United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Director General Audrey Azoulay has extended full support in the implementation of India’s National Education Policy (NEP) and said that key concepts under the policy like strengthening administrative capacities, socio-emotional learning and environmental awareness are “very crucial” for the development of students.
On Thursday, India’s Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal held a virtual meeting with Azoulay and discussed key issues of mutual importance including NEP, India’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Azoulay appreciated the response of India in mitigating the challenges of COVID-19 and ensuring continuity of education during the pandemic by providing education to the students through different mediums of TV, radio and online to the last student of the country, according to an official release.
She said that India’s response to COVID-19 was remarkable in terms of scale and diversity.
Pokhriyal mentioned about initiatives undertaken to ensure continuity of education for children across the country. “NEP aims to transform the educational ecosystem for over 340 million students of the country. It is based on the foundations of equality, equity, access, affordability and accountability. It seeks to fulfill our Prime Minister’s vision of making India a ‘global superpower of knowledge’ and his ‘mission’ to create a ‘global citizen,” he said.
He said that as recommended in NEP, the government will soon bring out school textbooks with more emphasis on environmental education.
Emphasizing that concerted efforts were taken to ensure no loss of the valuable academic year, he talked about Digitally Accessible Information System (DAISY), an initiative for differently-able children.
He also spoke about MANODARPAN, the government’s initiative to provide online psychosocial support to students, teachers and families for their mental health and emotional wellbeing.