Welcoming 2026 with Unity, Cleanliness, and Global Vision at SCERT Uttarakhand

The New Year 2026 was celebrated with enormous enthusiasm and collective spirit at the SCERT Conference Hall, marking a meaningful beginning to the year ahead. The celebration was gracefully chaired by Director (Academic) Bandana Grabyal, who extended her warm New Year wishes to all faculty members and staff, inspiring everyone to move forward with renewed energy and purpose.

The program was thoughtfully hosted by Assistant Director Dr K. N. Bijalwan, who highlighted the core theme for the year 2026—cleanliness and campus pride. He emphasised the need to maintain a clean, green, and disciplined SCERT campus, setting an example for other institutions across the state.

In her address, Director (Academic) Bandana Grabyal proudly acknowledged the growing global identity of SCERT Uttarakhand, particularly its recognition on UNESCO and other international platforms. She appreciated the consistent efforts of faculty members and stressed the importance of interdepartmental collaboration, especially strengthening coordination with the IT Department to enhance innovation, outreach, and knowledge sharing.

She also commended the dedication, creativity, and innovative initiatives undertaken by the IT Department along with other departments and encouraged greater cohesion among all units to scale up impactful initiatives. Further, she invited all departments to actively contribute articles for the upcoming e-magazine, “Ratbyani,” making it a collective reflection of SCERT’s academic and creative journey.

The celebration witnessed joyful participation from many faculty members, who shared New Year wishes through songs, poems, speeches, and light-hearted activities like dice games, creating an atmosphere of warmth and camaraderie.

The event was smoothly anchored by Himani Bhatt (Administrative Officer) and Himani Thapa (Faculty), whose engaging coordination added vibrancy to the program.

The New Year celebration at SCERT concluded with a shared resolve to work together with clean intentions, collaborative spirit, and innovative vision, making 2026 a year of excellence, unity, and global impact.

Webinar on Pictory AI | Webinar Series on AI Tools in Education (NCERT–CIET)

 

• Organised by: Central Institute of Educational Technology (CIET), NCERT
• Webinar Series: AI Tools in Education
• Session: Day 2– Pictory AI
• Date & Time: 30 December 2025 | 4:00–5:00 PM

• Expert Speaker: Mr. Ramesh Prasad Badoni (National ICT Awardee)
  Faculty – IT, SCERT Uttarakhand

Faculty – IT, SCERT Uttarakhand

About the Webinar Series

The Central Institute of Educational Technology (CIET), NCERT, continues its national initiative to conduct regular webinars focussing on artificial intelligence (AI), educational technology (ET), and information and communication technology (ICT). These webinars aim to empower teachers, teacher educators, and education leaders with emerging digital tools aligned with NEP 2020 and 21st‑century teaching–learning practices.

The Pictory AI session was part of this flagship webinar series and attracted educators from across India through television, mobile platforms, and online streaming.

Webinar: Pictory AI

The Day 2 session focused on Pictory AI, an AI-powered video creation platform that enables teachers to transform lesson plans, scripts, articles, and text content into engaging educational videos without requiring advanced video-editing skills.

Ramesh Prasad Badoni demonstrated how Pictory AI can significantly enhance lesson planning, classroom engagement, accessibility, and content creation efficiency for teachers across all subjects.

Key Highlights:

• Converts scripts, lesson plans, PDFs, and articles into videos
• Automatically matches visuals with key concepts
• Supports captions and multilingual voiceovers
• Requires no professional video-editing expertise

During the webinar, we discussed the benefits for teachers.

Saves Time

• Reduces lesson planning and content creation time by up to 70% through automation

Boosts Student Engagement

• Creates visually rich multimedia lessons that improve attention and retention

Enhances Accessibility

• Auto captions, subtitles, and voiceovers support inclusive education

Professional-Quality Content

• Enables teachers to produce polished videos without technical complexity

Key Features for Educators

• Script to Video: Convert written lesson plans into videos
• Article Summarization: Turn long content into concise visual summaries
• Auto Captioning: Generate subtitles for inclusive learning
• AI Voiceovers: Add narration in multiple languages and accents
• AI Video Editor: Easy editing with drag-and-drop interface

Live Webinar Recording

Watch the complete recorded session on NCERT’s Official YouTube Channel:
👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3pcpggHHC4

Where was the webinar broadcast?

• PM eVIDYA Channels #6–12
• DD Free Dish
• DISH TV Channels #2027–2033
• Jio TV Mobile App

The Pictory AI webinar successfully demonstrated how artificial intelligence can transform traditional lesson planning into engaging, inclusive, and multimedia-rich learning experiences. Initiatives like these by CIET–NCERT play a crucial role in building teachers’ digital competencies and aligning Indian education with global best practices.

Educators are encouraged to explore Pictory AI and integrate it into their daily teaching to create impactful and learner‑centric classrooms.

Coming Soon: रतब्याणी ई-मैगज़ीन – तृतीय संस्करण 2025-26

लेख आमंत्रण | नवाचार, अनुभव और विचारों की साझा मंच 

उत्तराखंड की शैक्षिक नवाचार यात्रा में एक और महत्वपूर्ण अध्याय जुड़ने जा रहा है।

SCERT उत्तराखंड की अभिनव पहल “रतब्याणी” ई-मैगज़ीन अपने तृतीय संस्करण के साथ शीघ्र ही प्रकाशित होने जा रही है।

“रतब्याणी” — जिसका अर्थ ब्रह्म मुहूर्त या भोर का समय  से है — शिक्षा में नवाचार, समावेशिता और सहयोग का प्रतीक बन चुकी है। इसके प्रथम और द्वितीय संस्करणों को शिक्षकों, विद्यार्थियों, शोधकर्ताओं और शिक्षाविदों से व्यापक सराहना मिली है। अब तीसरा संस्करण आपके विचारों और अनुभवों का स्वागत कर रहा है।

रतब्याणी का उद्देश्य

रतब्याणी एक पूर्णतः डिजिटल, ओपन एजुकेशनल रिसोर्स (OER) आधारित ई-मैगज़ीन है, जिसका उद्देश्य है:

• गुणवत्तापूर्ण शैक्षिक संसाधनों तक मुक्त और निःशुल्क पहुँच

• शिक्षकों, छात्रों और अकादमिक समुदाय के बीच ज्ञान का साझा मंच

• NEP 2020 के अनुरूप नवाचार, अनुभवात्मक अधिगम और डिजिटल समावेशन को बढ़ावा

• प्रिंटिंग लागत से मुक्त, पर्यावरण-अनुकूल और वैश्विक पहुँच

तृतीय संस्करण के लिए संभावित विषय क्षेत्र

आप निम्नलिखित (पर सीमित नहीं) विषयों पर अपने लेख, अनुभव या केस-स्टडी भेज सकते हैं:

• SCERT/DIET की शैक्षिक पहलें एवं नवाचार
• कक्षा शिक्षण में ICT, AI एवं डिजिटल टूल्स का प्रभावी उपयोग
• NEP 2020 के क्रियान्वयन से जुड़े अनुभव
• विद्यालय आधारित नवाचार एवं सर्वोत्तम प्रथाएँ
• हैकाथॉन, टेक्नो मेला, MOOCs और प्रोजेक्ट-आधारित अधिगम
• बाल वाटिका, आनंदमय एवं प्रारंभिक बाल्यावस्था शिक्षा
• पर्यावरण शिक्षा, स्कूल गार्डन, समुदाय सहभागिता
• शिक्षकों और छात्रों की प्रेरणादायक सफलता कहानियाँ
• शैक्षिक शोध, लेख, विचार आलेख और रिफ्लेक्शन

कौन भेज सकता है लेख?

• शिक्षक (प्राथमिक से उच्चतर माध्यमिक)
• विद्यार्थी
• शिक्षक-प्रशिक्षक एवं DIET/SCERT संकाय
• शोधार्थी एवं शिक्षा क्षेत्र से जुड़े नवाचारकर्ता

क्यों लिखें रतब्याणी के लिए?

• आपका लेख राज्य, राष्ट्रीय एवं वैश्विक पाठकों तक पहुँचेगा

• शिक्षा के क्षेत्र में आपके कार्य और विचारों को पहचान और मंच मिलेगा

• एक समावेशी, सहयोगात्मक और नवाचारी शैक्षिक समुदाय का हिस्सा बनने का अवसर

    रतब्याणी ई-मैगज़ीन देखें

    https://innovateuttarakhand.com/magazine/

आइए, ज्ञान की इस साझा यात्रा का हिस्सा बनें

रतब्याणी – तृतीय संस्करण केवल एक ई-मैगज़ीन नहीं, बल्कि उत्तराखंड की शैक्षिक चेतना और नवाचार की सामूहिक आवाज़ है।

अपने अनुभव, प्रयोग और विचार साझा करें — और शिक्षा के इस नवप्रभात को और उज्ज्वल बनाएं।

लेख भेजें | सहभागिता करें | रतब्याणी से जुड़ें 

Email Here: scertuk09@gmail.com  For more clarity Contact IT dept SCERT Uttarakhand 

SCERT Uttarakhand on the Global Stage: Voices from India at UNESCO’s International Dialogue on Gender Equality and ICT in Education

Source: UNESCO-IITE-Elibrary,  “Gender Equality in the Use of ICT in Education”

Ramesh Badoni, IT Faculty, represented SCERT Uttarakhand, India, in a prestigious international initiative led by UNESCO IITE, where his case study has been published in the UNESCO Guide for Teacher Educators, a global reference document for teacher educators across countries. This recognition reflects the collective vision, innovation, and sustained efforts of SCERT Uttarakhand in promoting inclusive, equitable, and technology-enabled education.

Recently, an official communication was received from the UNESCO IITE Team acknowledging continued engagement with the mini-course series on “Gender Equality in the Use of ICT in Education,” launched during the international webinar held on December 5, 2025. The communication further highlighted that key priorities and discussion points shared by Ramesh Badoni have been identified for focused deliberation during the upcoming Q&A session, to be addressed by the UNESCO Team Lead. This acknowledgement underlines the growing global relevance of insights emerging from Indian public education institutions, particularly from state academic bodies like SCERT Uttarakhand.

From Local Practice to Global Knowledge

The inclusion of an SCERT Uttarakhand case study in the UNESCO Guide demonstrates how grassroots-level innovations, structured teacher professional development models, and ICT integration practices from Indian government education systems can inform and strengthen global teacher education frameworks. The discussions around:

• gender equity and inclusion in digital learning environments,

• equitable access to ICT for all learners,

• safe, ethical, and responsible use of technology, and

• teacher empowerment through ICT capacity-building initiatives

closely resonate with the ongoing academic and training initiatives undertaken by SCERT Uttarakhand.

Continued Global Engagement and Dialogue

UNESCO has also announced a follow-up international webinar scheduled for 16 January, dedicated to:

• participant feedback on the mini-course,

• addressing questions arising from classroom practices, and

• interactive dialogue between educators and course developers.

Participants are encouraged to continue sharing reflections through the UNESCO E-Teach Forum, where feedback and expert responses will remain open until 16 January, further strengthening cross-country collaboration and professional learning.

Webinar Recording:

The global launch webinar on Gender Equality in the Use of ICT in Education is available as an open learning resource:

https://youtu.be/DrmSFHP6eQM

Positioning SCERT Uttarakhand at the Global Level

This international engagement marks a significant milestone for SCERT Uttarakhand, showcasing how state-level academic institutions in India can:

• contribute meaningfully to global policy and pedagogical discourse,

• share scalable and context-responsive ICT integration models, and

• influence international conversations on gender-responsive education.

This acknowledgement also highlights the need for using proven methods, keeping records, and supporting research at the state level, making sure that educational improvements from Uttarakhand can continue to influence and motivate the worldwide education community.

Through sustained collaboration with UNESCO and other international bodies, SCERT Uttarakhand reaffirms its commitment to advancing inclusive, gender-equitable, and technology-driven education aligned with global best practices, while remaining firmly rooted in local classroom realities.

Watch the full video: 

Hackathon2.0; Phase1- Result of Shortlisted Declared – Celebrating Innovation by Teachers and Students in Uttarakhand

Hackathon 2.0: 2025

Innovation, creativity, and problem-solving took centre stage with the successful completion of the first phase of Hackathon 2025, an initiative facilitated by SCERT Uttarakhand to promote innovative thinking among teachers and students.

The hackathon witnessed enthusiastic participation from across the state:

• 159+ Teachers
• 340+ Students
• Total Winners (to be announced after the final round)

The education ecosystem in Uttarakhand is nurturing a growing culture of innovation and hands-on learning, as evidenced by these numbers.

First Phase Shortlisting

After careful review and evaluation, the shortlisted ideas for Phase I have now been announced. The shortlisted projects demonstrated originality, relevance, feasibility, and alignment with real-world educational and social challenges.

All shortlisted entries are currently under verification, after which the selected participants will receive individual communication regarding the next stage.

Final Round: Physical Project Presentations

The final round will consist of physical project presentations at SCERT Uttarakhand, where participants will present their ideas before a jury of experts. This round will focus on:

• Practical implementation

• Innovation depth

• Impact and scalability

• Presentation and problem-solving skills

Final Showcase & Awards

Following the jury evaluation:

• 20 outstanding student projects

• 10 exceptional teacher projects

will be recognised and awarded during the Final Showcase & Awards Ceremony.

Please note that the currently released list is provisional and not the final result. Final winners will be announced only after the physical presentation round.

Check Your Result

Participants can check their First Round Hackathon Result here:

https://innovateuttarakhand.com/event/78bf0480-799f-4ea2-8e2c-f19bdb313d76

The Hackathon 2025 stands as a testament to the innovative spirit of Uttarakhand’s teachers and students. SCERT Uttarakhand remains committed to fostering creativity, critical thinking, and experiential learning across the state.

Best wishes to all shortlisted participants for the final round!