Contents
ISSN 0973-4139
volume 10 issue 07 july 2014
cover Story
P 14
Boarding Schools: Home Away From Home? IndustrySpeak
Lead Feature 54 Skill Matters: building brand India
28 New-Age Technology for Next-Gen Classrooms Vineet Mahajan, Head, Display Solutions, Panasonic India
58 New Solutions must for upskilling
RCM Reddy, Chairman, FICCI Skills Development Forum and Managing Director & CEO, IL&FS Education & Skills
special Feature 48 Will Stem Take Roots and Wings?
60 ‘The Pace of skilling
Feature
mission could change’ Dilip Chenoy, CEO & MD of National Skill Development Corporation
34 Transforming Learning, Transforming Lives
41 Learn, Retain and Excel
62 ‘Review welfare
schemes that guarantee employment’ Dr Santanu Paul, MD & CEO, TalentSprint
64 Tie degree to
successful internship Subhasish Biswas, Head – Business Excellence, Wipro BPO
42 Smartpen
Dilip Chenoy, CEO & MD of National Skill Development Corporation
46 Better Times Ahead for Indian Techies
4
Dr Surendra Prasad, Chairman of the National Board of Accreditation
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m-Learning’ Monica Malhotra Kandhari, Senior Director, MBD Group
45 Budget version of
30 Bringing Global
Concepts to India Alok Sinha, President & Head, Global Applications & Engineering Services, Country Manager - I ndia, Xchanging
empowering learners in India Manu Nanda, Managing Director, Wacom India Pvt Ltd
44 ‘Brace up for
60
leaderspeak
Nirav Khambhati, Chief Executive Officer, Tata ClassEdge
‘digi-school’ in offing Chetan Mahajan, President, HCL Learning
News 08 School Education 09 Higher Education 12 Campus Calling MonicaMalhotra Kandhari, Senior Director, MBD Group
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Asia’s premier Monthly Magazine on ICT in Education Volume
Issue 07
10
July 2014
Partner publications
President: Dr M P Narayanan Editor-in-Chief: Dr Ravi Gupta Advisory Board
WEB DEVELOPMENT & IT INFRASTRUCTURE
Prof Asha Kanwar, President, Commonwealth of Learning
Dr Jyrki Pulkkinen, Senior Adviser, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland
Dr Subhash Chandra Khuntia, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Govt of India
Prof V N Rajasekharan Pillai, Executive Vice President, Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment
Prof S S Mantha, Chairman, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)
Prof Parvin Sinclair, Director, National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)
Team Lead – Web Development: Ishvinder Singh Executive – IT Infrastructure: Zuber Ahmed Executive – Information Management: Khabirul Islam Finance & Operations Team Sr Manager – Finance: Ajit Sinha Legal Officer: Ramesh Prasad Verma Manager Events: Nagender Lal Front Cover Illustrations: Pramod Gupta
Editorial Team education Sr Editor: K S Narayanan Assistant Editor: Parimal Peeyush Correspondent: Seema Gupta governance Sr Correspondent: Kartik Sharma, Nayana Singh, Souvik Goswami Research Associate: Sunil Kumar Health Sr Assistant Editor: Shahid Akhter Sr Copy Editor: Rajesh Sharma Copy Editor: Subhash Deb ICE Connect Sr Assistant Editor: Nirmal Anshu Ranjan Assistant Editor: Rachita Jha Correspondent: Veena Kurup SALES & MARKETING TEAM: digital LEARNING National Sales Manager: Fahimul Haque, Mobile: +91 - 8860651632 Associate Manager – Business Development: Amit Kumar Pundhir, Mobile: +91 - 8860635835 Subscription & Circulation Team Manager Subscriptions: +91-8860635832; subscription@elets.in Design Team Sr Graphic Designer: Om Prakash Thakur Pramod Gupta Sr Web Designer: Shyam Kishore Editorial & Marketing Correspondence digitalLearning - Elets Technomedia Pvt Ltd, Stellar IT Park Office No: 7A/7B, 5th Floor, Annexe Building, C-25, Sector 62, Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201301, Phone: +91-120-4812600 Fax: +91-120-4812660 Email: info@digitalLearning.in digitalLEARNING is published by Elets Technomedia Pvt. Ltd. in technical collaboration with the Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS). Owner, Publisher, Printer - Dr Ravi Gupta, Printed at Super Cassettes Inds. Limited, C-85, Sector - 4, Noida, UP and published from 710, Vasto Mahagun Manor, F-30, Sector - 50, Noida, UP Editor: Dr Ravi Gupta © All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic and mechanical, including photocopy, or any information storage or retrieval system, without publisher’s permission.
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EDITORIAL
In for an Overhaul India is on the cusp of launching itself on the global map. The winds of political change that swept the country resulted in a decisive mandate for the Narendra Modi-led NDA government. With this, several sectors are now poised for a renewed thrust and faster pace of growth. Among many others, India’s education sector needs an overhaul and a comprehensive policy is the need of the hour. That will rejuvenate the education system and help India adapt to changing global educational challenges. The new government is planning to set up an education commission to draft a new education policy. The new policy becomes crucial due to the several changes that the Indian society has undergone since the last NEP in 1986 (later modified in 1992). Ever since, India has been at the crossroads amid waves of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation, besides democratisation of technology through mobile phones and the Internet. The new education policy would require looking at the needs, challenges and solutions in the sector. Human Resources Development Minister Smriti Zubin Irani has already indicated that an education policy would be formulated after discussions at the national, state, regional and international levels so as to address all issues. This is a welcome move. Also, there seems a need to tweak the norms for boarding schools, as it has been long since any government bothered to give those a relook. To help the government come up with the right set of norms in this regard, we decided to do an in-depth story on the state of our boarding schools, and that makes our cover report too. As new boarding schools with global benchmarks are established to accomodate the needs of a rising India, it is worthwhile to recall what Noble Laureate Albert Einstein wrote: Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything one learned in school. No wonder, a boarding school is a place where every person is moulded in terms of love and loyalty, friendship, discipline and an indomitable spirit and zest for life. Moreover, children are allowed to be human - to err, to learn, to forgive and to forget. We are also proud to announce the fourth edition of World Education Summit (WES) 2014 (http://wes.eletsonline.com/), scheduled for August 7-8, 2014, in New Delhi. The meet will carry forward the incredible success of the 2013 Summit. This year, the summit will highlight innovations and best practices in the education sector. We invite you all to share the platform and become a part of the imminent resurgence in the education sector.
Dr Ravi Gupta Editor-in-Chief Ravi.Gupta@elets.in
digitalLEARNING / July 2014
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Rotary CBSE tells schools to counsel errant students, International targets digital spare the rod he Central Board of illiteracy Secondary Education (CBSE) After doing its bit in the battle against polio eradication in India, Rotary International has now joined hands with IT giant Microsoft to eradicate digital illiteracy. Over 1,50,000 students and 7,500 teachers across 150 schools in the Delhi-NCR region will be offered technology training under the ‘Microsoft IT Academy Program’. “We are not only well-aligned to Rotary’s goal of 100 per cent literacy by 2017 but go a step further to provide Digital Literacy skills. We hope to spread this initiative to the rest of the country, as well as globally, over a period of time,” asserted Rtn. Sanjay Khanna, District Governor, Rotary International District 3010. Microsoft will provide the resources including online learning content, course materials, learning management system and instructor tools. The curricula spans computer basics to high-level programming including Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio and other application development tools. Rotary, on the other hand, will sponsor these schools (both government and private). “Providing Indian youth with 21st century skills and knowledge is critical in helping them succeed in an increasingly connected world,” said Karan Bajwa, Managing Director, Microsoft.
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has reminded all its affiliated schools to keep out corporal punishment at every cost. Though corporal punishment has been banned in schools across the country, incidents keep happening, due to which all boards work on sensitising their staff.
Miles to go Policy-makers in the developing world take pride in enhancing enrollment in universal education. But regular reality checks on these numbers often contrast their tall claims. India, Indonesia and Pakistan each have more than a million children out of school. The global number of unschooled children aged between six and 11 is still as high as 58 million, showing little overall improvement since 2007, according to a report by Paris-based United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Though India figures among the list of 17 other nations that have managed to reduce the number of out-of-school children in the past decade, a whooping 1.4 million children were out of school in 2011 in India alone. According to a World Bank report, the increase in learning outcome of children has not matched the increase in enrollment in primary education in South Asian countries between 2001 and 2010. This could threaten economic growth in the region. The report titled ‘Student Learning in South Asia’ has analysed several studies in areas of learning outcome and the link between poor quality primary education and its impact on economic growth. The primary net enrollment rate rose from 75 per cent in 2001 in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, the Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan and Afghanistan to 88 per cent in 2010. In India, it is about 96 per cent. But the attendance rate is low at about 75 per cent in government schools. It is 60 per cent in Bihar and 92 per cent in Kerala. The reasons behind such a dismal learning outcome in South Asian countries include low level of nutrition among young children, poor teachers’ quality, teachers’ absenteeism, etc., noted Tara Beteille, one of the authors of the report.
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The board has made it clear that corporal punishment needs to be eliminated completely. It emphasised in a letter to the schools that even the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act has framed strong rules against it. The 2009 Act, which came into force on April 1 a year later, defines physical or mental harassment as illegal and punishable under sections 17(1) and 17(2). The Act came in reference to the repercussions seen on the child’s mental condition on being subjected to such harassment which includes increased aggressive attitude, behaviour resembling vandalism, decreased selfesteem, reduced confidence and concentration strength and other serious defects.
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Drama, Discontent and Dead-End The chaos over DU’s FYUP programme was one we could have easily done without
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very summer, Delhi roads witness a chock-a-block with vehicles, chaos and confusion as thousands of students from the National Capital Region, neighbouring states and countries and Non-Resident Indians flock the capital’s prestigious Delhi University (DU) to enroll in undergraduate courses. Besides the mercury soaring to as high as 47 degrees, what further added to the woes of students and parents this year was the siege witnessed against the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP)- the brainchild of Vice-Chancellor Dinesh Singh. Now, after 10 days of agitation, the controversial FYUP is part of history as DU has decided to roll it back under pressure from different stakeholders - students, parents, teachers, BJP and the new government too. No surprise then that the only comment one heard from the new HRD minister Smriti Irani on FYUP was about protecting ‘students’ interests. The rest of it was left to Ved Prakash, Chairperson of the University Grants Commission that regulates higher education to get it scrapped. Interestingly, Ved Prakash, who had backed the FYUP earlier, did a volteface, presumably in tune with the change in government. “As an exception, Bachelor of Technology should be allowed for four years. Nonetheless, VC Dinesh Singh and his team must go. Equally responsible is UGC Chairman Ved Prakash who must explain to the nation why he allowed FYUP in the first place,” says Dr Suvrokamal Dutta, noted academician and public intellectual. While the drama and agitation over Dinesh Singh’s resignation continues, unfortunately, hundreds of students under the FYUP programme were caught in the crossfire of this midsummer discontent. However, this is not the first instance where change has been resisted in DU. When its then Vice Chancellor Deepak Pental tried to introduce the Semester System in 2008, the resistance was similar. While the antagonists of FYUP may have won the round and saved a year for thousands of students, there are larger issues that beg urgent attention. “FYUP was probably the only notable innovative experiment taken up by a major educational institution in the last 150 years. Its scrapping only points to the fact that any innovation can be held hostage to political whims and fancies,” says Dr Amir Ullah Khan, former president of Glocal University. As things settle down and the admission process resumes in DU, one must
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spare a thought for the pressing issue of the quality of most graduates from Indian universities. Industry leaders often point to the skills deficiency among most fresh graduates who find it difficult to be absorbed in different industries. “Serious steps need to be taken to improve the quality of Under-Graduate courses,” observes Dr Dutta. One hopes that the HRD Minister would link education with skill development while formulating the New Education Policy. This could address the problem of unemployment and also make the curriculum more practical. Let’s wait and watch.
Total Recall January 3, 2012: Delhi University V- C Dinesh Singh plans to introduce FYUP September 6-7, 2012: DU holds academic congress to ‘redefine education’, later cites it as ‘consultation’ for FYUP. October 10, 2012: DUTA begins hunger strike against FYUP. March 1, 2013: DU scraps half-a dozen undergraduate programmes. July 3, 2013: MPs demand scrapping the new system August-September 2013: Student and teachers’ bodies affiliated to Left, BJP join anti-FYUP protests. April 3, 2014: FYUP rollback mentioned in BJP’s manifesto. May-June 2014: Teachers’ representatives from DUTA and NDTF meet HRD minister Smriti Irani. June 20-22, 2014: UGC writes to DU to rollback FYUP and revert to 3-year scheme. June 23, 2014: DU colleges defer admissions June 26, 2014: UGC rejects DU’s middle path proposal on FYUP. June 27, 2014: DU V-C scraps FYUP. digitalLEARNING / July 2014
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Foreign universities to set shop in India soon If all goes well, foreign universities will set up campuses in India soon. Human Resource Development (HRD) minister Smriti Irani has decided to come up with a legal framework for allowing foreign universities to enter India and curb unfair practices by educational institutions. “The Foreign Education Providers Bill and the Prohibition of Unfair Practices Bill are on the priority list,” a senior HRD official observed. At present, there is no legal and regulatory framework to allow foreign universities to set up campuses in India, despite efforts made by the previous government.
MIT to roll out red carpet for PM Modi Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Sloan School of Management is planning to invite India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi to deliver the keynote address. It is the first among the top-ranked American business schools to do so after the Wharton Business School’s India Economic Forum unceremoniously cancelled the then Gujarat chief minister’s keynote address last year. Deputy Dean, Sloan School of Management, S P Kothari stated that the process is under way to invite the prime minister this year or in the first half of 2015. The firm date is hard to predict, since it will depend on the convenience of the Prime Minister. Other leading US universities too are expected invite in coming months. Watch this space!
Newspaper delivery boy dreams, cracks IIT entrance
Newspaper delivery boys seldom get to read what they deliver everyday. But C Prashant, son of construction labourer Chandra Nayak in Mysore, not only supplemented his family’s meagre income, but also got his food for thought from his daily grind of delivering newpapers and sometimes going through it. Prashanth was further determined to become an engineer and set his eyes on India’s premier institution IIT. Despite his poverty, he worked hard to fight his destiny and his hard work paid him back. He cleared the IIT-JEE (Advanced) with 255th rank in the ST category. “I was not expecting the 255th rank. It’s a wonderful feeling,” he said. Crediting his family and the Rashtrothana Parishat and BASE institutions, that encouraged him and provided education free of cost, for his success, Prashanth said, “Initially, it was very difficult to follow the IIT subjects, but hard work and my teachers’ interest made things easy for me,” he added. He wants to pursue electronics, mechanical or civil engineering.
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Goa conference calls for ten goal posts Enjoying the sun and sand in Goa is one thing, but mapping the future course of premier institutions is another. At a retreat of 16 IITs in Goa on June 30, Union HRD minister Smriti Irani asked IITs to come up with at least 10 goal posts that India should breach in a time-bound manner, both nationally and internationally. The minister has also asked the Directors and Chairmen of the institute to come up with strategies for making the country both manpower-ready and teacher-ready. A committee consisting of Directors and Chairmen of IITs has also been constituted to map various disciplines with respect to their requirement for meeting national manpower goals. The interaction focussed on issues related to deepening Research & Technological Innovation for meeting the national development agenda, enhancing industry-academia collaborations, expanding Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), devising a framework on the Ranking System that would reflect national concerns and leveraging alumni networks.
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Cos turn to Apps, Social Media to tap right talent Registering for a job in an employment exchange is a matter of history. Campus interviews, job portals and head-hunters are the latest in job recruitment. Taking the trend a step ahead, multi-national giants like Citi, Accenture and HCL have now turned to mobile apps and social media to rope in fresh talent. Citi India recently adopted the Blue Jeans and Video Recruit apps to enable business managers to interview candidates from across the nation. These Apps eliminate the need for traditional video conferencing facilities, enabling candidates to connect to the interviewer via their mobiles or tablets. Besides being costeffective, these media tools also help the HR department keep pace with the growing talent requirements by closing open positions in a timely manner.
Engineering colleges to get taste of Robotics Jay Robotix Pvt Ltd, a pioneer in educational robotics, has developed a first-of-its-kind Centre of Excellence (CoE) for engineering colleges across the country. The CoE is designed as a systematic and structured approach to holistic learning through robotics for engineering colleges. The first CoE has been set up at Shri Venkateshwara Institute of Technology, Indore. Consisting of a Robolab being set up at the institute, the CoE will also have a designated and structured course curriculum. The course structure consists of practical and theoretical study of robotics concepts. The institutes equipped with robotics CoE will have access to various robots, software and hardware tools. Students will get access to a well-defined curriculum where they learn and experience advanced technologies with a practical approach using the CoE equipment. With an emphasis on the entrepreneurial abilities of students, this learning pedagogy can empower the students’ journey of conceptualising the idea, proto-typing, validating and producing the idea through a guided approach. “It has been our vision to bring more and more practical learning approaches and techniques to the colleges and schools in India. This initiative will not only enable the students to learn advanced technical concepts with a practical approach, but will also develop an intuitive mindset required for innovative thinking,” said Sudhir Reddy, Managing Director, JAY ROBOTIX. The company is also in advanced talks with 10 more institutes across the country for setting up CoE and to get them international affiliations.
MU’s Thane sub-centre sees light of day Three years after it was conceptualised, the much-awaited Thane sub-centre of Mumbai University has finally been inaugurated. The university sub-centre in Thane is set to reduce the travel time for students, as all administrative formalities or securing of study material will be done in Thane instead of the Kalina or the Fort campus. The admission process to induct the first batch of 120 students to two new integrated degree programmes on management and law is set to begin on August 1. The campus will offer a five-year integrated management programme and an integrated law programme. The integrated management course will offer Bachelor of Management Studies (BMS) at the undergraduate level, followed by an MBA, both stitched together.
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Punjab plans stringent steps to check ragging Punjab Higher Education minister Surjit Singh Rakhra has directed the administration of all colleges as well as universities in the state to make it mandatory for students and their parents to submit the anti-ragging affidavit during the course of admission. The higher education minister has asked the Secretary, Higher Education, to communicate to all educational institutions that for any incident of ragging in any college or university, the institutional head would be held accountable. Those found guilty will be penalised as per guidelines drawn by the University Grants Commission (UGC). Rakhra also ordered the institutions to start a separate anti-ragging helpline number and help desk for students.
Special Feature
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Teaching for the Future Flipping your Classroom with WizIQ
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ne thing is certain, flipped classroom is not just a buzzword or a trend. It’s a pedagogy that has proved to be highly beneficial for reversing instruction, and making learning more viable. Noam Chomsky likens technology in education to a hammer, one that doesn’t care if it is being used to make something or break something. At WizIQ however, we realize the importance of using technology in the right way. Hence, we have come up with the concept of ‘Flipped Classroom with WizIQ’. Flipped Classrooms are a mode of instruction wherein the instructor can do away with lecture-type instruction and instead introduce previously recorded/ curated media content. These media files (usually videos) can be viewed by learners at home or whenever they have time. The video-viewing is the class-work that goes home. So what happens in the faceto-face classroom?
Learning When the class time is utilised to experiment, explore and evaluate the ‘teachings’, the classroom becomes more of a playground devoid of boredom and the alleged ‘intent to in doctrine’. What then remains is learning in its purest form. WizIQ has proved to be an ideal way to achieve flipping of the classroom by bringing the homework to the class. With its vast range of teacher-friendly features, WizIQ offers everything you need to flip your classroom.
Online Learning For online teachers too, flipping the
“Education is really aimed at helping students get to the point where they can learn on their own. . . “ - Noam Chomsky American Linguist, Philosopher
classroom is possible. As strange as it sounds, thousands of educators across the world have experienced a growth in students’ learning curves with flipped classrooms via WizIQ. Online teachers on WizIQ have access to the Content Library, which stores all the media files, documents, presentations, etc, uploaded by the teacher, on the cloud. These can be made available to the learners, for offline viewing and reviewing. This constitutes the classwork of the flipped classroom model. The Virtual Classroom can also be used to make educational videos. These can then be recorded and used as classwork videos. Teachers can then allow the students to download or view recording of the previous classes.
Active Learning Jason R. Levine, popularly known as Fluency MC, is an English teacher who uses Rap songs to teach English, worldwide. He records his own videos in an interactive format and puts them on the WizIQ content library for his learners to watch before class. He then meets the learners live in an online classroom, and they discuss the video(s) they just watched. He uses the Whiteboard for notes and exercises. He also uses the WizIQ Testing system to create interactive tests and assessments for his learners. Breakout Rooms is one feature that helps him divide his class into various small groups and then carry out small activities.
This activity allows for utilisation of virtual class time for interaction rather than instruction. Jason can’t be present in a face-to-face classroom all the time, yet he loves flipping his classroom using WizIQ.
Student-centred Learning Flipped classrooms were designed not to benefit the teachers who felt too tired to stand and deliver lectures in the class. Flipped classrooms are solely learnercentred, accommodating fast as well as slow learners. That’s why it is called selfpaced learning. The live classroom can then be reconstructed to imitate a laboratory or work-field, where learners discuss and then display their learning in the form of tests, projects, or whatever catches their creative streaks. If you would like to incorporate flipped classroom with WizIQ into your teaching, or simply looking for ideas, feel free to drop a mail to Kalyan Sarkar, Director, Academic Liaisons, WizIQ.com, at kalyan@ wiziq.com or call +91-9216405405 or +91-9897072888.
digitalLEARNING / July 2014
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Famous Indian Personalities from Residential Schools w Amitabh Bachchan, actor, Sherwood College, Nainital (Class – 1958) w Rajiv Gandhi, former Prime Minister of India, The Doon School, Uttarakhand (Class-1960) w Ruskin Bond, Author, Bishop Cotton School, Shimla (High School – 1952) w Deepa Mehta, Hollywood Film Director, Welham Girls, Dehradun w Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, Ex-Captain of the Indian Cricket Team, Welham Boys, Dehradun w Salman Khan (actor), Anurag and Abhinav Kashyap, filmmakers, Scindia School, Gwalior w Sawai Man Singh Ji II, Maharaja of Jaipur, Mayo College, Ajmer
digitalLEARNING / July 2014
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Who needs a boarding school?
Parents need to understand that boarding schools should not be made synonymous with a punishment warehouse
Schools, whether day or boarding, come with their own set of merits and demerits. Parents too have different benchmarks when it comes to gauging excellence that they expect their kids to achieve at school. In this context, it becomes imperative that parents honestly understand the needs of the child and decide accordingly. It has been a general understanding that boarding schools cater to the all-round development of a child while day schools are more inclined towards academic excellence. However, generalised opinions may not hold true for each case and a detailed study of the ward’s requirements along with a thorough understanding of the values the school
that they wish to send their child to imbibes in them, can go a long way in ensuring what is best for their child. It is a tough task to enumerate points that can state who exactly needs a boarding school. “Basically, when parents have studied in a boarding school, they understand the advantages. However, parents deciding on boarding schools for the first time may find it difficult to let go of their kids by themselves,” observes Shanti Krishnamurthy, Principal, Chinmaya International School. Stressing upon the need for parents and children to prepare for all contingencies, she says that a mindset is required for parents and children who are planning for boarding school. “In this situation, parents need to trust the school with the education and upbringing as well,” she adds.
Popular Movies Depicting Residential School Life Harry Potter – Film Series (2001-2011) - Rescued from the outrageous neglect of his aunt and uncle, a young boy with a great destiny proves his worth while attending Hogwarts School. Dead Poets Society (1989) - English teacher John Keating inspires his students to a love of poetry and to seize the day. Spud (2010) - It’s South Africa 1990. Two major events are about to happen: The release of Nelson Mandela and, more importantly, it’s Spud Milton’s first year at an elite boys only private boarding school. Rockford (1999) – 13-year-old Rajesh Naidu arrives at Rockford Boy’s High School. Here, Rajesh experiences the joy and agony of living in an all male boarding school, learning to fend for himself without the safety net of his parents. Taare Zameen Par (2007) - An eight-year-old boy is thought to be lazy and a troublemaker, until the new art teacher from boarding school has the patience and compassion to discover the real problem behind his struggles in school.
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Advantages Disciplined: While in boarding schools, children imbibes a sense of discipline due to strict adherence of daily schedule formulated for them. Good Habits: Once in residential schools, children develop and inculcate good habits easily which include sleeping on time, waking up early which is followed by routine exercise sessions.
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with the decision-making With the rise of nuclear With the rise of nuclear families and the process will definitely help families and the increasingly increasingly ambitious middle class, the child emotionally. This ambitious middle class, resiresidential schools have also become the eliminates the feeling of the dential schools have also become the need of the hour need of the hour for many families in India child being ‘unwanted’ and lonely and thus been thrust for many families in India. to an environment he is uncomfortable with. Parents also need Boarding schools today act as a safe haven for kids where both to understand that boarding schools should not be made synthe parents are working or are involved with transferable jobs, onymous with a punishment warehouse. but want to ensure that their kids do not suffer on their acCounsellors and psychologists advise parents not to send count. There are also children who come from emotionally away kids below the age of seven to boarding schools. Kids sent distraught families. Kids coming from broken families suffer away at a young age may not be able to adapt to framework a great deal emotionally which eventually hampers their eduunfamiliar to them, they say. So, once the child is enrolled, cation as well. “Such children need special care and attention parents should maintain regular communication with them. during their stay at residential schools. A positive and friendly Interaction with the outside world will help kids adapt faster environment of a residential school plays a crucial role in helpand in turn, also elevate their self-esteem. ing them overcome the trauma of their personal lives,” says Priya Peter, Principal, Mussoorie International School. The disparity between different areas of India in terms of educational facilities is also a crucial factor behind parents sending their children to study at a residential school. Lack of good schools, quality infrastructure and an able faculty have played a major role in kids migrating to boarding schools. However, there are also some children who are sent to boarding schools as part of family tradition. Since one or both parents may have studied in boarding schools, they are aware of the circumstances and thus want their kids to study in these schools as well.
Understanding the kids’ perspectives Before enrolling their kid in a residential school, parents need to have a word about what he/she wants. Involving the kid
Independent: One of the foremost lessons that are taught to children in boarding schools is to be independent by being responsible for their own actions. More Time: Environment in boarding schools is best for students when it comes to studies and recreational activities. As school and residence becomes one, boarders are able to devote more time to extra-curricular activities. Self-Reliant: While living away from parents, kids learn to come out of the protective shield and become confident to face life situations alone. This in turn helps them to confront a problem by themselves at a young age. Disadvantages Acceptance: For a young kid living in a boarding school, one of the emotional requirements is acceptance which sometimes gets unknowingly rejected. Acceptance could be a performance-based concept but not every kid can achieve top marks. This feeling of not being accepted can affect the self-esteem of the child. Feeling of Loss: Kids in boarding can have the feeling
of loss and abandonment during the initial phase. This feeling can stretch for a long period of time and affect him/her in his/her later stages of life if not taken care by the professional faculty members. Stress: Boarding schools emphasise on their kids being strong physically and emotionally. However, with emotional validations like care, concern or pampering hardly getting attention, a kid may unknowingly get affected by stress. Thus, it is very important for the boarding faculty member to talk about personal issues from time-totime. Adjustment: Not all kids adjust early. When finally in sync with the boarding environment, the child may not be able to adjust to his/her home environment. This paradox may confuse the child and may affect his/her relationship with parents and society. Bullying: Despite strict rules, senior students may attempt to bully new kids while away from school campus. The act of bullying may never reach the faculty member as kids may be too scared to talk about it. digitalLEARNING / July 2014
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ciplined life that they have to lead in a confined environment, one must understand the importance of inculcating these habits in a child at an early age and how it can help in characterbuilding and developing leadership qualities. The environment may be comparatively strict, but these schools are not prisons!
School’s Responsibilities
Achieving Excellence
Boarding schools are not just educational institutions but also home to young kids who are no longer under the protective care of their parents. Entering a residential school means a big change in their life and becoming self-reliant does not come easy at such a young age. Responsibility of a boarding school toward every single student extends beyond classroom hours. “The biggest challenge at residential schools is to maintain uniformity. Children come from different backgrounds and thus their needs and priorities differ. Keeping them involved in varied school activities, taking care of their health and emotional needs can be quite challenging,” Priya Peter, principal, Mussoorie International School, points out. A child sent to boarding at an early age goes through a considerable amount of psychological changes. With the absence of parents, the kid is likely to succumb to depression as he/ she may hesitate to disclose his personal feelings to complete strangers. Continuous bouts of loneliness may have a serious psychological impact which makes it imperative for the school to address them appropriately. To this problem, principals of boarding schools advise parents to visit the school along with kids prior to the registration time. This gives both parents and the children a chance to get acquainted with the campus environment and faculty members.
Boarding schools today are centres for excellence that do not limit a child to academic excellence alone. The kind of environment that most boarding schools provide help inculcate a feeling of responsibility in a child. The thrust on co-curricular activities like sports, debates, art and social work encourages Perceptions Make All the Difference students to discover their hidden talent and understand the They say one should not judge a book by its cover. When it importance of team-work. Parents who view a child’s success comes to the future of your child, nothing can be left to chance. purely on the basis of academic excellence may find several The choice of school, thus, makes a whole lot of difference and faults with the focus of residential schools on all-round deparents must devote a lot of time and research on this aspect. velopment. Success in any sphere can do wonders for a child’s Ask any boarding school graduate and he/she will tell you self-confidence, which can help him/her in areas that they that every child needs to experience life at a boarding school may lag behind. Boarding schools today present children with at some stage of life. Beside discipline and team-work, there a wide array of opportunities that can help them find their true is a lot of fun involved with a stay at these schools, which is interests and excel in it. what the alumni from boarding schools remember their golden “We have a series of teacher-enrichment programmes to days by. The idea here is not to promote or denounce boarding achieve holistic developor day schools. As discussed ment. These programmes earlier, each child has his/her “The biggest challenge at residential are implemented by experts needs and parents need schools is to maintain uniformity. Children own from various disciplines on to evaluate the same before come from different backgrounds and thus arriving at any decision. The Bloom’s Taxonomy, David Kolbe’s Learning Style and idea is to try and build an their needs and priorities differ” Howard Gardner’s Multiple understanding that overrides Intelligence,” says Dr Nripen Dutta, Principal, Miles Bronson social stigma or a mental block. The life lessons that students Residential School. Their discipline policy for the development learn while spending time at a boarding school count a lot in of a positive school culture assists students in developing intheir future years. Its a myth that boarding schools turn nortrinsic motivation that is self-driven and self-directed, he says. mal kids into social outcasts. The character that students build While many who are unaware of life at a boarding school and the values that they inculcate in their formative years are may like to refer to them as military camps, considering the diswhat eventually stand the test of time.
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‘The Classroom should not interfere with Learning’ There is much that a student can learn outside the classroom, says Dr Nripen Kumar Dutta, Principal, Miles Bronson Residential School, Guwahati. In conversation with Elets News Network, he outlines the importance of the boarding staff to be alive to opportunities to inspire a child so as to nurture him as a whole Could you explain to us who needs a residential school the most? Students, who come to a residential school are generally from families where both parents are working; or from farflung areas which are away from good centres of learning, or parents who desire an all-round and pastoral care of the child would prefer boarding schools. What role does psychological counseling play in integrating children with boarding schools? Behavioural counselling is crucial, especially when it comes to students who lack self-control and self-confidence. Are learning methods here different from public schools? We have reduced the lecture method to a minimum and introduced methods which are pupil- centric and make active learning and experiential learning possible. Our innovative teaching methodology includes co-operative learning, collaborative learning, self-driven learning- developing qualities intrinsic to motivation and self control. What are the challenges of administering a boarding school? The boarding experience for today’s children of a school faces the challenge to provide much more than just a residence for a child. The residential expe-
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rience should provide a rich environment for learning. It has been said that “the classroom should not interfere with learning”. In other words, there is much that a student can learn outside the classroom. This means that boarding staff need to be alive to the opportunities to inspire and instruct a child using resources, both human and material, to nurture the child as a whole within the boarding environment. What are the demands placed by parents on the school? Parents want their children to achieve academic excellence and high standards of behaviour through an effective system of pastoral care and boarding management. Is rampant indiscipline, drugs, alcohol, etc in boarding schools a matter of one’s imagination? If not, how does the school address it?
In our school, we have high behavioural expectations from all students through a clearly-defined discipline policy which includes code of conduct, behaviour contracts, anti-bullying, and anti-vandalism policies.
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‘Faculty, infrastructure and facilities occupy prime importance’ Giving a conducive environment to kids where they can explore themselves despite all odds and be their own listeners turning inwards is the biggest challenge while administering a boarding school, says Anil Sharma, Principal, Birla Vidyamandir, Nainital Who needs residential schools the most? With the rise of nuclear families, an ever-increasing ambitious middle class and the rising number of working couples; of course, residential schools have become the need of the hour for a majority of the upwardly mobile middle class. Is academic excellence a matter of concern to the teachers and management? Well, academic excellence should not be viewed in isolation. It is actually a manifestation of the level of perfection that you have. Residential schools worth their name always take care of the holistic development. You have a code of conduct, a schedule, disciplinary norms, remedial measures and certain values to condition you. Obviously, in an impressionable age, when you are being conditioned in a time-tested setup with required amount of resilience, your overall performance is bound to have an edge. And as for academics, it is a part of it. On what parameters does one judge a residential school? Please list them and elaborate for our understanding. Faculty, infrastructure and facilities available do occupy prime importance. Besides, it is important to take an account of the school alumni. It is their overall success and their contribution to the society that tells a lot of the school they had studied in. Here, I would like to
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emphasise that ‘success’ as such should not be taken in the narrow sense of materialistic gains alone. Does the accreditation to the International Education Board ensure higher admission intakes? It does to a certain extent; yet as an individual, I consider it to be more of a marketing gimmick. With your years of experience in managing operations in residential schools, what do you think are the advantages and disadvantages for kids being sent to such schools? Reasons apart, the greatest disadvantage is that for a considerable span of time in the year, the child is deprived of the personal care and possessive concern of parents. Nothing in any residential school can ever be the substitute of mother’s waggle or father’s frown. As for advantages, I think I have already spo-
ken about the holistic development and deliberate conditioning. Is rampant indiscipline, drugs and alcohol in boarding schools a matter of one’s imagination? If it is real, how does the school address it? Much of it is a myth. It depends on what kind of residential schools are being talked about. Of late, quite a few ‘over the counter education shops’ have also been claiming to be residential schools. In most of the residential schools, there is zero tolerance for such offences. What are the challenges of administering a boarding school? On the basis of my experience, I can say it with conviction that our society being in transition in terms of its values to stick to, its preferences and so on, pressure on students is mounting from all quarters. Giving a conducive environment to kids where despite all these odds they can explore themselves and be their own listeners turning inwards - I think is the biggest challenge. What is the teacher-student ratio in your school? Do you also hunt for global talent? It is the case with schools that are more of profit centres than educational institutions. In our school, it is 1 teacher over 20 students (to be verified). As I said earlier, things like global hunt and all are more of a marketing gimmick. There is no dearth of talent in our country.
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‘Performance of Boarders our Responsibility’ Neeta Bali, Principal, G D Goenka World School, believes every student must get exposure in a boarding school as it stands them in good stead in the future. The independence it inculcates and the support the wards receive in terms of academic work is a big advantage with boarding schools, she tell Elets News Network performance of our boarders, who are completely under our care. Special academic support is arranged with our own trained and qualified staff every day for two hours and intensive academic re-reinforcement happens under the supervision of the Principal, academic co-ordinater, boarding and pastoral staff. On what parameters does one judge a residential school? Quality of teaching, learning and support-academic, emotional and psychological-provided to boarders; the infrastructure of boarding and boarding facilities, nutritional care, quality of pastoral staff and boarding regimen; opportunities for growth in academic and co-scholastic areas and inculcation of values like independence and community living. Who needs a residential school the most? The students whose parents are in corporate or other transferable jobs. Alternatively, some parents make a conscious choice to send the children to boarding schools to inculcate a sense of independence in them. How does the boarding school enhance students’ performance? As a boarding school, it is our onus and responsibility to enhance the
Does the accreditation to international education board ensure higher admission to some residential schools? Yes, to some extent. Though people largely look at quality of hostels, infrastructure and pastoral care. With your experience in managing operations in residential schools, what do you think are the advantages and disadvantages for kids being sent to such schools?
A major advantage is that students have access to excellent facilities after school hours too - the independence it inculcates and the support they receive in terms of academic work, particularly if parents are not hands-on with their learning. I personally feel every student must get exposure in a boarding school - it stands them in good stead in future. How far does psychological counselling play a role in integrating the children with boarding schools? It is imperative to have a counsellor for students who have problems of adjustment, home-sickness, emotional hangovers from their homes and behavioural issues. It is the counsellor who provides support and sometimes becomes an interface between students and teachers. Constant talking and listening builds empathy and trust. What is the teacher-student ratio in your school? Do you also hunt for global talent like recruiting teachers from other countries? Our ratio is ideal - with 1:15/20 in primary, and 1:25 in other classes. Yes, we do recruit staff from outside and as and when possible, we exchange resources with schools in other countries. At the moment, I am in a school in Scotland to look at some of their best practices and collaborate. Our Staff attends trainings by IBO and University of Cambridge regularly in addition to in-house trainings.
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‘There is a Big Focus on Life Skills’ Parents expect their wards to step out with an all-round personality once they graduate from a boarding school, says Shanti Krishnamurthy, Principal, Chinmaya International Residential School, Coimbatore. In conversation with Elets News Network, she points out that parents also demand academic excellence and why boarding schools cannot ignore it Could you explain to us who needs residential school the most? There is no specific thing that can be mentioned as to who needs a boarding school. But yes, there is a mindset required for parents and children to study in a boarding school. Both parents and the child need to prepare themselves before they decide to come to a boarding school. Basically, when parents have studied in a boarding school, they do understand the advantages. Anxious parents will find it difficult to cope up. They need to trust the school and hand over the children. How does a boarding school enhance the performance of average and below-average students? There are specific study hours and most of the children who are not regular at studies, soon catch up because they see other children doing it. There is a lot of peer motivation available in a boarding school. Also, most of these underperformers are going through stress because parents focus only on academics and invariably, to improve performance, they go for tuitions etc. when they are in day schools. This is the primary reason for children hating studies. In contrast, even academics becomes fun in a boarding school because of the stress-free environment. Academics is just one aspect in a boarding school among so many other activities. Children participate with excitement in art, music, theatre etc during their free time. And of course, in CIRS, we do have a committed team
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of faculty members who work round the clock to motivate children. We do have structured remedial classes, language orientation classes for the ones who start new languages etc. Customised assessments are conducted to motivate children, especially in the languages. Is academic excellence a matter of concern to the teachers and management? Today, every parent wants their wards to achieve excellence in academics and there is no way boarding schools can ignore it. We do have academic concerns but we are particular in maintaining a small class size with a maximum of 25 students and an ideal teacher-student ratio of 1:9. Thus, we are able to cope up with these challenges. The system of mentoring works well in the school and not just academic performance but also behavioural issues are sorted out by the mentors. Is a boarding school the right place for students who have broken homes due to fights between parents facing separation and divorce? Single parenting is becoming more and more common in the society these days. Whether it is boarding or day, all schools have a good number of children having single parents. That can in no way be a criteria for sending the child to a boarding school. In
a boarding school, we do prefer to get a clarity on the status so that the security issues of the child can be handled by the school. How crucial a role does psychological counselling play in integrating children with boarding schools? Normally, we suggest parents to make a visit to the school prior to the registration time. The parents, along with the child, visit the campus. They meet few faculty members, go round the campus and if required, also meet a few children. This is done prior to the time of registration and helps a lot. Sometimes, we do provide reference of a few parents so that the parents can mail and interact to get to know about the systems in the school. Counselling plays a major role in integrating children to the school. Children are counselled to learn to live with other children in the dormitories. That is when children absorb a lot of social skills. Sharing, helping and following a routine help the child become independent and develop into an understanding individual. The personalities of children get shaped very beautifully. The dorm parents keep counselling children constantly. We do need a lot of support from the parents. If the parents are too anxious, children find it difficult to settle down. There is a lot of alignment re quired from parents to
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the system. We conduct orientation programmes for the parents before they drop the child in the school. The vision that we are happy that parents are partnering well with the school is communicated very clearly, which is the secret behind our success. Do you have exclusive programmes which will help change the wards’ total attitude and make them successful, disciplined and more importantly, confident so as to excel in academic and extra-curricular activities? The vision of the school is to help the child achieve an all-round personality. This means being physically fit, emotionally balanced, intellectually alert and spiritually evolved children. Yes, we do have exclusive curriculum to achieve this. We have our spiritual acharyas of the mission conducting 30 minutes of classes everyday in the morning and evening. Age-appropriate texts from our Hindu culture are taken up and dis-
boards are available in all classes. What are the challenges of administering a boarding school? Administration of a boarding school is altogether a different game. It’s almost like running an industry. While managing the facilities may be a challenge, getting the right people and training them is a bigger concern. Very close monitoring is required, especially with sanitary conditions, food services, medical services etc. We have good systems in place and all of these are monitored by responsible people. Quality checks are conducted regularly. What are the demands placed by parents on the school? Every school has its own texture and gets communicated to the society. Value-based education is the USP of our school. Since our school has established its vision in the past years, parents know what they are getting in the school. The only challenge is to have the vision in place and ensure that the changes and
Since children are available with us 24x7, learning is achieved in an informal environment cussions are conducted in the morning classes while evenings are a special time when children enjoy singing bhajans and chant few slokas together. Children do a lot of internalising during these classes and this brings about a complete change in their personality. The attitude towards discipline is one that will stay with the child all along in his/her life. Are the learning methods different as compared to public schools? Since children are available with us 24x7, learning is achieved in an informal environment. Teachers do try a lot of innovative strategies. Hands-on experience is extended to all the subjects and across the classes. There is a big focus on life skills. All learning is connected to real life situations which is more concrete and enquiry-based. Teachers are technology-savvy and interactive
strategies are made keeping the vision intact. Of course parents expect the ward to come out with an all-round personality once they step out of the boarding school. On what parameters does one judge a residential school? Please list them and elaborate for our understanding. Performance in academics, sports, extra-curricular activities, the alumni placements in the society, parents satisfaction, infrastructural facilities, teacher competency, leadership styles, studentteacher ratio, pastoral care in the dormitories etc. could be a few parameters for judging a residential school. What is the teacher-student ratio in your school? Do you also hunt for global talent like recruiting
teachers from other countries? The teacher student ratio is 1:9 in CIRS. We do have some of our alumni/mission youngsters volunteering for a year or two in the school. Some of them are from other countries. Of late, we have been partnering with schools in other countries and children have been sharing ideas over Skype. We also had teachers visiting from other countries to exchange ideas. We have not attempted to recruit from other countries so far. Does accreditation to the International Education Board ensure higher admission intakes to some residential schools? To some extent, for the students who come from other countries and wish to continue their graduation back in their respective countries, it does become essential to offer international curriculum. Do you have any policy to reach out to bright students from poor families? The cost of maintaining a boarding school is high and hence the charges are generally managed by upper middle class/business class people. However, we do offer scholarships for deserving candidates. Is rampant indiscipline, drugs, alcohol etc in boarding schools all a matter of one’s imagination? If not, how does the school address it? The rules and regulations in a boarding school are indeed more rigorous than a day school. There are a good number of schools like ours where discipline is one of very high order. Discipline has never been an issue in our school. There is no question of drugs/alchohol in the campus. Children and parents are educated on these areas clearly. Every minute of the child is planned and he is kept busy in a tight schedule. Through regular programmes and counselling, we give an understanding about the harmful effects of practices like these. We do have guest lectures organised for children regularly on various adolescence issues. Guidance is given to children to be responsible citizens - both in and out of the school.
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‘We prepare students to move into the real world’ The responsibility of a boarding school goes way beyond normal school hours, believes Priya Peter, Principal, Mussoorie International School. In conversation with Elets News Network, she points out a boarding school has to ensure that students feel safe and confident and get a healthy and progressive environment How does a boarding school enhance the performance of an average and below average student? In a boarding school like MIS, personal attention is given to all the children and in addition to academics, emphasis is given on enhancing the basic life skills of students. A boarding school provides children with peer group interaction opportunities both during and after the school along with diverse leisure activities and vocational training opportunities. Since students are taught by highly qualified and exceptionally motivated teachers and are monitored 24 hours with a necessary push to ensure academic success, excellence comes naturally. How far does psychological counselling play a role in integrating the children with boarding schools? Residential boarding schools provide education, character-building, and therapy for teenagers with special concerns. Many of the students enrolled in these schools may have social, behavioural or
emotional difficulties that require constant psychological assessment. At MIS, we heal them with the aid of medication, yoga and meditation. Psychological counseling also helps the child to adapt and adjust to their surroundings and fill them with positive energy. Are learning methods different as compared to public schools? The MIS has a learning environment that unfolds the true potential of every child. Education is not limited to curriculum but also lays equal emphasis on enhancing the overall personality of the children. What are the challenges of administering a boarding school? Boarding schools are not mere educational institutions but also home for the children who study and reside here. To that extent, the responsibility of a boarding school goes way beyond the normal school hours. As their teachers and also guardians, the administration of a boarding school has to ensure that students feel secure, safe, and confident in the premises and get a healthy and progressive environment. The children need to be comfortable; feel loved and should develop an attachment with their boarding school. Needless to say, these are the biggest challenges and schools must surmount them to ensure that children transform into fine men and women. What are the demands placed by parents on the school? As parents are concerned about their
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children, they always look out for good faculty, academic as well as all-round development of their child. They prefer a school which can prepare their child to be a responsible and successful individual. On what parameters does one judge a residential school? People generally judge a residential school on the basis of the merits and school rating. They also look for the proximity, quality of faculty, quality of education, broad and diverse offerings, extra-curricular activities and counselling etc. in the school. What is the unique about MIS? An exciting and innovative curriculum, inspiring teachers along with an international mix of students makes MIS the school of choice for girls. The school stands out for not only giving wings but also keeping the children grounded by inculcating morals, ethics, values, and respect for our rich culture. Does accreditation to the International Education Board matter? An accreditation to international education board indicates that the school meets the standards of quality set by the accreditation organisation in terms of the faculty, curriculum, administration, financial well-being and student’s services. It symbolises that the school uses the latest pedagogical techniques and caters to children coming from the different parts of the world.
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Intel Transforms Learning into Fun Eyeing the vast market in India, tech firms are in a spree to launch innovative proudcts. Intel has now hit the market with a hybrid debut
A
imed at enahancing the education aspect for schools across the country, Intel India has unveiled its first ever 2-in-1 reference designed for students. With this move, Intel has joined the league with the likes of MBD, Pearson and others for delivering relevant education content for these devices. The Intel Education 2-in-1 is powered by a quad-core Intel Atom processor Z3740D, runs Windows 8.1, provides up to 7.8 hours of battery life as a tablet with an optional three additional hours of battery life when docked. Its rugged design can withstand drops from 70 cms and offers IP 51 water and dust resistance. A stylus with a realistic penlike grip is also provided to enhance the functionality. The Intel Education 2-in-1 has front-facing and rear-facing cameras to promote content creation and scientific exploration. The dual-docking mode allows students the option of having the tablet screen face them when using the keyboard or having the tablet screen face their peers to facilitate collaboration. Together with the Center for Assessment, Evaluation and Research (CAER), Intel India has also launched a white paper titled ‘Creating a transformed learning environment’ which highlights the need and importance for integrating technology in school-based assessments. The chip-maker says that the Intel Education 2-in-1 has the flexibility and mobility of a tablet, along with the performance and productivity of a laptop.
“As a result of our work with educators around the world, Intel understands the need for engaging, student-centered learning in order to drive student success in school and beyond,” said Rajiv Bhalla, Director Market Development, Intel South Asia. “With our new Intel Education 2-in-1, students have a tablet when they want it and a laptop when they need it. This gives educators the flexibility to create a more interactive, collaborative learning experience for their students,” he added. While discussing Intel’s Education initiatives in India, Ashutosh Chadha, Director, Corporate Affairs Group, Intel South Asia and Rajiv Bhalla Director, Market Development, Intel South Asia, said, “In a global economy, creating 21st century success for individual students, communities and nations means giving every student the skills and opportuni-
ties to excel. With a vision to advance excellence in education around the world, Intel is directly involved in education programmes, policy advocacy and technology products that enable today’s youth to develop the skills they need to be the innovators of tomorrow.” The education sector in India is poised for a big leap as several technology firms are eyeing the vast market. According to experts, the total business potential of digital classrooms is expected to cross Rs 4,000 crore in 2014. Currently, the country is looking for some innovation from within the industry and with the likes of Intel now switching their focus towards the future with hybrid personal computers, students can be the biggest beneficiaries. Priced Rs 24,000 onward depending upon the requirement, the Education 2-in-1 reference design tablet is available at select outlets in the country.
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New-Age Technology for Next-Gen Classrooms Vineet Mahajan, Head, Display Solutions, Panasonic India talks about their new offering in LED, LFB70 Series, with its advantages in the field of education What are the salient features of Interactive LED Displays? Multi Touch Interactivity: The prominent point of LFB Series Interactive Displays are that they are multi-touch and can detect up to six touch points when connected to PC, allowing multiple users to interact with a finger/stylus pen. The built-in whiteboard technology allows users to draw and write over the videos, documents, images without the need to connect to a PC or installing a software. Miracast Compatible: LFB series is designed with the next-generation wireless technology, Miracast™. It allows seamless high-speed wireless transmission of content, including Full HD video files, from Miracast™ compatible devices to the displays. The series is compatible with Panasonic’s Wireless Projector App for iOS, which permits wireless transmission from iOS devices to the displays and Wireless Manager software, which allows wireless presentation and also supports simultaneous display from multiple devices using multi-mode i.e. 4-window multi mode or 4-window index mode. The System Flexibility: Features include easy connection to a second display via VGA out. These interactive displays are equipped with DIGITAL LINK which allows transmission of video, audio and control commands all via a single LAN cable of up to 100 m thus making the facilities free from messy wires. Loaded with High Value Features : a) Toughened non-reflective glass for extra durability and clear visibility, b) Picture in Picture function that offers the versatility to display images from multi input sources on the same screen.
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To switch input sources, picture settings and volume, swipe the edge of the screen to display the main menu - no remote control necessary. Miracast™ for Instant Wireless Sharing: Transmit documents, full HD video, images, and audio from compatible Android devices and Windows PCs to the big screen with Miracast™ - the latest wireless standard that doesn’t require software or complicated setup.
How can a new technology like LED touch display revolutionise the corporate/education sector in India? Work Smarter: The LFB70 Series of professional Full HD displays incorporate intuitive touch screen technology, fully interactive whiteboard functionality, and the very latest in wireless connectivity to allow you and your colleagues to work more closely as a team. Work together on Screen: Built-in whiteboard software lets you turn on the display and start work right away - no need to connect a PC. Up to four people can write at a time, and you can save your pages and email them directly to anyone who missed the meeting, Notes can be made on almost anything, from video and photos to PowerPoint and PDF documents, and then saved as an image file - simply brilliant for the office or classroom. Quick-Start Whiteboard: Start working on the built-in whiteboard instantly by just switching on the display. You can draw straight or freehand lines and change line thickness, color and background using the tool palette.
What is the USP of your product when it concerns generating revenue? This interactive display is the first organised display with all the features built-in like wireless capability, multiple touch, whiteboard function and Miracast™ compatible. Till now, most of the interactive displays available are through third-party solutions with limited functions. Where do you see the Indian market vis-a-vis other countries when it comes to deployment of LED touch products? Indian market is still at a nascent stage but with the education and corporate sector growing, demand for interactive touch displays is increasing at a high pace. What are the challenges that you face in the education sector when it comes to promoting the products? The education sector has limitations in terms of budget since they have to deploy at a mass level. The interactive LED displays are costlier as compared to projectors but do away with the limitation of projectors like replacement of lamps etc.
Cover story
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‘It is the Product that Brands a School’ Through handling responsibilities at a level available only in boarding schools, children become responsible and self-reliant, believes Sumer Singh, Principal, Daly College Indore. In conversation with Elets News Network, he explains how recognition of a child’s success by peers raises his level in all spheres Do you hunt for global talent like recruiting teachers from other countries? Only on a short-term basis. For example, we have a special fund to invite overseas coaches, teachers and poets.
Is academic excellence a matter of concern to the teachers and management? In a boarding school, a student has much more opportunity to discover his or her talents and strengths because of the wider range of sports, cultural, intellectual and adventurous activities available. This, combined with a focus on the individual child and recognition of his success in any field by peers, helps build self-confidence which raises his level in all spheres. Is boarding school the right place for students whose parents have broken homes or facing separation? Boarding schools are a miniature reproduction of the Indian multi-regional, multi-social and multi-ethnic society. There is place for all. How far does psychological counselling play a role in integrating the children with boarding schools? The family needs to be unanimously supportive of the boarding school for the child to settle. The counselling required by, say a grandmother, is important before the child can settle. Once the child settles, then the majority do not need counselling. However, we all need counselling to a lesser or greater degree. What are the challenges of administering a boarding school? It is a full-time job with more challenges and more rewards. A majority of chil
What is the unique selling point that attracts parents to your institution? Our down to earth students and the varied exposure, including global, that we provide. dren keep in touch long after they leave school. What are the demands placed by parents on the school? Parents, especially mothers, are far more involved in the education of their children. Families come from different cultural backgrounds and have varied aspirations and expectations. These differences need to be rejected without compromising on the essential values and principles the school stands for. On what parameters does one judge a boarding school? A boarding school has a real opportunity to inculcate values and responsible citizenship. Therefore good behavior is one parameter. Others are a sense of compassion, camaraderie and a sense of humour. Finally, through a system of sharing with and supporting each other, a boarder is better adjusted to changing fortunes and conditions and his friendship will stand every test including that of time.
Does the accreditation to international education board ensure higher admissions in takes to some residential school? In some cases but not in all. Eventually, it is the product that brands a school. Is boarding school meant only for rich and pampered brats? Or do you have any policy to reach out to bright students from poor families? This is a question that pre-supposes we are an expensive school. We are not. Parents spend at least as much, if not more in a day school. Is rampant indiscipline, drugs, alcohol, etc. in boarding schools a matter of one’s imagination? If not, how does the school address it? As I have not witnessed this in the seven schools I have worked in, I would suspect it is the imagination of those who are unfamiliar with or even denied a good education.
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Leader speak
Bringing Global Concepts to India Xchanging has been providing business processing, technology and procurement services over the years. In conversation with digital Learning, Alok Sinha, President & Head, Global Applications & Engineering Services, Country Manager – India, Xchanging, talks about their plans for India.
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What has Xchanging been doing so far? How has been the beginning? What are the various initiatives that you have worked out till now? Xchanging is close to a billion dollar company, headquartered in London, UK. The company started about 14 years back with a very innovative model termed as Enterprise Partnership. We were able to maximise our returns on investment and that helped us sign long-term contracts. We have a joint venture with Lloyd’s of London, the oldest insurance market in the world. We have built and warrant their entire technology infrastructure. So, every insurance activity done by any Lloyd broker, sub-broker or customer, anywhere in the world, is executed via our system. In 2008-09, we started focusing on increasing our footprint in the US and India, and acquired India-based Cambridge Solutions Limited to establish presence in both these geographies. In Insurance, we sell our products under the brand of Xuber (acquired by Xchanging), through which we sell business software products for insurance companies. There are around 140-160 companies who are using our software. Today, with over 4000 employees spread across seven locations in the country, Xchanging provides services within BPS, Technology and Procurement. Approximately 30% of our workforce in India is based out of Tier 3 locations such as Shimoga and Solan, where employees are well equipped to do complex jobs including engineering design, aviation claims, and healthcare processes. How does your learning platform model work? What initiatives did you take with the Malaysian government? 1BestariNet, a virtual learning envi-
With over 4000 employees spread across seven locations across the country, Xchanging provides services within BPS, Technology and Procurement ronment (VLE) initiative, was rolled out by Malaysia’s Ministry of Education (MoE) in 2011, in partnership with Xchanging Malaysia, to give shape to a new vision for 2020 that would transform the country’s learning environment, and reduce the urban and rural divide in education. Xchanging’s cloud-based solution helped create an online education community via a virtual network, linking 5.5 million students, 500,000 teachers, 10,000 schools and 4.5 million parents- giving them access to the same systems and content, regardless of location. 1BestariNet made Malaysia the first country in the world to deliver a single, nation-wide cloud-based learning platform via high-speed 4G internet connectivity. Xchanging also provides a learning management system to deliver educational resources through a software platform from Frog – the ‘Frog Store’ – and collates free content from providers such as YouTube and Discovery Channel. With this project, schools have experienced cost savings through the cloud-based delivery of content. What are your plans for India? We are working on a project that will immensely contribute to the nationbuilding efforts, and we are glad to be part of it. We are evaluating opportunities with at least 4-5 states that have shown keen interest in our work that we have done in Malaysia and are evaluating the potential to make similar implementations. These projects take time to make an impact. We plan to create a customer experience centre at our loca-
We are working on a project related to nation-building and are glad to be part of it. We are working with at least 4-5 states
tions which will happen in 2-3 months’ time. We are going to create one education learning platform and one customer experience centre in Bangalore. How does the Internet of Things (IoT) sector work? By 2020, CISCO estimates that 50 billion data devices will be connected. At Xchanging, we see opportunities to particularly improve customers’ lives with IoT solutions in the automotive and real estate sectors. We take a wider perspective-it is not just the Internet of Things, the process of interconnectivity includes people as well. We have customers in real estate, manufacturing, automotive, and retail. We have built our own framework which can enable new technology to work. MachineShop, a horizontal provider of next-generation enterprise middleware, complements Xchanging’s IoT offerings and will enable the company to enter into new industries beyond the existing areas of real estate, utilities, logistics and automotive. Any plans to work the insurance and finance field in India as well? Xchanging is a SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) partner, to 70 banks globally. The entire Dhaka Stock Exchange has been running on our software for the last five years. We are coming out with the third piece of insurance which is called Netsett. The Netsett platform is the result of a partnership between Xchanging and Deutsche Bank. The platform seeks to replicate, on a global basis, the cash liquidity and operational cost-saving benefits from which the London market has long benefited through the Xchanging Inssure Services (XIS) central settlement platform. We want to bring a similar concept in India too.
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special in focus feature
Travel the world as you study
With its presence in Dubai, Singapore and Sydney, the SP Jain School of Global Management gives its BBA students an opportunity to study in all the three campuses while its Master’s programme helps build global leaders
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oday, the SP Jain School of Global Management, with its campuses in Dubai, Singapore and Sydney, is best known as an international business school. But what many do not know is that it has roots in India as its history dates back to 1981, when its first campus was established in Mumbai. This was inaugurated by the then Prime Minister of Britain, Margaret Thatcher. While in India, SP Jain has consistently been ranked among the top 10 business schools for its MBA programmes, and now, more than 30 years later, it is equally, if not better, known for its international campuses. Its first international campus came up in 2004, which was set up with the objective of focussing on global learning. Once this campus had made its mark – it was ranked No. 1 in the UAE in a brand perception audit conducted by Neilsen in 2008
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– the focus shifted to Singapore. In 2005, SP Jain was invited by the Singapore government to establish a campus there, which came up in 2006. The crowning glory came in 2012, when SP Jain launched its third international campus in Sydney, Australia, offering students a global education along with an opportunity to understand and soak in the culture of the city. Setting international campuses is one thing, but to sustain its vision of being a business school recognised across the world for its innovative, influential and relevant education while putting emphasis on teaching-learning process is not an easy task. For this, SP Jain has appointed several distinguished captains from the industry to serve on its industry advisory board. The board meets regularly and makes suggestions for revamping the curriculum, sharing their knowledge and ex-
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The Campuses Sydney The campus is located in central Sydney at the historic Sydney Olympic Park that has exceptional facilities for sports and recreation besides being a newly developing business district. The campus itself is 75,000 sq ft with 12 auditorium style classrooms, breakout rooms, a cafÊ with its own kitchen, lounges and other facilities. Housing is available within a 35 minutes’ walk. Dubai The high point of this campus is the multinational student community at the Dubai International Academic City (DIAC), a specially-built campus exclusively for colleges and universities. It provides a single location for post secondary education in the Emirate bringing together 30 institutions from 13 different countries, allowing students and faculty coming from different institutions to connect and learn from each other. SP Jain occupies an entire standalone building here covering approximately 60,000 sq ft, spread over three floors. The campus is built in a contemporary fashion with hi-tech learning centres, mock trading rooms, an up-to-date library, video conferencing facility and a Reuters terminal.
Singapore The sprawling campus is set amidst lush greenery and has a number of renovated heritage buildings. The various buildings on the campus house classrooms, learning centres, library and several other facilities. Classrooms are equipped with state-ofthe-art audio and video equipment. There are seven lecture halls and two seminar halls. Extra-curricular facilities include an in-house gym and basketball and table tennis.
with cutting-edge technology. The course material includes textbooks, videos, web resources, international case studies, as well as students’ independent research projects.
Course Details
perience and geting their colleagues to conduct workshops for the students. Another high point of SP Jain is that it has qualified academicians from top schools across the world as external examiners. These examiners take a fresh look at the curriculum and make suggestions for improving it. They also check the exam papers for the level of toughness, the weightage given to questions and also come up with model papers. The external examiners are from London School of Economics, Oklahoma State University, Kellogg School of Management, etc. The school also has a multi-national faculty, which comes from a wide range of academic and corporate backgrounds. Rigorous coursework is followed for all the undergraduate and postgraduate courses with the result that the graduates are well prepared with the knowledge and skills that they need to excel as leaders. Among the various methods employed for the teaching process is the interactive style in classrooms equipped
The four-year BBA programme for undergraduate students is conducted on a tri-city model. Students spend the first year in Singapore, the second year in Dubai and the last two years in Sydney. They choose specialisation in marketing or finance in the third year. The programme also includes several liberal arts. Another unique feature of the programme is the industry interface Action Learning Project. Groups of three to four students engage with local companies and submit consultant level reports and analysis to them. They also do internships in breaks between academic years. Students graduate with a BBA degree awarded by the SP Jain School of Global Management, Australia. As students study in Australia for two years, they are entitled to a two-year right to work permit in Australia, which entitles them to take up jobs in Australia. The Global Master of Business Administration (Global MBA or GMBA) is a year-long residential course, which builds business leaders with in-depth cross-functional knowledge and understanding of the theories and practices related to global business. The course also lays special emphasis on the development of global intelligence, cultural agility and important real-world business skills, like effective communication, decision-making, leadership, networking and problem-solving skills.
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Transforming Learning, Transforming Lives
The concept of smart class education has come as a boon for students of the 21st century. In this time and age of smart kids, computers and the Internet, the right use of technology in education is a gift for them. Roselin Kiro of Elets News Network tracks the dynamics of the emerging smart class industry and its growing acceptability in the Indian education system
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feature
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he days of rote learning and chalk and talk are long gone. One can’t ignore the fact that children today are exposed to gadgets at a very early age and are prone to the latest in technology. Hence, it only makes sense to teach them in the way they want to learn. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has transformed the education sector in every sense, with e-learning emerging as the latest buzz. The use of ICT in schools and colleges has not only become vital to learning, it is also crucial in bridging the gap between students and their access to quality education. It is in recognition of this factor that an increasing number of schools and colleges are now incorporating the latest tools in technology to enhance the quality of education being imparted. The introduction of the concept of smart classes - or digitised classrooms - in several schools across India has revolutionised the teaching and learning process. By adopting interactive and eye-catching modules, smart classrooms today symbolise breaking the tradition of text book teaching and making a shift to a concept that draws students towards better learning. Smart class has also simplified the teaching process for teachers who can easily explain and demonstrate many abstract concepts making it more comprehensive for students. So, the use of technological tools in education not only has the potential to make learning more rewarding, it can also empower teach-
ers with technology inside the classroom which helps them teach more effectively, thus enriching the quality of education as a whole. “The conventional blackboard has made way for digital equipments, making the learning process interesting and vibrant. This has partly put an end to mugging up of lessons and jotting notes,” observes Manu Nanda, Marketing Director, Wacom India Pvt Ltd. “The new smart class is a blessing for the institutions as it has created a simple yet a distinctive way of teaching,” he adds.
A sunshine sector in India? Post 2000, a large number of companies established themselves as technology solution providers in the education sector in India. This was the period when new schools, especially International Baccalaureate schools, were being set up in the country. The primary reasons for this growth can be attributed to the spread of the Internet and opening up of the Indian market to foreign players, further propelled by the IT revolution and boom in the Indian economy.
The scheme, Information and Communication Technology in schools, was launched in 2004 to develop ICT skills and promote an ICT-aided learning process
Stumbling Blocks Misconception that technology is substituting teachers in classroom. Teachers do not use ICT effectively High cost preventing schools to adopt this technology. Poor internet connectivity, poor infrastructure, low literacy rate in India. Lack of research and development in the sector. No parity in prices of e-learning solutions in Indian and global mart. Some technical fault might arise during a class lecture creating disturbance in the classroom. w There is a need to develop digital content in regional languages w Limited exposure of teachers to technology in rural areas w Poor after-sales service by IT companies
w w w w w w w
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Technology Based Learning On-Site Teacher Training Schools all over India
are looking to use technology to enhance learning in classrooms. The AIE can be your partner to implement practical, effective, and easy to use learning systems that have proven results in the Indian classroom environment. Whether your school follows an Indian board or an International one, the AIE has custom tailored solutions in Math, English, and Arts for grades KG. through 8. Our on-site training and continued monitoring and support ensures that your school investment propagates through to measurable student success. That’s our promise.
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Detailed Progress Reports digitalLEARNING / July 2014
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feature “Schools are realising that digitisation of teaching methods gives an experiential edge to the students,” says Nirav Khambhati, Chief Executive Officer, Tata ClassEdge. The prospects for smart class education seem brighter than ever before. “What the future holds for technology in education is far more than what we can imagine at this point in time,” adds Nirav. There are several others who also believe that the influx of technology in education is already changing the learning and teaching scenario in India. The acceptance of the system has been remarkable and very encouraging, says Manu Nanda, Managing Director, Wacom India Pvt ltd. “The use of smart classes and modern technology eases the learning process of all students and promotes more participation from both teachers and students alike,” Nanda says explaining the reasons behind the success of smart classes. The smart class concept is gaining popularity majorly in schools fostering individualised and peer learning and schools have started accepting technology intervention as a boon for their students and teachers. As compared to a few years before, one can now see a greater degree of acceptance among schools towards adopting such learning solutions. “The content forms the backbone of the overall solution which enables students to disseminate abstract and abstruse concepts with ease and
Government spending on ICT increased by 53.2 per cent to Rs 340 crore in the 2013-14 Union budget, expected to grow five times by 2020 also compliments teachers in delivering lectures,” says Monica Malhotra Kandhari, Senior Director, MBD Group. “The outcome of smartclass solutions are very positive as the learning experience of the students today has completely changed as compared to last decade,” she adds.
The challenges
The concept of smart classes is innovative and encouraging. However, technology in education still has a long way to go in India. Today, a majority of schools implementing smart class solutions are from the private sector, which many in India cannot afford. The cost involved with adopting these technologies is high, which is preventing many schools from adopting these methods. So, with smart education comes the problem of high cost of education. On the other hand, there are debates on how digital education can act as a major trigger to overcome issues like lack of
Gamut of smart class solutions available w w w w w w w
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Simulations, animations - 2D & 3D, labs, assessments, graphics, web-links Instructor station equipped with computer and audiovisual equipment Interactive White Board (IWB) Video notes, practice tests Performance and progress monitoring of students at individual and class level. Instructional design models Pen tablet and pen display
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“Schools need to understand the place for technology and should be able to ensure that technology is used as an aid in teaching. But there is no question of any mechanical device for substituting a teacher in classroom” Chetan Mahajan President, HCL Learning textbooks and blackboards in rural schools. But this too has its own set of challenges. Unlike urban centres, where education is imparted through smart classes, rural areas lag behind. The government, on its part, has always appeared to have been interested in the use of ICT in education sector in India. It sees ICT as a great driving force in education that can link the gap between urban and rural education sector and help in tackling issues of access and quality. Both the Centre and state governments have taken some initiatives in building technology-enabled schools in villages. However, it is difficult to run such institutes as the format does not find acceptance in the villages. “Most schools have so far adopted smart classroom
solutions in 3 to 5 classrooms and we see a huge potential to extend the solution to other classrooms within the existing schools. Plus there is a huge market potential in government schools, government-aided schools etc. that needs to be addressed,” says Monica Malhotra of MBD. Amid several of these challenges, private organisations and digital service providers, along with the government, have a major role to play. A technology-based application needs to be created to cater to all regions of the country. Training programmes for the teachers is also a major challenge if we want such innovative ideas to excel and expand their reach to places where they are needed most. Most importantly, the government needs to support such initiatives and ensure that costs are brought down. Clearly, there is a lot that needs to be done.
Looking ahead ICT in education can enable students to be true natives of the global village. There is a need for every school to use the emerging technology of smart class education for the benefit of both teachers and students. The industry of digitised education is gradually budding with many stakeholders venturing into it and increasing their stake in the market. However, more research and development is required in the sector. The growth of smart classes could be jet speeding in the years to come, if one trusts the optimism of Nanda from Wacom. If technology is changing the way of life and its for good, then why not go for it!
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Feature
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Learn, Retain and Excel Nirav Khambhati, Chief Executive Officer, Tata ClassEdge is upbeat about the prospects of digitisation of educational tools. In an interaction with Elets News Network, he says it helps students to learn, retain and perform better Tell us about Tata ClassEdge It is an instructional design model - the multiple learning experiences model (MLEx™)—that assists teachers in preparing effective lesson plans. In addition to topic-specific multimedia and interactive assets, we also provide access to highly engaging group and individual activities such as quizzes, games, labs and projects with a focus on improving learning outcomes. We have differentiated content designed for learners across multiple expertise levels. This ensures equal opportunity for all students to learn according to their abilities and perform in the class. Thus, we aid in creating a more effective teaching-learning environment in the classroom. How does it improve the academic ecosystem in our schools? Our instructional framework assists every teacher in preparing unique lesson plans suitable to his or her individual teaching style. The lesson plans include not just interactive multimedia but also other innovative multi-sensory activities that aim to enhance critical thinking, social interaction, communication skills and creativity in students. Also, Tata ClassEdge has differentiated content designed for struggling learners and high achievers. This ensures equal opportunity for all students to learn according to their abilities and perform in the class. Thanks to a large number of modularised teaching points developed for multiple state
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boards, CBSE and ICSE, the lesson plans can be mapped and sequenced exactly according to each school’s particular text books. This makes the system much easier for the teachers to adopt. Tata ClassEdge is not just about ready-touse lesson plans and multimedia. It also provides a platform for teachers to contribute open resources, create original lesson plans and collaborate with each other. The platform has been designed to develop a collaborative knowledge sharing community of teachers. How flexible are education institutions across the country in adopting such learning solutions? Schools are realising that digitisation of teaching methods gives an experiential edge to the students. The chalk and talk method of teaching has been enhanced by the inclusion of digital classrooms that comprise digital boards and cloud technology. Interactive teaching methods draw better participation from students and the learning process becomes more engaging for students. But this is just the beginning. What the future holds for technology in education is far more than what we can all imagine at this point of time. What is the size of business of smart classes in India and how do you see its growth? It is not entirely relevant to track the industry in dollar terms. Our focus is on the number of students who can benefit by better learning outcomes. India has about 1.3 million schools and at this point, less than 1 per cent of schools have adopted digitisation effectively. Can you tell us about the two new products - TestEdge and PlanEdge - that have been launched?
PlanEdge has been designed to reduce the planning and administrative tasks of teachers by automating annual academic planning, time-table creation, grade-book generation, and so on. TestEdge comes with a question bank of more than 65,000 questions and a user interface designed to enable teachers to generate standardised question papers at the click of a few buttons. Both PlanEdge and TestEdge are compliant with CBSE’s continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE) parameters. What are the reasons behind developing these two products? How will these new products help teachers deliver high-quality instruction to students? Teachers spend a sizeable amount of time on administrative work, which gives them less time for their core activity-teaching. We wanted to give teachers more time to teach. This will allow them to spend more time on student-centric interactions and teaching. PlanEdge facilitates the school’s and teachers’ work of curriculum planning and assessment for the entire academic year. It also provides a Gradebook that conforms to the CCE requirements of CBSE and allows schools to capture the co-scholastic aspects of students. TestEdge provides a high-quality question bank with varying levels of difficulties and mapped to various levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. All the questions are mapped to the chapters and concepts covered in the textbooks followed by the schools. The teacher can create formative and summative test papers using these questions. We expect that these products will save a lot of time for teachers which can be utilised for class preparation and interactions with students.
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Cluster Office for Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka
feature
Smartpen empowering learners in India Manu Nanda, Managing Director, Wacom India Pvt Ltd tells Elets News Network how a revolution is slowly brewing in India’s learning landscape - thanks to a Japanese pen tablet What attracts learners to Smartclass? It is said that it is easy to remember things that are taught visually rather than turning pages. In today’s time, when education has gone beyond the conventional way of teaching, smart class or the digital way of teaching has come into existence. Smart class symbolises breaking the age-old tradition of text-book teaching and adapting to new technology using all interactive modules like videos and presentations that attract students towards learning and is also eye-catching. Smart class empowers teachers with technology right inside the classroom and helps them teach their curriculum topics more effectively. But has it touched every class and school in India? With the changing trends and developments in technology, Wacom, a Japanese pen tablet and pen display manufacturer, has designed a device keeping in mind the necessity of smart class in Indian institutions. The advantage of having a Wacom pen display uniting your classroom is that the teacher can write directly on the tablet having a natural Pen Paper feel with up to 1024 pen pressure levels, keeping constant eye contact with the students. The USP of this tablet is that it works on PowerPoint; this means that no special software is required to use pen tablet, lectures and notes are PowerPoint based and can be recorded for future reference. The schools in India are slowly and gradually adapting the new technology of learning and using it to the maximum. The conventional black board has
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made way for digital equipment, making the learning process more colourful and interesting. This is being elaborately practiced by a majority of education institutions in the country.
teachers are able to score each student instantly. This brings faster and better understanding of the concepts and constant improvement in the overall academic performance of the student.
How flexible are education institutions across the country in adopting such learning solutions? Who wants laborious way of learning and teaching? Wacom-powered smart class has given institutions a platform of interactive learning. Wacom’s pen display tablet with high precision and high resolution together makes it possible to detect even small handwritten letters that is easily understood by students. The electronic pen can be equipped not just with coordination detection functions but also with a wide range of other functions such as writing pressure, sensing, inclination, angle detection etc. The Wacom pen can work on any of the Microsoft office applications such as Word, One note, PowerPoint etc. It is the natural pen and paper feel that it gives to the teacher while writing, that makes it largely acceptable in institutions like IIT’s and IIM’s in India and various colleges abroad.
What is the size of business of smart classes in India and how do you see its growth? From the start of smart class in India, about 2 years ago and Wacom being a 30-year-old technology major in pen technology, the acceptance of the system has been remarkable. A majority of the schools have embraced the concept and are implementing it. It has come as a revolution and transformed the classrooms turning boring lectures into fun, creative and interactive ones. The growth of smart class will be jetspeeding in the years to come as it becomes more user-friendly, versatile and resourceful.
Has there been any quality assessment on the outcome? The Wacom pen tablet is beneficial for teachers and students - the teacher can directly annotate on the pen display having a pen-paper feel and at the end of each class, the teacher displays the set of questions on the large screen and the students have to answer them with their personal answering device. The
Lead Feature Feature
‘Brace up for m-Learning’ Set to launch a mobile learning platform from the next academic year, Alchemie intends to reach out to more than 200 million users globally in the next three to five years. Excerpts from an interaction with Monica Malhotra Kandhari, Senior Director, MBD Group What is the concept of Smartclass? Smart Class is a technology-enabled classroom which provides effective tools and content for making the teaching and learning process more effective and efficient. Alchemie provides the solution with the name of ECADEMY. Content (simulations, animations- 2D & 3D, labs, assessments, graphics, web-links) plays a vital role in the complete solution along with technology.
Are schools already accepting e-learning solutions? Compared to three years ago when we entered this segment, we see more and more schools accepting technology intervention for better learning solutions. So what is the outcome of such an intervention? The outcome is very positive as the
learning experience of the students today has completely changed as compared to last decade. What are different state governments’ initiatives in encouraging and providing Smartclass facilities to schools across India? There are various initiatives taken by the government to introduce computer labs and smart classes in government schools. They are promoting devices among the students and we can foresee more devices and upgradation of classroom infrastructure across the country in near future. How do you see the business of smart classes in India? Most schools have so far adopted smart classroom solutions in 3 to 5 classrooms and we see a huge potential to extend the solution to other classrooms within the existing schools. Besides, there is a huge market potential in government schools, government-aided schools etc. that needs to be addressed. Is your company also embarking from e-learning to m-learning? Yes, we are already working on the mobile platform and our team is creating various educational apps which would be available to users via various App stores by this academic year.
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What are your expansion plans over the next three to five years? With a base of our book publishing companies, we intend to reach out to more than 200 million users worldwide in the next 3 to 5 years with our e-learning and m-learning solutions.
Feature
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Budget version of ‘digi-school’ in offing Chetan Mahajan, President, HCL Learning in an interaction with Elets News Network shares how strong content enhances the use of hardware in the classroom for effective learning in smart classrooms What are the learning solutions that HCL provide to the education sector? We provide solutions in two categories. Teaching, which is the first category, is sold to schools to be used in the classrooms. These are teaching aids which enable a teacher to impart quality education. This is typically a digitised curriculum. An entire curriculum of a CBSE or an ICSE or a state board would be digitised and made available to the school teacher for their subject and for their grade level. And the teacher is able to use it in the classroom along with a white board. The second product is a self-study version. Here, the students are able to take the content home and install it on their PC or computer and study it. What is a smart class? At its core is content. It is a critical piece of a smart class because that’s the true value. We can always have a classroom with a bunch of hardware, with whiteboard, projector, PC, speakers etc but if you don’t have good content then it defeats the purpose. We actually call it a ‘digi-school’. The content involves mapping the entire curriculum that is taught in that particular school. So a teacher can use effective content rather than the traditional model of blackboard or chalk and talk. Technology movement is fast becoming imperative for schools, has it touched every class and every school in India? No, absolutely not. If you look at Indian schools, there are three categories.
The government schools, which are free, there are relatively low price private schools and there are relatively more expensive public schools. The schools which access this content are largely the more expensive schools and, to some extent, the government schools because the government has been giving contract for these kind of solutions. But the lower end of the private schools is largely untouched due to high cost factor. Any plans to extend your solutions to these schools? We are in the process of offering a budget version of our ‘digi-school’ product, which will also enable these schools to get an access to it, because the ironic thing is that these schools are the ones which need such products the most. These are the schools which are not adhering to government pay scale level and they pay the teachers very less salary. So quality of teaching is an issue. The availability of teachers is another factor. So these are the schools which can actually benefit from our product, but unfortunately, they are the ones which can’t afford it. Will technology substitute teachers in classroom? Not at all. What technology is actu-
ally doing is allowing teachers to do lot more than they were able to do earlier. The teacher is indispensible. Schools need to understand the place for technology and should be able to ensure that technology is used as an aid in teaching. But there is no question of any mechanical device substituting a teacher in classroom. Do you have training programmes for teachers? HCL is one of the preferred shortlisted vendors of CBSE. We are authorised to do Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) training not only in India, but also overseas and we do it on a large scale. Last year, we trained more than 10,000 teachers across India. What is the reach of HCL learning? We are present across India. We operate in countries in Africa, Middle East and South Asia. We are holding talks with few entities in Europe and US as well. Expansion plans for the next three to five years. We are focussed on the K-12 sector to segments which are under-served till now. With our digi-school model, we are going to engage with the government of various other countries across the world.
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Leader speak
Better Times Ahead for Indian Techies India finally became the 17th member of the exclusive Washington Accord - the international accreditation agreement for engineering degrees among prominent nations of the world. Dr Surendra Prasad, Chairman of the National Board of Accreditation in an interview to KS Narayanan of Elets News Network explains the significance of the Washington Accord for Indian engineering graduates and engineering institutions India became the 17th member of the Washington Accord. What is its significance? Recognition of degrees from Tier 1 programs, as equivalent to those of WA signatory countries will boost mobility of our engineers internationally. More importantly, it is a shot in the arm for quality assurance efforts in technical education in the country. The signatory status provides NBA with a platform for keeping itself truly aligned with international practices in accreditation systems and practices, as these evolve over time. The International Engineering Alliance, which serves as the Secretariat for the various accords and agreements pertaining to the engineering profession, has a system of continuous review of its constituent bodies (on a 6-Âyearly basis), which will require NBA to continually improve its systems and bring up an era of high credibility in accreditation. I must add, however, that with or without the Washington Accord, NBA was, and will remain committed to the quality assurance movement for technical education in the country. Even as it enhances the mobility of many Indian engineering graduates, will India become the destination for engineering education? This certainly creates the potential for bringing more international stu-
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dents into such accredited programs. Who do you credit the most for making India a member of WA? Unlike suggestions in a section of the press, I would like to say that the real credit goes to a large number of invisible volunteers, who have worked hard over the years (especially over the last one year) in the background, in making our systems and processes well aligned to international practices. They represent the true army of soldiers as well as the generals of the new accreditation move-
ment. As the Chairman of the NBA for the last year or so, I had the opportunity to do my bit. The present member secretary, Dr, Anil K. Nassa and I have worked hard to improve the systems over the last few months. NBA organised a very successful WOSA (World Summit on Accreditation) in March 2014, which had international participation from 14 countries. We are happy that together both of us could effectively plead our case in the June 13 meeting of the WA member countries, despite some difficulties. The two mentors appointed by WA also helped in smoothing over many kinks in our systems and processes. The leadership in MHRD was truly supportive in bringing in the required autonomy required for such reforms. All in all, it is the collective work of many, and it is an achievement for the country, and not of a few individuals alone. India got to become a member seven years after it was made a provisional member in 2007. The International Engineering Alliance, secretariat of the Washington Accord, sent a review team in December 2013 and January 2014 to carry out a comprehensive review and audit of NBA’s accreditation systems and practices. The team submitted its report in March 2014, the ministry said. Yes, that appears to be an awfully
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long time. But over the last year or so, we really focused our efforts to ensure that our processes and systems undergo the necessary changes to become acceptable internationally. The WA Review team was not only happy with what they saw in the field, but also with the vigorous efforts being made by us to truly reform our system towards greater credibility. Accreditation with credibility is our true motto. How far has making NBA an autonomous organisation separating it from the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the apex technical education regulator-boosted the permanent membership for India? This certainly was an important step, which effectively separates the regulatory functions (represented by AICTE) from the largely academic “audit” of a program, carried out by the accrediting body. It has added to the credibility of our efforts. It must be mentioned that
significant effort on the part of the institutions as well as the program evaluators. These tasks require a non-‐trivial understanding of the accreditation process, both on the part of the faculty as well as the evaluator. Creating a pool of competent volunteers through appropriate training and orientation, who understand this process well, is the essence of effective and credible accreditation. In India, of course, there is the additional factor of maintaining the “integrity” of the process, which requires that the people associated with it have the highest ethical standards. NBA has shortlisted 220-odd engineering colleges as Tier-I institutes whose undergraduate engineering programs are in tune with what is required under the Accord. Will they have to apply afresh? What is the roadmap for others in the Tier II category? Let me clarify on these matters. Because of the size, complexity and diversity of
With or without the Washington Accord, NBA was, and will remain committed to the quality assurance movement for technical education in the country NBA has not severed its umbilical cord with AICTE, whose Chairman is an important member of the General Council. WA also places a lot of responsibility on several stakeholders. A massive redesigning of courses will take place with emphasis on outcomes and letting students explore and innovate. Accreditation is more than a certification of quality for the accredited program. A good process of accreditation enables the program administrators and the faculty to have a deep look at the program objectives, and measure the effectiveness of program delivery through an assessment of the program outcomes in relation to these objectives. This is the essence of the relatively new paradigm of outcome-‐based accreditation. Its effective implementation will take a
engineering institutions in India, it became necessary for us to look at these institutions through different lenses, with a view to empower them all to improve according to their potential. NBA decided that the accreditation effort be organised at two levels, which, for want of better terms, were called Tier 1 and Tier 2. Tier 1 programs are those, which are offered at institutions enjoying full autonomy and thus, having the capacity to undertake continuous improvements of their curriculum, teaching and learning processes and infrastructure – attributes, which empower them to benefit more directly from the feedback from the accreditation process. Others, which are affiliated with a university, and do not have complete flexibility in modifying their curriculum or conducting their own examinations, are considered for the so-called Tier-2 ac-
creditation. Clearly, institutions, which perform well, have the potential to become autonomous, and move to a Tier1 status. The WA equivalence accrual, after becoming a signatory in June this year, is for the accredited Tier 1 programs, which are housed in roughly 300 institutions in the country. For the nearly 3500 other colleges, the accreditation of programs is considered at the Tier 2 level. Those pursuing STEM always look down upon subjects relating to Humanities. Washington Accord lays emphasis on teaching social sciences along with engineering. All good engineering institutions have a significant component of Humanities and Social Sciences in their curriculum. These are important to enable the students to learn life-‐skills, and to be able to appreciate issues of importance to society, and to bring about transformative changes through engineering sciences and technology. Issues of ethical practices, leadership and teamwork are common traits required for all segments of society, and especially the engineers. NBA graduate attributes lay due emphasis to meeting these objectives well in an accreditation framework. These efforts should bear fruit over time. Now that India has signed WA, what about India signing the Sydney Accord for Engineering Technologists and the Dublin Accord for Engineering Technicians? Our focus so far was on Washington Accord. We have started to study the relevance and usefulness of the other accords now, and will be able to take a position after some work. Will India have to sign the Seoul Accord to create similar equivalence of programs for IT engineers? What is the progress on that? We are also presently studying the Seoul Accord, and will take a suitable view soon.
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special feature
Will Stem take Roots and Wings? As per practice, the first public engagement of the successive Indian Prime Ministers has been with scientists. However, scientific education in India has been short-changed for creating an army of clerks. STEM education is catching up fast globally and India cannot ignore it. Gandharv Walia reports of Elets News Network reports
l Indian-born plant scientist Sanjaya Rajaram named winner of USD 250,000 World Food Prize 2014 for contribution in increasing global wheat production by more than 200 million tonnes. l Jayant Abhir, a student of class X, won bronze at 11th National Geographic World Championship in Russia. l Team Screwdrivers from Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management and Engineering, Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies participated in the13th Annual Marine Advanced Technology Education ROV International Competition at Alpena, Michigan USA, June 26 -28, 2014. They are the only team which qualified and participated from India for this international competition. l India has become a permanent member of the Washington Accord, enabling global recognition of Indian degrees which will facilitate the mobility of engineers to other signatory countries, including the US, the UK and Australia, for jobs.
T
hese are just some of the many instances that give a peek into India’s huge untapped potential in STEM subjects. For the uninitiated, STEM refers to a curriculum based on educating students in four specific academic disciplines - science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The acronym STEM is an amalgamation of the abovementioned fields. In the United States of America, where the acronym was first coined, STEM is used for addressing the education policy and curriculum choices in schools from K-12 through college to improve competitiveness in technological development.
Considered vital to workforce development and national security among others, STEM educates students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics in an interdisciplinary and applied approach. It integrates these four fields into a cohesive learning paradigm based on real-world applications. As inspiring as the idea may sound, the ground reality in India is nothing short of a sad irony. Students in India have been unable to make the most out of STEM education due to an acute lack of vision, initiative and technology. “Our education policy makers should seriously start integrating STEM as part of the curriculum from class VII to IX to make STEM effective,” observes Althaf Basha, Senior Vice President and CMO,
STEM is not just for scientists anymore. In today’s economy, almost any job with a decent pay requires STEM skills, and many jobs require advanced STEM abilities 48
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Team Screwdrivers
GA Software Technologies Private Limited. A quick look at the education scenario in India can help us make better sense. India has over 1.4 million schools and 35,000 higher education institutions. As per the Population Census of India 2011, the literacy rate of the country stands at 74.04 per cent; while the pupil-teacher ratio in India was last recorded at 35:15 in 2011, according to World Bank findings. Although rating agency CARE Ltd has valued the market size of the Indian education industry at ` 3.83 trillion in 2013-14, the call for a holistic approach and making a paradigm shift from creating an army of clerks to creating millions of innovative entrepreneurs is not misplaced. From a purely economic standpoint, students would benefit from better STEM education because the fields are expanding more quickly than any other besides the healthcare industry. “By 2018, 1 in 20 global jobs will be STEM-related—an estimated 2.8 million jobs in total. Over 90 per cent of those opportunities will require secondary degrees, and over two-thirds will require a bachelor’s degree,” said Asheesh Sharma, Executive Academic Head & Vice President (Business Strat-
egy), Resonance Eduventures Private Limited. STEM is not just for scientists anymore. In today’s economy, almost any job with a decent pay requires STEM skills, and many jobs require advanced STEM abilities. Everyone from President Obama to Steve Jobs has weighed in on the topic in recent years - the former to pledge money to new education initiatives, and the latter to praise China for their relative preponderance of engineering talent. India and China are the biggest knowledge-based workforce nations of the world. India is a leading exporter of IT-skilled workforce, which comprises of mathematicians, engineers and technologists among others. Consider this in the context
“By 2018, 1 in 20 global jobs will be STEM-related - an estimated 2.8 million jobs in total. Over 90 per cent of those opportunities will require secondary degrees, and over two-thirds will require a bachelor’s degree” Asheesh Sharma, Executive Academic Head & Vice President (Business Strategy), Resonance Eduventures Private Limited
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of the demand for sound professionals globally. STEM education is highly beneficial as it can ensure global employment and these skills are required to be competitive in the global race for energy development, creating and maintaining a healthy economy, and fostering innovation and excellence. For India, the scenario presents immense opportunity along with some tough challenges. Several private and government initiatives have been undertaken to introduce and establish STEM initiatives in primary, secondary and higher education in India, but they are neither concerted nor consistent. Under the pilot project Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative, the Ohio State University has also been awarded a highly competitive grant from the US India Education Foundation (USIEF) for training STEM faculty in partnership with the Aligarh Muslim University. Still, in effect, there are no visible concrete measures by the government to impart STEM education collectively in schools and colleges in a proper manner. Add to that the dearth of STEM teachers, ill-equipped schools and the outdated curriculum and we have a worrying scenario. Needless to say, there are numerous changes that need to be brought in. From teachers’ training, curricula to methods of teaching STEM subjects, everything needs to change if we aim to fare well globally. There is a need for several programmes, internships, scholarships, and research programmes focused on developing the next generation of STEM professionals.
The STEM edge With globalisation, there is a need to develop global citizens. Experts indicate that the best employers, the world over, are looking for the most competent, creative and innovative people, who can think creatively, make judgments, are capable of solving complex and multidisciplinary problems, possess good communication and collaboration skills, and make innovative use of knowledge, information and opportunities. STEM education in schools is being encouraged worldwide to develop these skills among students to prepare next generation scientists, engineers, architects and technology professionals. “STEM education has a big role to play in the growth of our country, both technically and financially. It will empower our students to have a bright future. To obtain this goal, the country’s educational institutions would require selection of suitable curriculum, requisite budget and trained faculty, which at present is a great challenge,” said Ashok K Sehgal, CEO, CAT-5 Broadcast.
In the coming decades, most population forecasts predict that developed countries would be deficit in working population whereas India would have the largest pool of working population. “Technical and research writing conforming to international standards need emphasis in India both at K12 (school) and college level,” said Sarvesh Shrivastava, MD, Encyclopedia Britannica – South Asia. “Investing in STEM education spurs innovation and entrepreneurship, supports employment growth and fuels the country’s economic growth, enabling it to stay competitive in a global environment,” said Ashutosh Chadha, Director, Corporate Affairs Group, Intel South Asia. Technology should not only rightfully enter the classrooms, but should also be integrated in learning, teaching, assessment and evaluation. Logical thinking, simplification of a problem, examining data, problem solving are some of the many skills that STEM education imparts. “It equips children to face the real world challenges. Through the Flow programme, we teach students how to make links across subjects, to think about the same topic through a variety of lenses. It opens up the way to approach a problem,” said Eliza, Co-founder and Managing Director, Flow India.
“STEM education has a big role to play... To obtain this goal, the country’s educational institutions would require selection of suitable curriculum, requisite budget and trained faculty, which at present is a great challenge” Ashok K Sehgal, CEO, CAT-5 Broadcast
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The Challenges More than ever, India needs to move from traditional teaching methods to a robust and application-based curriculum. Infrastructure and shallow reach of technology-enabled education methods are the biggest challenges for imparting STEM education
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The twin challenges in imparting STEM education is the dearth of teachers with the requisite skills to effectively teach these subjects using ‘active learning’ methods and the willingness of teachers to take risks in the pursuit of accommodating students and furthering STEM in India. “Ability to make resources available at grassroots level and junking traditional methods of teaching still remain a key area of concern. Initiatives in future should be made to fill the void in basic education in remote communities to reduce the disparities in educational opportunities,” said Kulbhushan Seth, Vice President, Casio India Company Private Limited. The two big challenges in imparting STEM education is the dearth of teachers with the requisite skills to effectively teach these subjects using ‘active learning’ methods and the willingness of teachers to take risks in the pursuit of accommodating students and furthering STEM. “Some teachers, who are willing to go an extra mile, face difficulty in arranging materials for experiments in the little time that they get free. Another challenge is to schedule these hands-on classes that require longer time slots in the already tight school time table. At a more fundamental level, the awareness about the importance of STEM education has begun only recently. Many school leaders still look at these programmes as good-to-have rather than musthave,” said Gagan Goyal, Founder & CEO, ThinkLABS. Schools even today approach each of the disciplines of STEM individually and there is no effort wherein all the four come together. “Many schools procure resources and start using it, but gradually due to various reasons like teacher churn, lack of time, higher priorities such as exams, the usage dwin-
dles. STEM has to be made a part of the curriculum,” said Beas Dev Ralhan, CEO, Next Education India Private Limited. Availability of appropriate and optimal resources for STEM education is another big challenge. “The delivery model of STEM education must be critically analysed. Appropriate training and development must be provided to the facilitators of STEM education. More harm than help is being done due to lack of such facilitation skills,” added Rakesh Dandu, Founder & CEO, LFX Technologies Private Limited. Furthermore, there is a communication gap between teachers and students, which needs to be filled at the earliest. “We need a strong system and even a stronger administration to implement the entire concept from the grassroots level to higher level so that we can see a real change in the society,” said Satyam Malhotra, Founder, TiF-India.
Best ways to teach STEM Grounding STEM education in ‘real-life’ practical problems especially related to the workplace can form a strong foundation and is easy to grasp for the students. More and more participation of students in original research projects should be encouraged so that they become aware of its importance and applications. Moreover, institutions must focus on innovative content, accessibility, and delivery platforms to address the needs of today’s students and better understand how pedagogy
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“STEM education is best done with an element of fun and games, it keeps the students interested. Schools also need to do a lot of mentoring with the students and show them the importance of STEM education”
The Silver Lining
In terms of policy, India’s National Science, Technology, Innovation Policy released in January 2013 aims to position India among top 5 scientific powers in the world by 2020. It also looks to make careers in science, research and innovation attractive, set up world Ankur Rohatgi, Head - Strategy and Alliances, class R&D infrastructure and also raise IL&FS Education and Technology Services Limited gross expenditure in R&D to two per cent from the present one per cent of the GDP in this decade by encouraging enhanced private secand technology must interconnect to satisfy the needs of a drator contribution. matic evolution in how learning is happening. In line with this vision, Intel India has launched the NaSchool students also need to explore subject matter content tional Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics by conducting experiments, drawing flowcharts, constructing (STEM) Acceleration Programme to strengthen STEM educamodels, watching videos and go beyond the knowledge level tion in the country recently. The programme will endeavour to higher level of thinking. “STEM education is best done with to focus on initiatives aimed towards promoting creativity, inan element of fun and games, it keeps the students interested. novation and a do-it-yourself (DIY) attitude amongst students Schools also need to do a lot of mentoring with the students across the country. As a part of this programme, Intel India and show them the importance of STEM education,” said Ansigned a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with The Nakur Rohatgi, Head - Strategy and Alliances, IL&FS Education tional Council of Science Museums (NCSM) to strengthen the and Technology Services Limited. research culture for students across the country and build inSchools also have a responsibility to ensure that principals novation resources. and teachers act as the drivers for change. “The school should Many other companies are also developing content for plan the curriculum diligently and focus on making instrucsubjects of science and mathematics for students of various tions interesting. Parents and local community should be enboards in both English and Hindi for classes I-XII. “We primarcouraged to get actively involved in supporting the school for ily focus on rural areas. We are working with various delivery their children’s academic success,” said Shreevats Jaipuria, partners for implementation of such content in schools, instiVice Chairman, Jaipuria Group. tutes and coaching centres. In Madhya Pradesh itself, we have over 5,000 academic centres in rural areas where we deliver our content. There is a similar trend in states like UP, RajastInitiatives by han, etc,” said Rakesh Dandu, Founder & CEO, LFX Technologies Private Limited. Similarly, some projects undertaken at Hindustan University have been among the top ten entries in the NASA Tech Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) programme by the Department of SciBriefs-Create the Future Design Contest 2013, where around ence & Technology for attracting young talent to the 1,354 entries came in. These include Solar Powered Road excitements of a creative pursuit of science as a Cleaning Robot for waste disposal (rank 1) developed by Dr D career option and building the required critical huDinakaran (School of Mechanical Sciences), Tsunami Coastal man resource pool for strengthening and expanding Communication & Warning System (rank 2) developed by Suthe Science & Technology system and R&D base in dalaiMuthu T (School of Computing Sciences), a Night Safety the country. Alert Messaging System for Vehicles through Vehicular Adhoc Networks (rank 6) developed by Thangakumar J (School of Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana (KVPY) is an ongoing National Programme of Fellowships in Basic Computing Sciences), informs Ashok Verghese, Director, HinSciences, initiated and funded by the Department of dustan University. Science and Technology to attract exceptional and In March 2014, LS Creative Learnings Pvt Ltd, a Bangalorehighly motivated students for pursuing basic science based firm, launched STEM education in collaboration with Dr courses and research career in science. Tairo Nomura of Saitama University, Tokyo. This pilot project has been initiated by Japan. LSC signed an MoU with the DeHomi Bhabha Centre for Science Education has partment of State Educational Research and Training (DSERT) been made the country’s nodal centre for Olympiad for the project and has already been rolled out in two governprogrammes in mathematics and sciences. The ment schools at Veerabhadranagar and Hosakerehalli in South programmes aim at promoting excellence in science and mathematics among pre-university students. Bangalore. On completion of the project, DSERT will evaluate
government
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There is no doubt that India needs to catch up with the rest of the world in promoting STEM education. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision and emphasis on developing India as a future leader in science and technology, one can certainly hope for opening up of opportunities – both in terms of employment and investment students’ performance to recommend its introduction to other government schools. Other schools where the project has been implemented include Bishop Cotton Boys School, St John’s High School, Indus International School and Baldwin School. Amrita University has also been promoting STEM education through various initiatives. Amrita Virtual Interactive E-learning World (A-VIEW) is used to train 10,000 engineering teachers at a time (T10KT), using 337 established remote centers across India. A-VIEW was also used by Prof Jhunjhunwala, IIT Madras, for the Quality Enhancement in Engineering Education (QEEE) programme, where IIT teachers conducted courses for six weeks for 100 colleges. The Virtual Labs focus on interdisciplinary research in higher education and has successfully trained over 50,000 students throughout India. Amrita Multi Modal Applications using Computer Human Interaction (AMMACHI) Labs foster technological innovation in vocational training. “Over 3,000 women have been trained by this initiative. The Online Labs (Olabs) are based on the idea that lab experiments can be taught using the internet, more efficiently and less expensively. This helps students in less privileged schools to compete with students in better equipped schools and bridges the digital divide and geographical distances. The project has trained over 30,000 teachers,” said Prof Kamal Bijlani, Director, Amrita E-Learning Research Lab. It is perhaps an indication of the social recognition that STEM has started to garner popularity. Subjects like game design, robotics, actuarial science, forensic science, bio-medicine, biotechnology, linguistics, etc, which were unheard till a few years back, are some of the most sought after STEM courses now. “Though, mechanical, electrical and chemical engineering courses still hold the top slots, there is a five per cent rise every year in the
number of students selecting these unconventional courses,” said Jaideep Gupta, CEO and Founder, Univariety.
The US Scenario Though the US has historically been a leader in these fields, fewer students have been seen focusing on these topics recently. According to the US Department of Education, only 16 per cent of high school students are interested in a STEM career and have proven a proficiency in mathematics. Currently, nearly 28 per cent of high school freshmen declare an interest in a STEM-related field, a department website says, but 57 per cent of these students will lose interest by the time they graduate from high school. In a move to bridge this gap, the Obama administration announced the 2009 ‘Educate to Innovate’ campaign to motivate and inspire students to excel in STEM subjects. The goal is to get American students from the middle of the pack in science and math to the top of the pack in the international arena. This campaign also addresses the inadequate number of teachers skilled to educate in these subjects. Some companies like Lockheed Martin, Intel, etc have started working to strengthen STEM education for a better future. The US government funnels $4.3 billion every year into STEM education-related initiatives. A report released by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) throws some interesting facts about India that our policy makers need to take into account. As per the report, India has the highest number of STEM students. As many as 78 per cent of the Indian students are enrolled in STEM categories, while the figure for China is 37 per cent. The report futher states that India accounts for the second largest number of international students in the country while China, with 290,133 students is at the top. Over three-fourth of Indian students are enrolled in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) courses.
Looking Ahead
Sanjaya Rajaram, recipient of World Food Prize 2014 along with plant geneticist and the “Father of Green Revolution” Dr Norman Borlaug who tirelessly toiled in labs and on land to increase wheat production and alleviate hunger around the world
There is no doubt that India needs to catch up with the rest of the world in promoting STEM education. One only needs to look at the kind of funds that the US government is funnelling into STEM education to understand how significant it is to them. Moreover, the worry that the US may lag behind has valuable lessons for India as well. We might have missed the high growth bus during the 60s and 70s, unlike the Asian tigers. But, we can certainly ill-afford this luxury in current times. India’s newlyelected Prime Minister does not have a magic wand to transform things overnight. But with his vision and emphasis on developing India as a future leader in science and technology, one can certainly hope for opening up of opportunities – both in terms of employment and investment.
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special Lead feature feature
After steering the BJP-led NDA to power with an absolute majority, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a tough task ahead to revive the Indian economy, uplift the hundreds of millions of poor and create jobs for the tens of millions of youth and build brand India. K S Narayanan of Elets News Network reports
Skill matters
O
ur country has earned a reputation for scam India. We will have to transform this into skilled India. There is an urgent need for manpower in the world. Our neighbour China is getting older and we are getting younger. Our priority should be skill development in the youth, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said while replying to the debate on the motion of thanks on President Pranab Mukherjee’s address to Parliament. “There is a need to have skill, not just certificates,” Modi added.
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Demographic Dividends Emphasis of the new government is well-placed. A population of 1.3 billion with about 0.8 billion in the working age - India in 2020 is surely something the world can look forward to and this is what makes skill development significant for several reasons. According to economic predictions, that time (2020) would be the golden ‘Growth’ era in the demographic dividend. It is estimated that India would not only have enough manpower to meet its own needs, it can help the rest of the world as well. Amidst the glitz and glamour of these numbers, one often chooses to ignore that in today’s knowledge-based economy, the
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There is a growing disconnect between the needs of the employers and the skills that are available in the job market today. This causes workers and companies to miss out on realising their full potential quality of the workforce is more important than its quantity.
Skill Deficit It is estimated that India would have a skill gap of 75-80 per cent across sectors. According to a survey conducted in March this year by a job portal CareerBuilder India, the current job market is not only frustrating for those looking for employment, but also for businesses with open positions unable to find the right talent. “The skills gap in India is an issue that is not going away anytime soon,” CareerBuilder India Managing Director Premlesh
Machama said. Around 78 per cent of the surveyed employers said they are concerned with the growing skills gap in India, while 57 per cent said they currently have open positions for which they cannot find qualified candidates. The report further suggests that costs associated with the skills gap can add up quickly and have broader implications for business performance. “There is a growing disconnect between the needs of the employers and the skills that are available in the job market today. This causes workers and companies to miss out on realising their full potential and creates multiple negative consequences for businesses,” Machama added.
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Institutional Mechanisms To create such an institutional base for skill development in India at the national level, a “Coordinated Action on Skill Development” with three-tier institutional structure consisting of the PM’s National Council on Skill Development, the National Skill Development Coordination Board (NSDCB) and the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) was created in early 2008. With the creation of National Skill Development Agency (NSDA), the National Council on Skill Development, the NSDC Board and the Office of the Adviser to Prime Minister on Skill Development have now been subsumed in NSDA, while PM’s National Council on Skill Development was constituted as a Cabinet Committee on Skill Development in 2013. Different stakeholders including India Inc have huge expectations from Modi government to fix the skill deficit. Welcoming the creation of new skill development ministry, RCM Reddy, Chairman, FICCI Skills Development Forum and Managing Director & CEO, IL&FS Education & Skills expects three issues to be resolved immediately. “Streamline the implementation of skills schemes and programmes between 18 ministries to attract more professional agencies and private sector partners to join the skilling mission. One of the important areas within this will be focusing on creating uniform funding across ministries and departments with higher incentives for capital expenditure intensive programmes, extend skills development within the scheme framework for the informal sector which could lead to self employment and entrepreneurship
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Upskilling 500 million by the year 2022 will not only create jobs for the youth but could help India emerge as the global choice for foreign direct investment and a global talent provider besides steering the Indian economy to higher growth trajectory
and fast track PPP initiatives for setting up of ITIs and Polytechnics”.
Co-ordination, hike budgetary allocation The Modi government has for the first time created an exclusive ministry to focus on skill development, entrepreneurship, youth affairs & sports and appointed Sarabananda Sonowal, the 51-year-old BJP leader from Assam. Acknowledging the acute skill deficit in the country, Sonowal’s ministry is undertaking a study to determine whether there is need for adopting different models for different states and settting up institutes for skill development immediately after the study is completed. Co-ordination among several ministries is a must to accelerate the pace of skilling Indian youths. Prime Minister Modi needs to fix the inter-ministerial squabbles as union ministries (Labour, Human Resources and Rural Development) fear losing their turfs and funds as well. Skill development is a massive government programme with annual allocation of about `5,000 crore. The funds and the work are spread over 11 ministries including HRD, labour and rural development that often end up working at cross purposes. Take for instance the Rural Development (RD) ministry which received `1,400 crore in the last budget for its skill programme Aajeevika, which is run by district RD officers by enrolling self-help groups while the Urban development ministry runs similar programmes in the cities and was allocated `100
crore. UPA-2, near the end of its tenure, had put the finance ministry in charge of coordinating with all ministries on skill development via the national skill development agency. It had set a target to train 11 million youth in 2014-15 and 500 million youth by 2020. Another issue that will translate the new government’s good intent into action is the hike in budgetary allocation and incentives for those affiliated to sector skill councils. “The challenge of skilling 500 million by 2022 has not changed. What possibly could have changed is that pace with which we go on year on year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has used four critical words-‘Skills’, ‘Speed’, ‘Scale’ and Sustainability’. His slogan is ‘Shrameva Jayate’ and he talked about the need to empower people across the country. To convert that vision into intent and execution, we need to step up and accelerate action for going forward. Again, it all depends on budgetary allocation and what we focus on,” Dilip Chenoy, CEO/MD National Skill Development Corporation said in an interview. If the new government can remove irritants and bottlenecks and synergize the efforts and resources to provide a feasible platform for vocational education and skill development, evolve solutions for upskilling 500 million by the year 2022, it will not only create jobs for youth but could help India emerge as the global choice for foreign direct investment and a global talent provider besides steering the Indian economy to higher growth trajectory.
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Lead Feature
New Solutions must for upskilling IL&FS Education & Skills is one of the two organisations profiled by the global analyst McKinsey while assessing the success and impact of skill development world-wide. RCM Reddy, Chairman, FICCI Skills Development Forum and Managing Director & CEO, IL&FS Education & Skills spells out how the government and the industry need to collectively address the challenge of skill development in India As one of the important stakeholders in the skills mission, what are your expectations from the Union Minister for Skill Development, Entrepreneurship and Youth Affairs? The setting up of a new ministry is a welcome move. India is faced with the target of skilling 500 million by 2022. A dedicated department on skills development was the need of the hour, especially to engage the growing number of young people actively looking for employment opportunities. Some key areas where the new ministry must focus to ensure greater impact are : Streamline the implementation of skills schemes and programmes between 18 ministries to attract more professional agencies and private sector partners to join the skilling mission. One important
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area will be creating uniform funding across ministries and departments with higher incentives for capex-intensive programmes. Extend skills development within the scheme framework for the informal sector. The current framework of placement-linked skills programmes does not cater to people interested in selfemployment. With less than 93 per cent of economy being non-formal, focus has to be on skills development for livelihood generation. Fast-track PPP initiatives for setting up of ITIs and Polytechnics that facilitates quality training to create world class public infrastructure for vocational education and training. IL&FS Skills India started its skill development programme way back in 1997. What were the challenges and how do you see the road ahead ? There was no proven business model 10 years ago when we began our operations. Hence, we were left with no choice other than learning from international best practices and customising them to local needs. Today, we have mastered the process and re-invented it by engaging industry in delivery and implemen-
tation. Ever since we launched our first multi-skill centre at Hi Tech Weaving Park in Palladam near Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, we have improvised on our training delivery methods and experimented to create a standardised scalable model that draws strength from the integration of technology, innovation, interactivity and industry relevance. We are focused on bringing the next wave of innovations to cater to the everchanging needs of industry as well as learners. We are focused on two key areas : moderating the price point of skill services so that learners-especially from Bottom of Pyramid groups-can afford training and improving the quality to make learner experience valuable. Speaking of innovations in the skills delivery model, we are currently focusing on integrating skills development within mainstream education basis the National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF). The objective is to reach out to the masses and bring vocational education at par with formal education. How big is the challenge of skill development for India? Among several challenges facing the vocational education sector in India, two of them stand in between India’s economic growth and its reaping the benefits of the demographic dividend. First is inadequate infrastructure: As per Twelfth Plan projections, about 25 million new entrants would join the labour force in the next five years. In India,
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the per capita availability of institutions imparting formal education is much higher than those imparting vocational education. Poor presence of vocational institutions means the community is less informed about it and hence their poor utilisation. The location of institutions also affects access. Also, poor infrastructure facilities of classrooms, equipment, workshop, and trained teachers etc. within the institution affect the quality of training imparted, affecting learners’ future access to jobs. The second is inadequate financial support through bank loans and scholarships. Several affirmative schemes of the government have been able to cover the costs of vocational education of people from BPL groups and minority communities. However, a major part of the population are not covered under any scheme and do not have any access to institutional loans either.
We are happy to see the political will building right from the Prime Minster and are ready to support his mission of attaining shram-ev jayate or dignity of labour nique that will deliver a skilled India. It would need new solutions and approaches, and that requires leadership - both at the political level and within the industry. We are happy to see the political will building right from the Prime Minster and are ready to support his mission of attaining shram-ev jayte or dignity of labour. We have already established 38 institutes and are keen to expand ourselves, especially in the Middle East and African countries, which also face the same demographic challenges as ours.
Do you see vocational training and skill development getting a boost under the corporate social responsibility as mandated under the new Companies Act? We are working with some of the top PSUs and private sector companies to implement their CSR vision on skills development. We have already established pan-India operations in a hub and spoke model with our presence in 25 states through a network of 38 multi skills training institutes as hubs called IL&FS Institute of Skills(IIS) and another 250+ single trade skilling centres as spokes known as the IL&FS Skills Schools(ISS). With our outreach in remote, difficult terrains, left-wing extremist affected areas, it has become easier for the PSUs who have their establishments in such locations to partner with us. The Corporates also want to earn goodwill of the local communities and skill development has proved to be a big boon to their operations.
The IL&FS Skills website mentions that its aim is to train 4 million people by 2022 under the Skills Programmes for INclusive Growth (SPRING). How do you plan to achieve it? We are one of the only training institutions in the country to offer skills development programmes to the entire learner spectrum. We wanted to create an institution which is able to cater to every individual who wishes to get skilled and does not have any entry barriers. With this objective in mind, we rolled out six different programmes including Skills for Jobs, Skills Upgradation, Skills for Good Governance, Skills at Schools & Colleges, Skills for Trainers and Skills for Entrepreneurship. We have skilled 14,30,000 people on a pan-India basis. 4,00,000 of these have been skilled through placement linked programmes and are from Bottom of Pyramid groups, and mostly school drop-outs and 8th or 10th pass. Today, 49 per cent of our successful trainees are women, largely from the backward regions of the country.
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new thrust on skill development, does IL&FS have new plans for expansion? There is no proven management tech-
As chairman of the FICCI Skill Development Forum, how well do you think is the industry geared up for the skill development mission considering that they too will
benefit out of it? What are their concerns in this regard? A few years back, we were discussing the demand – supply gap of trained manpower. Today, with the presence of several private training providers and affirmative government schemes, there has been a considerable deluge in the availability of skilled and certified manpower. However, the industry does not seem to be creating jobs at the same pace to absorb the millions joining the labour market every day. There is also the problem of large scale migration of labour which has its own repercussions of labour uprising and increasing attrition rates. Is industry adequately incentivised to boost skill development? Low incentives have been acting as a dampener to the spirits of big corporate houses which have been investing heavily knowing the risks involved and the slow returns on investment. A favourable investment climate with adequate incentives through lower interest rates for loans and relaxed taxation norms will help the government boost private sector participation in skills development. The National Skill Development Corporation has been asked to carry out skilling of 150 million Indians by 2022. What should the government and NSDC do to achieve this target? We need to build a skills development model that is inclusive to achieve a ‘Skills for All’ agenda. The objective would be to address the issues of relevance in skill development in terms of Quantity, Quality, Outreach, Equity and Systemic reforms. There is also an urgent need to mainstream skills formation in the formal education system and, at the same time, adopt innovative approaches for skill creation outside the formal education system.
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Lead feature
‘The Pace of skilling mission could change’ The pace of the skill mission could change with the Prime Minister’s call for ‘Skills’, ‘Speed’, ‘Scale’ and ‘Sustainability’, believes Dilip Chenoy, CEO & MD of National Skill Development Corporation. In an interview to KS Narayanan of Elets News Network, Chenoy calls for higher budgetary allocation, incentives to business houses that promote skill training and establishment of more skill training centres As the CEO & MD of NSDC, do you see a renewed thrust on India’s skill mission with a full-fledged ministry on skill development, entrepreneurship & youth affairs? If you go back to skill development space prior to 2008-09, there was no co-ordination mechanism between different
entities that were engaged in the skill development sector in different ministries and states. In order to create such an institutional base for skill development in India at the national level, a ‘Coordinated Action on Skill Development’ with three-tier institutional structure consisting of the
PM’s National Council on Skill Development (NCSD), the National Skill Development Coordination Board (NSDCB) and the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) was created in early 2008. With the creation of National Skill Development Agency (NSDA), the NCSD, the NSDCB and the office of the Adviser to Prime Minister on Skill Development have now been subsumed in NSDA, while PM’s National Council on Skill Development was constituted as Cabinet Committee on Skill Development in 2013. In this context, the new government wanted to take it a step further. Even if you look at the Cabinet Committee on Skill Development and the National Skill Development Agency, they did not include aspects of the ministry of skill development, entrepreneurship and youth affairs and sports. I think this is a kind of a take on what possibly this government feels how the programme functioned in the past and how they could increase coordination and scope of the skill development programme across more ministries than earlier and take it to a scale. Did you get to meet Skill Development minister Sarabananda Sonowal and discuss the NSDC’s targets and plans? NSDC target is set by NSDA. NSDC chairman S Ramadorai met him. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s emphasis on skill
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development, do you expect a substantial hike in budgetary allocation for NSDC? The government has been talking about it. We will know when the Union Budget is presented. Given the thought process that emerges within the government on the role of NSDC, we need to scale up efforts, set up more sector specific skill council and replicate such efforts. Budgets will be allocated accordingly. With Prime Minister’s call for a ‘skilled India’, has the challenge for NSDC grown manifold? The challenge of skilling 500 million by 2022 has not changed. What possibly could have changed is the pace with which we go on year on year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has used four critical words-‘Skills’, ‘Speed’, ‘Scale’ and Sustainability’. His slogan is ‘Shrameva Jayate’ and he talked about the need to empower people across the country. To convert that vision into intent and execution, we need to step up and accelerate action going forward. Again, it all depends on budgetary allocation and what we focus on. What is the progress on skilling people? In 2010, NSDC had put together a tenyear plan and how we propose to skill people and reach 150 million. According to plan, we are on target. But the fundamental basis of that plan presumes certain growth rate of the economy, ecosystem and job creation. If those assumptions remain unchanged, then we are confident of reaching the target. The rate of growth of economy has slowed. We have to get back to seven to eight per cent growth rate. Otherwise we cannot expect job creation. Secondly, we had thought of sector skill and certification programmes. If those are not allowed to function or are curtailed, then we have to restructure how we go forward. During the last four years, we have not missed a target. Why has vocational training and skill development interested only a few Indian companies? Since you
The challenge of skilling 500 million by 2022 has not changed. What possibly could have changed is the pace with which we go on year on year interact with many of the Indian firms, what are their concerns? The size of the challenge needs to be understood. We did close to 8 million people last year. If we have to achieve skilling 500 million people by 2022, the annual target has to go up to at least 60 million people over the next two to three years. We need people to invest in skills. Otherwise, we cannot achieve the target. But the question is whether there is an incentive for people to invest in skill development. Currently, it is only available to those people affiliated to National Council for Vocational Training system. The NSDC has been requesting tax exemptions for those affiliated to sector skill councils. There is a section in the Income Tax law where weightage is given to corporates who set up training institutions under NCVT affiliation and not to those people involved with sector skill councils. The NSDC has made a representation to the government in this regard. Also, we should not regulate the sector heavily. We need to allow the private sector to develop certification and automatically comply with frameworks. There are two kinds of private sector players - those working with grants and sustainable models. NSDC would like to work with players working with sustainable models. Will the skill development mission get a boost under CSR as mandated under the new company law? The intention of the CSR was to increase the fund flow to social sector. If the company chooses to come to skills, then there could be fund flow. CSR will be implemented from next year. But many corporate are already involved in skill sector development. How do you view the role of Industrial Training Institutes in upskilling?
India has 10,000 ITIs in public and private sectors. The total skilling capacity is 8 million. We have to create more training facilities if we have to train 60 million people every year. How are sector skill councils progressing? There are 31 sector skill councils out of which two are provisional. On account of General Elections among other things, the real division of work between NSDA and NSDC was not worked out. We are waiting for clarity on that issue. If you look at the 20 high growth sector like Hydrocarbons (Petroleum and Gas), Chemical and Petrochemicals, Manufacturing, Furniture and Furnishing, Education and Management, Sports – there is a need for distinct sector skill councils. We will add five more sector skill councils. Has the National Skill Certification and Monetary Reward Scheme been able to attract candidates towards vocational education? Already 1.2 million people have been enrolled in the system when the target was one million. About 8.5 lakh have received training. So far, in terms of training, the system is working well. The Sector Skill Councils have set up standards and since the sector skill councils-approved assessment bodies are doing the assessments, it would be clear whether the trained students are up to the industry’s standards. Once the certification is done on Aadhar or the NPR number is done, the roll out of monetary award is given. So, in terms of creating standards, training and assessment and certifications by sector skills, it is working well. As in any scheme, there are challenges - how to reduce time between training, certification, disbursement of money, scaling and whether the training partners are implementing it in spirit of the scheme.
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industry Lead Feature speak
Tie degree to successful internship In an intercation with Elets News Network, Subhasish Biswas, Head – Business Excellence, Wipro BPO, calls for a composite ranking of students on soft skills, extra-curricular achievements and performance during internships and not merely on theoretical knowledge As an IT major, how do you view the skill-deficit at entry level? The current skill deficit at the entry level can be attributed to the way our education system is structured. Firstly, it churns out a large number of aspirational youth adept at theory and rules but lacking business perspective as they have not been exposed to a real-world business environment. Secondly, as students are mostly coached on generic curriculum content, they lack domain knowledge that can be used at the workplace. Finally, and most importantly, they need to enhance their soft skills. In today’s concept-driven world, the ability to communicate effectively and make an impact is of paramount importance. How should the academiaindustry-government synchronise their efforts on skilling India? The mission to skill India needs all these stakeholders to work in unison and remodel the current approach. The inclusion of ‘internship’ as part of the academic curriculum
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would play a critical role in this remodeling exercise. For example, the academic content in an engineering degree program should be refined to fit into a three-year time frame. Post this, the student should be expected to intern with an organisation for a period of one year. During this internship, the organisation should evaluate the student’s performance and certify accordingly. Awarding the degree qualification should be subject to successful completion of the internship. This effectively marries theoretical knowledge with practical implementation. The integration of soft skills development programmes in the mainline course curriculum is another critical aspect of the skilling effort. This involves grooming students in skills like communication, articulation, presentation, and negotiation as well as conflict resolution in order to prepare them for the workplace. Organisations with inhouse training programs that focus on talent development can play a pivotal role in extending this into the world of academia, supported by the regulatory framework. Also, the in-house knowledge and expertise within organisation needs to be leveraged to build accredited courses that can be offered to students by universities. Besides, exposing students to the world of business, this ensures a multiplier effect across the board leading to better skilled graduates in India, which increases our global competency. At Wipro, we incentivise learning and skill training through bonuses as well as ‘Learn & Earn’ options in a variety of
paid education programmes affiliated to reputed universities. We also have a Talent Transformation force that focuses on empowering employees with knowledge, skills and opportunities to excel. How do you think educational institutions and students should be ranked based on their skill rather than on theoretical knowledge? I believe that ranking students on theoretical knowledge is fine for the most part. However, the composite ranking should take into account factors that influence the individual’s success in the long run. These factors include soft skills, extra-curricular achievements, and especially, performance during internships. What is the impact of Wipro initiatives? Since its inception in 1985, the flagship learn-while-you-earn WASE programme has provided selected candidates a high value Masters of Science Degree from the reputed Birla Institute of Technology, Pilani. FinPro, a programme developed for preparing youth for the fast-growing BFSI sector was launched last year by the Business Process Services wing of the company and is provided free of cost to aspirants. Within the organisation, the SEED Program supports higher studies for employees through tie-ups with various educational institutes enabling employees to secure a qualification of their choice. This programme allows undergraduates hired by the organisation to pursue their graduation while continuing their employment.
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1995. TRS is proud to say that such systems are being widely used in India even today. With the introduction of such new technology solutions, TRS was recognised as “The OMR People”. His passion for R&D and Technology based solutions paid dividends. TRS came out with a path breaking solution for dummy numbering process in Indian universities and other educational institutions for their subjective examination. Brand named as FireEye process, this has created a complete change in automation of examination process. FireEye process has revolutionised the post exam process. By introducing this process not only the volume is handled with ease and accurate results are brought out faster. This has helped the student community to a larger extent and brings more credibility to the institution and the examination process as a whole. The FireEye scanner has been designed and developed by TRS and registered for patent. This process had instant recognition from few big universities and professional institutes. TRS now hopes to capture more share of the market in the current year and in two years hopes to capture more than 75 per cent of the market. Another feather in TRS cap is the introduction of eSekure a software product considered the ultimate security for any document and could elimiSubramanian receiving the “Leaders of Tomorrow” award from K V Kamath, Non-Executive Chairman, ICICI Bank nate possibilities of t is a proud moment for N. Subramanian and his TEAM TRS Forms & Services Pvt. Ltd. since they have been selected as “The Leaders of Tomorrow” at national level in ITES vertical by the ETNow. TRS has been selected for this award mainly for their innovative products and solutions. TRS pioneered the concept of using OMR technology for volume data capturing. Till then OMR was synonymous for Objective type of examination and Market survey. OMR was first introduced in application processing. Then it was used in subjective exams as the first sheet of the answer booklet with barcodes acting as the dummy number. Marks tabulation sheets were designed in OMR format for capturing of marks instead of data entry. All these process were introduced by TRS way back in
fake documents in education, financial transactions, recruitments, registration documents and government certificates. TRS has introduced the security system branded as eSekure. This mark can make even an ordinary white paper a secured document. It is 100 per cent tamper proof. Even mobile applications are available for verification and make it easy to verify on the move. TRS has just introduced this in couple of prestigious institutions as a pilot. TRS aims to make it as a standard mark for document authenticity in India. Since this problem is universal, the same can be implemented globally and eSekure made as a global standard for document security. TRS is on the forefront of on-line activities as well. TRS has successfully implemented online applications for many education and recruitment bodies. Online examination application has been introduced for universities. TRS has the online examination (eKsamin) software for both schools and college level as well as for bigger examinations. This package has a powerful and comprehensive Question bank software (eQbank) attached. This can help in conducting both objective and subjective examinations. This package is also available separately for schools and colleges to maintain a powerful question bank and be used for their unit or internal tests. The game changer for TRS in future is going to be the on screen marker solution named eMarquer. TRS has indigenously developed the software suitable for the Indian conditions and requirements. No doubt N Subramanian is a successful entrepreneur and an expert in high volume data processing and data capture services.
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