INITIATIVESOF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY IN SCHOOL AND TEACHER EDUCATION

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has already been infused in teaching learning process and it tends to improve learning, motivate and engage the learners, allow them to explore and collaborate. The new technologies like notebook, tablets, i-pads, mobiles etc. have brought the revolution in the area of education. And these devices is being used by the most important stakeholders of education i.e. teachers and students, who are directly implementing the desired changes through technology. If technology usage is appropriate then it can bring a paradigm shift. National Curriculum Framework (NCF- 2005, p49) has mentioned, “ICT is an important tool for bridging social divides. ICT should be used in such a way that it becomes an opportunity equalizer by providing information, communication and computing resources in remote areas”.But our country is still struggling to embrace technology fully by every citizen across the nation. For making vast use of technology by every citizen of India, Government of India has launched ‘Digital India Programme’ on 1^st July, 2015 with a vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. And for university education 12^th Five Year Plan (2012-17), focussed that all universities shall be enabled to use technology to its fullest extent to offer programmes both through face-to-face mode and through technology-enabled means.

For the adaptation of technology in education, pre and in service teacher education should also be acquainted with the new tools of technology. The teachers at school level and also the future teachers play important role to deal with these demands of society.As per Teacher Education Planning Handbook (2015-2016) “Technology in Teacher Education is to be actively integrated in all TE institutions. Satellite transmission communication, content development, MIS, interactive and self-paced learning should be the focus areas for bridging the divide digitally”.And according to Guide for Implementation of the ICT@Schools Scheme and Model Bid Document Department of School Education and Literacy Ministry of Human Resource Development Government of India (2010), the State should define and build teacher competencies in ICT. To build these ICT competencies among teachers, a national policy on ICT in school education (2013) has been framed for the school education system which has highlighted the importance of ICT for teacher education also. Though ICT has been introduced with the scheme of Educational Technology (ET) started in 1972 during the fourth Five Year Plan. In continuance to the initiative, various landmarks in the area of ICT were present in both school and higher education, that had make the teachers enough competent to use computers in their teaching process. Presently new initiatives have been undertaken by GOI during 12^th FYP which will help the stakeholders of teacher education and the school education to get acquainted with the innovative technologies.

·         National Repository of Open Educational Resources(NROER)- It was launched in 2013, having the e-content in various form of audio, video, interactives and images for school education in different languages.

·         E-Pathshala- A web portal which hosts educational resources for Students, Teachers, Parents, researchers and educators, is available through especially developed mobile app interface on Android, IOS and windows platforms for wider access and contains textbooks and other e-books as E-Pub 3.0 and Flipbooks in English, Hindi and Urdu. 

·         Shaala Siddhi- It is a comprehensive instrument for school evaluation which enables the schools to evaluate their performance in more focused and strategic manner to facilitate them to make professional judgement for continuous improvement. The web-portal of the framework will help all schools to assess themselves and the results can be seen by all enabling them to provide feedback.

·         Saransh-is a tool which allows the schools to identify areas of improvement in students, teachers and curriculum to facilitate and implement change. The platform is presently available for classes 9th to 12th and provides a comprehensive overview of standard 10th performance since 2007 and standard 12th performance since 2009 till the current academic session. Presently, results of CBSE are available on this portal/app. 

·         e-basta- This project has created a framework to make school books accessible in form of e-books that can be read through laptops and tablets and for this e-pathshala has been launched in November 2015.

·         I-share-Hon’ble HRM in 2015 announced the initiative of “I Share for India” inviting interested groups / agencies / organizations / community to participate in the creation of educational resources pool for School and Teacher Education. Under the initiative, mobile enabled Apps / Web based ICT supplementary resources of school education /teacher education in any Indian language may be contributed.

·         Study Webs of Active learning for Young Aspiring Mind (SWAYAM) will offer online courses to citizens of our country free of cost. It is India’s first MOOC platform specifically designed to benefit students from remote area, working professionals as well as college dropouts. Students will get ‘Verified Certificate’ after successfully completion of courses. It will allow innovating and collaborating and taking highly specialized courses form highly reputed universities around the world and bring it to the students free of cost. 

·         E –basha is for development and dissemination of digital content in local Indian languages for non-English population.

·         Shaladarpan- The objective of this project is to provide services based on School Management Systems to Students, Parents and Communities. The School Information Services includes School Profile Management, Student Profile Management, Employee Information, Student Attendance, Leave Management, Report Cards, Curriculum Tracking Custom, SMS Alerts for Parents / Administrators on student & teacher attendance.

·         Shodhganga-A Reservoir of Indian Electronic Theses and Dissertations, that enables online submission of theses and dissertations by research scholars.

·         Shodhgangotri-that enables research scholars to submit approved synopsis of research proposal submitted to the university.

·         Prashikshak- Teacher education portal for District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs) has been launched by the Hon’ble Minister of Human Resource and Development, Smt. SmritiZubinIrani on 30th June, 2016. Its objective is to help DIETs make informed decisions about their institutes, compare the performance of their institute against other DIETs in the state/country as well as help aspiring teachers make informed decisions about which institute to join.

MS Deepty Gupta (B.ED)

      Assistant Professor, Department of Education, JEMTEC