Daily Current Affairs Quiz 29 July 2023

a) CBSE

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) asked its affiliated schools to consider providing the option of Indian languages mentioned in Schedule 8 of the Constitution as a medium of instruction, in addition to the existing options, from pre-primary classes to Class 12.
The move is a part of the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which envisages the use of mother tongue or regional or Indian languages as the medium of instruction until at least Grade 5, and preferably till Grade 8 and beyond.

c) National Stock Exchange

The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), the government-backed e-commerce protocol, launched a repository of online training material for merchants called the ONDC Academy.
ONDC, which was funded initially by banks, has been conceived as a counterweight against large e-retail, quick commerce and ride-hailing firms. The repository is stored on an ONDC website as well as on YouTube, with assistance from the National Stock Exchange.

b) Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers welfare

In New Delhi, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare unveiled various initiatives under PMFBY and RWBCIS, including the YES-Tech Manual, WINDS portal, and the door-to-door enrollment app AIDE/Sahayak.
The YES-TECH Manual represents a thorough and all-encompassing handbook that has been meticulously crafted through extensive trials and piloting across 100 districts in India.

a) United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

The Global Education Monitoring Report 2023, titled Technology in Education: A Tool on Whose Terms was released by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
· The report has endorsed banning smartphones in schools in situations where technology integration does not improve learning or if it worsens student well-being.

· Distraction – It highlighted that mere proximity to a mobile device was found to distract students and to have a negative impact on learning in 14 countries.

· Performance – It also cited research studies to point out that banning mobile phones from schools improves academic performance, especially for low-performing students.

· Digital infrastructure – The report also flagged the higher costs of delivering basic education where there is a dependency on the setting up of digital infrastructure.

· The situation could worsen the problem of unequal access in low-income countries.

· Privacy – Another major concern around the indiscriminate use of digital technology in education was children’s privacy.

· Children’s data are being exposed, yet only 16% of countries explicitly guarantee data privacy in education by law.

UNESCO endorses banning smartphones from schools.

c) Ministry of Rural Development

‘Meri Mati Mera Desh Abhiyan’ is an initiative of the Ministry of Rural Development. This campaign will be run across the country from 09 to 15 August. Selected youths from around 7,500 blocks across the country will gather for this program at Delhi’s ‘Kartavya Path’. This campaign has been started for the conclusion of the Amrit Mahotsav of Independence. The Amrit Mahotsav of Independence was started on March 12, 2021.