The Centre decided to launch “Operation Digital Board” soon.Digital boards are likely to be installed in all government schools in India in the next five years — a project that will bring technology to classrooms for teaching, learning and assessment of students.
The Centre on Monday decided to launch “Operation Digital Board” shortly, with the help of community and corporate help. This will help students view diagrams and presentations through digital tools.
“We are moving towards digital education and so we need to change the tools through which we teach students. This will improve accountability of teachers as well. It will make learning more interesting,” human resource development minister Prakash Javadekar said at a meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE).
At the meeting, attended by Union and state ministers, Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia suggested that the CBSE, NCERT and state education boards should reduce the syllabus by 50%.
“As long as the sword of syllabus completion hangs over teachers, they can never shift their attention to learning outcomes,” he said.
Presentations were made on several sub-committees of CABE, including extending the scope of the right to education (RTE) act to include pre-primary schools. “It was discussed but a decision has not been taken. Further discussion with all the states will be taken up,” Javadekar said.
Issues related to out-of-school children and devising ways to provide them education was also discussed. The government is planning a nationwide survey to identify such kids.
Union women and child development minister Maneka Gandhi said at the meeting that students should be exposed to religious books of all religions to promote greater tolerance.
Jammu and Kashmir has tied up with the HRD ministry for school reforms in the state. A roadmap has been drafted and it “is the first step to provide an overarching framework for school education reforms for the state”, said Anil Swarup, the ministry’s school education secretary. Jammu and Kashmir education minister Altaf Bukhari highlighted issues such as providing better infrastructure and introduction of modern courses.