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Introduction:

The COVID-19 global pandemic has seriously threatened the traditional structure of education (school, college, classroom model), and online education has emerged as a new option in this situation. The Indian education sector has witnessed gigantic changes and continues to evolve at a steady pace.

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The Government of India launched several programs as part of its digital initiatives in education like:

• The National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT) to leverage the potential of ICT to make the teaching and learning process easier and more accessible for all learners.
• SWAYAM portal: An integrated platform offering online courses at the school (9th to 12th) to Postgraduate Level.
• SWAYAM Prabha: Provides 32 high-quality educational channels through DTH round the clock.
• The National Digital Library of India (NDL): A framework of virtual repository of learning resources with a single-window search facility.
• E- Pathshala provides e-content for studies.
• DIKSHA platform: Provides quality e-content for school education.
• PM eVIDYA, a comprehensive initiative that unifies all efforts related to digital/online/on-air education to facilitate multimode access to education.
• The Digitally Accessible Information System (DAISY) by the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) for differently-abled students.

Advantages of Digital Initiatives in Education

• Inclusivity: Digital Initiatives help education to reach the rural and one of the remotest areas of the country. Also, online learning allows students to work in the environment that best suits them.
• Flexibility: Digital Initiatives provide a vast arena to learn any number of skills and courses without the limitation of time and space. For example, E- Pathshala provides e-content for studies, and the SWAYAM portal provides an integrated platform for online courses.
• Address the issue of shortage of teachers: While the pupil-teacher ratio for overall school education is 26.3 as of 2022, it is highly uneven across standards and there is a great rural-urban divide too. Online education can be a way to address the high imbalance in the pupil-teacher ratio.
• Multi-disciplinary approach: Due to this, a growing number of universities and higher education schools are coming forward to offer online versions of their programs for various levels and disciplines.
• Cost-Effective: Digital initiatives enable lesser monetary investment as compared to the traditional model of education. With the online mode of learning, the money spent on study materials along with commute charges is considerably less.

Disadvantages of Digital Initiatives in Education

• Digital Divide: e-Learning is a privilege for the students from middle and upper class but it has proved to be a nuisance for students from the lower middle class and people living below the poverty line (BPL) as they do not have access to mobiles or internet. Thereby, digital initiatives in education also exacerbate the digital divide.
• Traditional Classroom, A Social Institution: Organizations like schools and colleges, are social spaces, whereby a student not just learns academic knowledge but many social skills also which are necessary for all-round development of a child.
• Commercialization of Education: Development of digital learning needs investments. Corporate houses, technology firms and educational institutions will be working closely to achieve the goals of e-learning which may aggravate the commercialization of education. This risks the exclusion of students from economically weak backgrounds.

Conclusion:

Traditional forms of education have certain drawbacks which can be corrected through digital education. But digital education must not be seen as a replacement to traditional school-based education. Digital education promotes quality, greater understanding, innovation, critical thinking, etc, which must be fostered. But at the same time, it has its limitations in a highly unequal society like in India. This is where policy and government initiatives must pitch in and transform the education landscape even more radically for a brighter future.

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