Every classroom needs ‘Digital Board’ – Prakash Javadekar
Pune December 19, 2018: “Education is not only government’s responsibility, citizens should also equally participate. And if this happens the outcome comes out to be fruitful. In 60’s there was a slogan ‘Operation Blackboard. But moving forward in this technological era we should transform ourselves. ‘Today we need a digital board in each classroom’. As the government has cheapen the prices of LED Lights similarly we government will cheapen the prize of digital boards too,” said Prakash Javadekar, HRD Minister Government of India at a special event organised by Rotary District 3131 where Rotary India Literacy Mission (RILM) entered in an MoU with the Government of Maharashtra for implementing a special project titled as eSiksha today at Dr. Bhanuben Nanavati College of Architecture for Women.
Dignitaries like Nand Kumar, Principal Secretary for School Education and Sports, Abhay Gadgil, District Governor, Rotary District 3131, Shekhar Mehta, Chairman, RILM, Kalyan Banerjee, Past President, Rotary International, Sudin Apte, President, Rotary Pune Pristine Club and other Rotarians were present on the occasion.
Rotary is now focused on new thrust areas one of which is Literacy. To strengthen its efforts in Literacy, RILM with eSiksha is planning to implement Digital learning program for installing 37000 E-Learning facilities in 18500 Government Schools in Maharashtra. Shekhar Mehta, Chairman, RILM, said “In my history of 35 years I have never seen a more historic moment than this. And the impact of this will further touch 40 Lakh children where the value of program is 75 Crore. In next 2 years, we want to reach every school in India and will ensure that the entire process will be transparent to the viewers.”
He further added that in order to move fast to make India completely literate and to provide quality education to every child; the path is going through the technological approach. There can be nothing better than this if the root is done through technology. “In coming 5 years I see the entire education system changing because of technology. We would like to be preferred partner of Government on Literacy programs,” Mehta affirmed.
Nand Kumar exclaimed, “In Maharashtra there has been digital revolution. Out of 66000 schools in Maharashtra, 63458 schools have one classroom digitalised. From 3 Lakh teachers, 160000 teachers have declared themselves as ‘Tech-Savvy’.” He further said that it is not a government program but the program for citizens.
Abhay Gadgil, said, “Literacy is a thrust area of Rotary and we continue to do concerted efforts to make India 100% literate and improve quality of education. With Rotarians Pramod Jejurikar and Kishor Lula being the force behind spreading literacy in Maharashtra it is indeed an honour to be able to launch this initiative in Pune by our District on behalf of all Rotary Districts in Maharashtra.”
Understanding the enormity of the task of ‘eShiksha’, RILM have decided to adopt and implement it through T-E-A-C-H where T stands for Teacher Support, E for E-learning, A for Adult Literacy, C for Child Development and H for Happy Schools, a strategy of meaningful co-operation and partnership with Government, Corporate, National/State specific Non-Governmental organizations as well as international organizations working in various segments of this countrywide endeavour.
RILM has been working concept of Digital School with goal of improving quality, bringing standardization in teaching, and exposing students – especially from government and local body schools – to information technology and eLearning. To promote this initiative there were awards given to various clubs for their efforts in Literacy mission. Out of which, R C Pune Metro took home 1st Prize for Adult Literacy, R C Pune Pride bagged 2nd Prize for Teacher’s Learning, For e-learning R C Pune North won 3rd Prize.
