Minister of State for HRD Shri Sanjay Dhotre was also present through online medium.
Speaking on the occasion , HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ said that COVID-19 pandemic has led to closure of schools and has impacted over 240 million children of the country who are enrolled in schools. Extended school closures may cause loss of learning.
Union HRD Minister said that to mitigate the impact of the pandemic, schools will not only have to remodel and reimagine the way teaching and learning have happened so far, but will also need to introduce a suitable method of delivering quality education through a healthy mix of schooling at home and schooling at school.
The Minister informed that PRAGYATA guidelines have been developed from the perspective of learners, with a focus on online/blended/digital education for students who are presently at home due to lockdown. He added that these guidelines on Digital/ Online Education provide a roadmap or pointers for carrying forward online education to enhance the quality of education.
The Minister highlighted that the guidelines will be relevant and useful for a diverse set of stakeholders including school heads, teachers, parents, teacher educators and students. The guidelines stress upon the use of alternative academic calendar of NCERT, for both, learners having access to digital devices and learners having limited or no access.
The PRAGYATA guidelines include eight steps of online/ digital learning that is, Plan- Review- Arrange- Guide- Yak(talk)- Assign- Track- Appreciate. These steps guide the planning and implementation of digital education step by step with examples.
The guidelines outlines suggestions for administrators, school heads, teachers, parents and students on the following areas:
- Need assessment
- Concerns while planning online and digital education like duration, screen time, inclusiveness, balanced online and offline activities etc level wise
- Modalities of intervention including resource curation, level wise delivery etc.
- Physical, mental health and wellbeing during digital education
- Cyber safety and ethical practices including precautions and measures for maintaining cyber safety
- Collaboration and convergence with various initiatives
Recommended screen time
Pre Primary: On a given day for interacting with parents and guiding them, not more than 30 minutes
Classes 1 to 8: Online synchronous learning may be undertaken for not more than two sessions of 30-45 minutes each on the days the States/UTs decide to have online classes for primary sections
Classes 9 to 12: Online synchronous learning may be undertaken for not more than four sessions of 30-45 minutes each on the days as decided by States/UTs .
PRAGYATA guidelines have been prepared by the Ministry of HRD to ensure the safety and academic welfare of the students.