Stakeholders Come Together to Celebrate Digital Learning Day 2021

On the occasion of Digital Learning Day 2021 which is celebrated on February 25 every year, Neemacademy organized a program with the theme ‘Let’s Educate 2021 together’.

The event included a panel discussion and informal interaction sessions on opportunities and challenges of digital learning in Nepal.

The program saw a participation of around 150 people from educational institutions, parents, policymakers and other government representatives, tech entrepreneurs, and students. The event was held in collaboration with co-organizers including Sochware, a technology company, and Living with ICT, a tech magazine.

The two-panel discussions titled “Planning and Policy: Reimagining Digital Education” and “Digital Education: Pre and Post Covid” focused on issues including challenges for parents, teachers, and schools in terms of virtual classes and infrastructure, policy level preparations, and planning for digital education and roles of technology platforms for facilitation and development.

 “The highest kind of inequality in today’s world is inequality in the access to the internet. So, the educational institutions, educators, tech startups, and government must collaborate to create digital learning space for students all over Nepal,” said Ganesh Shah, former Minister for Environment, Science, and Technology.

He further said, “The local units and provinces must design strategies and implement to bring the digital revolution in their place.”

Diwakar Durdarshi, principal of Shivpuri Secondary School said that the program was an interesting platform to know about the stakeholders’ experience and opinion in e-learning. “Had we started exploring the digital learning right after the earthquake 2015, we would have come much far by now,” he said.

He opined that though schools used to teach about computers as a subject, they failed to teach about utilizing information and technology in learning. “Now, as we have finally learned about the potential of e-learning, we need to give continuity with both digital and traditional learning. But that remains a challenge as we may forget the former,” said Durdarshi.

Neiha Joshi, Chief Operating Officer of Neemacademy shared that the program has been organized to create awareness about the prospect of e-learning. “Covid has pushed all of us to digital learning. But there is still a resistance to change,” said Joshi.

“So, we have brought all the stakeholders to share their experiences, challenges, and opportunities regarding e-learning,” said Joshi. The main agenda is that technology and classroom learning should go hand in hand, shared Joshi.

Many challenges that we faced a year ago in e-learning have been reduced now due to Covid, viewed Eeda Rijal, CEO of Sochware. “But some challenges are still relevant and there are a new set of challenges. So, this is a prominent time to interact and engage in conversation regarding the development and future of e-learning,” said Rijal.

Digtial Learning Day has been celebrated internationally since 2012. Neema Education Foundation has been organizing various such programs on this day since 2018.