International Conference Hosted by ICAR and World Bank under NAHEP calls for creating a Blended Learning Ecosystem in Agriculture

The International Conference on Blended Learning Ecosystem for Higher Education in Agriculture 2023, hosted jointly by The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the World Bank from March 21-23 was inaugurated here today.

The Chief Guest, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar stated, “Blended learning and the agricultural sector will help India in becoming a developed nation status by 2047. Agriculture, which is the backbone of India’s economy, can thrive with limited funding due to technology and knowledge. In line with ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’ we make policies to ensure that people at the grassroots level benefit from them.”

Dr Himanshu Pathak, Secretary (DARE) and Director General (ICAR) said, “I would like to thank the World Bank for being a committed partner to the Government of India. I believe it will further promote research and education. By 2047, India will become a developed nation as per our Hon’ble PM Narendra Modi's vision. To address the challenges of climate change and low productivity, education will play a crucial role. Our young students as well as scientists need to be equipped to combat all problems and experiment to learn new things which can be done through a blended learning ecosystem.’’

Dr RC Agrawal, Deputy Director General (Agricultural Education) said “It has been our endeavour to enhance agricultural higher education in alignment with guidance from NEP 2020 and the UN-SDGs. All agricultural universities have access to e-learning and e-governance applications; they all have smart classrooms, video conferencing facilities and virtual reality experience labs. Eighty-six percent of agricultural universities have academic management systems; 90 percent have wi-fi on campus and 92 percent have high-speed internet connectivity. The e-content, using virtual and augmented reality, is highly immersive.  Assessments, including short and long answer type questions have been digitised.’’

“The National Agriculture Higher Education Project (NAHEP) has achieved “almost all targets” and significantly exceeded more than half of them. The quality of students coming in is better, in that they have higher cut-off scores, the graduates have higher placement rates and the research is more effective,’’ said Dr. Bekzod Shamsiev, Senior Agriculture Economist, The World Bank. “The next challenge is to transform digital learning into digital agriculture. Agricultural Universities have an important role to play in promoting precision farming, environmental monitoring and automation of agricultural processes. It should lead to better trading systems and market information, efficient supply chain logistics and provide information for better policy making and regulation,’’ Dr. Shamsiev added.

 The 3-day conference is being organized around the below-mentioned thematic areas to identify the best strategies in blended teaching and learning:

• Strategies for Blended Teaching – Learning
• Technologies for Blended Learning
• Sustainability in the Blended Learning Ecosystem
• Building Stakeholder Capacities to Navigate in a Blended Teaching–Learning Ecosystem
• Contemporary Curriculum for Agricultural Education