ICAR launches Blended Learning Platform for Agricultural Education
Focus on deployment of immersive technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR)/Virtual Reality (VR) Experiences and Virtual Classrooms
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has lauched a blended learning platform focused on improving Digital Infrastructure across Agricultural Higher Education Institutions (A-HEIs) with World Bank to strengthen deployment of immersive technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR)/Virtual Reality (VR) Experiences and Virtual Classrooms.
Undertaken to strengthen the National Agricultural Education System in the country, NAHEP is a five-year project initiated in 2018 with equal contribution of $82.5 million (about Rs 600 crore) each from the World Bank and the central government. The World Bank loan is to be repaid over 19 years after a grace period of five years, The purpose of NAHEP is to transform agricultural higher education. The Blended Learning Platform is part of the project.
About 1,000 students and 450 faculty members from 20 agricultural universities have completed international training at 89 institutes in 27 countries in 160 subjects under NAHEP till date. More than 900 experiential learning units where students can get hands-on experience for six months and become proficient in subjects as diverse as genomics and tea processing have been set up at various universities. The digital content repository has more than 160 digitised courses and faculty members have uploaded more than 10,000 videos.
Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar stated, “Since the past five years, the ICAR has reached a new height. When we launched Krishi Megh nobody knew it would act as a gamechanger during the pandemic as it did not let India’s education system be as adversely affected as other countries. I believe even in the future; it will help us in achieving many new accolades. Blended learning and agricultural sector will help India in becoming a developed nation status by 2047. Agriculture, which is the backbone of India’s economy, can thrive with limited funding due to technology and knowledge. In line with ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’ we make policies to ensure that people at the grassroot level benefit from them.”
Dr RC Agrawal, Deputy Director General (Agricultural Education) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), “It has been our endeavour to enhance agricultural higher education in alignment with guidance from NEP 2020 and the UN-SDGs. All agricultural universities have access to e-learning and e-governance applications; they all have smart classrooms, video conferencing facilities and virtual reality experience labs. Eighty-six percent of agricultural universities have academic management systems; 90 percent have wi-fi on campus and 92 percent have high-speed internet connectivity. The e-content, using virtual and augmented reality, is highly immersive. Assessments, including short and long answer type questions have been digitised.’’
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Abhay an alumnus of IIMC and Delhi University, has over a decade long experience of reporting on various beats of journalism. During his free time he prefers listening to music or play indoor and outdoor games.