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358 Economic Survey 2021-22

10.31 The access to education, school drop outs, learning gaps especially for children from
marginalized communities have always remained major challenges in education. When schools
were closed during pandemic, online learning became the most safe and prominent mode of
learning. As per the ASER study, existing digital divide, however, exacerbated the equity in access
to education. Although, the availability of smartphones has increased from 36.5 percent in 2018 to
67.6 percent in 2021, students in lower grade found it difficult to do online activities compared to
higher-grade students. Non-availability of smartphones, non-availability of phone for child to use,
and network or connectivity issues were the challenges faced by children (ASER study).

10.32 Though Government data to corroborate these observations is not available, steps
have been taken by the Government to minimise the adverse impact of the pandemic on the
education system to address the concerns raised through private studies undertaken during
the pandemic period. Almost all enrolled children have textbooks for their current grade
(91.9 percent). This proportion has increased over the last year, for children enrolled in both
government and private schools. Also, 46.4 percent children in reopened schools received
learning materials/activities as compared to 39.8 percent children whose schools had not
reopened. Further, to overcome the challenge of digital divide and to continue learning during
pandemic, Government took measures such as distribution of textbooks at homes, telephonic
guidance by teachers, online and digital content through TV and radio, TARA interactive
Chatbot, activity-based learning through the Alternate Academic Calendar released by National
Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) (Box 2).

Box 2: Major Initiatives for Students during COVID-19 pandemic

l PM e-VIDYA: Launched in May 2020, PM e-Vidya unifies all efforts related to digital/online/
on-air education to enable coherent multi-mode access to education. The four components of PM
e-VIDYA for school education are:

l One Nation, One Digital Education (DIKSHA) Platform;
l One Class, One TV channel through Swayam Prabha TV Channels;
l Extensive use of Radio, Community Radio and Podcasts; and
For the differently-abled: One DTH channel is being operated specifically for hearing impaired
students in sign language. For visually and hearing-impaired students, study material has been
developed in Digitally Accessible Information System (DAISY) and in Sign Language; both are
available on the NIOS website/ YouTube. About 3,029 audiobook chapters have been developed
and uploaded on DIKSHA. Of the produced/recorded 602 videos, 490 textbook-based ISL videos
have been uploaded on DIKSHA. All 10,000 words of ISL dictionary have been uploaded on
DIKSHA, and is being updated with additional audio and text facilities.
l National Digital Education Architecture (NDEAR): The blueprint of NDEAR, a digital
infrastructure for Education, was launched on 29 July, 2021. It will be set up within the context
th
of a Digital-First Mindset where the Digital Architecture will not only support teaching and
learning activities but also educational planning, governance administrative activities of the
Centre and the States Union Territories. It will provide diverse education eco-system architecture
for development of digital infrastructure, a federated but inter-operable system that will ensure
autonomy of all stakeholders, especially States and UTs.