Malaviya Mission, Teachers Training Programme (GS Paper 2, Education)
Why in news?
- Recently, the Union Minister for Education launched the Malaviya Mission - Teachers Training Programme by the University Grants Commission at Kaushal Bhawan, New Delhi.
Aim:
- Organised by the University Grants Commission, in association with the Ministry of Education, the Malaviya Mission - Teacher Training Programme aims to provide tailored training programmes for teachers.
- This programme will work for the capacity building of faculty members in higher educational institutions.
Key Highlights:
- He emphasised improving the quality of education at all levels by infusing quality and excellence in teachers and teaching methods.
- He also announced the renaming of Human Resource Development Centres (HRDCs) as Madan Mohan Malaviya Teachers’ Training Centre.
- This programme will ensure continuous professional development and help in building capacities of 15 lakh teachers of HEIs through 111 Malaviya Mission centres across India in a time-bound manner.
- The capacity building under the Malaviya Mission will be mapped to the credit framework to ensure career progression pathways for educators.
Programme structure:
- The two-week online programme shall focus on various themes identified for course curriculum/content for capacity building of faculty members at higher educational institutions.
- The 8 themes include Holistic and Multidisciplinary Education, Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS), Academic Leadership, Governance and Management, Higher Education and Society, Research and Development, Skill Development, Student Diversity and Inclusive Education and Information and Communication Technology.
Australia announces Moon mission, rover to extract oxygen from lunar soil
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
Why in news?
- As India's Chandrayaan-3 goes into lunar sleep, the Australian Space Agency, in collaboration with NASA, is developing a rover under the Trailblazer program of the Moon to Mars initiative.
Key Highlights:
- The rover, leveraging Australia's expertise in remote operations, will collect lunar soil, or regolith, from which NASA aims to extract oxygen, a crucial move towards establishing a long-term human presence on the Moon.
- The rover is set to embark on its lunar journey as part of NASA’s future Artemis mission, with a projected launch date as early as 2026.
Artemis mission:
- NASA has already launched one Artemis mission, Artemis 1, which sent an uncrewed Orion spacecraft to lunar orbit and back last year. Preparations are underway for Artemis 2, scheduled for late 2024, which will send four astronauts around the Moon.
- Following that, Artemis 3, planned for late 2025 or 2026, will see astronauts landing near the lunar South Pole, marking another significant step in lunar exploration.
Significance:
- This marks a significant milestone for Australia's space industry, as it will be the country's first rover to land on the Moon.
Centre signs MoU with Adobe to train children in classroom
(GS Paper 2, Education)
Why in news?
- The Union Education Ministry signed an agreement with global software major Adobe to help children develop creative expression in classrooms using the application Adobe Express.
- Training and certification in creativity and digital literacy will be provided to about 20 million students and five lakh teachers by 2027 using Adobe Express-based curriculum.
Key Highlights:
- Under the programme, Adobe will provide schools across the country with free access to Adobe Express Premium and professional development of educators.
- Curriculum, training and certification based on Adobe Express tools and capabilities will be rolled out to empower students and educators with topics covering creativity, generative AI, design, video, animation and other emerging technologies.
- 5,00,000 Educators will be up-skilled to use Express.
Way Forward:
- In the time of digitisation, new ideas, new innovation and creativity, the partnership will create a new standard and benchmark for students.
