COVID-19 update: With schools shut, students can study at home with e-books mobile app

NEW DELHI: With schools shut as a precautionary measure against coronavirus, students can now take to e-learning with the help of Government's e-books mobile app “UMANG” which offers more than 1 crore e-books, videos, and audios on all subjects from primary to secondary level.

https://twitter.com/UmangOfficial_/status/1239836242465808384

The UMANG app helps students to access books and study materials using e-pathshala.

The app is available for iOS, Android, and Windows gadgets and can be downloaded for free from the app stores.

The e-Pathshala is a part of the government's Digital India campaign that was launched on November 7, 2015, by then Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani.

The e-Pathshala includes e-textbooks for class 1 to class 12 with supplementary reading material.

For now, the app interface is available in three languages- English, Hindi, and Urdu. But as per an official statement, the app interface will be available in 22 Indian Languages (VIII Schedule Languages).

Over 5 crore people have visited the e-Pathshala as of January 27, 2020.

The learning interface is very student-friendly and easy to use.

Students can select the text, zoom the page, change the font and color, highlight selected portions and can also bookmark.

It has features to serve the needs of school-going children with Text to Speech application where audiobooks and machine-readable books can be listened to.

As per the reports, 696 e-Publications and 504 Flipbooks which include e-Textbooks, teacher’s handbook, manuals, and supplementary reading materials are available on e-Pathshala with 3,855 videos and audios.

Meanwhile, Government of India has launched MyGov Corona Helpdesk on WhatsApp for Indian citizens. People can now dial in and get answers to their queries related to coronavirus.

As a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of coronavirus, museums, libraries, coaching centres, beauty parlours and barber shops in Assam, will be shut until 31st March 2020, informed Finance, Health, Education and PWD minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

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