Ministry of Human Resource Development took a leap forward in transforming education sector with the motto of “सबको शिक्षा, अच्छी शिक्षा ” (Education for All, Quality Education).
Year 2016 has been a yet another landmark year in the field of education as ‘Education For All & Quality Education’ guided policy actions and decisions enabling transformation, that emphasized upon making education Available, Accessible, Affordable and Accountable.
While ‘Education for All’ has driven the expansion in education with new institutes of School (KVS, NVS) & Higher Education (IITs, IIMs, IIITs, IISER) and Institutional capacity building initiatives like, SWAYAM PRABHA – 32 DTH channels on 24X7 basis for educational programmes, restructuring of IIT fees to make more inclusive, Amendments in UGC Act to make more gender sensitive, SWAYAM – MOOCs, Swachh Vidyalaya and e-governance initiatives like ShaGun Portal, e-Pathshala, Shaala Siddhi etc.
On the other hand ‘Quality Education’ has been emphasized with the thrust on promoting research & innovation, and initiatives like Impacting Research Innovation and Technology (IMPRINT), Global Initiative of Academic Network (GIAN), National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), Higher Educational Financing Agency (HEFA), Digital ISBN, National Academic Depository (NAD), Seema Darshan, Kala Utsav, Prashikshak Portal etc.
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme in partnership with State Governments for universalizing elementary education across the country. Its overall goals include universal access and retention, bridging of gender and social category gaps in education and enhancement of learning levels of children.
SSA provides for a variety of interventions, including inter alia, opening of new schools, construction of schools and additional classrooms, toilets and drinking water, provisioning for teachers, periodic teacher training and academic resource support, textbooks and support for learning achievement. These provisions are made in accordance with norms and standards and free entitlements as mandated by the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009.
The releases to States and UTs under SSA have gone up from Rs. 19594.07 Crores in 2010-11 to Rs.21590.14 Crores in 2015-16. Against the BE 2016-17 of Rs.22500 Crores an amount of Rs.18995.58 Crores (84.42%) has been released to States/UTs in 2016-17 so far.
Improvement in Educational Indicators
The census 2011 estimated 20.78 crore children in the 6-13 age group.
As per UDISE 2015-16, enrolment in elementary schools was 19.67 crore children in 14.49 lakh elementary schools.
There has been a significant reduction in the number of out of school children in the 6-14 years age group, from 134.6 lakh in 2005 to 81 lakh in 2009 and further to 61 lakh in 2014.
The annual average dropout rate at primary level has come down from 9.11% in 2009-10 to 4.13% in 2015-16.
The transition rate from primary to upper primary has gone up from 83.53% in 2009-10 to 90.14% in 2015-16.
The Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR) has improved from 32 in 2009-10 to 24 in 2015-16.
Right to Education was discussed with specific reference to untrained teachers and No Detention Policy. It was an issue of concern that learning outcomes are deteriorating. Therefore:
(i) It was agreed that learning outcomes should be codified and be made a part of rules of RTE.
(ii) It was also agreed that there has to be accountability of all stakeholders for improving learning outcomes.
(iii) It was further agreed that Central Government may bring in suitable amendment which will give States freedom to review “No Detention Policy.”
(iv) The task of completing the training of untrained teachers should be completed within the next 5 years.
Department of School Education and Niti Aayog are jointly developing a School Education Quality Index (SEQI) in consultation with all States and UTs. This index aims to institutionalize a focus on improving education outcomes (learning, access, equity) as the principle aim of school education policy in India. This is expected to launch by January 2017.
Shagun portal – an Initiative to monitor the implementation of SSA
ShaGun a web portal (from the words Shaala and Gunvatta) is being developed by Ministry of HRD. It has two components i.e. one is a Repository of best practices, photographs, videos, studies, newspaper articles etc on elementary education, State /UT wise. These would be in the public domain with the purpose to provide a platform for all stakeholders to learn from success stories of each other. This would also instill a positive competitive spirit among all the States and UTs.
The second part is regarding the online monitoring of the SSA implemented by States and UTs and will be accessed by Government Officers at all levels using their specific passwords. It comprises questionnaires, related to various interventions under SSA and the performance of the State, which will be filled in by the States and UTs. There are 122 Reports which will be automatically generated from the data filled in the questionnaires. These Reports, along with the success stories in the Repository, will create an online platform which can be viewed by officers in the Department, PMO, Niti Aayog etc., to see the status of implementation of the SSA and the elementary education in all States and UTs.
Sub-Programmes under SSA
In addition to these, the Department is supporting States and UTs to implement national level initiatives to improve the quality of education. These include;
(i) The ‘Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat’ (PBBB)
a sub-programme of the SSA, in classes I and II focusing on foundational learning in early grades with an emphasis on reading, writing and comprehension and Mathematics. States and UTs have been implementing specific interventions like ABL in Tamil Nadu, Nalli Kali in Karnataka, Pragya in Gujarat; steps have been taken to develop specific teacher training modules for teachers teaching students in classes 1 and 2. Punjab, Meghalaya, Delhi have introduced programmes for strengthening teaching of maths in classes 1 and 2; in Sikkim schools have set up reading corners for children in the foundational classes through support from community members
(ii) The Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan (RAA)
It is also under the SSA, was launched by Late Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. This aims to motivate and engage children of the age group 6-18 years, in Science, Mathematics and Technology by observation, experimentation, inference drawing and model building, through both inside and outside classroom activities. Schools have been adopted for mentoring by Institutions of Higher Education like IIT’s, IISER’s and NIT’s. In some States students have been taken for exposure visits to factories, research hubs; science and mathematics clubs are being formed at the school levels, students are participating in competitions and exhibitions to showcase their innovations in Maths, Science and Technology.
(iii) Vidyanjali
This is sub-programme under SSA launched to enhance community and private sector involvement in Government run elementary schools across the country under the overall aegis of the SSA. The aim of the programme is to strengthen implementation of co-scholastic activities in government schools through services of volunteers. So far 3306 Volunteers registered for the programme creating 10443 activities to be conducted in schools, 841 Volunteers have gone to schools and conducted activities.
Some Recent Initiatives taken by the Department for Improving Quality of Elementary Education as follows:
i. Grade-wise learning goals from Class I-VIII are being framed and will be displayed on the notice board of all schools. These will also be incorporated in the Central Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Rules as a guideline for States and UTs to ensure that all children acquire appropriate learning levels.
ii. National Achievement Survey will be conducted annually from 2017 instead of once in every 3 years, as per current practice. This will enable regular assessment of learning levels of the children and help to give an insight into the pedagogical and policy changes required to improve these learning levels further.
iii. Emphasis is being laid on effective implementation of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) of students in all government and aided schools.
iv. Grade-wise weak students have been identified for remedial classes, to ensure that all students acquire grade-appropriate learning levels.
v. All school going children in the age group of 5 to 18 years in the country is being covered under Aadhar. This would help in tracking of children so that they do not dropout from school and also for monitoring their academic progress and for ensuring benefits to be disbursed to them in cash or kind under various schemes. Currently, 23.24 crore children in this age group have already been covered under Aadhar against the total enrolment of 26.07 crore children in the same age group.
vi. States and UTs are taking steps to provide all teachers with Aadhar Card to prevent bogus teachers in the system. So far data of 16.10 lakh teachers is available. Also, Grade-wise photos of teachers are being displayed on the school notice board in all government and aided schools. This would enable all students and their parents to know the regular teachers in that school and will discourage the practice of ‘proxy’ teachers.
vii. The Department is preparing guidelines for rationalizing and positive consolidation of small schools, especially with zero or very low enrolment, in States. This would help the States in effectively running their schools with viable strength of both students and teachers.
viii. The Department has framed guidelines for “Partnership between Schools” Programme, which aims to link schools located in rural areas with private, aided, or government schools in urban or semi urban areas. All States and UTs have been requested to take necessary action in this direction and design the modalities of the programme within the broad guidelines issued by the Department.
The objectives of the initiative include (i) bring all students to one common platform, (ii) to share experiences and learn from each other, (iii) provide opportunities to the teaching fraternity to adopt better and more effective practices and (iv) to instill a spirit of sharing, caring and togetherness.
The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) has reported that 25 Kendriya Vidyalayas have partnered with 25 State Government Schools for this programme. Central Board of Secondary Education has informed that 147 well functioning schools affiliated to the Board have partnered with Government run schools in rural areas.
ix. School Location Mapping: A website has been enabled which shows the location of all the schools on a map of India. The schools can be searched by name, location, UDISE code etc. The school report card has been integrated with the coordinates of the schools. 18 States have achieved more than 95% coverage of their schools and against a total of 15,22,925 schools (as per UDISE 2015-16), 11,96,117 schools (78.54%) have been mapped.
x. A concept paper on carrying out student evaluation of teacher performance in government and government-aided schools is being developed by NCERT.
xi. A State-wise training calendar for head master training has been prepared by NUEPA to ensure capacity building of all headmasters and head teachers.
xii. All States and UTs have been advised to enhance the use of e-governance in school management to facilitate faster and efficient decision making. For this, software developed by the State of Gujarat has been shared by the Department.
xiii. Guidelines are being prepared for creation of a separate cadre of school headmaster/principal in States and UTs. This would equip the schools with an effective leader and improve their management.
xiv. A study has been initiated in the States of Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Karnataka and Odisha to assess the time spent by teachers in non-teaching related activities and its adverse impact on education.
xv. An advisory for drafting a suitable Teacher Tenure Policy has been issued to States and UTs to fix a minimum tenure for teachers in rural areas.
xvi. A study has been initiated to standardize all data definitions, methodology of collecting each data and identifying critical data gaps.
xvii. A plan is being finalized by NCERT, in consultation with Pandit Sunderlal Sharma Central Institute of Vocational Education (PSSCIVE), Bhopal, for extending the scheme for vocationalisation at upper primary level. Some pilots will be conducted from next Academic session in some classes of upper primary level.
Teacher Education (TE)
National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) Regulations, 2014- Norms and Standards: The NCTE was established by an Act (No.73 of 1993) of Parliament with a view to achieving planned and co-ordinate development of the teacher education system throughout the country, the regulation and proper maintenance of norms and standards in the teacher education system, and for matters connected therewith. NCTE revised Regulations was notified in November 2014.
1. TESS-India programme for Teacher Educators with collaboration between Department for International Development (DfID) and MHRD with UK’s Open University as the implementing agency. The duration of the first phase of the project was June, 2012 to May, 2015 and the project aims towards development of Teacher Developmental Units (TDUs) for 7 States (U.P, Bihar, M.P, Odisha, Assam, West Bengal, Karnataka) in Mathematics, Science, English, Social Science and Leadership. The TESS-India project duration has been extended upto March, 2017.
2. Monitoring through Joint Review Mission: The Centrally sponsored Scheme on Teacher Education puts emphasis on monitoring of the process and outcome parameters in respect of each level of institution. Joint Review Missions is a part of a comprehensive monitoring mechanism of Teachers’ Education scheme. Joint Review Mission consisting of experts in Teacher Education has been sent to 30 States from the year 2012-13 till 2016-17 for ensuring effective implementation of Centrally Sponsored Scheme for Teacher Education (CSSTE).
3. National and Regional workshop under TE-Scheme: Various National and Regional Workshops (1National Workshop and 1 Regional Workshop- North Eastern Region) have been conducted under CSSTE to review the effective implementation of the Teacher Education Scheme and to envisage future roadmap and initiatives. The main objective of these Regional workshops was to review the implementation of Teacher education Scheme, preparing the comprehensive Annual Work Plan & Budget proposal for the year 2016-17, Challenges in preparing the AWP, Key activities under CSSTE, Priorities areas under CSSTE and Status of Revision of Curriculum and other aspects as per NCTE Regulations 2014.
New Activities/Initiatives under CSSTE Scheme
Prashikshak Teacher Education Portal: Ministry of Human Resource Development has launched Prashikshak, a teacher education portal on 30.06.2016 for a strong monitoring mechanism, which would contain a database of all 588 DIETs in the country with all relevant information about the institutes including performance indicator
The objective of Prashikshak is to help DIETs make informed decisions about their institutes, compare the performance of their institute against other DIETs in the state/country as well as help aspiring teachers make informed decisions about which institute to join. The major stakeholders and users of the portal are: Teacher Educators; DIET principals and faculty; Policy makers at District, State Government and National Level; Student Teachers; In-service trainer teachers; and the General public.
Mid-Day Meal (MDM)
Mid Day Meal is a centrally sponsored programme designed with a view to enhancing enrollment, retention and attendance and simultaneously improving nutritional levels among children. Mid Day Meal Rules, 2015 notified on 30th September 2015 to ensure quality nutrition and effective monitoring. Also, two recent interventions viz Tithi Bhojan and Social Audit are designed to attract community participation and channelize it for enrichment of Mid Day Meal Scheme.
The Central Government has requested the States to consider the concept of Tithi Bhojan for mid day meals in a suitable manner, to encourage local community participation the programme. Social Audit, another intervention under this Scheme means is a process in which people collectively monitor and evaluate the planning and implementation of the Scheme. It is viewed as an ongoing process of public vigilance.
Reports from Chattisgarh’s Baster district indicate that the involvement of mothers “MITANIN” has not only led to a significant improvement in cooking and hygiene but also a change in attitude on the part of the teachers with the decline in absenteeism. In Himachal Pradesh, mothers have been involved for supervision and duty rosters are being maintained. Similar rosters have been introduced in Madhya Pradesh. In Uttrakhand mothers are appointed as Bhojan Mata and Sahayika in all primary school.
Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA)
Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme that envisages inter-alia provision of a secondary school within a reasonable distance of any habitation and to improve quality of education imparted at secondary level by making all secondary schools conform to prescribed norms, removing gender, socio-economic and disability barriers etc. In 2013, secondary education the schemes of ICT, vocational education, Girls Hostel and IEDSS were subsumed under the umbrella of RMSA.
Some of the significant initiatives, under RMSA for improving quality of education are as below: –
(i) Shaala Siddhi
School Standards and Evaluation Framework and its web portal were launched on 7th November 2015. It is a comprehensive instrument for school evaluation leading to school improvement. Developed by the National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA), it aims to enable schools to evaluate their performance in a more focused and strategic manner and facilitate them to make professional judgments for improvement. The objective is to establish an agreed set of standards and benchmarks for each school, by focusing on key performance domains and their core standards. The web portal for the framework will enable all schools to engage in self-evaluation in the 7 key domains under the Framework. The results of the evaluations will be available on a public platform along with the School Report card.
ii) Shaala Darpan:
The “Shaala Darpan Project” to cover all the 1099 Kendriya Vidyalayas was launched on 05.06.2015. The objective of this project is to provide services based on School Management Systems to Students, Parents and Communities. Under School Information Services, the following list of services will be enabled i.e., School Profile Management, Student Profile Management, Employee Information, Student Attendance, Leave Management, Report Cards, Curriculum Tracking Custom, SMS Alerts for Parents / Administrators on student & teacher attendance.
e- PATHSHALA
It is a single point repository of e-resources containing, NCERT textbooks and various other learning resources. It is a joint initiative of Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Govt. of India and National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) developed for showcasing and disseminating all educational e-resources including textbooks, audio, video, periodicals, and a variety of other print and non-print materials.
National Achievement Survey for Class X
The National Achievement Survey for Class X has been undertaken for the first time by MHRD. A summary report on the National Achievement Survey (NAS) Class X was submitted by NCERT to the Ministry on 4th January, 2016. The survey investigates student achievement in five subjects: English, Mathematics, Social Science, Science and Modern Indian Language. The test has been administered in 33 States and Union Territories after a scientific and robust process of sample design, test development and translation, with rigorous adherence to technical procedures.
Kala Utsav
Kala Utsav is an initiative of MHRD to promote Arts (Music, Theatre, Dance, Visual Arts and Crafts) in education by nurturing and showcasing the artistic talent of school students at secondary stage in the country, and it is also a platform to bring arts to the centre stage in an inclusive environment.
Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan
Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan was launched on 9th July 2015 to focus on Science and Mathematics. Under this, training of 1.04 lakh Science and Mathematics teacher, Math and Science Kit, excursion trip to science centers and Museum for students, special teaching on science and mathematics, science exhibition at district level, teaching of Vedic mathematics etc has been included under RMSA. During the current financial year 2016-17, an amount of Rs. 157.31 crore has been approved for the RAA Project on Science & Mathematics.
(viii) National Award for Teachers: Using ICT for Innovation in Education
Under the ICT in Schools, to promote computer enabled learning and usage of ICT in teaching in Government and Government aided Secondary and Higher Secondary Schools has provision for instituting the National Award for innovative use of ICT to motivate the Teachers and Teacher Educators for innovative use of ICT in teaching-learning.
The National Award for Teachers using ICT for innovation in education for the 2015 was given away to the 11 teachers along with the National Teacher Award on Teachers Day, 2016.
Seema Darshan
It is an initiative to provide an opportunity for the children to experience the border environment and to foster patriotism among the students. Ministry of HRD in collaboration with Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India has organized “Seema Darshan” for students from Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas during 22nd-26th January, 2016 during which students visited Akhnoor and Attari Borders. The Phase-II of Seema Darshan was organized in the month of June 2016 during which two batches of students visited Dharchula between 14th-21st June 2016 and Nathu-La during 14th-19th June 2016.
Swachh Vidyalaya Initiative
The Swachh Vidyalaya initiative was a collaborative effort of all the Central Government which provided funding through Centrally sponsored schemes of Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan, Swachh Bharat Kosh, and the States and Union Territories in partnership with 64 Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and 11 Private Corporate.
At the time of launch of the initiative, the gap in availability of functional toilets in all government schools was assessed and interventions were planned based on the assessment to ensure that every child had access to a gender segregated toilet facility. 4,17,796 toilets were constructed/made functional in 2,61,400 schools in a period of one year up to 15th August, 2015.
Swachhtam Vidyalaya and Harit Vidyalaya
In order to emphasize upon clean and green environment in Kendriya Vidyalayas, ‘Swachhtam Vidyalaya’ and ‘Harit Vidyalaya’ Awards have been instituted by Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan from the session 2016-17 at regional level with running trophies and cash awards.
Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN)
GIAN is aimed at tapping the talent pool of scientists and entrepreneurs, internationally to encourage their engagement with the institutes of Higher Education in India so as to augment the country’s existing academic resources, accelerate the pace of quality reform, and elevate India’s scientific and technological capacity to global excellence.
Under the scheme of Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) in Higher Education so far, (780) courses have been approved, of which (503) courses have been completed. This is the biggest ever collaboration with the foreign academics in the Country in a period of one year.
Impacting Research Innovation and Technology (IMPRINT) India
IMPRINT INDIA is a Pan-IIT and IISc joint initiative to develop a roadmap for research to solve major engineering and technology challenges in ten technology domains relevant to India. IMPRINT INDIA aims at direct research in the premier institutions into areas of social relevance.
Under this, 10 domains have been identified which could substantially impact the living standards of the rural areas: (1) Health care technology, (2) Energy security, (3) Rural urban housing design, (4) Nano technology, (5) Water/river system, (6) Advanced materials, (7) Computer science and ICT, (8) Manufacturing technology, (9) Advanced security and (10) Environment/climate change.
The research in each of these areas is being coordinated by one IIT. More than 2600 research proposals have been submitted by scientists in the the priority area of these domains. These have been examined by eminent scientists and 892 proposals have been shortlisted for consideration. http://imprint-india.org/ and 259 proposals for Rs. 595.89 Cr have been approved for implementation.
Uchchtar Aavishkar Abhiyaan
The Uchhatar Avishkar Yojana (UAY) was launched to promote industry-specific need-based research so as to keep up the competitiveness of the Indian industry in the global market. All the IITs have been encouraged to work with the industry to identify areas where innovation is required and come up with solutions that could be brought up to the commercialization level. Under the UAY, it is proposed to invest Rs. 250 crores every year on identified projects proposed by IITs, provided the Industry contributes 25% of the project cost. For the year 2016-17, (92) projects for Rs. 285.15 Cr have been approved for implementation.
National Institutional Ranking Framework
The first ever ‘India Rankings 2016’ have been announced on 4th April 2016. In the very first year of its operation, more than 3,500 institutions have participated in the ranking exercise. This is a great beginning considering that established agencies like QS work with data from about 1,000 institutions annually. Ministry of Human Resource Development has launched national Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) on 29th September 2015. Under this system, institutions of higher education would be annually ranked based on objective and verifiable criteria.
The ranking framework evaluates each institution on 5 broad parameters, namely:
· Teaching/learning resources,
· Research,
· Graduation outcomes,
· Outreach/Inclusive nature and
· Public perception.
The NIRF has been made available separately for Engineering, Management Pharmaceutical, Architecture, Humanities, Law and for universities as a whole.
The NIRF would allow ranking based on credible and verified data while capturing the major performance parameters. Participation in the NIRF would help the Indian educational institutions participate in the world rankings with greater confidence. The ranks were released in the four categories of institutions mainly, universities, engineering, management and pharmacy.
Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA)
The Cabinet has considered and approved the proposal of establishment of HEFA in its meeting dated 12th September 2016. In order to give a big push for building up robust higher educational institutions, the Cabinet has approved creation of the Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) with Government equity of Rs. 1,000 Cr. The creation of HEFA will enable major investments for creation of high quality infrastructure in premier educational institutions. The HEFA would be formed as a SPV within a PSU Bank/Government-owned-NBFC (Promoter). It would leverage the equity to raise up to Rs. 20,000 Cr for funding projects for infrastructure and development of world class Labs in IITs/IIMs/NITs and such other institutions.
The HEFA would finance the academic and research infrastructure projects through a 10-yr loan. The principal portion of the loan will be repaid through the ‘internal accruals’ of the institutions. The Govt would service the interest portion through the regular Plan assistance.
All the Centrally Funded Higher Educational Institutions would be eligible for joining as members of the HEFA. For joining as members, the Institution should agree to escrow a specific amount from their internal accruals to HEFA for a period of 10 years. This secured future flows would be securitised by the HEFA for mobilising the funds from the market. Each member institution would be eligible for a credit limit as decided by HEFA based on the amount agreed to be escrowed from the internal accruals.
The HEFA would be jointly promoted by the identified Promoter and the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) with an authorized capital of Rs.2,000 crore. The Government equity would be Rs.1,000 crore. The HEFA would also mobilize CSR funds from PSUs/Corporates, which would in turn be released for promoting research and innovation in these institutions on grant basis.
Government of India has appointed M/S Canara Bank as Promoter for the HEFA and it is expected that the HEFA’s operations would begin by April 2017.
National Academic Depository
In pursuance with Government’s vision of Digital India and Commitment in the Budget Speech of 2016-17, to establish a Digital Depository for school learning certificates, degrees and other academic awards of Higher Education Institutions, on the pattern of a Securities Depository, Union Cabinet accorded its approval for establishment and operationalisation of a National Academic Depository (NAD) on 27th October 2016.
The NAD would help in validating the authenticity of these awards and ensuring their safe storage and easy retrieval. Maintaining academic awards in a digital depository would provide benefit to educational institutions, students and employers by enabling online access and retrieval; eliminate fraudulent practices such as forging of certificates and mark-sheets and facilitate validation. NAD would be available online 24X7 access to the stakeholders.
NAD shall maintain the authenticity, integrity and confidentiality of its database. It will also train and facilitate academic institutions/boards/ eligibility assessment bodies to efficiently lodge academic awards in the database.
The NAD would be rolled out throughout the country in 2017-18. The NAD is operationalised by NSDL Database Management Limited (NDML) and CDSL Ventures, Limited (CVL) – two of the wholly owned subsidiaries of the Depositories registered under Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Act, 1992.
UGC Initiatives
Women Candidates and Persons with Disability (more than 40% disability) may be allowed a relaxation of one year for M.Phil and two years for Ph.D. In addition, women candidates may be provided Maternity Leave/Child Care Leave once in the entire duration of M.Phil/Ph.D. for up to 240 days.
SWAYAM PRABHA
The SWAYAM PRABHA has been conceived as the project for telecasting high quality educational programmes through 32 DTH channels on 24X7 basis. Every day, there will be new content of at least (4) hours which would be repeated 6 times a day, allowing the student to choose the time of his convenience.
SWAYAM
SWAYAM is an indigenous (Made in India) IT Platform for hosting the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) with a capacity to revolutionize the education system by providing best quality education covering all the subjects and courses being taught in the high schools, colleges and universities in the Country using the IT system to the students even in the remotest corner of the Country.
NATIONAL DIGITAL LIBRARY
A Project titled “Development of National Digital Library of India, towards building a National Asset” has been sanctioned to IIT, Kharagpur under NMEICT.
The objective is to provide access to the knowledge repository in terms of books, e-learning material, encyclopedia, journals, monographs, reviews, research work, articles, Acts and other knowledge material etc. for the benefit of learners/professionals/scholars and other interested people especially located at as also to overcome the constraints of time and also finances.
BHUVAN – RUSA PORTAL
The National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has developed a mobile application for uploading geo-tagged photographs and associated details captured by the educational institutions, on Bhuvan-RUSA portal as a part of implementation of Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) funded works. This application for geo-tagging of institutions under RUSA is a location based service.
DIGITAL ISBN
Minister of Human Resource Development has launched ISBN portal on 7th April, 2016 to facilitate authors and publishers to register ISBN online. The Raja Rammohun National Agency for ISBN under the Ministry of Human Resource Development through the ISBN portal aims to streamline the entire process and makes it user friendly.
All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE)
It covers all the Institutions in the country engaged in imparting of higher education. Data is being collected on several parameters such as teachers, student enrolment, programmes, examination results, education finance and infrastructure. Indicators of educational development such as Institution Density, Gross Enrolment Ratio, Pupil-teacher ratio, Gender Parity Index, Per Student Expenditure will also be calculated from the data collected through AISHE. These are useful in making informed policy decisions and research for development of education sector.
Vittiya Saksharata Abhiyan (VISAKA)
Pursuant to the Prime Minister’s appeal to youth in ‘Mann Ki Baat’ for creating awareness among people about digital economy and cashless modes of transactions, Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Shri Prakash Javadekar launched ‘Vittiya Saksharata Abhiyan’ on 1st December 2016.
The purpose of the `Vittiya Saksharta Abhiyan’ is to actively engage the youth/ students of Higher Education Institutions to encourage and motivate all payers and payees to use a digitally enabled cashless economic system for transfer of funds. Ministry of Human Resource Development views the institutions of higher education in the country, faculty members and students to take the lead and act as engines of this transformational shift.
National Initiative for Design Innovation
Open Design School: ODS would ensure maximum reach of design education and practice in the country through various collaborative education programmes (linking a broad spectrum of educational institutes), and free sharing of its courseware through the internet. The proposal for setting up of ODS was approved in the Sixth PAB held on 2nd September 2016.
National Design Innovation Network: – NDIN would be a network of design schools that work closely with other leading institutions of industry and academia, NGOs and government to further reach and access of design education, to promote design innovation in all sectors, and to develop wide ranging collaborative projects between institutions. The proposal for setting up of NDIN was approved in the Sixth PAB held on 2nd September 2016.
DIC status till December, 2016: – Seventeen DIC‘s has been established so far out of which one DIC, that is NEHU, Shillong was approved in the Sixth PAB held on 2nd September, 2016. The already established DIC’s are as follows: –
IIT Mumbai, IIT Delhi, IIT Guwahati, IISc Bangalore, University of Delhi, IIT Bhubaneshwar, IIT BHU, University of Rajasthan, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Rani Durgawati University, SPA, Delhi, IIT Kanpur, Panjab University, JNTU Kakinada, IIT Hyderabad and IIT Hyderabad and NEHU, Shillong.
Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP)
Initiation of the Third Phase of of TEQIP has been approved by Cabinet on 12th September 2016. The Project will be implemented as a ‘Central Sector Scheme’ with total project outlay of Rs. 3600 crore. However, the project would be initiated with a cost of Rs. 2660 crore, with the possibility of additional financing of Rs. 940 crore at later stage. Out of the Rs.2660 crore, the Central share will be Rs.1330 crore and external assistance from the World Bank through International Development Association (IDA) Credit of Rs. 1330 crore.
