event report
Indian Education Congress 2011 Inaugration of Indian Education Congress 2011 witnessed experts’ convergence for deliberation on the regulatory issues and latest trends in the business of education By Pragya Gupta, digital LEARNING Bureau
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ome of the top policy makers, educationists and corporate houses came together at the Indian Education Congress 2011, the National Convention on the Business of Education, for interactions and knowledge sharing on various topics related to the best practices, regulatory issues and future trends in the education field. The event, which was organized by Franchise India and presented by S. Chand Group with KPMG as the knowledge partner, was focused on discovering the pulse of education business in the country. Today, education sector in India is experiencing radical changes due to the introduction of new technologies and the globalization of education business. Commenting further, Gaurav Marya, President, Franchise India said, “The Government’s education expenditure as a percentage of GDP is about 5% and the consumption trends predict that the urban Indian is spending 9% of his wallet on education while the rural consumer spends only 6%. In view of huge requirements of infrastructure and manpower in the field, even if the Government takes up the supply challenge, the time frame will exceed the youthfulness of our population. The Indian Education Congress is an initiative by Franchise India that recognizes the need to think more boldly and broadly on how to strengthen and expand our existing initiatives within the realm of the growing Indian education sector.” The key speakers at the Congress included Sudhir Kapur (Chairman, CII SubCommittee on Education), Dilip Chenoy (Chairman, National Skill Development Corporation), Prof. VN Rajasekharan Pillai (Vice Chancellor, IGNOU), Barry
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O’Callaghan (Chairman, EMPGI), Ashok Ganguly (Former Chairman, CBSE), Rajesh Gopal (President-Education, Technopak Advisors Pvt. Ltd.), Lokesh Mehra (Director-Education, Microsoft), R. C. M. Reddy (Managing Director, IL&FS), Poonam Agarwal (Head–International Education, NCERT) and Shantanu Prakash (Chairman, Educomp). Every aspect of education as an enterprise, including global outlook of the education sector, innovations in education delivery, technology as a key driver of education in 21st century, funding education: role of private equity and banks, legal due diligence and compliance, private-public partnerships, the evolving K12 landscape and the transforming scenario of vocational education, was discussed at length at the event. The importance of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in the education sector was discussed at length at the Congress. According to CBSE’s Former Chairman Ashok Ganguly, “In India, the
condition of primary education sector is quite well as there are plenty of options available. However, the efficiency of the secondary education is very low. In the next 3-5 years, we need double the number of secondary schools than we have now. There is an urgent need for an increase in financing for senior secondary schools. Government alone cannot fulfil the needs. Hence private funding is required.” During the Congress, S. Chand Group officially announced its joint venture deal with the K-12 education publishing company, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to form a company named ‘S. Chand Harcourt India Pvt. Ltd.’ Dr. Ashok Chouhan of Amity University was given the Lifetime Achievement Award for Higher Education and Educomp’s Shantanu Prakash won the Best Entrepreneur of the Year Award. IGNOU got the award for Excellence in Distance Learning Education. \\