Education is a necessity for the well-rounded development of all children. Governments all over the world are struggling with challenges in education put forth by the Covid-19 pandemic and developing innovative means to provide education for all. The Government of Andhra Pradesh has, even before the pandemic, committed itself to building a knowledge society and ensuring quality inclusive education through infrastructure and policy reforms.

Even before covid, the Andhra Pradesh government had launched Mana Badi Nadu Nedu scheme which aimed to strengthen the infrastructure in schools to improve learning outcomes and decrease dropouts. The scheme, implemented in phases to improve the learning outcomes and decrease the dropout rate in all schools by taking up various measures including upgrading the school infrastructure was allocated 3500 crores this year to upgrade More than 16,000 schools are set to be upgraded in the second phase of the scheme.In terms of infrastructure, now, the focus is primarily on developing digital classrooms and online courses, bringing technology to remote corners of the state, and improving digital skills. The pandemic provided an impetus for enhancing students’ and teachers’ acceptability of digital modes in delivering education. During the pandemic-induced school shutdowns, the Government of Andhra Pradesh launched various initiatives to ensure educational continuity for all students in the state. WhatsApp groups were created to share lessons, notes, and practice sets, among others. Since 50% of the students in the state did not have access to e-learning facilities in their homes, mediums like TV and Radio were used extensively to share learning resources with the students.

The Government of Andhra Pradesh also developed a toll-free call centre for students to ask queries on any subject matter and obtain clarifications from an expert teacher. Clickable PDFs were also created for providing e-content on mobiles/tabs. It is reported that the daily usage of the DIKSHA platform increased from a daily average of 2,500 to a whopping 1 lakh. To accommodate for the mental health of students and teachers, counseling sessions were organised in collaboration with the psychology departments of select universities, which helped in beating fatigue, despair and monotony.

Collaborations with various ed-tech entities have been key factors in countering the adverse effects of COVID-19 on education and improving digital infrastructure in the state. A strategic partnership has also been announced with the UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development to develop the state into a digital learning hub. The hub is intended to serve as a gathering place for various stakeholders, including policymakers, knowledge and research partners, educators, learning science experts, psychologists, technology providers, financial investors, and companies, to collaborate on the development of learning products based on well-designed pedagogies that develop critical inquiry, cognitive skills, and social-emotional skills through deeply immersive and experiential learning methodologies.

The Government of Andhra Pradesh has recently signed an MoU with Byjus to provide quality education for classes 4 through 10 via content enhancement and visual aids. To counter the issue of inadequate facilities at home for e-learning, the state will also distribute tablet computers to class 8 students with BYJU’S content, to help them pass 10th and 12th exams with impressive results. This will bring students from government schools at par with those from private schools in terms of accessing quality education.

Teacher training is also being stressed upon for new curriculum, pedagogy techniques, spoken English and so on, to make teaching more interactive and innovative. To this end, Teacher Training Centres will be developed in 13 newly-carved districts. Every class will also be equipped with projectors and interactive displays through which teachers can implement their learnings.

These developments are in line with Andhra Pradesh’s vision framework, which places a strong emphasis on technological advancements and modernised methodologies in education for unleashing the full potential of the state’s youth. The Government of Andhra Pradesh is clearly on a war footing when it comes to developing collaborations to improve infrastructure around digital classrooms, increasing digital access and providing necessary out-of-school assistance through apps, programmes and mentorships. Other states can take a leaf out of the Andhra book to enhance learning outcomes and give underserved communities greater access to innovative content, better technology, expert knowledge and an array of other resources. Nelson Mandela once said, “education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” and indeed, who better than India, with centuries of strong and dedicated focus on education, to hold the lamp to the world.

The author is a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce, Parliamentary Party Leader and National General Secretary of the YSR Congress Party.

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