central Square Foundation.
- Mansi Taneja (20 April, 2018) "Digital universities to soon offer govt-recognised higher education courses", DNA Mumbai
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