Monday, February 14, 2011

Subcommittee formed to oversee implementation of National Mission on Education through Information & Communication Technology

GANGTOK, 12 Feb: The State Government has constituted a State-level subcommittee under the chairmanship of the Human Resource Development Department Secretary to oversee proper implementation of the ambitious centrally-sponsored-scheme (CSS), “National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT)” in the state.
As per a notification issued recently by the HRD Department, other members of the said subcommittee are Vice Chancellors of Sikkim University and Sikkim Manipal University, the BSNL [Broad-Band] General Manager, Sikkim Government College [Tadong] Principal and with the Director NIT, Calicut, Mentor Director, NIT, as Convener Member.

The “National Mission on Education through ICTs”, a scheme introduced by the Government of India, aims at becoming a major intervention to increase enrolment and ensure access and equity in Higher Education institutions across India.
The scheme seeks to “leverage” the potential of Information & Communication Technology in providing high quality personalized and interactive knowledge modules over the internet for all learners in higher education institutions in “Any-time, Any-where mode”.
Mooted in January 2009, the NMEICT has been pegged as a “major intervention” in enhancing the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in Higher Education by 5 percentage points during the Eleventh Five Year Plan period and in ensuring access and equity in Higher Education, as also recommended by the Oversight Committee and the National Knowledge Commission (NKC).
The Mission has two major components: (a) content generation and (b) connectivity along with provision for access devices for institutions and learners.
The State-level subcommittee here, as per the HRDD notification, is required to “look into the progress of work and monitor the connectivity being provided through BSNL” and also coordinate efforts and stipulation of action point of various stakeholders, including holding of workshops of teachers of colleges and universities to “enthuse them to participate in the mission activities and use of facilities”.
The reference points set for the subcommittee are admittedly ambitious and it remains to be seen how effectively this subcommittee works together and then there will be the even greater challenge of getting BSNL to deliver stable connectivity and bandwidth.
As per the notification, the Director, NIT, Calicut, as Convener of the Sub-Committee will also provide administrative support. The expenditure incurred on meetings of the Sub-Committee will be reimbursed by the Mission Secretariat of NMEICT.
To get an idea on how grand the plans are, the Union HRD Ministry has projected the scheme as one which “seeks to bridge the digital divide i.e. the gap in the skills to use computing devices, for the purpose of teaching and learning among urban and rural teachers in the Higher Education domain, and empower those, who have hitherto remained untouched by the digital revolution and have not been able to join the mainstream of the knowledge economy.”
The scheme, “plans to focus on appropriate pedagogy for e-learning, providing facility of performing experiments through virtual laboratories, on-line testing and certification, on-line availability of teachers to guide and mentor learners, utilization of available Education Satellite (EduSAT) and Direct to Home (DTH) platform, training and empowerment of teachers to effectively use new methods of teaching and learning, etc.”
The Mission is required to work in “close cooperation and collaboration with other missions such as the National Translation Mission, Vocational Education Mission, National Knowledge Network and Scheme of ICT @ Schools etc., to avoid any duplication and attain synergy”.
Needless to add, these are challenging tasks which can operate only through inter-departmental and multi-disciplinary approach if it is to create high quality e-content for the target groups.
The Mission, when it was mooted in 2009, was to simultaneously extend computer infrastructure and connectivity to over 18,000 colleges in the country including each of the departments of 419 universities/ deemed universities and institutions of national importance on a single-point rental basis through the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), “in a manner that would permit their seamless interaction with a integrated National Knowledge Network”.
Content development, as per the original plans, was to “utilize the Wikipedia type of collaborative platform” under the supervision of a content advisory committee responsible for vetting the content. Interactivity and problem-solving approach would be addressed through “Talk to a Teacher” segment.
The Mission will also have a component of Teacher Empowerment through proper training and digital literacy of teachers to be able to use the e-contents.
The Mission is to have a three-tier committee system to monitor and guide its functioning. The apex National Committee is chaired by the Minister of Human Resource Development.

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