The Centre will formally launch Swayam Prabha – a project for telecasting “high-quality educational programmes” through 32 DTH channels – here on Sunday at a National Convention on Digital Initiatives for Higher Education.
The program of Human Resource Development Ministry spells out as Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM). Underlining the need for making quality study material available in regional languages, he said pupils found it hard when study materials were in an alien language. tnn Under Swayam, courses will be offered through digital classrooms with online study material available free of cost. It offers courses ranging into hundreds and they are those which are taught at school, college and university level.
The project will also telecast teacher-training content.
The students will be assessed through proctored examination and the marks and grades secured in this exam could be transferred to the academic record of the students, according to the website. It also provides courses of vocational nature and also for those who want to study while continuing with their jobs. These courses have been developed by over 1,000 expert faculty members from premier institutions like IITs, Delhi University and JNU. SWAYAM should be a call to the pioneers amongst teachers to put new courses in the upcoming areas on this platform in the MOOCs format. The courses offered are from school to post-graduate level. However, those willing to get certificates, diploma or a degree through Swayam will have to get registered on its portal and pay “a little fee” for pursuing the courses.
The president has expressed hope that these digital initiatives would help in producing the highly qualified youth required for the Make in India campaign.
They will have the opportunity to raise queries which would be answered in real time, HRDminister Prakash Javadekar said.
While all 32 educational channels will be aired 24×7 on Dish TV under the brand name of ‘Swayam Prabha, ‘ channels dedicated to helping students to prepare for the entrance tests for engineering and medical courses will be aired under the IIT-Pal. ICT solutions offer an interactive learning experience through which students in remote parts of the country can benefit from lectures of the top teachers.
