National Education Policy (2020)/Chapter 23
23.1. India is a global leader in information and communication technology and in other cutting-edge domains, such as space. The Digital India Campaign is helping to transform the entire nation into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. While education will play a critical role in this transformation, technology itself will play an important role in the improvement of educational processes and outcomes; thus, the relationship between technology and education at all levels is bidirectional.
23.2. Given the explosive pace of technological development allied with the sheer creativity of tech-savvy teachers and entrepreneurs including student entrepreneurs, it is certain that technology will impact education in multiple ways, only some of which can be foreseen at the present time. New technologies involving artificial intelligence, machine learning, block chains, smart boards, handheld computing devices, adaptive computer testing for student development, and other forms of educational software and hardware will not just change what students learn in the classroom but how they learn, and thus these areas and beyond will require extensive research both on the technological as well as educational fronts.
23.3. Use and integration of technology to improve multiple aspects of education will be supported and adopted, provided these interventions are rigorously and transparently evaluated in relevant contexts before they are scaled up. An autonomous body, the National Educational Technology Forum (NETF), will be created to provide a platform for the free exchange of ideas on the use of technology to enhance learning, assessment, planning, administration, and so on, both for school and higher education. The aim of the NETF will be to facilitate decision making on the induction, deployment, and use of technology, by providing to the leadership of education institutions, State and Central governments, and other stakeholders, the latest knowledge and research as well as the opportunity to consult and share best practices. The NETF will have the following functions:
- provide independent evidence-based advice to Central and State Government agencies on technology-based interventions;
- build intellectual and institutional capacities in educational technology;
- envision strategic thrust areas in this domain; and
- articulate new directions for research and innovation.
23.4. To remain relevant in the fast-changing field of educational technology, the NETF will maintain a regular inflow of authentic data from multiple sources including educational technology innovators and practitioners and will engage with a diverse set of researchers to analyze the data. To support the development of a vibrant body of knowledge and practice, the NETF will organize multiple regional and national conferences, workshops, etc. to solicit inputs from national and international educational technology researchers, entrepreneurs, and practitioners.
23.5. The thrust of technological interventions will be for the purposes of improving teaching-learning and evaluation processes, supporting teacher preparation and professional development, enhancing educational access, and streamlining educational planning, management, and administration including processes related to admissions, attendance, assessments, etc.
23.6. A rich variety of educational software, for all the above purposes, will be developed and made available for students and teachers at all levels. All such software will be available in all major Indian languages and will be accessible to a wide range of users including students in remote areas and Divyang students. Teaching-learning e-content will continue to be developed by all States in all regional languages, as well as by the NCERT, CIET, CBSE, NIOS, and other bodies/institutions, and will be uploaded onto the DIKSHA platform. This platform may also be utilized for Teacher’s Professional Development through e-content. CIET will be strengthened to promote and expand DIKSHA as well as other education technology initiatives. Suitable equipment will be made available to teachers at schools so that teachers can suitably integrate e-contents into teaching-learning practices. Technology-based education platforms, such as DIKSHA/SWAYAM, will be better integrated across school and higher education, and will include ratings/reviews by users, so as to enable content developers create user friendly and qualitative content.
23.7. Particular attention will need to be paid to emerging disruptive technologies that will necessarily transform the education system. When the 1986/1992 National Policy on Education was formulated, it was difficult to predict the disruptive effect that the internet would have brought. Our present education system's inability to cope with these rapid and disruptive changes places us individually and nationally at a perilous disadvantage in an increasingly competitive world. For example, while computers have largely surpassed humans in leveraging factual and procedural knowledge, our education at all levels excessively burdens students with such knowledge at the expense of developing their higher-order competencies.
23.8. This policy has been formulated at a time when an unquestionably disruptive technology—Artificial Intelligence (AI) 3D/7D Virtual Reality—has emerged. As the cost of AI-based prediction falls, AI will be able to match or outperform and, therefore, be a valuable aid to even skilled professionals such as doctors in certain predictive tasks. AI’s disruptive potential in the workplace is clear, and the education system must be poised to respond quickly. One of the permanent tasks of the NETF will be to categorize emergent technologies based on their potential and estimated timeframe for disruption, and to periodically present this analysis to MHRD. Based on these inputs, MHRD will formally identify those technologies whose emergence demands responses from the education system.
23.9. In response to MHRD’s formal recognition of a new disruptive technology, the National Research Foundation will initiate or expand research efforts in the technology. In the context of AI, NRF may consider a three-pronged approach: (a) advancing core AI research, (b) developing and deploying application-based research, and (c) advancing international research efforts to address global challenges in areas such as healthcare, agriculture, and climate change using AI.23.10. HEIs will play an active role not only in conducting research on disruptive technologies but also in creating initial versions of instructional materials and courses including online courses in cutting-edge domains and assessing their impact on specific areas such as professional education. Once the technology has attained a level of maturity, HEIs with thousands of students will be ideally placed to scale these teaching and skilling efforts, which will include targeted training for job readiness. Disruptive technologies will make certain jobs redundant, and hence approaches to skilling and deskilling that are both efficient and ensure quality will be of increasing importance to create and sustain employment. Institutions will have autonomy to approve institutional and non-institutional partners to deliver such training, which will be integrated with skills and higher education frameworks.
23.11. Universities will aim to offer Ph.D. and Masters programmes in core areas such as Machine Learning as well as multidisciplinary fields “AI + X” and professional areas like health care, agriculture, and law. They may also develop and disseminate courses in these areas via platforms, such as SWAYAM. For rapid adoption, HEIs may blend these online courses with traditional teaching in undergraduate and vocational programmes. HEIs may also offer targeted training in low-expertise tasks for supporting the AI value chain such as data annotation, image classification, and speech transcription. Efforts to teach languages to school students will be dovetailed with efforts to enhance Natural Language Processing for India’s diverse languages.
23.12. As disruptive technologies emerge, schooling and continuing education will assist in raising the general populace’s awareness of their potential disruptive effects and will also address related issues. This awareness is necessary to have informed public consent on matters related to these technologies. In school, the study of current affairs and ethical issues will include a discussion on disruptive technologies such as those identified by NETF/MHRD. Appropriate instructional and discussion materials will also be prepared for continuing education.
23.13. Data is a key fuel for AI-based technologies, and it is critical to raise awareness on issues of privacy, laws, and standards associated with data handling and data protection, etc. It is also necessary to highlight ethical issues surrounding the development and deployment of AI-based technologies. Education will play a key role in these awareness raising efforts. Other disruptive technologies that are expected to change the way we live, and, therefore, change the way we educate students, include those relating to clean and renewable energy, water conservation, sustainable farming, environmental preservation, and other green initiatives; these will also receive prioritized attention in education.