Government Initiatives In The Direction
National Digital Library of India (NDLI)
This is not an EdTech platform offering learning solutions in vernacular but a portal that offers learning resources in more than 70 Indian languages. The National Digital Library (NDLI) is developed under NME-ICT by the Ministry of Education through NME-ICT. It is a virtual library with a vast collection of academic contents across multiple disciplines. You’ll find varied content from school to post-graduation level. It is an all-purpose platform designed for students of all ages, teachers, learners, researchers, librarians, professionals, and anybody seeking knowledge. The platform offers eBooks, videos, thesis, manuscripts, documents, and many more.
DIKSHA
Launched in September 2017, the initiative was taken by the NCERT under the Ministry of Education. The platform aims to facilitate digital learning for teachers from grade 1 to 12. The platform offers training courses, worksheets, lesson videos, curriculum, and assessment tests for teachers. Students can also benefit from the portal as it offers learning resources for school education. There is a plethora of learning materials and eBooks. More than 80,000 eBooks are available for class 12th students in multiple languages. At present, it supports 18+ languages and various curricula of NCERT, CBSE and SCERT pan India.
All in all, living in a country with cultural heterogeneity, language standardisation as a medium of instruction in education creates many problems. Many vernaculars are still outside the education system, and living with a “No Child Left Behind” policy doesn’t go hand in hand with the situation. It’s a relief that things are changing and ground issues are being addressed. With vernacular solutions at hand in the EdTech industry, education would be accessible for all and people from varied regions, class, and backgrounds would effectively use the technology for the best.
