While the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MoHRD) has developed study materials for students from Class IX till Post Graduation (PG) in different languages, it is yet to include Odia.
While crores of students of eight regional languages are benefited through the programme called Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM), Odia language is not added, officials admitted.
The SWAYAM was launched by the Union Government in the year 2017. At least 500 plus courses of different disciplines are included in the programme with an objective to achieve three cardinal principles of education policy such as access, equity and quality.
More than 1,000 specially chosen faculty and teachers from across the country took part in preparing the courses.
The courses hosted on SWAYAM are in four quadrants such as video lecture, special prepare reading material that can be downloaded and printed, self assessment tests through examination and quizzes and online discussion forum for clearing the doubt.
In the meantime, steps have been taken by the MoHRD to enrich the learning experience by using audio-video and multimedia and state of the art technology.
In order to ensure that best quality contained is produced and delivered, nine national coordinators have been appointed.
The languages in which such courses are available include Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Kannad, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam.
However, Odia speaking students are yet to reap any benefits from SWAYAM platform.
The objective of SWAYAM is to take the best teaching learning resources to all including the most disadvantaged.
This programme has brought digital revolution among the students of the languages. All the courses are interactive and prepared by the best teachers in the country and are available freely to any learner.
It is pertinent to mention here that during current Covid-19 pandemic, educational institutions are closed since long. The students from class IX to PG of other languages who have registered in SWAYAM are benefited in absence of regular classroom teaching.
As no course materials are prepared in Odia, the Odia speaking students from Odisha are deprived of the benefits of SWAYAM which is available to their counterparts in Bengli, Gujurati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil and Telgu languages.
Meanwhile, students, teachers, parents and academics are feeling disheartened with such unequal treatment to Odia students.