TAPAS INITIATIVE Launched by Ministry for Social Justice and Empowerment

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Welcome to another interesting and informative blog brought to you by Hranker.com. In today’s blog we are going to learn about  a e-study platform “TAPAS”

Recently, the Ministry for Social Justice and Empowerment has launched an online portal TAPAS (Training for Augmenting Productivity and Services).

The idea of TAPAS was conceptualised at a time when exploring the online medium for work and education had become imperative due to the outbreak of Covid 19 pandemic.

The ministry officials said the main objective of introducing the course modules is to impart training and enhance the knowledge and skills for capacity building of the participants.

TAPAS or Training for Augmenting Productivity and Services can be taken up by anyone who wishes to enhance his or her knowledge on the topics and there is no fee for joining. The idea of TAPAS was conceptualised at a time when exploring the online medium for work and education had become imperative due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic and what fuelled it further was the ministry”s vision of ensuring maximum participation of stakeholders and volunteers working in the field of social defence for better training and capacity building.

TAPAS is the initiative of the National Institute of Social Defence (NISD) under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

In our education system, where the offline mode of teaching is so deeply entrenched, this course will lead the path of change and open up new possibilities. There is no dearth of respect and regard for our age-old ”guru-shishya parampara”, but there is no reason why it cannot be transited to the online medium,the minister noted.

Talking further about the initiative, R Subrahmanyam, secretary, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment said TAPAS is a standard MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) platform with course material such as filmed lectures and e-study material. It also includes discussion forums to support and encourage interactions among students and course coordinators.

Radhika Chakravarthy, joint secretary, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment also highlighted the components of TAPAS.

Key Points

About:

• It offers various courses in the field of social defence for the capacity building of stakeholders. It is an initiative of National Institute of Social Defense (NISD).

Social defence is generally understood as the protection of society against crime through a systematically organized and coherent action by both the State and civil society.

• It is a standard MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) platform with course material such as filmed lectures and e-study material.

MOOC is a free Web-based distance learning program that is designed for the participation of large numbers of geographically dispersed students.

• It also includes discussion forums to support and encourage interactions among students and course coordinators.
• It will provide access to lectures by subject experts, study material and more, but in a manner that it supplements the physical classroom without compromising on the quality of teaching.
• It can be taken up by anyone who wishes to enhance his or her knowledge on the topics and there is no fee for joining.

The platform has been made with a quadrant approach, which is:

Video, Text, Self Assessment and Discussions.

Objective:

• To impart training and enhance the knowledge and skills for the capacity building of the participants.

Courses:

The five basic courses are on :

• Drug (Substance) Abuse Prevention
• Geriatric/Elderly Care
• Care and Management of Dementia 
• Transgender Issues 
• Comprehensive course on Social Defence Issues.

Significance:

• In our education system, where the offline mode of teaching is so deeply entrenched, this course will lead the path of change and open up new possibilities.
• It will enable the Ministry for Social Justice and Empowerment in reaching out to an even larger number of people working in the area of social defence.

Usage of TAPAS:

• There will be a virtual class where an expert or resource person will give a presentation on the subject with the help of animated infographics and Powerpoints presentations.
• Participants will be provided with informative materials such as articles, case studies and other study material on the related topic, which can be downloaded for future reference.
• After completing each module, students can test their understanding of the subject with the help of multiple-choice questions.
• There is also a discussion forum in the section where they can express their doubts with the course coordinator.

This brings us to the end of our blog. Hope you found this article informative. Stay tuned with us as we will be bringing to you many such interesting articles that will be helpful for you .