SWAYAM to Bridge Students’ Digital Divide

Last Updated on September 2, 2018 by Bharat Saini

SWAYAM (Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds), an instrument for self-actualisation providing opportunities for a life-long learning, is a programme initiated by Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, technically supported by Microsoft, and is designed to achieve the three cardinal principles of Education Policy viz., Access, Equity and Quality. The objective of this effort, a type of Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), is to take the best teaching learning resources to all, including the most disadvantaged. SWAYAM seeks to bridge the digital divide for students who have hitherto remained untouched by the digital revolution and have not been able to join the mainstream of the knowledge economy.

• SWAYAM presents a unique educational opportunity to expand the horizons of knowledge for, working or non-working and in school or out of school learners.
• An indigenous developed IT platform facilitates hosting of all the courses, taught in classrooms from 9th class till post-graduation to be accessed by anyone, anywhere at any time.
• All the courses are interactive, prepared by the best teachers in the country and are available, free of cost to the residents in India.
• Students wanting certifications are to be registered and offered a certificate on successful completion of the course with a little fee.
• More than 1000 specially chosen faculty and teachers from across the Country have participated in preparing these courses.
• Learners can choose from hundreds of courses, virtually every course that is taught at the University / College / School level as these are offered by best of the teachers in India and elsewhere.
• Credits can be transferred on to the academic record of the students for courses done on SWAYAM, as per the UGC (Credit Framework for online learning courses through SWAYAM) Regulation 2016

SWAYAM hosted courses are in 4 quadrants, wherein steps have been taken to enrich the learning experience by using audio-video and multi-media and state of the art pedagogy / technology:

• Video lecture,
• Specially prepared reading material that can be downloaded/printed
• Self-assessment tests through tests and quizzes and
• An online discussion forum for clearing the doubts.

Nine National Coordinators have been appointed in order to ensure best quality content are produced and delivered:

• All India Council for Technical Education(AICTE) for self-paced courses,
• National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL)for engineering,
• University Grants Commission (UGC)for post-graduation education,
• Consortium for Educational Communication (CEC) for under-graduate education,
• National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)  for school education, and
• National Institute of Open Schooling(NIOS)  also for school education,
• Indira Gandhi National Open University(IGNOU) for out of the school students,
• Indian Institute of Management Bangalore(IIMB) for under-graduate management studies, and
• Indian Institute of Management Bangalore(IIMB) for post-graduate management studies as well.