New Delhi, 27 Feb : The Ministry of Education on Tuesday launched the SWAYAM Plus platform for futuristic courses such as semi-conductors and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan said that the working professionals will be able to participate in the SWAYAM platform using it as a vehicle and take advantage of the multiple-entry-multiple-exit of NEP2020.

He said that the platform will widen the scope of the classroom adding 43 million higher education students and working professionals.

"Futuristic courses such as semi-conductors and Artificial Intelligence for the youth must be in local languages to empower every student in order to realise the dream of Viksit Bharat, as innovation has no language,' Pradhan said.

He said that going beyond STEM education, courses involving music, painting, creative arts, humanities, and liberal arts, are to be part of the Platform to bring about all-round development in our youth.

The ministry said that the greater participation from the industry leaders and also subject matter experts from universities and institutions to contribute courses on separate verticals, which will be certified by IIT Madras.

'There will be a multitude of institutional mechanisms, which will examine such types of proposals to ensure need-based and timely responses,' it said.

SWAYAM Plus primarily focuses on building an ecosystem for all stakeholders in professional and career development, including learners, course providers, industry, academia, and strategic partners.

It enables a mechanism that provides credit recognition for high'quality certifications and courses offered by the best industry and academia partners, reaching a large learner base by catering to learning across the country, with a focus on reaching learners from tier 2 and 3 towns and rural areas.

SWAYAM Plus also envisions bringing in features such as access to mentorship, scholarships, and job placements as value-added services in due course of time, thus building a digital ecosystem for learners to pursue upskilling/re-skilling at all levels, namely certificate, diploma or degree.

/IANS