The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) of India won the prestigious UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize 2021 for 'enabling education of persons with disabilities through technology-enabled inclusive learning materials, with a specific focus on Indian Sign language-based content' in an award function organized at UNESCO's New Delhi office on July 10, 2021.
On behalf of NIOS, professor Saroj Sharma, Chairperson, NIOS received the international Literacy prize and thanked UNESCO for recognizing the efforts and innovations of NIOS in the field of education and literacy.
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Every year, the UNESCO International Literacy Prizes focus on a specific theme. This year, the spotlight was on inclusive distance and digital literacy learning.
The Director and Representative of UNESCO, Eric Falt, appreciated the initiative and commitment of NIOS towards learners with disabilities, recognizing the programme's unique feature of meeting learners' unique educational and language needs by developing learning materials in Indian sign language.
H E Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to India Chang Jae-bok acclaimed NIOS for its progressive thinking and inventiveness in ways of imparting education to learners with disabilities. He further quoted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision that "education should not be inclusive only, but also be progressive", and applauded NIOS for working in alignment with this vision.
The Joint Secretary of School Education and Literacy Vipin Kumar appreciated and congratulated NIOS for its initiative to support and promote the Government of India's educational policy and facilitating education for learners with disabilities.
The award-winning programme focuses on the use of digital tools and local language to help persons with disabilities the option to access Indian Sign Language (ISL)-based content.
The programme notably developed Indian Sign language as a language subject at secondary level and videos in sign language version in seven subjects at secondary level and senior secondary level, as well as an ISL dictionary, made available through the NIOS portal.
Along with NIOS, this year's UNESCO International Literacy Prizes were awarded to five other outstanding literacy programmes from Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt, Guatemala, Mexico, and South Africa on the occasion of International Literacy Day.
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