All India Children’s Educational eContent Competition gets under way at Umiam
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, March 15: North-Eastern Hill University vice chancellor Prof Prabha Shankar Shukla believes new and emerging technologies will not replace teachers.
“Teachers, especially of young minds, are more important than ever,” Shukla said during the inaugural function of two-day All India Children’s Educational eContent Competition (AICEeCC) for the year 2023-24 held at the North East Regional Institute of Education (NERIE), NCERT, Umiam on Friday.
He exhorted academicians to break the academic silos to foster innovations and unleash the country’s enormous potential.
Prof Shukla emphasized on the important roles of teachers in achieving the goals of Amrit Kaal and Viksit Bharat.
Viksit Bharat @2047, as propounded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, can be achieved with the appropriate use of technology, not only in economy but also in education, he said.
According to him, the Indian Knowledge System will make India “Vishwaguru” again.
The VC also emphasised that children should become prosumers (individuals who both consume and produce) rather than merely consuming e-content. The competition is organised to provide the necessary fillip to make quality e-content in the country, he added.
Prof Shukla narrated the vision of the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 which recommends a new pedagogy that needs to be implemented in sync with technology to achieve the desired learning outcomes.
In his brief address, Prof Amarendra Prasad Behera, who is the Joint Director of Central Institute of Educational Technology (CIET), NCERT, New Delhi, explained the context in which the AICEeCC is organised.
The NEP, 2020 focuses on providing engaging learning experiences for children. The central budget for 2022-23 gave a policy direction to start a competition for incentivising the creation of quality e-content.
This year, the competition received more than 750 entries under various categories of audio, video and new media. Some of them will be screened during the course of these two days. More than 100 delegates from different parts of the country are attending the event. Each programme will be debated and discussed at length.
Others present during the inaugural programme include the principal of NERIE Prof FG Dkhar, NERIE Head of Education Prof SC Roy and Head of PRD, CIET, NCERT, Prof Shashi Prabha.
Dr Prachi Ghildyal, Assistant Professor, NERIE, anchored the inaugural session. Dr Abhay Kumar, Assistant Professor, CIET, NCERT, New Delhi, is the national coordinator of the competition.
During the valedictory session on Saturday, the winners of the best programme and individual excellence will be announced. A cash prize of Rs 40,000 along with a certificate and a trophy will be awarded to the winners of the best programmes. A jury, consisting of eminent experts in the field, evaluated the programmes.