Nation, Govt must jointly face Covid challenges: HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank

New Delhi: The entire country and all arms of the government must work together to meet the challenges thrown up by Covid-19, HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said while inaugurating a Bennett University webinar.
The webinar titled ‘Covid-19: Constitutional and Legal Conundrums’ was organised by the School of Law of the Bennett University, which is part of The Times of India Group that publishes ET.

Pokhriyal said timely decisions taken by PM Narendra Modi helped India to hold strong through the crisis and address issues that arose in the wake of Covid-19. The minister highlighted how students and teachers adapted to the lockdown by continuing their classes online.

“Who would have thought entire classes would be held at home on computers and phones for children of all classes?” the HRD minister said, adding that while many problems have been addressed, much still remains to be done, for which a taskforce has been set up. “The biggest democracy with over 1,000 universities, 16 lakh-plus schools, over 1.8 crore teachers and 33 crore students — a bigger number than the US population — are working together to build an education ecosystem in extremely challenging times,” the minister said.

The ministry is in discussions with school and college principals and heads of institutes to address the educational needs of students. Academic calendars have been reworked for all classes and efforts are being made to create online and television-based educational content for students. Pokhriyal said there will be special focus on disadvantaged children and ‘divyang’ students to ensure they can use teaching-learning modules through 24-hour dedicated TV channels, apart from online and other modes.

PRAISE FOR BENNETT UNIVERSITY
The minister commended Bennett University’s ‘mission mode’ efforts to provide high-quality education. Bennett University is one of the most notable names emerging in the international education sphere with an array of courses across disciplines and a range of educational opportunities to help students realise their full potential, the minister said.

Pokhriyal noted how researchers at the IIMs, IITs, universities and other institutes worked through the lockdown to help improve indigenous capability to combat Covid-19 by designing ventilators, high-safety masks, testing kits and protective gear for health staff.