Why in News?
- Union Minister Jayant Chaudhary informed the Rajya Sabha, that Vidyanjali has onboarded over 8.5 lakh schools and 5 lakh volunteers nationwide.
- Its role in enhancing education via private sector and community participation, with over 56,000 service activities and 35,000 asset contributions completed, benefiting 20 million students.
- The platform complements schemes like Samagra Shiksha, using digital dashboards for monitoring volunteer efforts and school improvements.
Key Information
- Objective: To strengthen government and government-aided schools through community and private sector involvement (CSR), aligning with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
- Who can Volunteer? The program is open to the Indian Diaspora, retired teachers, government officials, professionals, NGOs, and even homemakers.
- Two Main Verticals:
- Participate in School Service/Activity: Volunteers share skills like subject mentoring, career counselling, yoga, or coding.
- Assets/Material/Equipment: Donating physical resources such as digital infrastructure, sports equipment, or sanitation facilities.
- The Portal: A dedicated tech-enabled platform (Vidyanjali Scheme) acts as a bridge for volunteers to find schools of their choice based on identified needs.
- Core Principles:
- No Monetary Assistance: Schools cannot accept cash; only services or physical assets are allowed.
- Volunteer Status: Volunteering is unpaid and does not constitute a claim for employment in the school.
- Transparency: A structured digital framework ensures all contributions are validated and monitored by the schools and states.
- Expansion: Originally launched in 2016, it was revamped as Vidyanjali 2.0 in 2021 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to include a wider range of activities and a Higher Education vertical.
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