Bhubaneswar: A two-day International Webinar on ‘Alternate Learning Practices by States/UTs and Selected Countries during Covid Pandemic: Good Practices and Lessons Learnt’ is organized by SCSTRTI, Govt. of Odisha in collaboration with UNICEF and with financial support from Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Govt. of India.
In the inaugural session, welcome address was given by Prof. (Dr.) A. B. OTA, Director, SCSTRTI followed by address by Director ST, Guha Poonam Tapas Kumar.
Pradeep Kumar Jena, DC-cum-ACS, Government of Odisha congratulated the organisers SCSTRTI, UNICEF, STSC Development Department and emphasised on reaching out to the unreached through innovative learning approaches and models.
Setting the context to the webinar Ranjana Chopra, Principal Secretary, STSC Development Department highlighted that school education and learning among children have been severely impacted during COVID, especially among vulnerable communities who have very seldom access to digital means.
She highlighted that the two days webinar will provide the right platform for sharing of good practices and innovative models of alternate learning practices from different countries and states so that a roadmap for alternate learning strategy can be developed.
Dr. Terry Durnnian, Chief of Education, UNICEF, India has stressed upon the challenges faced by school education and continuity of learning among children, and suggested development of collaboration, networking and partnership and collective efforts for effective implementation of alternate learning during COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Navaljeet Kapoor, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs appreciated SCSTRTI and UNICEF for the timely organisation of this international webinar and expected that the learnings and good practices shared by different countries will help in designing alternate learning strategies for India.
