~ CLIx leverages technology to improve learning levels in Mathematics, English and Science in secondary schools in India ~
CLIx was chosen out of 143 applications from 79 countries, and the only Indian initiative to have been honoured, since 2006 when this award was instituted. The initiative was selected by the director-general of UNESCO based on the recommendations of an international jury, which comprised of eminent education experts, bureaucrats and academicians working ICT in education, drawn from five countries.
M S Vijay Kumar, Associate Dean for Open Learning. Executive Director, J-WEL, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said, “We hope that the project’s commitment to openness, connectedness, and pedagogical principles will serve as useful model for educational change at scale, in India and elsewhere. It is at once humbling, gratifying and energizing to receive the King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa prize from UNESCO. This honor is not only a recognition of the collaborative effort so far in each aspect of this project (curriculum design, technology applications, teacher preparation) but also incentive to continue to look for innovative solutions to address the important goal of providing universal quality education”.
The theme of this year’s edition was “Use of ICT to Increase Access to Quality Education” with a view to promote innovations in leveraging ICTs for achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4. Since 2006, the Prize is dedicated to reward innovative ICT practices in education that aim to develop education systems worldwide and to foster high quality and inclusive lifelong opportunities for all. The national Programme on Mainstreaming ICTs for Education (Programme de Généralisation des Technologies de l´Information et de la Communication pour l´Enseignement, Programme GENIE), from Morocco has also won the award.
About TISS
TISS is India’s premier University for applied social sciences and development. TISS has nurtured a culture of values and commitment to work with the underprivileged sections of India in ways that positively contribute to development. Faculty and students at TISS are encouraged and supported to take up large scale action research studies that can inform policy and to also engage with policy advocacy. Faculty in education are active on the Indian education science—as researchers, teachers and policy advocates. TISS has initiated pioneering programmes in education such as Masters in Elementary Education in blended and face to face form that aim to develop professionals for this sector. TISS is also developing programmes in teacher education. For more information visit www.tiss.edu
About MIT
The mission of MIT is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century. The Institute is an independent, coeducational, privately endowed university, organized into five schools (architecture and planning; engineering; humanities, arts, and social sciences; management; and science). It has some 1,000 faculty members, more than 11,000 students, and more than 130,000 living alumni. At its founding in 1861, MIT was an educational innovation, a community of hands-on problem solvers in love with fundamental science and eager to make the world a better place. Today, that spirit still guides how MIT educates students on campus and how it shapes new digital learning technologies to make MIT teaching accessible to millions of learners around the world. Indeed, in his 2012 inaugural speech, President L. Rafael Reif challenged MIT to become a lab to explore the future of higher education. Since then, MIT’s nonprofit online learning platform, edX, has engaged more than 6 million learners drawn from every country on Earth. For more information please visit www.mit.edu
About Tata Trusts
Since inception in 1892, Tata Trusts, India’s oldest philanthropy, has played a pioneering role in bringing about an enduring difference in the lives of the communities it serves. Guided by the principles and the vision of proactive philanthropy of its Founder, Jamsetji Tata, the Trusts’ purpose is to catalyse development in the areas of healthcare and nutrition, water and sanitation, education, energy, rural upliftment, urban poverty alleviation, and arts, craft and culture. Tata Trusts’ programmes, achieved through direct implementation, partnerships and grant making, are marked by innovations, relevant to the country. For more information, please visit http://tatatrusts.org/