The inauguration ceremony of Akhil Bharatiya Shiksha Samagam 2023 witnessed the Union Minister of Education and Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Dharmendra Pradhan, introducing the logo, slogan - "Jan Jan Sakshar", and mobile application of the ULLAS: Nav Bharat Saksharta Karyakram. The occasion coincided with the third anniversary of NEP 2020.

Addressing the audience, Union Minister Pradhan highlighted the significance of the ULLAS mobile application in leveraging technology to promote widespread access to basic literacy. 

The ULLAS program aspires to change education and literacy throughout the country by cultivating a thorough learning ecosystem that is tailored to each individual and closes gaps in fundamental literacy and important life skills. Its emphasis also extends to functional literacy, career-related skills, and critical life skills like digital literacy, legal literacy, financial literacy, and the empowerment of citizens to take part in nation-building.

The app, which is accessible on both the Android and iOS operating systems, acts as a digital portal to connect students to a variety of educational resources via the NCERT DIKSHA portal. Learners and volunteers can sign up on their own or through surveyors.

The program primarily targets citizens aged 15 and above who missed the opportunity to attend formal schooling. It operates through volunteerism, encouraging volunteers to participate as DUTY or Kartavya Bodh towards nation-building. 

Student volunteers will be incentivized with credits in school/university and appreciation through certificates, letters of appreciation, and felicitation, among other means, ANI reported.

The Ministry of Education also signed 106 MoUs with various esteemed organizations and institutions to foster innovation, research, and knowledge exchange in multiple domains, ushering in a new era of collaboration in education and industry-academia linkages.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) signed 15 MoUs with different institutes and sector-skill providers to give a specific focus on skill development and education.

“These partnerships will also promote skill assessment and capacity building,” a senior MoE official said.

The MoUs were signed in association with the Atal Innovation Mission, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Apparel Made-ups and Home Furnishing Sector Skill Council, Automotive Sector Skill Council, Sports, Physical Education, Fitness and Leisure Skills Council, Central Square Foundation (CSC), Educational Initiatives Private Limited, Oxford University Press India, Logistics Sector Skill Council, Furniture and Fittings Sector Skill Council, Life Sciences Sector Skill Council, Textiles Sector Skill Council and Healthcare Sector Skill Council.

Three Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) were signed by the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) with the Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre (ISLRTC) to promote Indian sign language and share resources and expertise for standardization and development of high-quality learning resources in Indian sign language, with the Common Service Centres, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to leverage CSC e-governance services to facilitate the admission of Out of School Children (OoSC) in the NIOS, increase enrolment and provide e-services, and with the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University for academic advancements.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between IBM and the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS) was also signed to expedite the activities being carried out for the successful implementation of the Vigyan Jyoti initiative in the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs).

Under the aegis of the eVidya initiative, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) signed 20 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with the departments of school education of various states in order to create high-quality content for different stakeholders through PM eVIDYA DTH TV channels in a variety of languages.

In the realm of higher education, six MoUs were signed to promote the Indian Knowledge System (IKS).

A total of 14 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) were also signed by the National Educational Technology Forum (NETF) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) in collaboration with SkillDzire Technologies Private Limited, MathWorks India Private Limited, TimesPro, Google India, Gate India Electronics Private Limited, Future Minds, The Open Group, Consortium for Technical Education (CTE), MahaLearning Tab India, Durjeya Solutions Private Limited, Flaunch Innovation Private Limited, Electronics Sector Skill Council, NIELIT and Instrumentation Automation Surveillance and Communication Sector Skill Council.

MoUs were also signed between the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Tirupati, and the IIFCET for offering an advanced certification and training course on “Digital Manufacturing and Automation for Foundry Industry” for training and enriching the knowledge of diploma holders and graduate engineers employed in the industry, IIT-Tirupati and Siemens for establishing a center of excellence on “Smart Manufacturing and Electric Vehicle Technologies”, IIT-Jodhpur and the Central University of Rajasthan, IIT-Ropar and five central universities of north India for academic collaboration and sharing of resources, VNIT-Nagpur and TCS for path-breaking research in the areas of automotive electronics, power electronics, and other related interdisciplinary subjects.

The largest steel company in the nation, Bhilai Steel Plant, and the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Raipur, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), providing aspiring students with an opportunity to develop their entrepreneurial skills by exposing them to industry training and combined degree programs.

15 MoUs with other states were also signed as a result of the PM-USHA initiative.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) signed five MoUs — between the University of Mumbai and the University of Illinois (US), the University of Mumbai and the Saint Louis University (US), the Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya and the L N Gumilyov Eurasian National University in Kazakhstan, the University of Lucknow and the Lincoln University College in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and between the University of Lucknow and the Universidade Federal do Ceara, Brazil. 

Image source: PIB