E-content for children with disabilities

E-content for children with disabilities

Subject : Governance

Context : Union Education Minister released guidelines for the Development of e-Content for Children with Disabilities prepared by the Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education.

Concept :

• A comprehensive initiative, PM e-VIDYA was launched on 17th May 2020, with an aim to unify all efforts related to digital/online/on-air education.
• The programme interalia envisages development of special e-content for the Divyang (Children with Disabilities-CwDs).
• For the first time, an attempt was made to prepare guidelines for CwD also referred to as Children with Special Needs (CWSN) children so that the goal of inclusive education is fulfilled.

The salient highlights of the e- content guidelines in the report are:

• e-Content for CwDs should be developed based on the four principles namely: perceivable, operable, understandable and robust.
• e-Content including text, tables, diagrams, visuals, audios, videos etc. should comply with accessibility standards: national standards (GIGW 2.0) and international standards (WCAG 2.1, E-Pub, DAISY etc).
• Distribution platforms on which content is uploaded (e.g. DIKSHA) and Reading platforms/devices on which content is accessed and interacted (e.g. e-pathshala) must comply with technical standards
• In a phased manner textbooks may be adapted into Accessible Digital Textbooks (ADTs).