Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank on Thursday said that the government is committed to ensuring access to education to 33 crore Indian students during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Through the one-nation, one-digital platform, we will guarantee that every student remains connected to learning, assuring connectivity and access to every scholar,” the minister said.

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Pokhriyal made the comment after inaugurating a global virtual conference organised by the O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) and the International Institute for Higher Education Research and Capacity Building (IIHEd).

The conference on “Reimagining and Transforming the University: Confluence of Ideas during and beyond the COVID-19 Disruption” brought together over 80 thought leaders from 15 countries with 15 thematic panel discussions, four keynote addresses, and two special dialogues, including a special panel led by women leaders from universities.

The union education minister appreciated efforts by the Indian universities to turn Covid-19 challenge into opportunities.

Digital learning, online education and the development of several digital platforms, he said, have enabled the higher education institutions to address this crisis.

The minister also added that the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 will prove to be a landmark plan for the educational aspirations of Indian students to compete with the best in the world.

“This conference is the advancement of our vision to build a collective effort to confront the concerns and issues of universities across the world and explore the way forward for a stronger future of universities, nations and the world,” said C. Raj Kumar, Vice Chancellor, O.P. Jindal Global University.

“Universities and higher education institutions have a unique role to play not only in terms of helping us overcome this crisis through the work of scientists and researchers around the world, but also to build the economy, polity and the society, while building resilience among the young people studying in our own institutions.”

The conference was hosted by JGU) and IIHEd in partnership with six global education networks – Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), Association of Indian Universities (AIU), Coimbra Group of Brazilian Universities, Laspau (a Harvard University-affiliated network), the STAR Scholars Network and Qatar Foundation.

“The educational landscape is in the process of a remarkable transformation and we can create technical solutions to improve access to education for all,” said D.P. Singh, Chairman, University Grants Commission (UGC).

“The pandemic has made us look at innovative solutions for learning. We have created resources to strengthen online teaching and will establish an Academic Bank of Credits (ABC) where a student no longer needs to be associated with just one institution to get their qualification,” added Pankaj Mittal, Secretary General, Association of Indian Universities (AIU).