Kalam To Launch HRD Portal Sakshat

New Delhi, Oct 26 (UNI) President APJ Abdul Kalam will launch on Monday Sakshat, a free portal hoped to help overcome ''vast disparity'' of educational facilities available in various regions across India, it was announced today.

The Human Resource Development Ministry's pilot project is aimed at nurturing talent and offering a one stop solution for academic and vocational education needs for all levels and all fields of study, including learning for life skills, a Ministry statement said.

The launch of the Ministry's landmark initiative to address all education and learning needs of students, scholars, teachers and lifelong learners will be attended among others by HRD Minister Arjun Singh, it said.

Acknowledging vast disparity of educational facilities in various regions across India, it said the Sakshat Portal will help ''in bridging the gap'' by providing quality educational resources and teachers 24x7 ''to learners irrespective of their social, economic and educational status.'' It said the Ministry expected to develop world class content by synergising the efforts of such agencies as the University Grants Commission, All India Council for Technical Education, Indira Gandhi National Open University, Indian Institute of Science and Indian Institutes of Technology.

Senior faculty members from different universities and research and higher learning institutions are contributing to the development of the Portal, the statement said.

Sakshat will help learners explore the vast knowledge base on the net in the form of e-books, e-journals, digital repository, digital library and other open source material.

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