New Delhi, Feb 4: Much of daily life has been affected by the coronavirus. Virtual learning is the norm at many colleges and high schools, many extracurriculars have vanished and social lives have stalled for students complying with measures to stop the spread of COVID-19.

However, the Indian Govt has taken various steps in providing online education amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. These include PRAGYATA Guidelines on Digital Education, Internet access under Bharat NET scheme, etc.

Much emphasis on the availability of digital infrastructure, guideline briefs on various modes of digital education including an online mode that depends more on availability of the internet, partially online mode that utilizes the blended approach of digital technology and other offline activities, partial and offline mode that utilizes television and radio as a major medium of instruction of education.

Internet access under Bharat NET scheme has been made available to Govt institutions and to improve the internet connectivity in rural areas the CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd (CSC-SPV) of MEITY has been assigned the task of providing Fibre to the Home (FTTH) connectivity to the Government Institutions, including schools. This project is for providing Internet connection to Government schools in respective Gram Panchayats.

The states & UTs have been advised to Map the students’ school wise with their individual performance. Accordingly, the state governments have been directed to act based on the situation prevailing at every place to meet the demands of all students for providing them with the digital access required for learning digitally.

In order to enable online education benefit to the children of every category and teachers, Learning Enhancement Guidelines have been issued.

This information was given by the Union Minister for Education Ministry, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.