India News | Increase Internet Access to Prevent Digital Divide, Upgrade Skill of Teachers in

Chennai, Feb 14 (PTI) With the pandemic altering the education scenario, there is a need to increase access to internet especially in rural and remote areas to prevent a digital divide and also to upgrade teachers' skills in e-learning, Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu said on Monday.

Though the Central and State governments have taken measures to promote digital learning, it is important to ensure nil digital divide, he said. “To achieve this, we need to increase access to the internet, especially in rural areas and remote places,” the Vice-President said after inaugurating the Sports Centre and Open Educational Resource (OBR) at the National Institute of Technical Teachers Training & Research (NITTTR), Chennai.

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In a country like India with diversity and iniquities, inclusivity is at the heart of the educational experience, he said. “The mantra should be to embrace, engage, enlighten and empower,” he said. In addition to creating the facilities, it is important to upgrade the skills of teachers in e-learning. “This is where institutions like yours play a vital role by equipping them to be tech-savvy to meet local and global challenges,” the Vice-President said.

The NITTTR, the flagship project of Ministry of Education, enjoys a unique position in the academic landscape and was established to empower teachers, especially technical teachers. Over the past two years, over 60,000 learners enrolled themselves in eight modules of learning, he said.

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Describing teachers as the intellectual lifeline, who play a critical role in charting development, he said there was a need for them as learners and creators of knowledge - teachers who touch lives and seek to uplift them. “We need inspirational, transformational leaders in our classrooms, especially in rural India. Great teachers redefine the educational eco system and build the foundation for the progress," Naidu said.

As technical teachers, they must leverage technology towards fast-track development. In this context, the National Education Policy 2020 seeks to transform the education eco system and underline the importance of energising and motivating young faculty. It stresses on innovation apart from underscoring the need for faculty to be equipped with skills to design their own curricular and teaching strategies within the approved framework.

Teachers should adopt innovative strategies and their vision must address the important national and global challenges and opportunities in an intellectually vibrant, collaborative environment. Innovation must lend itself to application and must have a transformative impact on the ground, he said.

Complimenting the institute for having trained participants from 107 international countries, the Vice-President said NITTTR, Chennai, is involved in the development of a tri-lingual (English, Tamil and Hindi) dictionary for technical subjects. “I have always been highlighting the importance of imparting education in the mother tongue up to the primary or high school-level. It is my conviction and studies have also shown that learning the content in the mother tongue will result in better comprehension,” he said.

Quoting a report of World Bank, UNESCO and UNICEF, he said the pandemic has impacted education worldwide. The report said school closures affected girls, children from disadvantaged backgrounds, those living in rural areas, children with disabilities and children from ethnic minorities more than their peers. Teachers are the pivots of society. In the highest human traditions, they are personifications of divinity. "To match these ideals, teachers must realise the primacy of their role and perform it with a sense of national commitment," he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)