In view of the crisis precipitated by the novel Coronavirus and the necessity to bring changes in the existing system of imparting education so that the norms of social distancing are followed, the higher education department of Uttarakhand is emphasising on strengthening the networking system in all the Government degree colleges. The intention of the department is to ensure implementation of smooth e -learning system in the colleges.

On Wednesday, the State minister for higher education and cooperatives, Dhan Singh Rawat held a meeting with senior officials of higher education and Information Technology (IT) departments at his Vidhan Sabha office on the subject. He said that in all the 105 government degree colleges, ‘ e- Granthalayas’ would be established with the help of National Informatics Centre (NIC). He said that the higher education department would deposit a sum of Rs 21000 per Degree College to the NIC for a period of five years. The minster also asked the BSNL to conduct survey for strengthening networking in the colleges.  Initially 18 colleges located in the district headquarters would be taken up as pilot project by BSNL to provide internet and networking. The minister said that in view of the current scenario all the colleges should have good internet facility, smart classes, e library and system of bio metric system of attendance of students.

The meeting was attended by principal secretary, Anand Vardhan, secretary IT, R K Sudhanshu, director ITDA, Amit Sinha and director higher education Ashok Kumar.