The Indian govt is emphasizing educational technology to bring results in 100% literacy

Online classrooms have become a daily reality, and educational technology has become a household phenomenon all across the world. What appeared to be a gradual adjustment in attitudes toward technology in the classroom has now become a highly effective knee-jerk reaction to help students learn through the pandemic. There is a worldwide need for educational technology, and governments all over the world are embracing it. Let us look at how India’s government has prioritized educational technology and what this means for reaching 100% literacy in our country of over 290 million students.

According to the National Education Policy (NEP), integrating technology into classrooms is critical for closing educational gaps and improving learning outcomes in a shorter amount of time. It’s been a year since the world was put under lockdown and we were forced to relocate our lives online. We have never been more appreciative of technical breakthroughs than we are right now. When they realized the benefits, their children were receiving from having access to knowledge online, even strict parents who supervised their children’s time in front of their gadgets fell in.

Let’s look at what the National Education Policy (NEP) says regarding ICT integration in schools, which was released in July 2020 to back up these assertions. To accomplish UN Sustainable Development Goal No. 4, the National Education Policy (NEP) has explicitly highlighted the necessity for and integration of educational technology. This is a significant step forward for the education industry since the government has shown its support for extensive use of technology in classrooms, allowing Indians to compete on an equal footing with global corporations.

With industry heavyweights like Byjus and Unacademy expanding in scope and financial value, the Indian tech-education sector has been pushed into a potential US$120 billion market. To put it another way, technologically based educational solutions have evolved into a necessity rather than a luxury.

According to the National Education Policy (NEP), integrating technology into classrooms is critical for overcoming educational gaps and achieving more refined and effective learning results in a shorter amount of time. Every classroom will gradually be transformed into a smart classroom, allowing for the use of digital pedagogy and therefore enhancing the teaching-learning process.

It also makes a case for using big data and artificial intelligence to assist the country’s education system to reduce student dropouts. These are significant obligations, and if the government has determined that the ed-tech industry can meet these goals, it is now up to tech firms to lead the way.

NEAT’s Beginnings

The government has taken a step further to ensure full support for education-based tech solutions in learning by forming the National Educational Alliance for Technology (NEAT), which will serve as a platform for the use of technology to improve learning, assessment, planning, and administration, among other things. To create adaptive technology in classrooms, the government proposes a public-private partnership approach with ed-tech firms through the NEAT. This simply serves to demonstrate that the government’s investment in educational technology continues to rise.

Having said that, the picture is far from rosy. Many industry heavyweights were able to expand their client base as the need for ed-tech solutions in learning grew as a result of the pandemic. Apps paid online learning aids, and gadgets were pushed for by more parents, teachers, and schools. Worried parents gladly complied, fearing that their children’s learning disparities might widen. This has undoubtedly made the educational technology sector happy and prosperous.

Over 290 million students are enrolled in India’s educational system, with more than half of them enrolled in public schools. The private and public education systems in India are widely recognized for displaying a clear divide between the haves and the have-nots. Students in the public school system have suffered disproportionately as a result of the pandemic, with families unable to support digital integrations in their children’s academics due to a lack of financial and infrastructural resources.

For many students, this creates a gaping vacuum of wasted chances. It’s also incorrect to reduce it to a purely financial issue, while technology is costly, and its invention, integration, and facilitation do necessitate some investment. Technology must also be updated regularly, which is an expensive procedure for businesses to do on their own.

GST Should be Reduced

Ed-tech has transitioned from a pressing need to the future of education, thanks in part to the pandemic. The Indian education system has a good chance of achieving its National Education Policy (NEP) goals of 100% literacy using digital education methods. Companies, on the other hand, must be encouraged to collaborate with the government. As a result, the ed-tech industry is pushing the government to rethink its decision to reduce the GST on different educational items from 18% to 5%. It’s also pressuring the government to enhance school infrastructure so that better delivery can be documented.

If the government and the educational technology sector can find a good middle ground here, the Indian education system will be one step closer to being all that the National Education Policy (NEP) requires. Finally, the educational technology industry is simply attempting to achieve what the government specifies in the National Education Policy (NEP), namely, the establishment of a “light but tight” supervision and regulatory framework to protect the educational system’s integrity and transparency to improve learning results.