National Policy on ICT in School Education

“One thing is sure. The schools of the next century are going to be very different from the ones which we knew…We have to rethink what a school is, conceptually, and why it exists, for what and for whom?” Alex Fung – Keynote address – Using ICT as a strategic tool in Education

1. Introduction:

What is ICT?

The term, information and communication technologies (ICT), refers to forms of technology that are used to transmit, store, create, display, share or exchange information by electronic means. This broad definition of ICT includes such technologies as radio, television, video, DVD, telephone (both fixed line and mobile phones), satellite systems, computer and network hardware and software; as well as the equipment and services associated with these technologies, such as videoconferencing, e-mail and blogs.

2. Background

The world is experiencing a revolution in the dissemination of knowledge and in the enhancement of instruction, through the advancement of information and communication technologies (ICT). ICT have the potential to enhance information distribution, teaching and managing of educational services and make them affordable and available anytime and anywhere. ICT also have great potential for facilitating the fulfillment of educational objectives and for enhancing solutions to educational problems. For example, ICT can expand the reach and quality of delivery systems and empower instructors to become better teachers.

Recognizing the advantages that ICT can bring in terms of meeting demands for improved education, educational authorities are under pressure to provide every classroom (if not every student) with ICT equipment, including computers and their accessories and connectivity to the Internet. Experience is proving, however, that acquiring the technologies themselves, no matter how hard and expensive, may be the easiest and cheapest step in a series of steps towards utilizing these technologies to improve.

It is the integration of these technologies into education systems that is proving most difficult. The GOI has launched the EDUSAT into space to cater to education. However, these large expenditures in education need to be effectively translated into gains in classroom teaching, improvement of learning achievement of children and teacher effectiveness through appropriate use of ICT for training and capacitation of these teachers. In the light of the fact that hardware is in place, there is a need for strategic planning on appropriate utilization of the hardware through a national policy that should inform state initiatives and institutional endeavours working in this area of education.

For taking forward initiatives of this nature and magnitude, it is important that it is implemented in a mission mode, to converge with Centrally Sponsored Schemes like the Sarva Shilsha Abhiyan, National Literacy Mission, etc. Further an Integrated Approach that analyses, plans and implements all aspects of the educational process to achieve holistic learning will strengthen the Mission

3. Objectives:

The major objective of the Mission on ICT in Education would be of leveraging the knowledge resources in the country through appropriate ICT mechanisms and tools; to obtain and maintain a competitive edge in the world. The aim would be to promote education, training and life long learning to build the human capital of the country through various educational technology interventions. The specific objectives in relation to the “Integrated Approach” are detailed below.

4. Proposed Solution

The focus and priority of the Mission should be to define and implement an “Integrated Approach” that would help develop and implement innovative and scalable solutions in the education field. Planners, policy makers, government authorities and the private sector would have to work together to achieve the goals set out. It is important that there is involvement of large players in the private sector space who are involved in content generation and providing innovative applications in ICT to ensure that learnings from that sector inform the mainstream education.

IL&FS ETS thus proposes that the mission works on the framework of a Public Private Partnership (PPP) in Education to bring out innovative solutions in the use of ICT with an Integrated Approach. We firmly believe that this “Integrated Approach” will bring about the desired paradigm shift in the teaching-learning process.

An “Integrated Approach” to address all the components of ICT in Education would be as follows:

The specific objectives of the “Integrated Approach” to achieve holistic learning would be as follows:

(a) Networking – Creating Information Network for education by using existing infrastructure and hardware. The focus has to be on using the existing networks between all the State and National Institutions. Tapping the networks between organizations at the Regional, District and Sub-district levels is also a necessity. The Common Service Center networks established by GOI (with IL&FS ETS as the National Programme Management Agency) will also enable in widening the reach and access of these knowledge networks. The key action areas for this component – a) Identifying the existing networks, b) Defining the links for use as “knowledge networks” and c) Identifying low-cost access devices and d) Using Group learning ICT tools is essential to make the knowledge networks robust. Last mile delivery mechanisms need to be analysed and implemented to close the information loop.

(b) Academic Resources- providing academic resource support and advisory support to ICT in Education endeavours in India – The focus for the mission should be to partner with institutions and organizations that can support the entire intervention at all levels. Organisations should provide academic support in the form of pedagogy, instructional design, and technical specifications – for preparing and delivering the ICT materials. Organisations should also help the mission to develop professional development programmes for teachers. These programmes should focus upon:

(a) Connection to student learning
(b) Hands-on technology use
(c) Variety of learning experiences
(d) Curriculum-specific applications
(e) Teachers as facilitators and their active participation
(f) Ongoing process
(g) Sufficient time
(h) Technical assistance
(i) Administrative support
(j) Adequate resources
(k) Built-in Evaluation
(l) Knowledge Resource Centre – Creating content to address issues of classroom teaching at different levels, vocational education and skills training, teacher training, educational administration, hardware and content for Virtual Lab creation. Organizations with experience and competence in creating meaningful and relevant solutions across sectors keeping in mind language, context and cultural variations will prove to be an asset to the Mission. Another aspect which is of utmost importance with reference to the Knowledge Resource Center is the formulation of standards at a national level for technology based learning and content development. The pedagogy of ICT should also be researched and focus studies need to be conducted to create awareness in all stakeholders.

(m) Interactive Knowledge Portal for hosting innovative materials created for ICT in education – The Knowledge portal can act as a central repository for content and information exchange amongst the education fraternity. The focus here should be to have online support for (a) students to access supplementary materials to enhance mainstream curriculum and (b) for teacher capacity building – with new methods being shared by experts and innovative uses of ICT being shared by teachers with teachers. Submitted by IL&FS ETS Page 4 of 4

(n) Providing digital literacy to all citizens through appropriate use of existing infrastructure and creating newer innovative centers for it. The programme could be implemented in two phases. Phase I – one person in each family to be included. In Phase II the programme could be upscaled through the Common Service Centers (CSCs) to ensure that members in every family are digital literates.

(o) Impact analysis and researches to assess the impact of interventions in enhancing the quality of education at different levels - A set of indicators like – support (training time for teachers and principals, budgets, plans), input (student-computer ratio, connectivity, educational software), usage (subjects using ICT, percentage of students and teachers using ICT etc), and output (students / teachers using ICT effectively) will have to be formulated to make in-flight corrections and future planning for the various interventions.

(p) Quality Assurance- ensuring quality assurance at every level by maintaining strict quality controls – Defining the quality parameters for each intervention and then a strict adherence to the same along with regular reviews and audits will help in maintaining the specified standards of all the interventions and programmes under the ICT Mission.

(q) Research in Innovative and new Technology to appropriately benefit from emerging technologies and their applications in education and training. Partnerships with organizations that are into continual research for furthering technology usage in education would be imperative. For e.g. _using Mobile communications to solve student queries or provide practice examples or the use of Immersive Technologies in concept building.

Note – Immersive Technologies are Virtual environments that provide the sensory experience of being in a computer generated, simulated space. Immersive digital echnology combines elements of enhanced multimedia: spatially-placed sound and 3-D video and graphics, plus technology capable of conveying a sense of touch, texture and temperature. It is thoroughly interactive and customizable, a virtual world that extends the real world with simulated experience.

In conclusion

The proposed solution is an “Integrated Approach” to build a road map for using ICT In Education. IL&FS ETS proposes that this be implemented in a PPP mode with all the stakeholders committed to the “Integrated Approach”. The approach will start by creating Awareness and then linking the networks to give defined Access. This will lead to Participation from the target groups – the teachers, students, and education functionaries and private entities. This in turn will lead to generation of various kinds of Content - ‘For the users’ and ‘By the users’. The system will further help in sharing of ideas, capacity building and for proposing future plans for the ICT Mission. Thus the “Integrated Approach” will continue to make a meaningful difference and will help us as a nation to realize our dream of being key players in the “Knowledge Economy” of the 21st century.

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