New Delhi
“COVID has changed lives altogether. The new normal exists not only in India but all over the world. And in such times, National Education Policy was also launched in India.” – This was stated by Dr. (Mrs) Pankaj Mittal, Secretary-General, Association of Indian Universities (AIU) who was delivering an address at the 22nd World Education Summit, organized by Elets Technomedia in New Delhi recently.
Dr. Mittal spoke on how technology changed the education scenario of India. “When COVID struck and all the universities and colleges were closed, our students and teachers were not used to online education. But then I realized that if anyone has to be given the best teacher award in 2020, it should be given to COVID-19. Due to the pandemic, teachers and students started using technology to a large extent. The online platforms, the blended mode of learning and using technology for teaching-learning escalated like anything,” Mittal said.
In the virtual address Dr. Pankaj also mentioned that “I am from UGC and we have been trying to use technology from the last 5 to 6 years. But with covid, it became the need of the hour. The pandemic taught everybody how to go online, how to teach online, how to learn online, how to collaborate online, how to do internships online, how to do placements online. A large part of the curriculum should consist of technology, not only how to use the technology, but also how to learn using this technology.”
She further elaborated on how NEP has brought a lot of changes in the education system. “It is very important that our students should learn technology. They should be learning about the latest advancements in technology, whether it is artificial intelligence, IoT, robotics, drones, virtual reality or augmented reality or even space tourism, they are going to be the new thing in the future. So, wherever the new jobs would be existing, say in 2030, that has to be taught in the institution and that is being advocated by the National Education Policy,” Mittal said
Dr. Mittal also highlighted the new concept of blanket education. “Here you give audio video text to the students in advance. Students will study at home and in the class only things like discussions, understanding, reasoning will happen and rationale will be developed. In India, students study in class and revise at home but abroad, students study at home and then come to the class. This is the flipped classroom model. It is very important that teachers should know how to prepare their own e-content, which means their own videos or audios or text whatever they want to give, or they should know where to find the e-content.”
