leader speak
Placement-Linked Training: A Move Beyond Mainstream www.ilfsindia.com
Dr. Shabnam Sinha CEO, IL&FS Education and Technology Services Ltd.
Please tell us about the organisational background of IL&FS. We initially started as a content development company for the school segment. Then we branched into the infrastructure part. We did exactly what is the patented innovation of IL&FS, in the area of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), the K-YAN which is an integration of a computer, a projector and a keyboard, which the children and teachers can work on. It’s a learning tool through which the entire classroom can be addressed. We developed this with IIT, Mumbai and this was a transition where we moved from content to largescale integrated solutions. Also, it has hugely addressed the requirements of the North East, where there is lack of access to quality education. Is the role of Skill Development critical in India? Going beyond school education, what is very critically linked with the 20
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schools is the skills development. One has to target the school children, who need to be provided with some kind of education training, preferably the children of the vulnerable section who are out of school or cannot complete their secondary or higher secondary education. We are now targeting the Cluster Development initiative. In clusters they provide focused training on a particular vocation. We have used ICT in which we provide the multimedia support on training. For each training, there would be one K-YAN through which one can see the actual iconic presentation of all steps of the process through multimedia. So it involves handson training and provide certain aspects, which can be shown in a regular training situation. ICT is a core tool and a critical deliverer of vocational content. We also do soft skill training. Already, around 24,000 youth have been trained on that, while in the textile industry 5000 youth have been trained and the placements for these are in process. The special selling point of this initiative is that it is placement linked. What are the challenges that need to be addressed? The main challenge is that everybody talks about PPP but there are no rules, no systems and no contractual templates that have been formulated or brought out, either by the government, or any independent agency. So there is a requirement of synthesising a model containing all of these. Can you highlight any other programmes that you have undertaken highlighting the role of Public Private Partnership (PPP)? We are doing a PPP based project with the government of Maharashtra, which is ICT at its best. For this project, we have provided with the hardware, software and complete capacity building. Different
components of this system include the hardware part, in which each school has got a computer lab with 10 computers and one K-YAN with LAN connection. Within a cluster of a few schools a hub has been created, through which teleconferencing and videoconferencing can be done with all the other schools. The software component includes a central data centre, which is hosted at our headquarters. On this we have already done 2500 Multimedia Learning Objects (MLOs) and there is a demand of 5000 more because the teachers find it very interesting with all the difficult and competency areas addressed. We have treated this holistically and these MLOs are supplemented with a lot of print material. The other component is that all data regarding the learning achievement level of children, data of teachers, the salary structure, training, the deployment, etc., is on the database and therefore, we manage to make the entire system paperless. The best part of the MLO is that it is an open software and is a part of green technology as the entire software is very environmental friendly. Where do you see the organisation heading under your leadership in future? We should be able to crack two important things. One is providing facets to quality education to schools in disadvantaged locations nationally, becasue if you look at secondary education there is lack of school infrastructure where children can go, and where PPP is very crucial. The second area is to make quality happen, since the level of enhancement has not taken itself the way it should have; and perhaps here the professionalism, mentoring and expertise of the private sector can have its importance. This can happen not by overtaking the government but by partnering with the government. \\