Modi wants varsities mapped to press Digital India initiative

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sought details of universities connected via optical fibre networks and those having local area networks (LAN) set up on their campuses along with wi-fi facility.

Modi, who is keen on bringing about a “digital revolution” in the country with the implementation of his pet project Digital India, has directed the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry to map the current status of broadband connectivity available in the universities and send a report to him at the earliest.

Acting on Modi’s directive, Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani has asked the University Grants Commission chairman to immediately collect the details sought by the prime minister.

The move is part of the Prime Minister’s Digital India programme which envisages connecting 2.5 lakh villages by broadband and phones, reducing import of telecom gear to zero, wi-fi facilities in 2.5 lakh schools, all universities, public wi-fi hotspots for citizens and creating 1.7 crore jobs directly and .5 crore jobs indirectly. In a letter to the vice-chancellors of all the varsities, the higher education regulator has asked for the submission of these details within 15 days.

 “The Prime Minister's Office has directed that the mapping of the universities should be done to identify their current status to ascertain how many of them are they connected by optical fibre, have a LAN and wi-fi facility,” the commission said in its letter to varsity heads on December 29. The regulator has also sought information on the available teacher-student ratio in the varsities.

The HRD Ministry is implementing the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT) to leverage the potential of ICT in teaching and learning process for the benefit of all the learners in Higher Education Institutions in ‘any time any where’ mode.

Under the Mission, more than 700 courses in various disciplines in engineering and science are available online under the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL). E-content for eight undergraduate subjects has also been generated by the Consortium of Educational Communication (CEC) in collaboration with its Media Centres.

Over 100 Virtual Labs in nine engineering and science disciplines, comprising about 770 experiments are currently ready for use and available. 1500 spoken tutorials are available online. More than 200 courses for design have been created.

The details about the NMEICT Mission are available at www.nmeict.ac.in. Using computer infrastructure and connectivity, the reach of these facilities is ensured to the learners.