1. About
In order to motivate State / UT to use ICT in school education in a huge scale, the National ICT award is introduced for State / UT from the year 2021. A selection process is followed for short-listing and recommendation of the required number of awardees to the Ministry of Education (MoE), GoI. In all 3 (three) ICT awards are instituted for best practicing State / UT by Govt. of India. The award proposes to felicitate those State / UT who have enhanced student learning by effectively and innovatively integrating technology supported learning into the school curriculum and subject teaching, and thereby promoting enquiry-based cooperative-collaborative learning using ICT amongst across the State / UT.

2. How to Apply
Principal Secretary / Commissioner / SPD (State Project Director) of State / UT register themselves to nominate their state / UT on the portal https://ictaward.ncert.gov.in by providing their mobile number or email id and choosing a password. After registration, you can login and apply online by answering different questions on the portal. The portal has the option to upload your work to a pdf file or video also.

3. Process of Selection / Evaluation

• Self nomination by the Principal Secretary / Commissioner / SPD (State Project Director) or any other competent authority on behalf of state/UT at https://ictaward.ncert.gov.in portal with supporting documents by using credentials provided by CIET.
• At CIET-NCERT the SPDs would be required to present their State / UT ICT work in the form of powerpoint presentation to the Jury Committee.

Evaluation Matrix for Best Practicing States / UT
Category A: Objective Criteria

S.No.	Criteria	Max. Marks
1	How have the State/UT’s efforts in teacher preparation through in-service and pre-service trainings brought about distinguishable changes in the performance of teachers? What are the strategies adopted by the State/UT to achieve the goal of 50 hours of annual Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for teachers as mandated in NEP 2020? Enlist the target coverage achieved by the State/UT by organizing any training/CPD courses for the teachers on the following:     (a)  Internet as a learning resource     (b)  Development of Digital Contents     (c)  ICT for Teaching, Learning and Evaluation     (d)  Safe, Secure and Ethical Use of ICTs     (e)  Building Communities and Collectivising     (f)  Courses on NISHTHA	10
2	Describe any third party research, assessment, survey or pilot project undertaken at State/UT level to find the existing issues as well challenges and interventions adopted for teaching, learning and assessment by teachers and students.	3
3	How has the State/UT helped the students, including those with special needs/DIVYANG, in the use of ICT and integration of ICT assisted learning?	2
4	How has the State been instrumental in ensuring that teachers and students are aware of cyber safety and security and taken necessary measures in this regard?	3
5	As per the draft document of Samagra Shiksha, Chapter 7, how has the State/UT harnessed the potential of ICT in ensuring the ‘three cardinal principles of access, equity and quality’ with regard to School Education?	5
6	How has the State/UT created and utilised any Management Information System (MIS) of the schools and TEIs ecosystem to enable cumulative assessments, regular feedback and enhanced learning at various levels?	5
7	Describe any substantial work done by the State/UT in promoting FOSS tools.	2
8	How has the State/UT ensured implementation of Digital India Campaign - 2015, NDEAR, PRAGYATA Guidelines for Digital Education, Guidelines for Development of eContent for School and Teacher Education etc.	3
9	How many guidelines/standards related to ICT/IT have been developed and implemented by the State/UT?	2
10	Describe any efforts made by the State/UT in the involvement of NGOs, ESRS, community, alumni etc in order to implement ICT component in the State/UT.	5
	Subtotal (A)	40

Category B: Criteria based on performance

S.No.	Criteria	Max. Marks
1	Describe the strategies adopted by the State/UT in order to enhance and improve ICT infrastructure in various schools under the Samagra Shiksha or any other scheme(attach supporting evidence, if any).	10
2	Describe the ways in which the State/UT has used ICT in transforming classrooms into conducive virtual learning environments. Share evidence/data w.r.t the number of schools that have adopted Digital Education and how it has impacted the teaching - learning process in schools.	10
3	Describe how State/UT has adopted ICT in upgrading/automating the academic as well as administrative works in school.	5
4	Describe the steps taken by the State/UT in the creation/curation and dissemination of quality digital contents for classes 1-12.	10
5	Describe the efforts made by the State/UT to bring in coherence in the access of educational contents and delivery through TV, Radio, QR code, DIKSHA portal/app or any other web portals/apps.	5
6	How has the State enhanced the skill development of teachers in using disruptive technologies, AR/VR, Virtual Labs, LMS, CMS, MIS, AI, coding and Assistive Technologies?	10
7	How has the State/UT helped in sensitization of its stakeholders on the disposal of e-waste and contribute for sustainable development?	5
8	How has the State/UT ensured the bridging of the digital divide? Describe the ways in which digital literacy has been enabled by utilizing ICT infrastructure in schools as alternate solutions for the community?	5
	Subtotal (B)	60

	Total (A + B)	100

4. No of Awards
Total three (3) awards are allotted for Best practicing State / UTs. Selected best three State / UTs will receive a certificate and trophy. The awardee States will be encouraged to function as mentors to motivate and share best practices with other States.