With schools in Jammu and Kashmir being shut for extended periods, the Centre wants to put information and communication technology to wide use to ensure the completion of the school curriculum.
A road map for school education in the State — a collaborative effort of the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development and the Education Department of Jammu and Kashmir — has pushed for the increased use of ICT.
“Schools remaining shut for extended periods and not finishing school curriculum is one of the key problems in the State; 41.53% (5,465 schools) of government primary schools did not complete even 200 working days in 2015-16. It is critical to ensure the completion of curriculum in schools for the State,” says the text of the road map for transforming school education in the State.
Distance education
“Provide ICT-supported education at doorstep to support teaching-learning process. Use National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) to introduce distance education and facilities for two-way interaction with teachers in the NIOS studios,” it says.
It suggests the use of either SWAYAM – an IT platform that facilitates hosting of all the courses taught in classrooms from 9th class till post-graduation to be accessed anywhere and at any time – or SWAYAM Prabha – a group of 32 DTH channels to telecast educational programmes round the clock – for the purpose in Jammu and Kashmir.
“MHRD has SWAYAM Platform where Interactive content of Secondary and Sr. Secondary, designed and developed by NIOS is placed and this can be assessed by the learners from the valley – requirement internet connectivity, i.e., open internet access,” it says.
