Chennai: A new memorandum of understanding (MoU) between ministry of human resource development (MHRD), India, and ministry of higher education, Afghanistan, was signed on Friday allowing students and faculty members from the neighbouring country to study Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) available in Swayam platform.
Swayam, an online education platform, is developed by India.
As per the MoU, the MHRD will impart training to the faculty and students in the educational Institutions in Afghanistan for using the Swayam platform and it will also build capacity for e-learning among the faculty members.
It will also assist uploading and publishing of existing courses developed by Afghan educational institutions on Swayam platform. It would also help the higher education ministry of Afghanistan to set up its own MOOC platform.
Speaking at the event, R.Subrahmanyam, secretary, higher education, MHRD said, “The ties between India and Afghanistan would grow further with this collaboration. It would expose them to the latest technology courses and also upskill them in areas of their interest.”
M. Homayoun Qayoumi, senior advisor to the President of Afghanistan and acting finance minister, highlighted the impact of education in the progress of every country and this collaboration would help in providing better education facilities to Afghan students.
Among the other initiatives envisaged by this MoU is to provide access to the Higher Educational Institutions of Afghanistan of various Indian facilities such as the National Digital Library of India (NDLI) and virtual labs.
Further, it would also develop joint educational programmes between higher educational institutions of India and Afghanistan, sharing of the curriculum.
