Open education resource platform to assist UP school children

Lucknow: The basic education department in Uttar Pradesh has initiated an Open Education Resource (OER) platform that will take technology enabled learning to the next level and will assist teachers, parents and students with the simplified and localized content.

Developed with the help of HCL Foundation, the platform 'Vikalp' caters to the needs of children up to Class 8.

It has a notable edge over comparable options like NCERT's 'Diksha', 'Swayam' and 'Mission Prerna'.

The OER is already in use in several southern states, including Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

Director, State Institute of Education and Training, Lalita Pradeep said: "The platform comes with a repository of 10,000 questions, which will help teachers and parents make question papers and quiz to test the subject knowledge of their wards. This option is not available with other platforms."

She added that the platform had smartly gelled 'flexibility' and 'quality control' which makes it unique.

"Any teacher from any part of the state can upload content on the platform but each video will be scrutinized for quality and content by a review and moderation committee. The flexibility also includes freedom to generate localised content," she explained.

Lalita Pradeep said in the course of time, Vikalp will be used as a platform to promote exchange of knowledge through webinars, workshops and discussions. "Users will also have the option to learn from our technical hand holding exercises like how to make a video from your cell phone, etc.," she said, adding that Vikalp was a great example of those who believe in 'IT for Change'.

Director, Samuday-HCL Foundation, Alok Varma said that Vikalp was a community model of learning and exchange of knowledge.

"The portal will not only ease the process of teaching and learning, but also enrich the quality of knowledge dissemination," he said.

Minister of state (Independent charge) for basic education, Satish Kumar Dwivedi described Vikalp as an outcome of the state's commitment to introduce and encourage 'innovative practices to improve culture of learning and improving learning outcome'.