Govt to monetise free online education courses

With online education gaining traction and blended learning set to be the future, the government is looking to monetise its courses available on digital platform for free so far.

Education regulators have approved an internal proposal that says higher educational institutions should be asked to deposit 15% of the fee they collect from students for offering courses to the government scheme that promotes online courses and hosts them on a dedicated platform, according to official document and an official familiar with the development.

Authorities believe that such a move is necessary for the sustainability of the scheme called ‘Swayam’ and its internal board has suggested the monetization move. The University Grants Commission or UGC, in a recent meeting, has ratified the suggestions, said the official requesting anonymity.

“The commission ratified…decision of the Swayam board to ask each recognised for offering programs on Swayam portal, to pay 15% of the fees collected from the students to the Swayam scheme…and to request Swayam board to make it cost effective platform for HEIs (higher educational institutions)," the UGC meeting details underlined. Mint has seen a copy of this decision.

Some 2,000 courses on management, technology, engineering, artificial intelligence, humanities, pure science and commerce streams are currently available on the Swayam platform prepared by top educational institutions, including Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). Like learning course creation is a continuous process and with a renewed focus on e-learning, online course creation will get a boost in a post covid-19 period. Currently, millions of students and professionals are accessing such courses for free.

“Going forward education will be a mix of online and offline mode. The government through top institutions is creating hundreds of courses and it has a cost. A portion of the money that universities charge their students should come to the scheme to make it a viable proposition in the long run," said the official.

As per official data, in the last couple of years, the union government had allocated over ₹320 crore for creation of such courses apart from other expenditure, including infra cost and time spent by institutions and their faculties.

Industry experts said monetising a good platform is not a bad idea but the success will depend on its value addition. “A library model is not a best model. If the courses are coming with certification and grading, which the government seems willing to adopt, then it will gain traction. But in an Indian education system ability of pay and willingness to pay are not the same. Hence pricing and value additions and human touch of such courses will be critical" said Mayank Kumar, co-founder and managing director of e-learning company upGrad.

The move comes close on the heels of education regulators allowing colleges and universities to offer 20% of their courses online and approving use of online courses available on Swayam platform for credit transfer.

Last week, UGC secretary had written to institutions underlining the need for institutions to use 82 courses for undergraduate students and 42 for postgraduate students from July, ahead of the formal academic year beginning August-November.

Digital Systems Of Learning May Soon Dominate Education

One of the major impacts of COVID-19 has been an acceleration in the adoption of online and digital education at a pace that was unimaginable before. Initially many institutions wanted to start with small trials. Others wanted to allow the category to mature before adopting the methodology. However, the COVID-19 crisis has made digital learning imperative for almost all kinds of educational institutions. The luxury of choice has clearly been taken away by the situations created by the pandemic. In order to gear up for this situation, many higher education institutions have put up learning materials online and are running courses with a combination of digital tools. This has ensured learning continuity, and in some cases, also enhanced the effectiveness of teaching and learning for students and faculty. However, this has required considerable efforts in adapting course curriculum and materials so that a well-planned and structured course can be offered to students. 

In light of this situation, let's explore some ideas on what the future holds for digital learning systems in the current educational framework. The last few months, also give an idea of what will shape the future.

There is no single or easy answer. However, the move towards digital adoption is inescapable given likely continuation of need for social distancing and other related restrictions. The physical infrastructure of many institutions cannot support the requirements of social distancing. This is especially true for many institutions of higher learning which do not have very large campuses. 

The key drivers of the move towards digital will be past preparedness in skills and technology and the ability to invest resources and the mindset of the educators and students. Adoption of digital technology will have several implications at all parts of the value chain in higher education. Admissions and mass testing will get affected, institutions will need more flexible and broad-based measures. Classes too will be impacted. Research has shown hybrid class models are more effective. There is a whole range of new and old tools and content formats available to educators. However, the significant challenge of using hybrid pedagogy is that it requires new skills and capabilities from teachers and administrators. Apart from this, the change of mindset is another formidable challenge for both administrators and teachers.

Translating content and topics of laboratories brings a unique set of challenges into the picture. Many curriculum topics require specialized equipment and apparatus. Simulation labs do not work well across all courses. In this case, institutions must prioritize physical contact for such labs, experiments and exposures to ensure that the overall experience and learning is not impaired. 

Let's talk about the holy grail now. Assessments are one of the most contentious of topics. However, if we look at the example of competitive programming, we find a powerful way to assess and demonstrate competency without taking tests. In several areas, digitized evaluations may emerge where we use digital or social media platforms to conduct assessments. Increased emphasis on formative assessments based on projects, assignments can be expected. Proctored online assessment tools, both manual and AI-based, are emerging, however, these are not without limitations. They work well for elimination type tests like recruitment screening but where everyone needs to be graded, the bar is higher.

As online and digital work becomes more pervasive, companies will be forced to require projects and internships to be done online, using digital media from home. Consequently, the importance of such experience will also grow for students. Therefore, online projects and work from home internships will grow, adding another digital layer to higher education.

We are now standing at an important inflexion point that impacts students, educators, owners and regulators. Digitalization eliminates many traditional barriers of access and geography for both teachers and students. Certainly, there will be an implication on costs as the quality is not cheap. However, if it is delivered at scale, the costs for students can be lower, thus bringing it within the reach of many more. I am hopeful that we will see many interesting developments for higher education going forward.   

Online Learning and Subsidy for Private Schools: Will Education in Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Only be for the Rich?

The fifth tranche of the Centre’s Covid-19 economic relief package on Sunday announced the launch of the PM e-Vidya scheme for multi-mode access to digital and online education that sought to combine a range of measures, including development of new e-content, earmarking of TV channels on DTH and use of radio among others.

Online education has been viewed as the primary mode of education delivery in the pandemic with distance education as the alternative. This is problematic since this ignores the vast majority of India’s citizens.

The figures speak for themselves: only 15 per cent of rural households have internet access in India. Penetration of DTH TV is also low relative to the size of India’s population; India has only 69.3 million DTH subscribers. Only 24 per cent Indians own a smartphone and 11 per cent households possess any type of computer.

Information of TV ownership in India is dated, but in 2011 only 47.2 per cent households had a TV. Only 8 per cent of households with members aged 5-24 have both a computer and an internet connection. Without laptops, smartphones, internet connections, 4G data or TVs with DTH connections, these policies will not benefit India’s poor. Indeed, they may do harm.

India’s digital divide will drive the educational divide: many of those excluded would be from poor and marginalised families who are already lagging educationally. Internet penetration is abysmally low in poor families. Out of the poorest 20 per cent households, only 2.7 per cent of them have access to a computer and 8.9 per cent to internet facilities. Access is also gendered with women having lower access to the internet.

Gender Gap

While India’s rich and privileged will continue to access education through the means announced, its poor would be left out of the ambit of education altogether, further widening the gap between the rich and the poor. Even before the pandemic, girls belonging to rich families (top 20 per cent) in India got on an average nine years of education, while girls from poor families (bottom 20 per cent) get none at all.

It is estimated that after the closures caused by the pandemic, girls from disadvantaged families might lose 50 per cent of their total years of education. Girls risk being pushed into early marriage and child labour, including bearing the brunt of the unpaid care burden. Children from migrant families, even when they arrive at their destinations, would not have the facilities needed to return to the fold of education.

Without massive investment in improving the overall internet infrastructure across India, especially in rural areas, providing free devices and data to all learners from poor families, this exercise would only serve to place an additional disadvantage on children from India’s poor families.

Flawed Pedagogical Assumptions

Even if one ignores the consequences of differential access, it would be critical to recognise that reliance on distance education is not sound pedagogic practice, especially for young children. Lectures beamed to peoples’ homes through DTH can undeniably disseminate information. However, communication would remain one way and this would not enable students to ask clarifications or interact with their teachers and peers.

When one has one channel, one class for the entire country, it is unclear how the diversity of languages of India’s learners would be addressed? Would India’s tribal learners have access to content of equivalent level and quantity in their own languages as speakers of Hindi or the state language? Students who do not understand the teacher are being set up to fail.

Then there is the question of absence of focus on alternatives to technology. While the need to maintain distancing norms and other prerequisites is understood and appreciated, the government could have done more to ensure access to education for those who lack access to technology.

Thus, Tripura has been planning to start neighbourhood schools with a pupil teacher ratio of 1: 5. Similar steps to restore teacher-student contact could be attempted in other states. Similarly, access to print materials- textbooks and reading materials is critical. In a survey, 68 per cent parents have said that they need textbooks to supplement digital modes.

The Odisha government has, for example, issued instructions for delivery of textbooks to students’ homes. It is crucial that all states be instructed to follow suit to ensure delivery of textbooks to all children in government schools to enable students to return to the realm of learning. Steps are also needed to address loss of instructional time through development of accelerated learning packages for those excluded from these digital modes. None of these steps appear to have received attention.

Critical Omission

What this announcement lacks, furthermore, is any real commitments to bring in new resources for education, especially for the government school system, to address these and the other needs of India’s disadvantaged students. Without new funds for government schools, these would continue to languish.

There is also a massive subsidy for private institutions. The fourth tranche of announcements related to covid-19 did include a commitment to subsidize the private sector in education through the creation of an Rs 8,100 crore fund to address the viability gap to enhance private sector participation in social services on the back of pandemic.

The speech explicitly mentioned funding for setting of private schools. It is deeply concerning that a massive subsidy is being given to the private sector at a time when it has historically failed to reach the poorest. Private schools, by definition, enrol children from families that can afford to pay. Sending a child to a private school in India costs parents approximately nine times as much as it does to send a child to a government school, including all indirect costs associated with schooling, such as buying books, and transport. Reliance on the private sector for delivering education is designed to support the rich.

From students to versatile entrepreneurs - iFEEL Lonavala churning out fresh new talents

A sound business ecosystem of a nation can potentially drive the overall economic growth which is why the government of India has been rolling out several initiatives in the recent times to boost start-ups and budding entrepreneurs. However, responsible for creating zealous entrepreneurs and laying the groundwork for entrepreneurship, B-schools also have a vital role to play because it is their curriculum and the education they have imparted that led to the creation of business magnates we have seen till now and are to see tomorrow.

In fact, top MBA and PGDM colleges in India did churn out some of the most proficient executives and managers in the corporates. They seek to inculcate students with an entrepreneurial mind-set right from the initial semesters. iFEEL Lonavala for instance provides students the right space to set up their own businesses. In case one decides to opt out of college placement, he/she is given a time of 18 months to experiment new ideas. If failed in this venture, the college placement opportunity is always open.

Furthermore, iFEEL also has E-cell that organises several events and even invite top businessmen from various industries to deliver guest lectures so students can learn from their rich experience. Enabling students to employ their business skills while strengthening their competitive spirit, the college also gives them the opportunity to compete with students from other top management institutes on various entrepreneurial skills. Another key feature of iFEEL’s E-cell is the cross domain workshops it conducts by associating with other leading B-schools and management  institutes(iFEEL’s Entrepreneurship Cell was recognized at the National Entrepreneurship Challenge 2015 and 2017 at IIT Bombay due to its entrepreneurship ecosystem in the campus). This not only helps students to expand their knowledge base, but also leverage the skills they have learnt while exchanging knowledge with others. Hence, the institute’s PGDM curriculum is a blend of both practical and theory. While regular lectures are being conducted, it also ensures that students get an in-depth understanding of real time business environment through several other ways.

Coronavirus: India’s education minister aims to ‘save’ academic year

India’s Covid-19 lockdown, which began in March and has been extended until at least 18 May, has left millions of high school and university students anxious about everything from exams arrangements to tuition fees.

To address these concerns, Ramesh Pokhriyal “Nishank”, head of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, has taken to social media to answer questions directly from students. His hour-long webinar on the afternoon of 5 May, promoted with the hashtag #EducationMinisterGoesLive, drew almost half a million Facebook views and more than 10,000 Twitter likes.

Dr Nishank, who oversees the country’s education sector, has turned social media into the main channel for updates concerning students. Even the news page on the ministry’s official website simply provides links to his personal feeds, which include a combination of formal announcements, poems, personal tips and inspirational slogans.

During his webinar, Dr Nishank confirmed that the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), admissions exams for technology and medicine programmes, would be held in July and August.

He also said there would be no fee hikes at Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), International Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) or National Institutes of Technology (NITs) as families face an economic downturn. Previous tuition fee increases at IITs have resulted in mass student protests.

The webinar repeated some information that had been already been announced by the University Grants Commission, which has issued a new 2020-21 academic calendar. Current students will restart on 1 August, and new students on 1 September. This is a shift from the regular academic year, which starts in July or August.

The UGC recommended that universities develop virtual classroom and videoconference facilities, give staff training in the systems and upload materials to websites, with the aim of shifting about 25 per cent of syllabi online. The UGC also urged flexibility in modes of conducting exams, which could be done in-person or online. Assessments could be based half on various evaluations and half on the previous semester’s performance.

During his webinar, Dr Nishank reassured students that “plans are being made to ensure that the year is saved”. He encouraged them to use government resources online, such as the National Digital Library, or to take up reading books or writing in a diary “to beat the stress and anxiety due to the present situation”.
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MHRD to bring New Education Policy to cabinet soon

The HRD ministry is giving finishing touches to the draft New Education Policy (NEP) document which it is planning to bring before the cabinet this month itself, according to a senior official.

The new academic year begins in July- August period and the attempt is to bring the policy before that time, said the official.

Significantly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had reviewed the NEP earlier on May 1.

“There have been suggestions from MPs during discussion on the Sanskrit Universities bill in parliament and at other interactions. The ministry has looked at all suggestions, including at the ones given by parliamentarians from south India. The policy will be soon brought to the cabinet,” said the official.

A panel of experts led by former ISRO chief K Kasturirangan had prepared the draft education policy.

There had been concerns related to imposition of Hindi among some states which the HRD ministry has assured would be addressed.

Earlier, after Modi reviewed the education sector reforms, the government had said the focus was on bringing uniformity in education providing universal access to quality education, improving the quality of elementary education, through a new national curriculum framework that focuses on multi- linguistic, 21st century kills, integration of sport and art, environmental issues etc.

The use and promotion of technology in various modes for education at school and higher levels was discussed in detail.

Two officials HT spoke to did not elaborate when asked if the lessons learnt during the COVID- 19 phase may be added to the draft.

“There is emphasis on use of technology. However, the ministry is preparing a strategy separately to deal with it,” said the second official.

COVID-19: Creating a paradigm shift in India’s Education System

A key aspect of coping with Covid-19 is to ensure that services are being delivered to whatever extent possible. While for professionals across industries it has been an easier transition as many of them work on their laptops and smart devices even in office. They can simply plug in at homes now. Of course, what is missing is face to face, personal communication which will get restored as and when things are back to normal. But students have had to make far bigger adjustments as learning has always been in classrooms which they can’t go to now. Besides many of them may not be that well equipped with technology tools to avail of remote learning. Here the Digital India vision of the government is emerging as a vital instrument for solving the present crisis due to Covid-19.

The lockdown has accelerated adoption of digital technology. Business houses, educational institutes, analytics, computer, data management methods and online education solutions have been forced to work in tandem and improve in quality and delivery time to handle such situations. This is an ideal time to experiment and deploy new tools to make education delivery meaningful to students who can’t go to campuses. It’s a chance to be more efficient and productive while developing new and improved professional skills/knowledge through online learning and assessment.

It is also a fact that use of technology in education is resulting in different concepts in the system, for instance the move from teacher-centric education to student-centric education.

We have been talking about virtual classrooms and various online tools today allow us to make the engagement between the teacher and students as close to a real, in classroom type experience, as possible. Going forward, these tools can also make the teachers and parent meetings as well as staff/management meetings more time and cost saving while providing the necessary interactivity.

Pedagogy in digital education is an important link between course content, educationists, technology and course-takers. Democratization of technology is now an important issue, comprising internet connectivity, telecom infrastructure, affordability of online system, availability of laptop/desktop, software, educational tools, online assessment tools, etc. But it is a fact that technology-based education is more transparent and does not make difference in front vs back benchers or girls vs boys.

Looking at this challenge of colleges and schools being shut, government of India, as well as state governments and private players have regularly been publishing information on various initiatives undertaken by ministries like MHRD, Department of Technical Education, NCERT and others to support and benefit youth/students.

A few of the initiatives are SWAYAM online courses for teachers, UG/PG MOOCs for non-technology courses, e-PG Pathshala or e-content containing modules on social science, arts, fine arts, natural and mathematical science, CEC-UGC YouTube channel, Vidwan – a database of experts who provide information to peers and prospective collaborators, NEAT – an initiative by AICTE based on the PPP model to enhance the employability skill among students, in collaboration with Education Technology Companies and National Digital Library (NDL), a repository of learning resources with single window facility. Many noteworthy initiatives have been taken up like Spoken Tutorial, Free and Open Source Software for Education (FOSSEE), e-Yantra, Google Classroom and so on.

It is fact that the government of India as well state governments, through their various ministries/departments, have created infrastructure to deliver e-education. These include National Knowledge Network (NKN), National Project on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL), National Mission on Education Through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT), National Academic Depository (NAD), among others.  All these enhance our ability to connect easily with institutions and enhance our access to learning resources. For instance, NKN provides high speed network backbone to educational institutes in India.

The online assessment agencies/private business houses are also improving the product, considering the limited bandwidth and social distancing, by managing remotely proctored examinations/skilling assessments. Basic requirements like sturdy education delivery platforms, IT infrastructure, PC/Desktop/Mobile for end-delivery and assessment tools have been planned and more improvement is underway.

Going forward, the use of technology in teaching or recruitment will lead to a new era wherein the best of faculty will be available from across the globe to students.  Education quality will be gauged not just by the quality of faculty but will also have quality of IT infrastructure and familiarisation of the faculty will digital teaching technologies as important parameters.

The physical infrastructure of academic institutions will have less impact on the quality of education and thus directly on the cost of education. Review meetings, parent-teacher meetings, subject conferences will be location agnostic. The real vision of the new education policy for liberal education will get executed. It is possible that in times to come, a student may be allowed to carry out courses from any College/ University based on quality of teacher and fees for the course irrespective of his location and finally will get degree from the home university where he / she got registered or from the university where he has taken maximum courses, resulting in a balance of economics of good education.

For all this to be a reality, a drastic change in thought process is required in the mind- set of policy makers, authorities, students and specially educationists. Faculty selection should gradually be linked to technology friendliness and keenness for technology adoption. Similarly, accreditation parameters, criteria need reconsideration. All these steps will help strengthen the country’s digital learning infrastructure in the long run. Covid-19 has only accelerated adoption of technologies to deliver education.

(The writer Dr Ashwini Kumar Sharma, Pro Chancellor, Vijaybhoomi University and Former DG, NIELIT, Govt of India)

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