Speed Post News Network
New Delhi : Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ chaired a meeting with School Education Secretaries of all States & UTs through video conferencing on May 17, 2021, to discuss the various measures adopted for management of education system during Covid and the different strategies adopted for online and offline learning in Schools so far and the way forward.
Union Minister of State for Education Sanjay Dhotre; Secretary, Higher Education, Amit Khare; Secretary, School Education and Literacy, Anita Karwal, and senior officials of the Ministry were present at the meeting. Representatives from almost all the States and UTs attended the meeting including additional Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries and Secretaries Education Department; and other State officials such as the State Project Directors, Director SCERT, etc. This was the biggest meeting held on School Education during the pandemic.
Addressing the meeting, Pokhriyal said that the current situation of Covid-19 is unfortunate, but the Government is committed to turn the situation into opportunity by doing new experiments to ensure safety and academic welfare of students. He emphasized the need to continue the coherent efforts made by the states and UTs in previous year and underscored the importance of reaching out to most vulnerable and marginalised children in this pandemic period. He further stated that the Department took several initiatives in 2020-21 for facilitating continuing learning during the pandemic. They include: expansion of DIKSHA under PM eVIDYA; DTH TV channels under the bouquet of SWAYAM PRABHA TV channels; launch of online NISHTHA training for teachers at DIKSHA; Launch of Manodarpan to cater to the socio-emotional and psychological needs of the students, etc. Also, several initiatives have been taken to reach out to children without access to digital education. He also underlined the importance of involving various stakeholders for effective implementation of the National Education Policy 2020.
Pokhriyal noted all the problems and suggestions made by the States. The States also appreciated the efforts made by the Union Education Ministry providing all possible help to States to ensure academic welfare of students. The Union Minister thanked all the States for their commendable work in the field education and assured them that the Ministry will extend its full support in this difficult time and together we will fight this problem, according to a PIB release.
A comprehensive Covid Response document was issued by the Department on May 4, 2021. It delineates detailed action plan with corresponding timelines for all Stakeholders involved on Access, Retention, Continuous Learning, Capacity Building, and Stakeholder engagement.
The major areas identified for intervention are : Identifying and mainstreaming of Out of School Children and ensuring sustained Enrolment, Retention and Transition; Academic learning & cognitive development of students; Capacity building- with specific focus on blended and home-based learning including student assessments and data use; Nutritional, socio-emotional support; Digital education and monitoring, tracking and remediation.
The Department has started conducting the meetings of the Project Approval Board for approval of Annual Work Plan and Budgets of the states under Samagra Shiksha in the virtual mode, so that the states and UTs can get timely approvals for implementation of the above interventions.