In a first, HRD panel to lay e-content norms for schools

THE PANEL WILL RECOMMEND RULES FOR ELECTRONIC CONTENT BASED ON ITS RELEVANCE FOR STUDENTS, TEACHERS

NEWDELHI: The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has formed a 10-member panel headed by National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) joint director Amarendra Prasad Behera to come up with detailed guidelines to prepare electronic content, including animated videos to help students, teachers and heads of schools.

A senior official said this will be for the first time that ground rules are being laid on content from the internet that will be used to impart education.

The panel will also include other senior NCERT officials like Professor Ranjana Arora and representatives from a range of organisations including the National Council for Technical Education (NCTE), National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) besides representatives from some state governments, a senior official said. According to an office order issued by the HRD, the panel will recommend guidelines for electronic content based on its relevance for students, teachers, heads of schools.

It will also make recommenda- tions on teaching techniques as well, an official said. “A large number of textbooks and other study materials is published by both government and private publishers and it is the National Curriculum Framework which acts as a guideline to all these content producers. However, it has been felt that no such yardstick exists for e-content online and offline,” said a senior official. “It is expected the panel’s recommendations will lay a framework for what is now a key area. These guidelines will also allow schools, to judge which e-content is preferable,” the official said. The panel has already held discussions with various states on the issue, the official added.

“E-content is widely catching up. However, creating educational content is a highly specialised and scientific job. It is important that there is some direction on what kind of educational content is acceptable ,” said Ameeta Mulla Wattal, principal, Springdales School, New Delhi.