DanielThe lockdown across the Nation has brought the country to a standstill. People and students are staying inside their homes as a precautionary measure. Following this, surge of learners on the digital platforms of education is observed. As per the HRD Ministry, the digital education initiatives have recorded a boom in number of users and HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank claimed that the access to the National Online Education Platform SWAYAM and other Digital platforms has multiplied dynamically following the lockdown.
Earlier, the courses on National Online Education Platform SWAYAM were time bound and students needed to register in advance. Now SWAYAM courses can be accessed by anyone without any charge. Over 50,000 people have already accessed SWAYAM since March 23.
SWYAM offers around 1900 courses which can be accessed by learners in more than 60 Nations. The Education portals of NCERT like Diksha, e-pathasala, NROER and the other ICT initiatives like Robotics education (e-Yantra), Open Source Software for Education (FOSSEE) are also observing a huge traffic and access rates.
National Book Trust has also agreed for free downloads of various titles last week. Online education is seen as a savior for learners at this critical time when the Coronavirus outbreak is severely damaging the geographies.
COVID-19 has offered an opportunity to drive deep impactful changes in learning sector. Progressive educational institutions are constantly rising and emerging as examples of generous leadership. In wake of the current situation, a number of international online education players are also making access to their courses free for students across the globe. Today, businesses, economies, nations and human lives are staggering due to COVID-19 impact. Globally, the education of around 300 million students is disrupted, however online education is helping them to be on the track.
