‘Education must be accessible to all’

PUNE: In his first public programme after becoming the State Education Minister, Ashish Shelar, on Sunday, said that education should be accessible to all.

He was speaking at the inauguration of ‘Padhega Bharat’ programme by Healthy Globe Smart Virtual Education Pvt Ltd, an initiative by MP Amar Sable. Renowned Scientist Dr Raghunath Mashelkar, MP Amar Sable, Maharashtra State Minority Commission President Haji Arafat Sheikh, MLA Medha Kulkarni, former IAS officer and founder of Chanakya Mandal, Avinash Dharmadhikari and others were present on the occasion.

The programme aims to target students from class VIII to XII across the State through virtual classrooms. While the sessions for the school students will begin from July 1, the programme will also target those aspiring to answer civil service examinations through virtual classrooms from July 15 onward.

Appreciating the initiative, Shelar said, “This initiative intends to bridge the gap between the educational opportunities available for rural and urban parts of the country. Although Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) has been a boon, just making the law is not enough. Its implementation must be such that it needs to be accessible to all. Hence, initiatives like ‘Padhega Bharat’ are of utmost importance.”

While he congratulated the founders, he also suggested that the programme should be offered to the students at affordable prices, and in no way should it undermine the efforts of the school teachers.

During his speech, Mashelkar congratulated Shelar on taking up the responsibility of the most important ministry saying, “For the overall development of any country, education is one of the most important sectors to focus on. Education ensures a bright future.

He also asserted that along with Right to Education, the children should also be given the ‘Right Education’, through the ‘Right Medium’, and appreciated the initiative for bringing the best of learning sessions to the rural and disadvantaged students.

Sable stated that around 950 classrooms have been booked for the programme to date.

“We are overwhelmed with the tremendous response that we have received. We are planning to reach all the nooks and corners of Maharashtra this academic year, and in the next academic year, we will be expanding it across India. Along with the school students and civil service aspirants, we will also create programmes for the students appearing for engineering, medicine entrance examinations, introduce foreign language courses and so on,” Sable said.

‘VIRTUAL CLASSROOM CAN’T REPLACE TRADITIONAL SCHOOL EDUCATION’
- Speaking on the occasion, Mashelkar stated that the virtual classrooms and e-learning programmes have taken the school to the children who themselves cannot reach the schools. However, he also said that virtual education cannot replace traditional school education in the classroom.
- “The classroom experience is more than just learning a subject. The interaction with teachers and fellow students have a huge impact on the children. The virtual classrooms cannot replace traditional classroom learning. In fact, these should work hand-in-hand, and pair up for the benefit of students,” Mashelkar added.