Sanskrit dictionary, career adviser app among Education Ministry's initiatives on 5 years of NEP

NEW DELHI: A web-based local language proficiency test portal for oral reading fluency assessment, an encyclopaedic dictionary of Sanskrit and an adviser app to help students with informed career decision-making are among the initiatives launched by the Ministry of Education on the fifth anniversary of the new National Education Policy (NEP).

Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurated on Tuesday the Akhil Bharatiya Shiksha Samagam (ABSS), which served as a platform for academicians, policymakers, educators, industry leaders and government representatives to review the progress made under NEP 2020 and chart the way forward.

Four foreign universities -- the UK's University of Bristol and Australia's University of West Sydney , Victoria University and La Trobe University -- were granted a Letter of Intent (LoI) on the occasion for setting up their campuses in India.

While Western Sydney University (WSU) will set up its campus in Greater Noida, Victoria University will set up its campus in Noida and La Trobe University is coming up with its campus in Bengaluru. Bristol University is set to start its campus in Mumbai, Pradhan said.

Also read NEP making significant contribution to holistic development of students: PM Modi

TARA platform for Oral Reading Fluency Asseessment

A web-based local language proficiency test TARA portal for Oral Reading Fluency assessment, Centre of Indian Knowledge Systems and Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Sanskrit (IKS-ED) and My Career Advisor app were launched on the occasion.

"The TARA App Portal aims to enable data-driven decision-making in education governance by providing a robust platform for assessing and improving reading fluency among students in Grades 3–8. It supports structured teaching, targeted remediation, and continuous monitoring of learning outcomes," a senior official of the Ministry of Education (MoE) said.

Key features of the TARA App portal include automated ORF assessment, multilingual support, holistic scoring, scalability and data insights. The MoE has also launched the 'My Career Advisor App' — a comprehensive, student-centric digital platform. Developed in collaboration with the Wadhwani Foundation and PSSCIVE (a constituent unit of NCERT), the app aims to provide personalised career guidance to school students across the country.

"National Testing Service National Testing Service-India (NTS-I) conducts research on testing and evaluation and has developed a web-based Local Language Proficiency Test Portal that administers online tests assessing Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing (LSRW) skills across 22 Indian languages, featuring a database of 182,480 LSRW items encompassing 1,825 tests," the official said.

Also read Beyond Memory to Meaning Making: The 5-year flourish of holistic learning through NEP2020

IKS-SWAYAM courses

Centre of Indian Knowledge Systems and Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Sanskrit (IKS-ED) of Central Sanskrit University was established at Deccan College (DU) through the joint efforts of Central Sanskrit University and Sanskrit Dictionary Project, Deccan College, Pune with the approval of the ministry for monitoring the Sanskrit Dictionary Project and development of IKS Encyclopaedia and credit based IKS-SWAYAM courses.

"This Dictionary is a compact encyclopaedia in the field of Indian Knowledge Systems as it treasures the literary references of every word, concept, notion available in the Sanskrit literature across all the disciplines and period of time," the official added.

ViBe, an AI-powered continuous active learning platform developed by the Education Design Lab at IIT Ropar, was also launched on the occasion. It ensures true mastery by keeping learners actively engaged through smart checks, adaptive challenges and real-time feedback.

The event commenced with dignitaries paying floral tributes to Padma Vibhushan Dr K Kasturirangan, chairman of the drafting committee of NEP 2020, in recognition of his visionary leadership and pioneering contributions to India's education and space sectors.

The critical areas of discussion during the Samagam were the use of Indian languages in teaching-learning; Anusandhan and Prime Minister's Research Fellows (PMRF): Nurturing India's Next Generation of Academic and Industry Leadership; re-envisioning Secondary Education to achieve 100 pc GER by 2030 and Centre of Excellence (COE) in AI for Education-Transforming Teaching and Learning Ecosystem.