Irani stresses on use of ICT to strengthen school education system

Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani on Saturday said that use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) would strengthen school education system.

Speaking at 'edNEXT - National Conference on ICT in School Education' here, she said education ministers of some of the states are working to reduce burden of exams on students.

Earlier, she appreciated the efforts put in by education ministers of all states in achieving hundred percent result in constructing separate toilet for boys and girls in schools during a period of one year.

She said it was an outcome of the announcement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India on August 15 last year.

The minister also felicitated all state education ministers for their efforts in fulfilling the Prime Minister's vision of having toilets in each government school under the Swachh Bharat Swachh Vidyalaya campaign.

She also elaborated on paradigm shift where the stake holders were also asked to participate in the use of mobile apps tools and to find out the utility of these apps.

Keeping in view the need to recognise the ICT initiatives being taken in the education sector, she made a clarion call to every citizen to come forward and contribute towards technology innovation for the benefit of school education.

She also called upon the states to look into the issue of nutritional value of mid-day meal and prepare their own menu for mid-day meal keeping in mind the local climate and conditions.

Prof. Ram Shankar Katheria, Minister of State for HRD, said the Prime Minister's new initiative of Digital India would go a long way in ameliorating the prevailing poor conditions of our villages.

He said concerted efforts of people across the country could find solution to varied problems, and stressed upon the need of digitalisation in school education.

E-Pathshala, a web portal, which hosts educational resources for students, teachers, parents, researchers and educators, is available through especially-developed mobile app interface on Android, IOS and windows platforms for wider access and contains textbooks and other e-books as E-Pub 3.0 and Flipbooks in English, Hindi and Urdu.