Varanasi: A teacher from a govt school in Kashi-Tuba Asim-has been honoured with the Vidya Stree award at IIT Madras. This honour has been given for new technology and innovation in teaching children of schools under the Basic Education Department. Tuba Asim has developed the concept of experiment through simulation, finding an easier way to teach children. Through this simulation technology, children can answer ‘why’ and ‘how’ by conducting experiments themselves. She has also trained teachers along with children at DIET.The Yogi govt is emphasising the digitalisation of education, establishment of smart classrooms, teacher empowerment and foundational development in the direction of promoting digital, inclusive and skill-based education in line with the provisions of the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP-2020).Basic Education Officer Anurag Shrivastava said that Asim, a teacher at PM Shri Composite School Gangapur, Varanasi, has been given the award in the field of ICT and simulation, by Vidya Shakti and IIT Madras Pravartak Technology Foundation. He said that students of PM Shri schools, upper primary schools and composite schools are being taught through modern mediums and ICT tools such as IFPD, AI Gemini, ChatGPT, NotebookLM, Diksha App, simulation portals — OLab, PhET, SimPop — through their effective operation and educational use.Tuba Asim said that the govt has taken several concrete steps to promote digitalisation in the Basic Education. Under this, children are being taught basic proficiency in reading, writing and mathematics through digital modules and apps. Tablets and e-learning materials — tablets and online study materials — have been made available to students, due to which children in rural areas are also benefiting from digital education.Started in 2023, Chennai’s ‘Vidya Shakti’ is a major free digital education initiative. Shiva Subramaniam S, global convenor and operations of this project, said that there is an MoU between the govt, IIT Madras and OpenMentor Trust Chennai. Under the project, children of Class 6 to 8 are being taught mathematics, science and English online. The objective of Vidya Shakti is to strengthen the foundation of basic education, so that children do not drop out before going to college and the gross enrolment ratio of students in colleges increases. More than 50,000 children in 353 schools of Varanasi are availing free benefit of this scheme.
