Economic Survey 2020-21 Online Education: Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) KV Subramanian on Friday launched the Economic Survey 2020-21, which was presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the morning. CEA also launched the Economic Survey mobile app. With this, online education has also been talked about in the survey. The survey says that if it is used properly, it will eliminate disparities in educational outcomes.
Number of smartphones increased with students
The survey, citing the Annual Education Status Report (ASER) -2020 Phase-1 (Rural) published in October 2020, states that the number of smartphones possessed by students in government and private schools in rural India has shown a huge increase is. In 2018, 36.5 percent students had smartphones, while in 2020, 61.8 percent students had smartphones. The review suggested that digital discrimination between urban and rural, gender, age and income groups and differences in educational outcomes would be eliminated if used appropriately.
The government took many steps in this direction
The survey said that during the COVID-19 epidemic, the government has taken many positive initiatives to provide education to children. An important initiative in this direction is the beginning of PM-Avidya. This gives students and teachers an equal opportunity for digital education. Around 92 online courses have been started under Swayam MOOC and 1.5 crore students have enrolled. According to the survey, to end the impact of COVID-19, the state/union territories were allocated Rs 818.17 crore for online education through a digital medium.
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The Economic Survey states that India will have the largest number of youth in the world by the next decade. Therefore, to prepare the future of the country, the capacity to provide high-quality education for these youths should be developed.
According to the survey, India has achieved a literacy rate of 96 percent at the primary school level. According to the National Sample Survey (NSS), at the all-India level, the literacy rate among people aged seven years and above is 77.7 percent. The literacy rate of women belonging to Scheduled Castes, Tribes, Other Backward Classes including Hindu and Muslim women is lower than the national average.