Union Education Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ held a virtual meeting Director General UNESCO, Ms Audrey Azoulay in New Delhi today. They discussed key issues of mutual importance including National Education Policy, India’s response to COVID Pandemic especially in the education sector, among others concerning India UNESCO cooperation. Shri Amit Khare, Secretary, Higher Education, delegation from UNESCO and senior officials of the Ministry were also present in the meeting.

Shri Pokhriyal said that under the visionary leadership of our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, Ministry of Education Government of India has ensured that education reaches even the last child in the remotest part of the country. 

In this context he mentioned about initiatives undertaken to ensure continuity of education for children across the country. Such as under Prime Minister E –Vidya scheme, DIKSHA (Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing) platform was started to continue education for students (with internet access). While One Class - One Channel programme ‘SWAYAM PRABHA’ was initiated for providing education to children without internet access.

Director General of UNESCO Ms. Audrey Azoulay appreciated the response of the Indian Government in mitigating the challenges of covid and ensuring continuity of education during covid pandemic by providing education to the students through different mediums of TV, Radio, online etc. to the last student of the country. She remarked that India’s response to covid was remarkable in terms of scale and diversity. 

She requested the Union Minister to share the experiences and best practices relating to education sector of India with member states of UNESCO. She congratulated the Minister for bringing out the New Education policy which is visionary and capable of transforming the education sector. She remarked that important concepts under NEP like strengthening administrative capacities, Socio- Emotional learning, Environmental awareness, etc are very crucial for development of students. On behalf of UNSECO, she extended full support in implementation of National Education Policy.