Most Important CA for UPSC Prelims 2021 April-July Set-22

Table of Contents

NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY

One year of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
Prime Minister launched multiple key initiatives in the education sector to mark first year anniversary of the National Education Policy 2020.
The NEP, was launched in July 2020 as the guiding philosophy for changing the learning landscape, making education holistic and for building strong foundations for an Atmanirbhar Bharat.
This is the first education policy of the 21st century and replaces the thirty-four year old National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986.
The policy is aligned to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and aims to transform India into a vibrant knowledge society and global knowledge superpower by making both school and college education more holistic, flexible, multidisciplinary, suited to 21st century needs.

Academic Bank of Credit

Envisaged as a digital bank that shall deposit Credits awarded by Registered Higher Education Institutions, for Courses pursued therein, in the Academic Bank Account of the student.
It is a major instrument for facilitating multidisciplinary and holistic education and will allow multiple entry and exit options for students of undergraduate and postgraduate degree

Vidya Pravesh

It is a preschool preparation programme for Class 1st students.
The program will consist of a three-month play module for these children to prepare them for school.

SAFAL (Structured Assessment For Analyzing Learning Levels)

An assessment programme for CBSE students to assess the progress of foundational skills and basic learning outcomes and competencies among students in classes 3, 5 and 8.

National Digital Education Architecture (NDEAR)

It will provide diverse education eco-system architecture for development of digital infrastructure, a federated but interoperable system that will ensure autonomy of all stakeholders, especially States and UTs.
beneficial for both Centre and States in planning, administering and governing school education as well as to teachers, students and schools for having a seamless digital learning experience.

National Education Technology Forum (NETF):

To provide a platform for the free exchange of ideas on the use of technology like artificial intelligence, blockchain, machine learning, smart boards, computing devices to enhance learning, assessment, planning, administration.
It will provide independent evidence-based advice to central and state government agencies on technology-based interventions.

NISHTHA 2.0:

NISHTHA is the largest teachers’ training programme,
first of its kind in the world to motivate and equip teachers to encourage and foster critical thinking in students.
To will provide training to teachers as per their needs and they will be able to give their suggestions to the department.
It will have 68 modules including 12 generic and 56 subject specific modules and will cover around 10 lakh teachers.

Other initiatives related to language

Mother tongue as medium of instruction in colleges: 14 engineering colleges in eight States are going to start engineering studies in five Indian languages:

Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and Bangla.

Sign Language as a Subject in Secondary Level: Indian sign language, for the first time, has been accorded the status of language subject.
This will give a boost to Indian sign language and will help the divyang people.

NATIONAL INITIATIVE FOR PROFICIENCY IN READING WITH UNDERSTANDING AND NUMERACY (NIPUN BHARAT)

Recently, Ministry of Education (MoE) launched NIPUN Bharat programme, a National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN).
Attaining FLN for all children has been focused on National Education Policy 2020.
It accords highest priority to achieve universal FLN in primary school and beyond by 2026-27.
under the aegis of the centrally sponsored scheme of Samagra Shiksha (an integrated scheme of school education covering from Pre-School to Senior Secondary level)
Mission aims to ensure universal acquisition of FLN, so that by 2026-27 every child achieves the desired learning competencies in reading, writing and numeracy at the end of Grade III and not later than Grade V.
It aims to cover the learning needs of children in the age group of 3 to 9 years including preschool to Grade 3.
The children who are in Class 4 and 5 and have not attained the foundational skills will be provided individual teacher guidance and support, peer support and age appropriate and supplementary graded learning materials to acquire the necessary competencies.

Focus of the Mission

Providing access and retaining children in foundational years of schooling
Teacher capacity building
Development of high quality and diversified Student and Teacher Resources/Learning Materials; and
Tracking the progress of each child in achieving learning outcomes.

Implementation

A five-tier Implementation mechanism will be set up at National-State-District-Block-School level.
Department of School Education and Literacy, MoE will be the implementing agency at the national level and will be headed by a Mission Director.
Role of States/UTs
Creating multi-year Action plans to achieve their respective FLN targets.
Contextualise the National Mission by preparing state specific Stage-wise Action Plan.
Ensure availability of adequate number of Teachers in each school at each grade from preprimary to grade 3 and extensive capacity building of teachers for implementing FLN in mission
Mapping of database of each child enrolled in foundational grades.
Identify a pool of mentors to render academic support to teachers.
Ensuring delivery of textbooks and uniforms to students before the start of academic session.
School/public libraries will be made integral part of teaching learning process.

SPACE TOURISM

Several private companies are developing plans to take paying customers to space on a regular basis leading to a rapid growth in space tourism industry.
Space travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes.
Space travel is referred to as any flight operation that takes one or more passengers beyond the altitude of 100 km and thus into space.
The main difference between orbital and suborbital flight is the speed at which a vehicle is traveling.
An orbital spacecraft must achieve orbital velocity i.e. the speed that an object must maintain to remain in orbit around a planet. To orbit 125 miles (200 kilometers) above Earth for instance, a spacecraft must travel at a screaming 17,400 mph (28,000 km/h).
Suborbital flight, in contrast, requires much lower speeds and doesn’t have the power to achieve orbit. Instead, it will fly up to a certain height that depends on its speed, and then come back down once its engines are shut off.
At the top of their flight arc in a suborbital flight, when the object is falling back toward Earth, passengers achieve a few minutes of weightlessness under zero gravity.

BIOTECH-PRIDE GUIDELINES

“Biotech-PRIDE (Promotion of Research and Innovation through Data Exchange) Guidelines” developed by Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology were released recently.
Biotech-PRIDE guidelines have been formulated in conformity with the principles of NDSAP (National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy) 2012, for enabling the sharing, access and storage of biological data.
it is the responsibility of the data generator/ producer/submitter to deposit data in an appropriate database in the notified Data Repository.
Data withdrawal may be granted if the individual or the organization, whose data have been placed on a publicly accessible database, make a justified request either directly or through the submitter, with valid claims to the data.
Indian Biological Data Centre (IBDC) at Regional Center for Biotechnology supported by Department of Biotechnology.
Other datasets/ data centres will be bridged to the IBDC which will be called Bio-Grid.

NUCLEIC ACID VACCINES

Zydus Cadilla, a pharmaceutical company, has approached Drug Controller General of India for restricted emergency approval for ZyCov-D, its plasmid DNA vaccine against COVID-19.
Would be the world’s first DNA vaccine against COVID-19.
DNA and RNA are types of Nucleic acid vaccines (also known as gene-based vaccines).
Instead of injecting a weakened form of a virus or bacteria into the body, Nucleic acid vaccines use genetic material from a disease-causing virus or bacterium (a pathogen) to stimulate an immune response against it.