Monday, June 9, 2014

Education and IT related parts of President Mukherjee's address to Parliament

Here are some extracts and comments of President Mukherjee's speech to Parliament today (here's the full speech - a 14 page pdf document, http://www.pmindia.gov.in/President_Address.pdf):

12. India is the world’s oldest civilization. Today it is also a country with
the largest population of the youth. We must equip and nurture our
youth with the right kind of education, skill-set and opportunity to reap
this demographic dividend. My government will strive to transition from
Youth Development to Youth-led Development. It will set up Massive
Open Online Courses and virtual classrooms. It will formulate a National
Education Policy aimed at meeting the challenges posed by lack of
quality, research and innovation in our educational institutions. We will set
up IITs and IIMs in every state. In order to empower school teachers and
students, a national e-library will be established. With the motto of "Har
Haath Ko Hunar", my government will strive to break the barriers between
formal education and skill development, and put in place a mechanism to
give academic equivalence to vocational qualifications. With the goal of
Skilled India, my government will also launch a National Multi-skill Mission.

[Ravi: I am so glad to see that education has been given significance in this govt's plan. Really great to see MOOCs being mentioned in the speech. MOOCs are the growing waves in higher education worldwide and seem to be going from strength to strength. India MUST get on to the bandwagon perhaps with a tie-up with leading players like edX and CourseEra.

"National education policy" - very interesting. But they must open it up to the public during the discussions stage itself rather than leave it to a small coterie of top academics and industry experts to make the policy, which is what seems to have been the case in the past. Use the Internet to involve all stakeholders including the vital students and parents stakeholders as well as junior faculty who have to deal with the teaching loads.

"academic equivalence to vocational qualifications" - wonder what that exactly means ... National Multi-skill Mission. Interesting. But one needs more information about them to comment meaningfully.

IITs and IIMs in every state - I am somewhat disappointed by no mention of UGC & AICTE specifically (but National Education Policy may involve UGC & AICTE) which cater to the vast majority of higher education students in the country. There seems to be a belief that bringing an IIT and/or IIM to a state will magically improve its higher education. It may do that for the brightest/elite among the youth of that state. But how about the other students who can't get into the IIT/IIM? They are the vast majority. And it is UGC & AICTE regulated institutions that cater to them. The govt. must explore ways to improve such institutions on a priority basis as it affects a vast number of  youth, and not give so much importance to IITs and IIMs that UGC & AICTE institutions get treated as unimportant.]
...
The government will especially strengthen measures to
spread modern and technical education among minority communities
and a National Madarsa Modernization Programme will be initiated.

[Ravi: That's excellent.]
...
22. E-governance brings empowerment, equity and efficiency. It has
the power to transform peoples’ lives. The backbone of my government's
new ways of working will be a Digital India. IT will be used to drive re-
engineering of government processes to improve service delivery and
programme implementation. We will strive to provide Wi-Fi zones in critical
public areas in the next five years. My government will rollout broadband
highway to reach every village and make all schools e-enabled in a
phased manner. Technology will be used to prepare our children for a
knowledge society. The National e-governance plan will be expanded to
cover every government office from the centre to the Panchayat; to
provide a wide variety of services to citizens. Emerging technologies like
Social Media will be used as a tool for participative governance,
directly engaging the people in policy making and administration.

[Ravi: Fascinating! Shri Modi is strongly pro-technology and pro-e-governance. It will be very interesting for an IT guy like me to see how these plans work out over the coming months and years.]
...
36. Our rich cultural heritage is the very foundation on which rests the
unity of our diverse nation. Indian languages are repositories of our rich
literature, history, culture, art and other achievements. My government
will launch a national mission "e-Bhasha” that will develop digital
vernacular content and disseminate our classic literature in different
languages. My government will also provide the required resources for
the maintenance and restoration of national heritage sites.

[Ravi: That's great. Hopefully it will do a decent job, if not a good job.]
...
38. My government recognises the central role of Science and
Technology in raising the quality of life. It will encourage and incentivize
private sector investments, both domestic and foreign, in science and
technology and in high-end research aimed at nurturing innovation. My
government will build world class research centres in the fields of
nanotechnology, material sciences, thorium technology, brain research,
stem cells, etc. The government will also establish institutes of
Technology for Rural Development and a Central University of
Himalayan Studies.

--- end President speech education and IT related extracts and comments ---

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