‘AI to be a valuable tool in education’
The Hindu
Educators speak on role of AI and NEP in modern-day education
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a valuable tool that will aid the future transformation of education, said educationists at a panel discussion on the ‘Role of Artificial Intelligence in schools and university education’.
The discussion was part of ‘Principals’ Meet 2021’ organised by the The Hindu and Validate Me, a technology company offering solutions in document verification. The meet saw several teachers, principals and heads of prominent educational institutions in Delhi-NCR converge for a day-long discussion on the New Education Policy (NEP), transformative forces in school education, how teachers and students could adapt to these changes, and the role of the Government.
Santosh Sarangi, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Education was the chief guest at the event. He said in his address that schools were not merely a medium of transferring knowledge but at the heart of developing the personalities of children. The New Education Policy (NEP) would track the learning abilities of children in early education. The curriculum would evolve in a way that there would be no hard separation between vocational and theoretical aspects of learning. “There must be as much emphasis on the arts and music as on traditional subjects,” he added.
“Writing, in general, is a very solitary process,” says Yauvanika Chopra, Associate Director at The New India Foundation (NIF), which, earlier this year, announced the 12th edition of its NIF Book Fellowships for research and scholarship about Indian history after Independence. While authors, in general, are built for it, it can still get very lonely, says Chopra, pointing out that the fellowship’s community support is as valuable as the monetary benefits it offers. “There is a solid community of NIF fellows, trustees, language experts, jury members, all of whom are incredibly competent,” she says. “They really help make authors feel supported from manuscript to publication, so you never feel like you’re struggling through isolation.”
Several principals of government and private schools in Delhi on Tuesday said the Directorate of Education (DoE) circular from a day earlier, directing schools to conduct classes in ‘hybrid’ mode, had caused confusion regarding day-to-day operations as they did not know how many students would return to school from Wednesday and how would teachers instruct in two modes — online and in person — at once. The DoE circular on Monday had also stated that the option to “exercise online mode of education, wherever available, shall vest with the students and their guardians”. Several schoolteachers also expressed confusion regarding the DoE order. A government schoolteacher said he was unsure of how to cope with the resumption of physical classes, given that the order directing government offices to ensure that 50% of the employees work from home is still in place. On Monday, the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) had, on the orders of the Supreme Court, directed schools in Delhi-NCR to shift classes to the hybrid mode, following which the DoE had issued the circular. The court had urged the Centre’s pollution watchdog to consider restarting physical classes due to many students missing out on the mid-day meals and lacking the necessary means to attend classes online. The CAQM had, on November 20, asked schools in Delhi-NCR to shift to the online mode of teaching.