Narendra Singh Tomar Inaugurates Blended Learning Platform For Agricultural Higher Education

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar launched a 'blended learning platform for higher education in agriculture' on Tuesday, as part of a World Bank-funded project developed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

The blended learning ecosystem was created by ICAR as part of the five-year National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP), which concludes this year.

India and the World Bank each contributed USD 82.5 million (approximately Rs 600 crore) to this project, which aimed to strengthen the country's national agriculture education system.

"Krishi Megh's blended learning is an extension of his work. I believe it will strengthen Krishi Megh's foundation and assist in meeting the requirement of digital learning," Tomar stated this at the start of the three-day international conference.

The minister stated that the blended learning ecosystem will play a critical role in India's journey to becoming a developed nation by 2047.

Blended learning combines offline and online learning in such a way that each complements the other.

Himanshu Pathak, Director General of ICAR, stated, "I believe the World Bank will continue to support research and education. Education will be critical in addressing the challenges of climate change and low productivity. Our young students and scientists must be prepared to deal with any problem and to experiment to learn new things, which can be accomplished through a blended learning ecosystem."

R C Agrawal, ICAR Deputy Director General (Agricultural Education), stated that "the ICAR has worked to improve agricultural higher education under the National Education Policy 2020 and the UN-SDGs."

All agricultural universities now have access to e-learning and e-governance software. He claims that they all have smart classrooms, video conferencing facilities, and virtual reality experience labs.

Approximately 86% of agri-universities have academic management systems, 90% have on-campus wi-fi, and 92% have high-speed internet connectivity. The e-content is highly immersive, utilizing virtual and augmented reality. He went on to say that assessments, including short and long answer questions, had been digitized.

-PTI

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