DigitalLERANING-July-August-2018

volume 14 / issue 07 / JulY-August 2018

www.smartlearning.com

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CONTENTS july-august 2018 | Volume 14 | Issue 07

cover story

University perspective

digitalLEARNING -

A Journey Down The Memory Lane

56 SantoSh Kumar Choubey Chancellor, Rabindranath Tagore University (RNTU),

84

Vijay Pal yadaV

Chairman, Shridhar University

WES

08

26

special featUre

Elets’ World Education Summits The Legacy, The Vision

22

gUest colUmn

digitallearning – a Vision broadening World’s educational horizon

58 Sumit GuPta

Managing Director Indiannica Learning Pvt Ltd

62

manju rana

Principal-cum-Director Seth Anandram Jaipuria School, Vasundhara, Ghaziabad

pre school perspective 68

dr manjula Pooja Shroff

aicte perspective

MD & CEO KALOREX Group

44

74

dr manPreet SinGh manna

jitendra KarSan

Director (PMSSS & SWAYAM), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), MHRD, Government of India

Chief Executive Officer, Safari Kid

78

nrDc perspective

raman bajaj

CEO, Little Millennium Education Pvt Ltd

48

dr h PuruShothSm

Chairman and Managing Director National Research Development Corporation (NRDC)

conference reports

school perspective

27

52 S P SinGh Former Member of the Legislative Council, Uttar Pradesh, and Founder Manager, Lucknow Public Schools (LPS) and Colleges

105

117

ChhattiSGarh | raiPur

COVER STORY digitalLEARNING -

A Journey Down The Memory Lane

W

ith almost every sector of society at large witnessing a change in one way or the other, a transformation of unprecedented scale is happening at a rapid pace. To build a solid foundation and make education affordable and accessible, the focus is on embracing technological innovations.

Since 2005, the digitalLEARNING magazine has been instrumental in recording the key developments linked to this education landscape.

Due to a sharp internet penetration, courtesy the Narendra Modi Government’s Digital India and Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan programmes, the education sector is consistently doing away with the traditional chalk-and-talk methods and adapting technology to expand its reach.

Offering a 360 degree perspective of this transformation in the Indian education sector, as enunciated through interviews and articles involving top edu-leaders, experts, policymakers and industry leaders, the digitalLEARNING magazine has bridge a communication gap among all stakeholders over the years.

A significant feature of this magazine has been a summary report of each summit hosted by digitalLEARNING magazine’s parent company Elets Technomedia Pvt Ltd that confluences top edu-experts, industry leaders and policymakers to initiate dialogue through deliberations and discussions.

But the most interesting feature of the magazine has been its cover stories that have explored and thrown light upon key subjects dominating the education landscape in different phases over the years.

Flipping through the pages of the magazines makes one understand how this magazine has existed as a barometer of developments in the world of education, appreciated by top edu-experts, regulators, vice chancellors, school principals, and the industry leaders, writes Sandeep Datta of Elets News Network (ENN), offering a glimpse of this odyssey as observed through its cover stories so far.

At the outset in 2005, the magazine explored various dimensions that are required to draw focus of all, especially the government and private sector. It underlined the efforts being already made and the need to look at the vast horizon of possibilities for a better tomorrow for the generation next.

From 2006 onwards, the magazine started becoming a significant place for itself in the industry and its cover stories started evoking interest of readers at large in the education domain.

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[ dl.eletsonline.com ] The Largest Portal on Innovation in Education in Asia and the Middle East

Our notable covers stories’ list included

2017 A number of stories featured in the magazine in 2017 drew a lot of attention due to the way they holistically touched upon various aspects of the education domain.

cover story

The list of cover stories included a special interview of Manjula Pooja Shroff, MD & CEO, Kalorex Group, narrating how KALOREX is nurturing 21st century learners.

Our cover story “MENA Region taking modern education in its stride” narrated how the MENA region has made big strides in the education sector, quadrupling the average level of schooling since 1960, halving illiteracy levels since 1980 and achieving almost complete gender parity in primary education.

2018 Understanding the Narendra Modi Government’s ambitious dream to ensure transformation in all sectors, especially on the education landscape, the digitalLearning magazine is resolutely highlighting the latest technologies and finest practices. “Jharkhand: Skilling Youth Enabling Growth” observed how in the wake of the need to develop skills of Jharkhand’s youth to make them employable, highlighting the endeavours and the vision behind it.

“Stimulating School Learning for Higher Education” narrated how initial learning processes play key role in shaping children’s personality that further leads to their approach towards any situations in personal or professional life.

Through “Top Influencers Shaping up School Education World in Digital Era” story we tried to focus on top influencers’ best practices, visions and discussing their challenges and brought solution providers.

In another cover story, “Destination Uttar Pradesh The Next Big Education Hub” we tried to explore how Uttar Pradesh government’s continuous efforts have helped the State to improve its overall literacy rate, number of schools, colleges, technical institutions and universities.

India’s experiment of modern technology through digitisation was explored through our cover story ”Reforming Education through Digitisation”. It was done as India’s education sector is witnessing the increased use of technology such as Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality in day-today practices related to education sector.

Our recent cover story “India Needs Skill-oriented Education to Boost Employability” underlined how that the education system will have to continue to take the lead role to provide the youngsters required skills and training, especially to higher education students.

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We also took out an “Annual Resource Guide: Sourcing Educational Prerequisites” as the main story in this year to provide the education stakeholders a clear understanding on the technology solutions to ease the teaching, learning and school management processes.

Another important story “Rajasthan Higher Education embracing change for new era of opportunities” throwing light upon the higher education landscape of Rajasthan reflecting how along with quantitative expansion the thrust is on qualitative aspects here.

In a special issue on WES Delhi, the main highlight was a story “World Education Summit Legacy Bringing Brightest Minds Together”. It narrated how the WES has brought together decision-makers, influential experts to explore groundbreaking innovations and take concrete steps to make significant improvements to worldwide education over the years.

Another important story “Are Schools Safe For Children?” was driven by a spate of incidents in some schools. It delved on why there is an urgent need for effective policies that could ensure fool-proof security of the kids in schools and what are the solutions.

One of the most significant cover stories has been “Happy Education: Dubai Inspiring the World”. It touched upon the emirate’s world of education in which a distinct approach to promote a sense of learning is being encouraged while ensuring happiness.

The other stories included – “eduPAYMENT GATEWAYS Easing the Transaction Hassles”, “Transforming School Education Practices Through Innovation”, “SSIP: An Idea that became a Policy” , “Rajasthan Govt All Set to Bridge Students-Industry Gulf”, besides an in-depth interview of S K Rathor, Founder and Managing Director, Sanfort Group, revealing how the group is fostering cognitive development among children.

[ dl.eletsonline.com ] The Largest Portal on Innovation in Education in Asia and the Middle East

2016 In this year, one of our stories “EduTech Redefining Learning Landscape” explored and highlighted how educational institutions are taking the burden to advance culture of innovation, foster environments that accelerate learning and creativity and to create the conditions for innovations.

cover story

Our “Dubai Discourse Setting the Agenda for Futuristic Education” story was about how Dubai is gearing up for the future. It has actively pursued branch campuses of top schools around the world, presenting an amazing spectrum of international learning centres.

We touched upon another set of issues through a number of Cover Stories like, “TEACHING Under Transformation”, “eduPAYMENT GATEWAYS Easing the Transaction Hassles”, “University Admissions Go Online”, “Setting the Course of education“, “Brats n Cuties Abode of Preschool Learning”, “Jharkhand Moots Strategy for Higher, Technical Education & Skill Development”, “EuroKids Creating Waves IN THE WORLD OF PRESCHOOLS – Interview -- Prajodh Rajan, EuroKids International Co-Founder and CEO”, and “Defining the finest schools of India”.

2014 In 2014, touching upon various prominent subjects of relevance, we focused on various dimensions related to the world of education in India.

As main issues of them, we brought out two important rankings in different issues like the “Private University Ranking” and the “Engineering Colleges Ranking”. Through our cover story “Home Away from Home”, we tried to explore the world of boarding schools and the challenges linked to it. Whether such a new world is actually suitable to a child’s growth or not.

Other issues were explored and underlined through other cover stories involving “Person of the year – Ashish Dhawan, Founder & CEO, Central Square Foundation”, “School Educators of Tomorrow”, “Starting Digital Revolution in the Classroom”, “Interactivity is the Future”, “Let’s Walk the Talk”, and “Grassroots to Galaxies – World Education Summit”

2015 In 2015, we endeavoured to touch upon various key issues through our cover stories such as, “Tapping into a tablet-savvy future”, “Starting Digital Revolution in the Classroom”, “Big Data Better LEARNING”, “Securing US$ 20 bn Opportunity”, “Lessons Learned Through ERP”, “Scaling the Skill Gamut”, “A guide to RESOURCEFUL future – Annual Resource Guide”, “Array Learning into Young Minds”, “Role of Technology in Bridging the Educational Fault Lines”.

We also brought out “Annual Resource Guide” our annual directory edition offering a holistic coverage India’s education space as an endeavour to cover the impact of social media on school children, technological innovation that aims to curb rampant food wastage, and also private sector companies that are revolutionising education solutions through their new technologies and systems.

Through our “School Ranking Issue” we tried to select and rate the top schools located in eight zones – Metros and cities in North, Central, South, West, East, North-East and Union Territories of India

How smart education is being introduced in the Indian education landscape was highlighted through our cover story of “Smart Education”. Through another story “Learning on CLOUD”, we tried to explore how IT professionals were trying to cope with the diminishing budget and the skeleton staff. The challenging environment has led to the adoption of cloud technologies in education as an easy attractive option. In another story “Safeguarding Education GATEWAYS”, it was attempted to explain how online learning and technology based education have become an important part of the curriculum. The technology has revolutionised the way we learn, teach and collaborate.

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Experiential Learning

Outreach Engagement

Conservation Awareness

Sustainable Lifestyle

Learning beyond the classroom

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Our programme combines the academics children need with the fun they crave.

We help students understand the importance of natural resources, develop values, scientific skills such as sky vision, inventorying and monitoring the bio-resources while developing eco-consciousness in our facility located at Alwar, Rajasthan. a little different and have opportunities that you won't find at other camps.

Bird Monitoring & Documentation

Nature Trail

Biodiversity & Wildlife Conservation

Campfire & Survival Training

Open Space Technology

Energy Conservation from Renewable Sources

Community Outreach

Adventure Sports

Service Projects

Pottery

Heritage Walk

Astronomy

we also teach how to use Renewable Energy to combat.....

Global Issues like Climate Change and Habitat Loss.

Carbon Footprint (of individuals and entire geographical areas)

Deforestation (how over dependency on fossil fuels passively encourages deforestation) Administrative Office : UG-6A, Omaxe Mall, Sohna Road, Sector -49, Gurgaon, Haryana -122018 Campsite : Patankala Village, Alwar Bypass Road, Gailpur Tapukara, Tijara Rajasthan -301707

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2013 In 2013, we hit upon various important things through interviews and special stories such as “Policy Initiatives Higher Education in 2012” “Pouring Quality in Indian Education System” “Pervesh Project: A Creative Learning Model in Primary Education of Punjab”, “Digital Classrooms The Linchpin of Education”, “INDIA an Emerging R&D Destination”, “Annual Resource Guide” and “Emerging Preschool Chains in India”. In this year, we also brought out first School Ranking Issue, mentioning about ‘Top Schools of India’.

cover story

Some of our other prominent stories included “Education needs both – Teachers & Technology” focussing on the significance of these two factors holding their own significance in many ways. This year also witnessing first engineering ranking issue titled “Top Engineering Colleges of India” besides an in-depth interview of Dr Akhilesh Gupta, the then Secretary, University Grants Commission (UGC).

The year 2011 witnessed a lot of key issues getting highlighted by our magazine.

The year witnessed launching of the “World Education Summit” envisaged as a major global platform for dialogues, debates and deliberations upon policies, tools and methods of learning towards education for all. Inaugurated by leading global dignitaries on 13th July 2011, it was organised by the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) along with Center for Science Development and Media Studies (CSDMS) and Elets Technomedia in New Delhi.

Of these issues, the prominent ones thrown light upon were --“Interactive Whiteboards: Bringing Life To Classrooms” we talked about how going out of tradition is hard-hitting and resistive on Indian mindsets. It was a comprehensive reportage of IWB (interactive whiteboards market scenario in India).

In another important story: “Employ-ability in High Growth Sectors” we tried to underline that the bookish knowledge of a new employee may not be enough in the long-run as sustainability is a big factor in the growth of an individual.

2012 We featured a special report “Exploring New Frontiers in Education” covering eminent leaders, thinkers and innovators who attended eINDIA 2011, in Gujarat. It was about taking a multifaceted look at a set of ICTs that are changing the world in more ways than anyone of us could ever have foreseen.

Our other issues included one focused on “Educating India” which celebrated 75th issue of digitalLEARNING magazine involving private sector companies in education to discuss on how digital technologies were developing.

Some of the other prominent stories in other issues included “The Push to Install Technology-rich Labs” , “Interactive Whiteboards Bringing Innovations into Education”, “The Scenario for Higher Education in India Issues, Challenges and New Opportunities”, “Tablets Redefining Education Delivery”, “Planning for Education in the 21st Century”, “Education as a vehicle of happiness”, “ Education and Social Responsibility -- Ryan International Group of Institutions”, “Funding Higher Education”, and “Madhya Pradesh Emerging as an Educational Hub”.

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This year we also brought out “Resource Guide: Serving the Needs of the Education Community”. It was taking forward the previous year’s success and tremendous demand in the market for better insights and to enable consumers make an informed decision.

Our other important stories included: “School Education @2010”, “Upgrading Skills through Professional Courses”, “Developing Professionals from GrassRoot Level”, “Loynpo Thakur S Powdyel, Minister of Education, Bhutan on WES 2011”, “Providing End-to-End Education Solutions for K-12 sector: Pearson Education Services”, “Way to Digi-Literate India?”¸ and “Gain at Grassroots”.

[ dl.eletsonline.com ] The Largest Portal on Innovation in Education in Asia and the Middle East

2009 Of the prominent cover stories in 2009, the ones that fascinated maximum attention were “e-Skills meet UP-SKILLING & RESKILLING”, “Interactive White Board Market: No Real Signs of Recession”, “eIndia 2009 -- Education for All, Opportunity with ICTs: Policy vs Practice”, and “ICT in Education: Resource Guide 2009-2010”.

2010

cover story

One of our biggest conclaves has been the eAsia summit, which formed the basis of bringing the top-notch and key experts and industry leaders under one roof to deliberate upon and share the grand vision along with its challenges and solutions.

The annual International Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) event had the objective of reinforcing technology and knowledge-centric growth and needs of Asia vis-à-vis globe, through capitalisation of market economy and boosting human development.

One of our cover stories “eASiA 2009” underlined the deliberations, dialogues, debates and knowledge sharing in ICT4D. It highlighted our thrust on ‘Opportunities for Digital Asia’ and provided the right opportunity for all stakeholders in the ICT arena to come closer and share a level-playing ground through active conferencing and networking.

This year our another story “Technology Integration and Management Education Trends” focused on the incredible growth of the Indian economy in the past few years and how it has accentuated the need and the demand for highly competitive and well informed management graduates.

Our another story “Changing IT trends in Andhra Pradesh”, held significance as the State of Andhra Pradesh produces half a million graduates from its colleges and universities annually but due to poor awareness of industry grade skills only 10% of general graduates and 25% engineering graduates can be employed.

Through our story ‘NIIT University: A New Model In Higher Education’, we highlighted how this a not-for-profit university is set to become an ideal example of learning in innovation, backed by end-to-end technical infrastructure. It is a new and futuristic institution of higher learning. The university is committed towards bringing innovation in learning, in the emerging global knowledge society.

Other important stories of the year included: “Technology Integration and Management Education Trends”, “Workforce Development Tool to Shape up New Age Education Agenda”, “ICT Tools and Equipments”, “The Responsible Corporate”, “All is Well with Indian Secondary Education?”, and “Coming, the five-sense cities!”.

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“e-Skills meet UP-SKILLING & RE-SKILLING” hit upon the concern that a new shortage of skills and talent in IT and business is threatening business growth. This skills shortfall is very different from the shortage experienced during the dotcom squeeze of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Then there were shortages of specific, technical skills and domain-specific expertise. Today, by contrast, there are shortages of people with more general qualifications, experience and business insight.

Another interesting cover story was “Interactive White Board Market: No Real Signs of Recession” which underlined how outside IT Labs, a cost-effective bundled solution – incorporating PC, projector and Interactive White Board (IWB) – appear to be the best route to increasing IWB (Interactive Whiteboard) sales. “eIndia 2009 -- Education for All, Opportunity with ICTs: Policy vs Practice” laid stress upon the role and significance of eIndia 2009 in raising vital issues like ensuring education for all and emerging opportunities with Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and existing or needed polices and the ongoing practises.

“ICT in Education: Resource Guide 2009-2010” was one such cover story that sought to draw attention to the fact how academic community of today is flooded with a maze of information. However, the end-users are not able to make adequate use of the vast resource base since these are scattered and quite often not available when they are most needed.

It focused on the fact how exciting new developments have left the community in want of a guide to direct them through the jumble and provide them with a one-stop-solution to their requirements. The Resource Guide, while acting as the need of the hour, was thus an attempt to untangle and simplify the massive maze and bring to the users a demystified version of the great technology and education mammoth.

“From the Principals’ Desk” was a unique endeavour of the digitalLearning magazine in highlighting and exploring through an overview of some of the schools in Hyderabad that have successfully deployed and used ICT in curriculum and daily administration. The write up highlighted the extent of ICT integration and willingness of the schools in adapting the changing technological practices.

Our other notable stories of the year included “Striving To Make India a Knowledge Society”, “University – Industry Interface”, “Building Knowledge Society With Open And Distance Learning”, “Higher Education in India”, “IGNOU Community Colleges”, and “Vocational Training and Skills Development”.

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2008 The year brought another opportunity for us to raise a range of key issues and factors influencing the education landscape in different ways.

“ICTs The Only Way to Move Forward”, “11th Five Year Plan India’s Education Plan!”, “Building Knowledge Society with Open and Distance Learning”, “Computer Curriculum in Elementary Schools”

cover story

“ICTs The Only Way to Move Forward”, the cover story stressed upon the need to upgrade secondary and primary schools and even the entire education system. The Government of the day also agreed and admitted the presence of several challenges all around in the education sector. The story summarised to state that the solution lies in advancing with the new age technologies.

Our another cover story was “11th Five Year Plan India’s Education Plan!”. It deliberated about the roadmap of the Government of India in the years to come and how significant it felt the need to bring innovative approach to consolidate the education sector of India. Considering that education affects every household in the present times, such an indepth review held big significance for all.

“Building Knowledge Society With Open And Distance Learning” was an endeavour towards understanding and exploring the crucial role the open and distance learning is playing and its potential in near future towards developing a knowledge society.

With the help of another notable cover story “Computer Curriculum in Elementary Schools”, the magazine’s effort was to look at the elementary schools and their computer curriculum. It talked about how with e-Learning and digital adaptive learning becoming buzzwords, the age of integration of ICT in school education seemed to have truly arrived. But a big section of rural areas seems to be just beginning to wake up to the idea in their schools. It underlined the fact that a systematic curriculum can be instrumental in developing algorithmic thinking and organisation skills. This will not only lay a foundation for future programming skills, but develop important life skills.

The other interesting cover stories included – “Educational Development Index in India”, “Will we make it? Education for all”, “Harnessing Growth”, “ICT in Schools-Glimpses from Afar”, “MKCL Developing Innovative Recording Solution”, “Mindanao eLearning Space Quality Management System”, “Higher Education in Malaysia”, and “eASiA 2008 -- ICT, Innovation, Impact”.

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2007 In 2007, we aimed to explore various issues lying unattended from national perspective. We observed there were innovations being embraced in imparting of education. In this light, we raised those vital issues through interesting stories.

One such story was “The e-Learning Wave in Higher Education” which stated that traditional institutions offering higher education in India required to turn more customer-centered and draw lesson from businesses such as “Customer is the King”. It also stated the universities needed to leverage their competitive advantage in term of the ICT revolution and the new model of e-education has to be relied upon.

“Effectiveness of Online Learning Communities to Enhance Student Learning” story underlined that a considerable attention has been given to the ‘Y Generation’. This has influenced the overall effectiveness of online learning communities towards a better and enhanced student learning experience.

Our another cover story “From Blackboard to Keyboard, Where does the Industry Drive us Next?” helped us to understand that technology integrated education is widely recognised as an important part of the total education and training system. Rapid innovation in information and communications technology (ICT) is transforming the way we work, the way we interact, the way we learn, and the way we live. The real challenge is how to reposition it in response to the global forces driving change in a knowledge-based economy.

The other special stories of the year included: “Implementation and Strategies for Universiti Teknologi MARA Malaysia (UiTM), “Towards a Goal of Global Excellence”, “Rethinking the Asian ICT and Education Agenda”, “India Progressing Towards Universal Elementary Education”, “Making a Reflective Teacher with ICT”, “A Reflective Agenda: ICT and Education in India and Beyond Digital Learning India 2007”, “Whiteboards Bringing Interactivity in Education”, “Education, Unplugged: Schools Make Cable-Free Connections”, and “From Structuralists to Instrumentalists”.

[ dl.eletsonline.com ] The Largest Portal on Innovation in Education in Asia and the Middle East

cover story

2006-05 The 2005-2006 was that phase for our magazine which marked the beginning of a golden era for us in the Indian education landscape. During this stage, the key subjects of our investigation, exploration and elaborations to deliberate upon them in a comprehensive way before the world at large included: One of our cover stories “ICT & the Third Revolution in Education Policy” suggested that ICT was a powerful tool holding the potential to transform educational opportunities and life chances of all students, including those who are normally excluded by virtue of their special circumstances and special educational needs.

If used appropriately it can also improve the quality and consistency of instruction by providing an enabling environment for both students and teachers to access information and resources. However, it opined that technology must be the servant of educational practice and not its master.

Digital Learning initiated a discussion on ‘ICT in Education Policy’ in the month of September 2006, which stimulated a number of views, voices and visions from all parts of the globe. Through “Because Policy is Judged by Results, not Intentions” touched various dimensions to examine the country’s education policies’ evolution and the need to look at what they were yielding in place what is yet to take place out of the pipelined projects.

In another significant story, “Deconstructing Secondary

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Education” indicated how the Smart Schools in Malaysia were never intended for smart students at the outset. They actually meant to bring together the Education Ministry, private industries and other stakeholders to work hand-inhand to create a schooling culture that is informed, thinking, and creative using technology as an enabler in the teaching and learning process. It focussed on the implementation of the teaching and learning processes at the pilot schools and the challenges faced by the schools.

The other prominent stories included: “360 degree perspective of education since 2006”, “Blueprint for a Knowledge Society Dr A P J Abdul Kalam presents his vision”, “Thai schools principals become facilitators for e- Learning”, “Higher education in Thailand”, “UNESCO SchoolNet-Learning network”, “Learning, Innovation, and a Way Forward the USAID experience in India”, “Localising e-content”, “European Schoolnet”, and “Learning throughout life A Look into Non-Formal Education practices in Asia”.

In essence, over the years the digitalLearning magazine has been driven by an overwhelming enthusiasm and the spirit to bring transformation in the Indian education. And, till date it has been dedicatedly engaged in exploring and underlining every possible key issue dominating the national educational landscape while strongly underlining the challenges to influence the great vision behind imparting and transforming education in India.

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special feature

digitalLearning – A Vision Broadening World’s Educational Horizon Understanding the immense benefit of developing a society that is full of empowered and capable citizens, there has always been a huge scope to benefit from education. Beyond the confines of geographical boundaries, the digitalLearning magazine, an initiative of Elets Technomedia Pvt. Ltd., is leaving no stone unturned in promoting finest practices and expertise gained over the years in education sector, writes Akash Tomer of Elets News Network (ENN).

I

n the rapidly evolving global education landscape, it is very important for every stakeholder of the education sector to keep abreast of latest and the best educational practices.

Every aspect of education, curriculum, pedagogy, teaching-learning practices and technology implementation are advancing in a way to help students in a quick yet effective learning and teachers in fruitful knowledge delivery.

Moreover, along with adopting the latest practices, the challenges of education sector across the world must also be highlighted.

Elets Technomedia since its inception, is bringing edu-leaders from across the globe on common platforms to deliberate on the challenges and share the best practices.

Being a premier technology and media research organisation, Elets through its summits, publications and online presence strives to bring the Indian education sector at par with the global standards.

The organisation has spread its wings in India and across the world over the years since 2003. Other than building knowledge-sharing platforms, it’s been championing the cause of the governments and highlighting importance of ICT for education, governance, health, urban development, and banking and finance sectors.

“While India should be open to sharing expertise and experience available in many-nations, it should be remembered that it has 600 million youths and—Indian policy, education have to walk on its own shadow. That means, India has to evolve a unique system of education with employability as focus.

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Education system should generate employment generators and not employment seekers, alone.

There is a large gap in the availability of employable skills. To bridge the gap, an interface is needed between the education system and the needs of the economy sectors. India needs a large number of talented youths with higher education for the task of knowledge acquisition, knowledge imparting, knowledge creation and knowledge sharing towards national development missions,” Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, former President of India said at the first World Education Summit, organised by Elets held in New Delhi in 2011.

Contribution to Global Education Sector Events: Education is a diversified term as it includes preschool education, school education and higher education and nowadays, it is not limited to chalk and board only. Elets Technomedia Pvt Ltd organises educational conferences in various parts of the world every year to showcase innovations in the education space.

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special feature 24

One of the most prestigious conferences – World Education Summit (WES) has seen so far 12 editions being organised across the world (in cities like Delhi, Dubai, Bahrain, Denver, etc) covering the aforementioned aspects of education.

The summit has brought together decisionmakers, experts and practitioners from around the world on a single platform to learn about groundbreaking innovations in the education sector and propagate them in different parts of the world to make meaningful improvements in global education.

It can be observed that the views shared by above mentioned leaders are the ways and methods that India and other countries may adopt to be at par with standard of education globally. At the 11th World Education Summit held in Dubai, Dr Abdulla Al Karam, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director General of the Knowledge, and Human Development Authority (KHDA), Dubai, said about the use of technology in education, “The future is here! Automation and Artificial Intelligence are going to decide how we live, how we work -- every industry will be affected. It has started taking over jobs that involve repetitive tasks, which could be done by robots. That means, the jobs we are preparing for our students today will no longer exist. If you are teaching students skills that can be done by a robot, all you are preparing is just another robot. People are asking: how will this affect our future and everyday life? The question we hear less often is how can I change myself, my ideas and my education so that I can prepare for that future. Students see this change coming. They are asking: what can I study to make sure that my skills are relevant to the future? What kind of jobs should I choose?”

Other than WES, Elets through its School Leadership Summits has congregated various education stakeholders to deliberate on finest practices and innovations empowered by technological interventions. The objective of these summits is also to facilitate the top schools of India on the basis of their exemplary work in the field of school education.

Covering every segment of the education industry, Elets Technomedia also organises Higher Education & Human Resource Conclaves. The conclave is a grand confluence of country’s top academicians, industry leaders, policymakers, and HR managers to discuss about ways to enhance employability of students, knowledge and skills that enable them to become an entrepreneur or seek a successful career.

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Magazine: digitalLEARNING Magazine through its cover stories and other special features have discussed the then challenges and the most trending methodologies of education sector. The magazine is a collection of India and world’s most renowned edu-leaders from government, preschool, school, and higher education sectors. The interviews helped the readers of the magazine to know about latest government policies and amendments in them along with the practices adopted by top educational institution to improve the education sector of India.

The magazine is a collection of thoughts shared by globally renowned leaders like late Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, Former President of India; Loynpo Thakur S Powdyel, then Education Minister, Royal Government of Bhutan; Kapil Sibal, then Minister for Human Resource Development & Communications & IT, Government of India; Dr Najma A Heptulla, then Minister for Minority Affairs, Government of India; Dr Abdulla Al Karam, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director General, KHDA, Dubai; V Radhakrishnan, State minister of Education, Sri Lanka, and other distinguished personalities.

Portal: digitalLEARNING‘s mission is to raise awareness about how Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is playing a seminal role in enhancing the scope, reach and quality of education. In essence, digitalLEARNING offers an unbiased presentation of the myriad issues that lie at the core of this ‘technological innovations in education’ versus ‘traditional educational methods’ debate.

The portal reports from a complete 360 degree perspective – through education news coverage from across the wolrld, social networking outlets, blogs and analytical stories on education. With upto-the-minute reports on latest developments in education, insightful commentary on the new ICT innovations, and novel perspectives on traditional teaching tools, digitalLEARNING aims to be a one stop information provider for what’s new and what’s next in education.

In all, Elets and digitalLEARNING are striving to bring the best global practices to India and at the same time making world aware about the innovations in education sector of Indian subcontinent. Not only at global level but also in the, it is the effort of the organisation bring equity in terms of education among all the sections of the society and address most of the challenges in this sector.

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Being a premier technology and media research organisation, Elets through its events, publications and online presence strives to bring the Indian education sector at par with the global standards.

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World Education Summit legacy

WES Elets’ World Education Summits The Legacy, The Vision

In an endeavour to enhance awareness and build knowledge-sharing platforms highlighting the growing significance of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in education, every year, Elets Technomedia Pvt Ltd organises the World Education Summit (WES). Elets News Network (ENN) explores its legacy.

I

n a consistently expanding horizon of education and changing market scenarios, the approach and purpose of imparting education requires a fresh look at fixed intervals of time.

In this light, the World Education Summits (WES) organised by digitalLEARNING, an initiative of Elets Technomedia Pvt Ltd., have emerged as quintessential platforms of knowledge-exchange and highest level of engagement in India and different parts of the world over the years.

Taking the meaning of imparting education to a new level, redefining the objectives and approaches to perceive meaning of literacy, knowledge, and skills in sync with the modern-day trends and making them relevant as per market demands, these summits today hold an unprecedented significance.

Since education’s diversified horizon is narrated in terms of preschool, school, higher education, and skill & vocational training classification, the Information Communication Technology (ICT) is influencing all, playing a key role in reinventing teaching-learning processes.

Even though the traditional chalk and talk methods have held their own significance at different stages of development, the need and reach of ICT cannot be underestimated by any breath of imagination in the present times.

Its importance is further boosted most importantly when taking education to the last-mile has also turned a collective mission of the Government and the private sector.

Every day, there are new innovations related to lecture delivery methodologies, curriculum and pedagogy.

These innovations and ICT are supporting schools, colleges/universities, and skill & vocational training institutes to deliver the knowledge swiftly and precisely.

In an endeavour to highlight and deliberate upon the innovations, initiatives and best practices being followed across the globe, the 11 editions of WES held in India and abroad mainly in Dubai (UAE), Bahrain (Bahrain), Denver (US), and New Delhi — hold a distinct significance. These have enabled underlining the best happening developments on the international education landscape.

It is a matter of pride that since 2011, the WES has brought together top decision makers, edu-leaders, industry leaders, thought leaders and practitioners annually. Today, it exists as a premier international platform dedicated to innovation and creative approach in education where top decision-makers share insights with on-the-ground practitioners and collaborate to rethink concept of education.

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World Education Summit legacy

12th WORLD EDUCATION SUMMIT, Delhi 9-10 August 2018

2011

The Grand Conference World Education Summit is the congregation of some of the leading thinkers in the education world from across the world. The latest edition of World Education Summit going to be organised in Delhi will inspire one and all, making them understand the challenges and opportunities of the rapidly evolving education world through a new prism.

Over 350 inspirational speakers from india and abroad are invited to deliberate on various topics and discuss various challenges during the summit.

2012

Expo Ed-startups, edu-tech companies and edu-corporate will showcase their products and services. The exhibition at the summit showcases unique yet effective teaching methodologies, networking and product interactions among different sections of the education landscape. Over 70 exhibitors are like to showcase latest and the best practices in education landscape during the 12th edition of the summit.

Awards

2013

The 12th World Education Summit Delhi 2018 aims to recognise, highlight, honour and encourage leading models/projects/ processes of excellence and sustainable innovations in preschool, school, higher education, skill & vocational training, corporate, and Government sector.

The awards will also see entrepreneurs in the education space getting recognised. The summit has, in its past too, brought to fore unique initiatives and projects that have caused a paradigm shift in the education sphere within.

2016

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2014

2015

The Reflection on Past Thought Leaders from across the globe have been part of Elets initiatives since last decade. Be it India, Asia or Middle East, Africa or Europe, policymakers have attended WES and shared their vision to create a developed knowledge based society. Be it preschool, school, higher or skill & vocational education, global thought leaders from these verticals have enriched Elets conferences with their presence as well as opened up new horizons for the visionaries.

World Education Summit legacy

delhi

2011

World Education Summit 2011 created history by attracting representations from over 50 countries.

Thought leaders and policymakers from countries of Middle East, Africa, Europe along with India congregated together to ideate, deliberate and discuss on new technological interventions for over all development of education world over.

Hon’ble Late Dr APJ Abdul Kalam

Former President of India

Dr Thomas Christie

Director, Aga Khan University Examination Board

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Loynpo Thakur S Powdyel

Kapil Sibal

Hon’ble Minister of Human Hon’ble Minister Resource Development of Education, Royal and Communications and Government of Bhutan IT, Government of India

Dr Taseer Al Nuaimi Goeffrey Conaghan Hon’ble Minister of Education, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

Commissioner to India, State Government of Victoria, Australia

delhi

2012

Elets World Education Summit 2012 created a knowledge sharing platform to discuss various aspects of ICT for education ranging from School Education to Higher Education and Technical Education. Global Leaders like Minister of Education from Mauritius and other countries participated in the premier conference on education.

E Ahmad

Shigeru Aoyagi

Dr Sunil Nawaratne

Dr Theophilus Mooko

Dr Pascal Chazot

Prof S S Mantha

Secretary, Minister Minister of State for Human Director and UNESCO of Higher Education, representative to India, Resourse Development, Bhutan, Maldvies, Sri Lanka Government of Sri Lanka Government of India

Deputy Permanent Secretary, President, National Chairman, All India Council Ministry of Education and comission of Employment for Technical Education Skills Development, and Training, France (AICTE) Republic of Botswana

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Kalorex Group ,

World Education Summit legacy

delhi

2013

Harmonising Global Efforts: Strategies for steering the education sector - Keeping this theme as focal point of discussion, WES 2013 witnessed congregation of thought leaders under one roof to discuss various issues related to education. Member of Parliament, France and key policy makers from Indian Government shared their views for creating an effective education ecosystem.

Prof Wajih Owais

HE Shaida Mohammad

Robert O Ferrer

Mark Parkinson

HE Rizali Wilmar

Minister of Higher Education Abdali Indrakesuma and Scientific Research, Ambassador of the Islamic Indrakesuma, Government of Jordan Republic of Afghanistan Ambassador of Indonesia to India to India

First Secretary, Embassy of the Philippines

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Executive Director, Kunskapsskolan Eduventures, India

Shri Shahid Ali Khan

Minister, Minority Welfare and IT, Government of Bihar, India

delhi

2014

TheWorld Education Summit 2014 was more than a conference. It built a strong community around it and provided various business and networking opportunities for education leaders and industry leaders. The dynamics of education sector was then changing rapidly world over and WES 2014 provided an opportunity to all the stakeholders to come together and deliberate, discuss and explore the horizon.

Vishaka Nanayakkara

Ministry Of Higher Education, Government of SriLanka

Praveen Prakash

Justice M S A Siddiqui

Moli Diva

Chairman, National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions, New Delhi

Deputy Head of English and Foundation Studies, Australian College of Kuwait

William Bickerdike

Dr. Najma A Heptulla

Joint Secretary, Technology Regional Director Union Minister for Minority Enabled Learning and Cambridge International Affairs, Government Mission Director,NMEICT, Examinations of India MHRD

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World Education Summit legacy

delhi

2015

From Canada to Australia- Global leaders from the world of education came together to deliberate upon different aspects of school and higher education and skill development in WES 2015. With the presence of ministers and key policymakers from India sharing their vision on education for all, the summit also created unique platform of knowledge sharing amongst the policy makers, eduleaders and industry leaders.

Kalthoom Al Balooshi

Director General of the Colleges of Applied Sciences, Ministry of Higher Education, The Sultanate of Oman

Prof Allan Rock

Dr Daljit Singh Cheema

President, University of Ottawa, Canada

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Dr Abdullah Al-Shibli

Executive Director, Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), Dubai

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Hon’ble Minister, Department of School Education, Goverment of Punjab

Prof Andrew Tagart Vice Chancellor, Murdoch University

Manish Sisodia

Deputy Chief Minister, Government of NCT of Delhi

DUBAI

2016

The sixth WES was organised in Dubai in collaboration with Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), Dubai. It witnessed presence of 100 schools and colleges from Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. World education awards over the years have seen top innovations from education sector in private and public space get highlighted and recognised at this global platform.

Dr Abdulla Al Karam Hon. V. Radhakrishnan Chairman of the Board of Directors & Director General, KHDA, Dubai

State Minister of Education Sri Lanka

Dr Ayoub Kazim

Dr. B.R. Shetty

Chris Cobb

Vice-Chancellor (Operations) & COO University of London,UK

Ryan Pinto

Managing Director Dubai Chairman Abu Dhabi Indian CEO, Ryan International International Academic City School Group of Institutions and Dubai Knowledge Village

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World Education Summit legacy

delhi

2016

The seventh WES was organised in New Delhi in collaboration with NSDC, and witnessed presence of 200 Schools and 130 Universities from India.

World Education Awards over the years have seen top innovations from education sector in private and public sector. These innovations were highlighted and recognised at this global platform.

Raghubar Das

Hon’ble Chief Minister, Jharkhand

Eduardo J PadrĂłn

President, Miami Dade College, Miami

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Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi H E Tomasz Lukaszuk

Minister of miniority Affairs, Ambassador, Embassy Government of India of Poland

Dr Marc Poulin,

Assistant Professor, School of Graduate Studies & Director of MBA and MITGov pograms, Canadian University, Dubai.

Amol Arora

Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Shemrock & Shemford Group of Schools

BAHRAIN

2017

From Dubai to Bahrain, the World Education Summit organised on 8-9 March, was more than a conference. It has a strong community around it and provided various business and networking opportunities for education leaders and industry leaders.

HE Dr Majid Bin Ali AL- Christine Nasserghodsi Paul Fear Director of Innovation and Chief Executive Officer, Nuaimi Minister of Education, Kingdom of Bahrain

Prof Ghassan Aouad

President, Applied Science University, Bahrain

Entrepreneurship, Gems British Accreditation Education, Dubai Council, United Kingdom

Ken Jones

CEO, Al Dhafra Private Schools, Abu Dhabi

Prof Yusuf Abdul Ghaffar Abdulla President, Kingdom University, Bahrain

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World Education Summit legacy

denver

2017

9th World Education Summit 2017, Denver brought together the pioneers of education fraternity to the University of Denver for exchanging and retaining new innovations in education industry.

The University of Denver was the best place for such kind of a educational workshop which witnessed congregation of educationists from all over the world.

delhi

2017

The World Education Summit 2017 Delhi created another knowledge sharing platform to discuss various aspects of ICT for education ranging from School Education to Higher Education and Technical Education. Global Leaders like Minister of Education from Dubai, Sri Lanka and various dignitaries from other countries participated in the premier conference on education held in the capital.

Kiran Maheshwari

Anil Sahasrabudhe Chairman, AICTE

Secretary, Department of School Education & Literacy, MHRD, Government of India

Chris Cobb

Dr V S Radhakrishnan

Kalthoom Al Balooshi Executive

Minister, Higher and Technical Education, Sanskrit Education, Science and Technology, Government of Rajasthan

Pro Vice-Chancellor (Operations) and Chief Operating Officer, University of London

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Minister of State for Education, Sri Lanka

Anil Swarup

Director of Education Development, KHDA, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE)

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World Education Summit legacy

dubai

2017

A galaxy of edu-leaders from different parts of the world recently joined Dubai’s top-notch education experts and practitioners to deliberate upon the latest innovations, practices, strategies and challenges of the educational landscape of Dubai. The occasion was 11th elets World Education Summit (WES) 2017, Dubai, which witnessed an impressive congregationof key decision-makers including education ministers, top government officials, college/university directors and vicechancellors, school owners and principals.

Abdulla Al Karam

Dr Archana Thakur

Chairman of the Board Chief Vigilance Officer & of Directors and Director Joint Secretary University General of the Knowledge Grants Commission and Human Development Authority (KHDA), Dubai

Mark Beer

OBE Chief Executive DIFC Courts Dubai International Financial Centre

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Ramesh Mudgal

Principal Global Indian International School

Kalthoom Al Balooshi Executive Director of Education Development, KHDA, Dubai

Amol Arora

Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Shemrock & Shemford Group of Schools

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AICTE: Facilitating Technical Education to Promote Development

AICTE Perspective

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is revising curriculum, reforming norms, emphasising on skill-based education and supporting the innovations by students to improve the higher education system in India and bring it at par with global standards, said Dr Manpreet Singh Manna, Director (PMSSS & SWAYAM), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), MHRD, Government of India in an interview with Gopi Krishna Arora and Akash Tomer of Elets News Network (ENN).

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We have initiated the concept of “Skill Knowledge Providers” and “National Employability Enhancement Mission (NEEM)”.

Under these two schemes, we have linked institutes with industries

”

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What are the various recent initiatives taken by the AICTE to improve the higher and technical education system in the country?

Since its inception, AICTE is working with a mandate to check the quality of technical education imparted in India and maintaining its standards at par with global level. The viewpoint of recent Government, stakeholders and the council’s leadership has made the AICTE a facilitator more than a regulator. The AICTE has taken a number of student-centric and faculty empowerment initiatives.

In one of its initiatives, the AICTE is revising the curriculum and developing a model curriculum to be implemented in more than 10,000 universities across the country. If the curriculum is not revised as per the industry trends and requirements, the employability among students will decline. We are having one of the largest human resources of the world yet we have to hire employees from other countries of the world.

When the education system was started, student from around 70 countries across the world used to come to India where 2,000 teachers were available to teach around 10,000 students.

However, nowadays, many of Indian students are going abroad to get higher education may be due to quality and for the future prospectives. We are asking the same set of questions in every end-semester exam. An effective assessment methodology helps teachers to know about their students’ learning traits and AICTE is also trying to improve the education system in the country including examination reforms in which outcome

of the learner would be evaluated based on his understanding not by giving repetitive subjective question answers.

Along with aforementioned initiatives, we have started many other initiatives to nurture students holistically.

How the AICTE is planning to revise the curriculum and making it relevant to industry requirements?

The students after passing out 12th board exams have enough theoretical knowledge to clear the entrance exams for various courses but they lack practical knowledge, as only 40 per cent of our curriculum focuses on it. We have reversed the practice. Now, the higher education curriculum’s 60 per cent is about the practical implementation of knowledge. For this purpose, we have started industry-interactions in colleges which is helping

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students to get hands-on experience. Moreover, emphasis on the practical aspect of the learning is laid without compromising the standard of the curriculum.

Skill India is one of the most important projects of the Government of India, how is AICTE contributing to it?

How is the AICTE with the help of other departments connecting with industries to provide relevant training to students?

We have initiated the concept of “Skill Knowledge Providers” and “National Employability Enhancement Mission (NEEM)”. Under these two schemes, we have linked institutes with industries. At the institute, the students will get theoretical training whereas the industries will be responsible for practical training of the students.

Under this umbrella, we have also initiated Startup Policy. Under the policy, we are helping the students to realise their innovative ideas into a final product through the seven research parks and 35 incubation centres. Another initiative that has received a great response is “Adjunct Faculty”.

Under the scheme, higher education institutes can have the 20 per cent of its faculty members from the industry. Such faculties help students to know about the latest industry trends. It also helped the industries to understand their role in imparting quality technical education.

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How has been the response for the Startup Policy since its launch?

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AICTE being the major stakeholder to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and education sector of the country is contributing through National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to boost the country’s skill and vocational training ecosystem

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The policy has given students the platform to submit their ideas or innovations and check its feasibility. We have organised Smart India Hackathon 2017, through which around 50+ students turn up as start-ups. The same scenario witnessed this year as well. Few of them could receive international funding like from Korea.

We are going to identify some more start-ups and will help them in form of financial support and mentorship from the top industry leaders of the country.

What initiatives are likely to be taken by the AICTE in future to strengthen technical education in the country?

AICTE Perspective

The present Government of the country is emphasising on skill development among the students. The Government has constituted a separate ministry for it and in line with the centre’s vision many amore universities with ocus on skill development are likely to come up soon.

AICTE being the major stakeholder to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and education sector of the country is contributing through National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to boost the country’s skill and vocational training ecosystem. The National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) was designed by the AICTE. Under NSQF there are level 1 to level 9, it helps a person who have never been pursued higher education courses to complete their masters. To achieve this, we have launched Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojna (PMKVY), under which the infrastructure at engineering colleges can be utilized 24x7.

A 10-point agenda has been created to improve technical education sector of India after discussion with all the stakeholders and the national academic boards. By 2020, we have to get to get 50 per cent of AICTE approved institutions’ courses accreditated through National Board of Accreditation (NBA) to provide education at par with the global standards.

We also asked all the States to submit their prospective plans for the next 10 years including the demand and supply of engineers. The data will help us to decide that if any other engineering college is required in the State or not.

We have also tightened the rules under which a State can only increase its seats or number of courses if it is NBA accredited. Moreover, if an institute has a National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) score of 3.5 out of 4, it will be given full autonomy and they will be free to design their curriculum, fees and nomenclature of courses within the framework provided by the UGC.

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Empowering Students through Community Engagement, Field Trips Experiential learning engages students in critical thinking, problem solving and decision-making in contexts that are personally relevant to them, writes Nellie Ahmed, Founder & Managing Trustee, Maria’s Public School, Guwahati, for Elets News Network (ENN).

E

Experiential Learning

xperiential learning does not happen within the classroom. It takes place through firsthand experience of students and helps develop skills and knowledge through engagement in experiences that connect classroom theory with civic engagement, travel, research and projects outside the confinement of class room.

It is a holistic approach to prepare students for life skills. The Experiential Learning model accents on measuring students’ performance through outcomes that comprises information, skills and approaches.

It is essential for schools to establish a learning environment that uses a practical yet appropriate methodology to develop and implement an action plan.

Experiential learning is the simplest way to get students working either individually or in groups.

Curriculums are designed to give students a chance to absorb knowledge by acting on a specific part of content in an unequivocal manner. Unlike open class discussion, content is structured to give students a chance to learn by practicing. This engagement helps them grasp knowledge better and actively.

Experiential learning is mainly great because it aids students to raise queries rather than simply find answers. For example, a project that involves

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Nellie Ahmed is an Education Futurist and Founder & Managing Trustee of Maria’s Public School, Guwahati with over 25 Years of work experience in Education Management and Small and Medium Enterprise. She loves to study and identify new and emerging trends in education. In 2015, she founded ‘The Maria’s Braveheart’ endeavour to promote Biodiversity and Environmental studies and bring learning beyond classrooms while guiding every student to stash advantageous information and build a strong foundation for righteous mind-set and broad perspective of life amongst student community. students in community-based initiatives as part of a class assignment is also known as Service Learning.

This aspect of education combines learning goals by integrating meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities. In this form of experiential education, learning proceeds through a cycle of action and reflection as students seek to observe real issues and find deeper understanding and skills for themselves. In the process, students link personal and social development with academic and cognitive development.

Typically, community engagement is designed via collaboration between faculty and community partners to gives students experiential opportunities to learn in real world amenity and develop skills while addressing community needs.

It is one of the most significant teaching methodologies that foster personal, educational, and practical value for students to engage in sustained and substantive learning.

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Edu-tech Perspective

NRDC: Promoting Research & Innovation Across Universities The NRDC is actively promoting research and innovation across universities and the present innovation/startup eco-system in the country is offering a conducive environment for students to choose entrepreneurship as an ideal career option, says Dr H Purushothsm, Chairman and Managing Director, National Research Development Corporation (NRDC), in conversation with Elets News Network (ENN).

In terms of an emphasis on the research and development, how has the education system in India evolved in the recent times?

There are about 815 universities and more than 3,400 technical institutes in India and every year about 15 lakh students graduate in various engineering streams. However, except few universities and IITs, the research activities are very limited. Many of the universities are only teaching with little or no emphasis on R&D. In addition, the boom in the IT industry has also caused a reduction of enrollments in higher education – which essentially leads to research.

If we look at universities in the USA and other developed countries, these play a key role in bringing radical or disruptive innovations to the society through their strong basic and applied research. This is missing in many Indian universities. The proactive policies and huge investments in offering quality education in those countries make the universities innovation hubs.

We are yet to implement any act or policy like Bay Dole Act in the USA to motivate researchers and professors to undertake R&D work and commercialise their R&D outcomes. But gradually

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we are changing our policies wherein we not only look at publications but also look for number of patents filed, number of technology(ies) transferred/ commercialised etc. In NIRF ranking of universities, research has been given adequate weightage now. This has resulted in a change in attitude of researchers across the country. We, at NRDC, have been endeavouring to encourage R&D and promote filing of patents and commercialisation of technologies/research outputs by opening UIFCs (University innovation Facilitation Centre) at various universities. We have so far opened such centres at AIl India Institute of Medical Sciences (New Delhi), Amity University (UP), National Institute of Technology (Silchar), Indian Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology (West Bengal), IIT Kanpur, Gujarat Technical University (Ahmedabad).

NRDC has also been funding universities for value-addition of technologies/ research outputs to promote R&D/Innovations. For example, University of Delhi developed a technology for Targeted Gene Delivery System which required in-vivo study at Albert Einstein Research Institute, USA and NRDC have funded the said project. Similarly, NRDC has various schemes like Techno-Commercial Support, Patent filing assistance, Programme for Development of Technologies for Commercialisation (PDTC) for various value addition of technologies like preparation of market survey, techno-economic feasibility report, basic engineering design package, preparation of Knowhow documents, etc.

Along with educational institutions, how the country’s corporate sector can contribute in building a stronger research community?

The Corporate sector can contribute significantly in building a strong research community by way of sponsoring projects to universities, offering R&D fellowships and research chairs etc. In India, while corporate/private sector spends about 30 per cent, the Govt spends about 70 percent of the total R&D spent. The scenario is exactly opposite in developed countries. There is a need for enhanced R&D spends by the corporate sector. There are large numbers of corporate involved in carrying out research work and engaging students for the same. Some Corporate sectors have separate R&D set up for carrying out research. NRDC has been associated with many such Corporate R&Ds

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IPR Workshop/Awareness Programmes conducted by NRDC in Universities Sr No University

Place

1

Jawahar Lal Nehru Technical University

Kakinada

2

Bombay University

Mumbai

3

Pondicherry University

Pondicherry

4

Birla Institute of Technology

Mesra, Ranchi

5

Andhra University

Vishakhaptnam

6

GITAM University AU College of Engineering

Vishakhaptnam

7

Veera Surendra Sai University of Science & Technology

Sambalpur

8

NIT

Raourkela

What are the programmes conducted

by NRDC to encourage research and technology transfer along with promoting innovations among the youth?

NRDC has been carrying out several promotional programmes for encouraging and inculcating the spirit of inventivity of the researchers, scientists, students, etc. through its structured schemes i.e., Programme for Inspiring Inventors and innovators (PIII) and Programme for Development of Technologies for Commercialisation (PDTC).

Under this scheme, several value-added services are being provided by NRDC to researchers.

Every year, NRDC awards Meritorious Invention Awards in three categories i.e., Innovations Awards - 2 awards (Rs 5 lakhs each), Societal

How NRDC supports technocommercial projects to promote and commercialise innovative technologies?

NRDC has several programmes for promotion, development and commercialisation of lab scale technologies emanating from various R&D organisations/universities in the country. The activities include the filing of patents, carrying out patent search, market survey, preparation of Basic Engineering Design Package, Techno-economic feasibility study, testing of the products, carrying out field trials/clinical trials, authentication of the products, obtaining third-party quality assessment certificates, etc.

Patents filed by NRDC for Universities/Institutes in 2016-17 S No.

Inventor

Invention

Field of Invention

Contact Detail

1

Professor Anjan Kr Das Gupta & others

An Efficient and affordable Epidemiolical sensor for Hemoglobin.

Bio Chemistry

Calcutta University

2

Dr Naveen Sharma & others

Development of herbal formulation for the management of black scurf disease in potato cropes

Herbal

MLS University, Jaipur

3

Dr Mukesh Kumar & others

De-stoning of Bercziziphus mauritiona fruits and its value addition

Agriculture

NDRI

4

Dr Neelam Rani & others

Sample and cost effective method for identification of pearl millet hybrid for purity assessment

Agribiotechnology

CCSHAU

5

Dr Urvashi B Singh

Rapid, Safe, Amptitiable DNA from ZIEHL-NEELSEN stained microscopic slides

Molecularbiology

AIIMS

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“

NRDC has been also funding universities for value-addition of technologies/ research outputs to promote R&D/ Innovations

Edu-tech Perspective

like NTPC, BEML, BHEL, IOCL, SAIL for patenting and commercialisation of the research outputs/ technologies.

Innovations Awards - 3 awards (Rs 3 lakhs each) and budding innovation awards for students – 5 awards (Rs 1 lakh each). In addition, NRDC has been helping the researchers in the filing of patents, international patent search, provide various techno-commercial supports for successful commercialisation of technologies.

To support universities in capacity building in Intellectual property rights, World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) established a Technology and Innovation Support Centre (TISC) at NRDC-Intellectual Property Facilitation Centre (IPFC) at AP innovation Society, Visakhapatnam.

TISC is promoting IPR Awareness and capacity building in universities on IPR and Innovation.

NRDC has also opened its outreach IPFC office at University Agriculture Sciences, Bengaluru.

Further, it has signed MoUs with a large number of universities and has conducted hundreds of IP and Technology Transfer Awareness Programmes across universities in last few years.

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NRDC Perspective

After carrying out proper evaluation and value addition to the technologies, we bring it to industries for undertaking its commercialisation.

For example, the Superabsorbent Hydrogel technology developed by Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) is a wonderful technology. One gram of the product can absorb 500ml-1000ml of water and thus offer great value to the agriculture sector, particularly where there is a shortage of water. But its effect on various crops at different agro-climatic conditions was not evaluated and the entrepreneurs were not able to gain confidence. NRDC sponsored about Rs 25 lakhs to IARI to conduct field trials on various crops to generate the efficacy data. Subsequently, NRDC prepared basic engineering design package, feasibility reports etc. and then approached industry for licensing. Like this, there are many success stories NRDC is currently part of.

Please tell us about various Entrepreneurship Development Programme carried out by NRDC in recent years.

NRDC carries Entrepreneurship Development Programme (EDP) every year in several locations for promoting the entrepreneurship among the fresh graduates, local unemployed youths, etc. to educate them about the technological opportunities, various schemes of the Governments/ Ministries/departments, training and skill development programmes, to demonstrate working of some machines, etc.

In the last four years, NRDC has carried out 21 EDP and skill development programmes and about 2000 people were benefited from these programmes. Some of the EDP programmes carried out by NRDC in recent years include: EDP through skill training on brass melting furnace for production of brass artifacts, home decor items and ornaments at Jamshedpur, EDP on CSIR-NEERI Zar- Low cost water purification system at Rangpo, East Sikkim, EDP Training on Handmade paper at Jorhat, Assam, developing entrepreneurship for disinfection of silkworms rearing houses and silk cocoon harvesting at Mysore, Karnataka, Solar Energy Solution in Remote Tribal Areas by Tribal Youth, Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh, etc.

What message would you like to give to country’s youth?

NRDC has access to all the technologies

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University Technologies Commercialised by NRDC during Last Five Years Sl. No.

Name of University

Technology Commercialised

1

Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar

Seaweed Extract Fertiliser

2

University of Delhi, Delhi

Nano Ocular Delivery System Targetted Gene Delivery System

3

Collage of Pharmacy, Moga

Topical Nano-fibrous Ocular Patch

4

Calcutta University, Kolkata

Activated charcoal filter for effectively reducing para-benzosemiquinone from the Mainstream cigarette smoke

5

University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru

Jackfruit based value added products Ready-to-eat honey paan beeda Nata-de-coco production from microbial fermentation of coconut water through enrichment techniques Production of Karnataka rice hybrid-2 1 (KRH-2) Tamarind dehuller and deseeder

6

Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore

Liquid bio-fertiliser technology

7

Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture&Technology, Pantnagar

Animal drawn six-in-one tillage 1outfit/ assembly Subsoiler-cum-differential rate fertiliser applicator

8

Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Namakkal

Utilisation of carcass

9

Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi

MTEA for Fruit Coating

developed by public funded research institutes under Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) universities and is recognised as a large repository of technologies in almost all sectors of industry including Agriculture, Agroprocessing, dairy, biotechnologies, electrical, electronics, chemical, drugs and pharmaceuticals, herbal medicines etc. There is a huge opportunity for young entrepreneurs/students to start their start-up ventures. The government of India has also opened up several schemes for start-ups. NRDC has also opened an incubation centre in its premises. In addition, NRDC also provides various value-added services to the inventors/researchers through its promotional programmes for encouraging the spirit of inventivity by awarding them cash and medals/certificates, assistance in filing patents, value addition to the technologies etc.

A big entrepreneurial movement is going on now in the country and it is the best time for students to take entrepreneurship/start-ups as a career.

I urge all the aspiring student entrepreneurs to make use of the pro-active Govt policies/supporting innovation and start-up ecosystem unveiled by State and Central Governments. Students who would like to realise their entrepreneurial dreams may contact NRDC for the support, mentoring and hand-holdings.

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Carrying Out Social Responsibility Is Real Worship: S P Singh Along with imparting education, it’s our responsibility to support underprivileged sections of the society. It will realise the motive of equity in education, says S P Singh, former Member of the Legislative Council, Uttar Pradesh, and Founder Manager, Lucknow Public Schools (LPS) and Colleges, in conversation with Arpit Gupta of Elets News

School Perspective

Network (ENN). taken by me because human values must be lived.

The career counselling sessions conducted by me are beneficial for job seekers.

You are also promoting cleanliness related activities in nearby slums.

Please describe about them in brief.

“

Natural disasters are a great threat to nature, humanity and other creatures on earth. It’s everyone’s responsibility to help the human beings whenever an area is affected by a calamity

”

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How are you contributing towards betterment of economically weaker and backward sections of the society?

Nowadays, there is a huge demand of private schools as the government schools are lacking in required number of teachers, facilities and infrastructure. Such a situation brings a great responsibility on private schools to make the children of economically weaker sections educated.

We teach such children in our schools after regular classes are over. It is a social responsibility of every teacher, school owner and school. I have started practice of teaching poor children under which the school staff motivates students’ parents to send their wards to get education in our school. We appointed teachers of four subjects: Hindi, English, Science and Mathematics and hundreds of poor students are getting benefitted under the initiative.

In addition to that, we provide these students books and sometimes snacks etc. The initiative is not funded by the Government or any other organisation. To carry out social responsibilities is my prime concern. It’s just like worship. In winters, I distribute blankets and sweaters in far-flung villages. I distribute sweaters in Government and private schools. I organise blood donation camps and eye check-up camps. These all initiatives are

The cleanliness initiative was firstly undertaken

by Mahatma Gandhi. It is another aspect of social responsibility under which every citizen of the country should be healthy and their surroundings are clean and disinfected. To encourage people take part in this initiative, I distributed soaps in slums and told them about the benefits of the cleanliness. Soap distribution is our regular practice. The activities have been conducted across hundreds of villages.

How do you support the society during any natural disaster?

Natural disasters are a great threat to nature, humanity and other creatures on earth. It’s everyone’s responsibility to help the human beings whenever an area is affected by a calamity. Either it is earthquake in Bhuj, Gujarat or Kosi River’s tragedy in Bihar or Uttarakhand’s disaster, Lucknow Public School and its staff have supported the affected people in the best way possible. I encourage my staff to donate their one day salary and ask my students to donate clothes, edibles and their pocket money.

In Uttarakhand, we donated Rs 21 lakh, of which the share of school students and staff was Rs 10 lakh and my share was Rs 11 lakh. In this way, we support any natural disaster affected area in the country.

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What is the vision and mission of LPS? Our vision is to empower and make our country prosperous by providing quality education to a large number of students. Our mission is to try to impart the best quality education to students with support from principals and teachers. It is with our combined efforts that we are producing the best results in the country.

What innovations are adopted in your school and what is the role of technology in improving the educational practices?

The group is into school education as well as in higher education, how has been the sync between the two fields?

We have a staff of more than 2,000 people and are teaching more than 28,000 students. We focus on commerce and science till secondary level. We have adopted the curriculum designed and developed by National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) at pre-primary, primary, secondary and senior secondary levels.

At higher education level, we follow the norms decided by the University Grants Commission (UGC) as well as Lucknow University. The professional courses conducted in our institutions are as per the industry demand. These professional courses make the students job ready. We always try that the students pursuing degree courses in our institution get the campus placement and do not remain unemployed after completing their degree.

Recently, we conducted a national level Job Fest in which over 50 multinational companies participated and over 500 students received job offer letters. It is our efforts to provide quality education and job offers to as much candidates as possible.

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In the recently announced board results, Lucknow Public School performed extremely well which ranked it among the top 10 schools of the country, what is your take on this?

For the first time, in the school’s history, the first and the second toppers of the ISC-2018 exams are from our college. It is a lifetime achievement for us. Some of our schools are affiliated to CISCE, which is spread across the world and scoring the top positions by students of LPS has established our brand’s name globally. I would like to congratulate students, teachers and their parents for achieving this landmark. Both the toppers have been studying in our school since childhood which clearly reflects that we help every student in achieving his/her dream.

You have opened a new branch of LPS in New Delhi, please elaborate on the infrastructure and other facilities it offers to students.

This is our first branch out of Uttar Pradesh. The Lucknow Public School branch is located at Asthal Mandir Marg, Sangam Vihar, New Delhi. It has been opened with the unique vision of value based quality education. The school with its world class infrastructure, best teaching practices, digital classrooms, vigilance, security, and surveillance system will help students to nurture in a friendly yet secure environment. Like New Delhi, my plan is to open schools in other metropolitan cities of India along with in United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Mauritius.

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“

The cleanliness initiative was firstly undertaken

by Mahatma Gandhi. It is another aspect of social responsibility that every citizen of the country should be healthy and their surroundings are clean and disinfected

School Perspective

When we started the school, only blackboard used to be the tool of the teaching. Nowadays, the technology plays a vital role in education as the entire education sector is using digital tools and devices like tablets, i-pads, smart phones etc to get the knowledge. We also encourage our teachers and students to attend conferences and summit to remain updated about the latest and the best practices of the education segment.

Technology is supporting the education fraternity well as the whole world is online and anyone can access unlimited knowledge with a click of mouse.

”

JULY-august 2018

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MeritTrac: Empowering Learners, Transforming Lives

M Advertorial

eritTrac is a premier testing and assessment company providing innovative assessment services to leading educational institutions, government organisations and corporate entities. It’s a 100% subsidiary of Manipal Global Education (MaGE), one of the largest education services providers in India.

MeritTrac has introduced assessment processes and patented technologies empowering educational institutions, government organisations, corporate and vocational training providers across the globe in administering high quality tests.

Adopting a three-dimensional approach of design, develop, and deliver, MeritTrac has been creating standardised and customised scientific tests for its clients. MeritTrac has a long-standing reputation for offering services that have exhibited superior quality, reliability, agility and transparency time after time.

As a premier testing and assessment service provider, MeritTrac has been leveraging its ISO and CMMI Level III certified test processes in transforming the way tests are managed and delivered.

MeritTrac offers high levels of r e l i a b i l i t y, quality and security for consistently delivering large tests. In addition to computer-based tests and Paper and pen based tests, MeritTrac offers examination services like online application processing, TracMARKS - On Screen Marking (OSM) and online scientific role based assessment solutions.

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Leading government organisations, educational institutions, boards and universities have trusted MeritTrac to streamline their examinations – leveraging its rich experience and robust technology framework.

Over the last 18 years, MeritTrac has garnered significant expertise in test research, design, development and its delivery, and administration for computer-based/online tests as well as paperbased tests.

MeritTrac has been developing and administering tests for over 400 clients in more than 350 cities through 2,000+ certified test centers.

The company has over 250 assessment specialists and a network of over 1,500 certified Test administrators across India. Leading educational institutions, examination boards, universities, government bodies and corporates have trusted MeritTrac to streamline its examinations – leveraging its rich experience and robust technology framework.

With a wide range of best in class offerings, MeritTrac has successfully helped organisations automate its examination processes from application form processing to result processing including test administration, candidate authentication and digital evaluation of answer scripts.

MeritTrac is a member of ATP (Association of Test Publishers), USA, which is one of the prestigious associations of test publishing companies. MeritTrac recently partnered with ACT - the US College Admission Test to provide end-toend examination support and expand ACT’s base in India.

MeritTrac has its largest network of test centres in India. It has high quality assessment labs helping ETS - one of the world’s largest private non-profit educational testing and assessment organisation in delivering their world renowned certifications in India.

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Rabindranath Tagore University Striving to Impart

University Perspective

Skill-Based Quality Education RNTU’s focus is on the holistic learning and development of a student ensuring the effective application of knowledge for a secure future, says Santosh Kumar Choubey, Chancellor, Rabindranath Tagore University (RNTU), in conversation with Elets News Network (ENN).

With the changing times and a maddening race to emulate competitors, what prominent challenges a private university like yours is faced with?

“

We are the country’s first university to incorporate necessary skill development courses across all its formal degree programmes

”

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Initially, people did not show much interest towards our private university due to their inclination towards government-run institutions.

Gradually, we have developed a trust for us by adopting world-class practices at the campus.

Now, we have gained credibility in the region by overcoming the challenges posed due to being located in rural area, as well as providing the best possible education at affordable fee structures.

Lack of research content is another major challenge in rural India that needs to be addressed.

We, at Rabindranath Tagore University (RNTU), focus on research and skill-based learning. Unlike other private universities in the region, we have developed an effective research-based educational structure. It helps our students in research-based learning instead of conventional methods. We have ongoing research on internationally trending topics as well as locally-relevant topics, like sustainable agriculture and renewable energy.

As India is facing high rate of unemployablity due to lack of required skills, we have established a skill-based learning curriculum to fill the gap in education system. We are the country’s first university to incorporate necessary skill development courses across all its formal degree programmes. All the students at our university have to learn at least one skill every semester so that by the time they graduate, they are equipped with at least five to six industry relevant skills.

What are some of the innovations being introduced by the Rabindranath Tagore University for improved learning outcomes among students?

RNTU is constantly evolving to inculcate newer dimensions of learning. Some the notable additions to the faculty in the recent times include setting up a lab for Internet of Things (IoT), Simulator Lab for renewable energy, labs on robotics and setting up start-up and incubation cell.

We emphasise on research and patents, for which separate IPR Cell has been established. A separate wing has been started for skills. Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra (PMKK) is supporting skill center of our university. For placement, CRT classes have been started for final year students along with coaching classes for GATE and other competitive examinations.

With placement of students becoming a yardstick to evaluate a university’s status, what has been your achievement level in the context?

How significant is innovation to your university?

RNTU has been offering placement assistance and

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Almost every other university is enjoying the fruits of collaborations, what initiatives have been taken by your university on this front?

RNTU has partnered with the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore and IITs. RNTU has also partnered with the National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT) to train NIELIT scholars with advanced joboriented skills and provide certificates to students after successful completion of the university courses and exams.

Apart from this, RNTU is a partner in water management research partnership with International Centre of Excellence in Water Resources Management (ICE WaRM), Australia.

Under this partnership, the organisations jointly hosted an international conference with 20 countries coming out with a charter for reforms and a roadmap. RNTU students are researching extensively on Air Foil Wind Turbine and Solar Reflective Materials in partnership with Benaka Biotechnologies Inc, USA. The University also holds research linkages with University of SIGEN (Germany), NCTU (Taiwan), Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute (USA), KAIST (South Korea), KYIV University (Ukraine), Tribhuvan University (Nepal) and MoI University Eldoret (Kenya). Apart from this, RNTU jointly conducts post-graduate courses in partnership

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with BSNL and holds a forward-looking skill development partnership with Reliance Jio and Tata Group.

What steps have been undertaken for research-based learning by the university?

The rural areas of India lag far behind the metropolitan areas in terms of research and research - related literature. This has greatly hindered the development of rural areas. Therefore, an excellent research-oriented environment has been our first and foremost priority.

We have over 15 International and about 30 national level collaborations with organisations engaged in the field of research and education, focusing on cross-border recognition of experts, developing mechanics for innovative projects with quality assurance and forming research partnerships. The key research areas at RNTU are renewable energy, agriculture, biotechnology, literature, arts, material science, nano-technology and environmental science.

With an allocation of rupees one crore seed money and an equal amount of annual budget to promote research, we have established the CRG, which is autonomous body bringing research strength of five Universities of the AISECT Group of Universities, including the RNTU, on a single platform. Moreover, we have nine centers of excellence for research and skills in Energy, Material Science, Earth & Space Science, Agriculture, Arts & Literature, IoT and Cloud Computing, Science Communication, Entrepreneurship and Environmental science.

These centers are known as Navratna Centers of Excellence meant to promote research in the university.

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“

We have over 15 International and about 30 national level collaborations with organisations engaged in the field of research and education, focusing on cross-border recognition of experts, developing mechanics for innovative projects with quality assurance and forming research partnerships.

”

JULY-august 2018

University Perspective

consultancy to all its students. The University’s Entrepreneurship Development Cell is also supports the students in achieving their dream of becoming an entrepreneur.

Our focus on skills, employability entrepreneurship and incubation in addition to the main curriculum has helped us transform our students into industry-ready professionals.

We make sure that our students are professional enough for upcoming opportunities by the time they become graduates.

Along with it, the group has established interlinked Entrepreneurship Development Cells and Incubation cells in all its institutions. It is by far India’s only higher education group to receive the Phase-I permission for “Atal Incubation Center (AIC)” by the NITI Aayog.

Innovation lies at the forefront of our operations. Apart from research-oriented learning and embedding skills in formal curriculum, we keep on evolving our educational pedagogies to make them relevant and modernistic.

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Guest Column

Evolving Aspects of Child Education I

“

As a content creator and more so as a school textbook publisher, I am responsible for what a student is reading and assimilating. To a child, every single letter in a book and every single sound a teacher utters in classroom are gospel truths.

”

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have been in the school textbook publishing industry for close to two decades now. If I have asked to assess the way content development has changed over last 20 years, it would be an indicator that how education has evolved with respect to the needs of the latest generation. This “evolution” has been more evident in the past five to seven years.

Today, our children are exposed to much more information than before and that too with fairly easy access around their physical space through television, mobile phones, and the Internet. So much information is being meted out through advertisements—something children consume both actively and passively.

There is definitely a positive side to this: children are more tech-savvy, they are aware of environmental threats, and they are constantly learning new things.

They are sharper and seem to know what they want.

Unfortunately, at the same time, they are also witnessing irresponsible behaviour of adults around them like, the increasing violence and aggression, the apathy towards the environment, the intolerance to conflicting viewpoints.

As a result, the demands of childhood and growing up have changed, children seem to grow up faster—the innocence of childhood is being lost.

It is fast giving way to the most undesirable fallacies and biases, inflated and fragile egos, impractical ambitions and cravings for film star-like lifestyles, often pushing them towards psychological disorders and even criminality.

We, as adults and the people responsible for raising a generation, have to be aware of and sensitive towards these developments.

As a content creator and more so as a school textbook publisher, I am responsible for what a student is reading and assimilating.

To a child, every single letter in a book and every single sound a teacher utters in classroom are gospel truths. And this puts a lot of onus on teachers and publishers—what kind of education are we imparting to the child? Is covering the syllabus enough? Are we sensitising them enough to be tolerant towards other human beings, towards the environment and other living creatures?

And this brings me to the next point of the role of a child as a student.

Just as we fulfil our professional roles as teachers, managers, administrators, editors, etc, we need to recognise that the child is also fulfilling the professional role of being a student.

We choose a professional role on the basis of educational background, or pre-existing knowledge; the same is true for a child about to start schooling— the child is not a blank slate and we, the adults, should recognise and respect that.

Every child has knowledge, experience, and abilities, which we have to leverage to make their learning experience better.

And I would like to explore this through two parameters: content and presentation.

We call this the knowledge economy. But are we really equipping the child with the skills to process the available knowledge and leverage it correctly?

We want students to be critical thinkers — one of the most-talked about 21st century skills. And for students to be critical thinkers, we must give them choices; they should be able to make choices and be responsible for those choices.

We must help them, not by guiding their choice but in building their decision-making skills—by pointing out the pros and cons of a choice, by teaching them how to assess or evaluate a decision, by teaching them how to reflect on those choices (which will eventually lead to self-assessment). This will help them to think independently and critically and not necessarily be influenced by peers or seniors.

This will also be a long way in building their analytical skills and ability to synthesise information, making them tolerant and accepting towards varied perspectives and views without being aggressively critical.

And this brings us to think about the content we provide to students. As authors and editors, we have to be on top of this game—constantly anticipating how each lesson/activity/piece of information will be processed. As editors and teachers, we must be constantly on our toes—thinking about the knowledge we are imparting to students and the methods used for it.

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students to access content 24x7, at their convenience.

They can view the content as many times as they want. But that does not necessarily mean that the learning material has been personalised. A content provider may say that they are explaining a concept to the learner three different times, but that does not necessarily entail three different ways.

Are we really presenting the same content in a variety of different styles or design to suit an individual learning style?

It is important to mention that no learner will have one fixed learning style for all concepts—so it becomes important for content providers and facilitators to explore how many choices can be provided to the learner for truly effective learning and assimilation.

We really have to start looking at the Hows--the different ways of presenting the content.

For example, can difficult concepts in grammar be presented visually or through kinaesthetic experiences? Can we give students the choice of accessing printed materials and audio-visual resources for a course that is suitably graded and mapped to a standard curriculum?

In conclusion, I would like to reinforce that the school is the work setting for administrators, teachers, and students. And it is in this setting that we should start seeing all stakeholders with the responsibilities they carry.

• The responsibility of student as a professional— making choices and being responsible for those • The responsibilities of the administrators vis-àvis the students and teaching staff in a school • The responsibilities of the teachers as facilitators of learning • And as an extension of the same setting, the responsibility of textbook publishers and content providers—what content we are providing and how

“

In today’s digital world, where we are dealing with digital natives, this becomes the key factor.

We necessarily must strike a balance between social learning and individual learning.

Guest Column

As a publisher, I try to ensure that my content not only provides knowledge but also values.

I believe values are not to be thrust down the throats of learners as morals—“this is right”, “that is wrong”— because as they grow up, they will realise morals and values can be subjective too. Instead, I try to provide choices to the learner for their assessment and decision-making.

This brings us to the issue of presentation of the content. Presentation—both verbal and visual— plays a strong role as an influencer in terms of consumption of content.

In today’s digital world, where we are dealing with digital natives, this becomes the key factor.

We must strike a balance between social learning and individual learning. Designing content that caters to individualised learning is the mantra these days. Just as we see adult professionals as being individually different, we need to recognise students as individual learners.

We often claim to provide individualised learning to students—whether as publishers, digital content providers, or as teachers, but are we really doing that?

We have certainly made a start, but we have a long way to go to personalise learning for students in the true sense. Unlike the Gurukuls of the ancient past, when learning was usually the privilege of the elite, today we are looking at education of the elite and the masses both. We need to think about how we individualise such inclusive teaching-learning processes.

We have started looking at different ways of delivering content and digital resources and access to the same have started making a difference, albeit a small one. We must look for effective ways and means that personalise learning for students, and to achieve that we need to start providing more choice to students about what, when, and how—the last one being the most crucial.

Today, we have been able to individualise teachinglearning for the student at the terminal/user level— that is, one student, one machine; we are letting our

”

(Disclaimer: The writer Sumit Gupta is Managing Director of Indiannica Learning Pvt Ltd. Views expressed are a personal opinion.)

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JULY-august 2018

59

Shobhit University: Promoting Traditional Learning with Global Outlook

S Advertorial

hobhit Institute of Engineering and Technology (popularly known as Shobhit University, Meerut), is a NAAC accredited deemed-to-be university u/s 3 of the UGC Act, 1956.

Ranked among top institutions of India, the university aspires to make academic issues and commitments as key concerns of the young generation and thereby, make a significant contribution to the academic developments wherever they are in the world. By fostering quality education, research and innovation, the university endeavours to empower youth.

Shobhit University adopts the latest and innovative methodologies for studies. As a completely purpose-built development, the campus is more compact than most similar institutions, with all major facilities easily accessible from a central parade.

The University’s academic centers and programmes focus on education and research in specific disciplines and areas of study, and share the knowledge gained with the nation and the world. The faculty works with students to develop their academic skills, both in general and in the context of specific courses or assignments.

We are committed to creating the best learning environment and providing the right equipment and facilities, to help our students achieve their potential during studies. Our students learn in a variety of ways, including case studies, role-plays and simulations. Because we know that no single approach can effectively address the range of challenges they will encounter throughout their career, this diverse set of education is designed to give them the breadth and depth of skills and experience they will ultimately need for achieving success.

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Kunwar Shekhar Vijendra Co-founder & Chancellor, Shobhit University

At Shobhit, we are working to achieve excellence in research, and to ensure that our research contributes to the well-being of the society. We are a research-intensive university that shares the values of high-quality teaching within an environment of internationally competitive research. We seek to provide a creative and supportive environment in which ideas are generated and flourish.

The university is open to diversity in perspectives, experiences and traditions as essential components of a quality education in a global context. Excellence as the standard for teaching, scholarship, creative expression and service to the university community are crucial for the members of the university. The university lays stress on social responsibility in fulfilling its mission to create, communicate and apply knowledge in a world shared by all people and held in trust for future generations.

The University Training & Development Centre understands that active engagement of the industry with the academia is vital for developing the required skills in the future professionals.

Lack of industry engagement in Indian Higher Education Sector has been sighted as one of the key reasons for outdated curriculum, irrelevant research initiatives, inappropriate training and mentoring of students and faculty etc.

Shobhit University is a preferred destination for recruitment among young universities in India.

More than 200 renowned corporate, research organisations and institutions are patronising our students by providing excellent job offers. The university has evolved into a campus of Excellence.

Our excellent talents are placed in the best of the corporate houses in India and abroad.

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Guest Column

Digital Transformation in Education: Insights F

62

irst arrived steam and simple machines that mechanised some of the work our ancestors had to perform. The next phase of change was about electricity, the assembly line and the beginning of mass production.

The third era of industry came to light with the advent of computers and automation, when robots and machines began to replace human workforce on those assembly lines.

Now we are on the precipice of what the World Economic Forum calls the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0). A 2011 German Government initiative marks a new wave of automation developments in manufacturing.

In this era, computers and automation came together in an entirely new way – with robotics connected remotely to computer systems equipped with machine learning algorithms that can learn and control processes with very little input from human operators.

Technology is no longer a good-to-have; it has become an integral part of our lives and a mandatory skill requirement. In terms of penetration and completeness, technology touches all business sectors across world economies and its correlation to drive stronger economic transformations with time.

In factories of the future, there will be virtual manufacturing ecosystems where human beings and machines work together as peers and collaborative robots (cobots) with enough intelligence to contribute across the ecosystem.

Artificial intelligence (AI), IOT, Big Data, Automation, ubiquitous mobile supercomputing, intelligent robots, self-driving cars, neuro-technological brain enhancements and genetic editing are among the words thrown around by technologists today. The evidence of drastic change is all around us and it’s happening at an exponential speed.

The nub is that we need to reinvent education to equip the workforce of tomorrow. It’s beyond doubt that education is at the centre of preparing present and future generations to thrive. The education system is now requiring transformation from a system based on facts and procedures to one

JULY-august 2018

Manju Rana Principal-cum-Director, Seth Anandram Jaipuria School, Vasundhara, Ghaziabad that applies knowledge for collaborative problem solving.

Curriculum designing and learning experiences that encourage learners to solve real world challenges collaboratively solving interesting will be the key to thrive in this century. Dire need of the present-day education system is that Education 4.0 should be the vision for the future of education, which: • Responds to the needs of “industry 4.0” – where man and machine align to enable new possibilities • Harnesses the potential of digital technologies, personalised data, open source content, and the new humanity of this globally-connected, technology-fuelled world • Establishes a blueprint for the future of learning – lifelong learning – from childhood to schooling, to learn in the workplace, to learn to play a better role in society.

To build a relevant and impactful schooling experience to the youth that enables to take on the challenges of future, the conventional brick and mortar schools have to transform drastically.

From an early age schools should enable children to pick up voluntary self-motivated nonsegmented learning paths. Such life-long learning

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“

The nub is that we need to reinvent education to equip the workforce of tomorrow. It’s beyond doubt that education is at the centre of preparing present and future generations to thrive.

year. We were amongst the very first fleet of schools to receive the Government grant to set up lab in our premises. The lab provides latest gadgets, software for new age designing, coding, 3D printing, robotics, IOT etc for neoteric thinkers and innovators to showcase their talent, creativity and novelty of ideas.

Guest Column

paths should not only provide sustenance in economic or social definitions but also help children unlock their potential.

Traditional learning is like simulation before the real-life begins. Pupils spend close to 18 years before they are declared “ready for society”.

As a rule of thumb, schools now need to take a leave from other domains and engage in effective knowledge sharing. As micro blogging platforms like facebook and twitter gain popularity where people can be both producers of content and consumers of it (prosumers), schools will also have to keep pace and transform themselves along similar lines. In the classroom, teachers shouldn’t be knowledge centers but enablers that guide students in the direction of what they seek. Such an ecosystem would turn one-to-one interaction into many-many interaction that is conducive to ideation and collaboration.

To promote innovation among students, the NITI Aayog has set up a target to establish 5,000 Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) by March 2019 covering all districts in the country.

This indeed is a commendable initiative of the Central Government, which goes well in sync with the mission.

These labs are innovative work & play spaces for students between grade 8 to 12 to stimulate innovations combining science and technology.

The aim of ATL is to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in schools, universities and industry.

Seth Anandram Jaipuria School at Ghaziabad and Kanpur are privileged to have been successfully running Atal lab for the past one

”

(The writer Manju Rana is Principal-cum-Director of Seth Anandram Jaipuria School. Views expressed are a personal opinion.)

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Akshara International Schools, Hyderabad: Instilling Life-Long Learning Among Children

Jagan Mohan Rao Chairman, Akshara International Schools www.akshara.edu.in

W

hitney Rapp and Katrina Arndt, authors of the “New Teaching Everyone: An Introduction to Inclusive Education” say “You need to imbibe the interests of students to make learning relevant, authentic and valuable”.

Akshara International Schools group belong to that league of abodes of ideal learning.

“At Akshara, our journey is eternal, handholding the tiny-tots in their march to acquire knowledge, values, intelligence and more importantly the life skills. We give utmost priority to on blending intensive sports training along with academics”, says Jagan Mohan Rao, Chairman, Akshara Group.

Currently Akshara Group is operating with five campuses at LB Nagar, AS Rao Nagar, Kukatpally, Chintal and Wanaparthy in Hyderabad. The group is marching ahead to expand to prominent cities of India. “We work closely with students to excavate innate skills, unshackle inhibitions, unearth unique talents to turn them successful in all endeavours” shares Saritha Rao, Executive Director, Akshara International Schools.

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No wonder they are those whose behavioural traits, perceptions, beliefs, and values a student incorporates and embraces is regarded as the Role Model.

Every teacher at Akshara plays that role to guide students. In doing so, they draw inspiration from many teachers from the past like Swami Vivekananda and Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, and inspire students to achieve their fullest potentials and greatest dreams.

“Literacy in itself is no education. Literacy is not the end of education or even the beginning. By education I mean an all-round drawing out of the best in the child and man-body, mind and spirit” said Mahatma Gandhi. Akshara International Schools also works to bring unified development through world-class infrastructure, academic plans, well-laid playgrounds and sports infrastructure.

As the re-inventor of the Gurukul concept, Rabindranath Tagore once said, “the main objective of teaching is not to give explanations, but to knock at the doors of the mind”, Akshara group also follows the same concept. Teachers at Akshara evoke students so as to ideate, expand and explore their thinking nerves.

They play the role of ideas’ incubators.

“With a catchphrase ‘The Future Begins Here’, our centralised teams of Academics, Administration and Corporate Communication make use of technosavvy applications. Together, our teams are destined to enrich the learning experience for students, encourage teachers to enhance their horizons and enable parents in realising their dreams about children”, further shares Jagan Mohan Rao. At Akshara, a feature-rich Parent Mobile App has been enabling parents to get regular communication, day-to-day personalised updates on student’s performance, direct connect staff. The mobile application is accessible for both Apple and Android platforms. Akshara campuses use techno-friendly communication channels such as SMS, Email, IVRS Phones, Website, Social Media, YouTube, etc. All the events are livestreamed using Facebook Live and YouTube Live.

“At Akshara, we strongly believe in an adage children are born with wings, akshara helps them to fly. Our team always motivate students by engaging students in explorative and activity based sessions during their daily interactions.

Our primary focus is to transform students as Global-Ready Citizens”, says Saritha Rao. The team at Akshara aims to bring the most beautiful rainbow in lives of students which will be full of energy, enthusiasm, participation, competitiveness, sportsmanship, creativity and leadership skills.

Teachers affect eternity; no one can tell where their influence stops. The teachers at Akshara, are working towards making the difference the great leaders dreamt of. Akshara International Schools Group determined to transform every child into an innovative, confident and competent achiever to contribute to the advancements and betterments of the future world.

The vision of Akshara is to deveop a culture of learning that nurtures enquiring minds, imbibes universal values and pursuit of excellence for global settings.

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Kalorex: Shaping Glocal Learners

Preschool Perspective

Kalorex believes in empowering children and helping them to succeed in all spheres of life. The group has added new dimensions to its portfolio ensuring that it covers every segment of the society, says Dr Manjula Pooja Shroff, MD & CEO, KALOREX Group, in conversation with Elets News Network (ENN).

“

Parents will definitely have expectations of their child’s school and so it is important to keep them in the loop for any academic or administrative decisions

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In the rapidly evolving educational landscape, how the Kalorex group ensures quality education to children of every age group?

How is the technology helping education sector to evolve itself leading to improved teaching practices and learning outcomes?

Our vision is to provide quality education to all target groups of the society. Be it the underprivileged section or even the middle and high income group. All our schools cater to K-12 education. We even offer franchise options for our preschool segment as stand-alone schools. So, we practically cover students from the early care age to grade 12 in most of our schools. We ensure intake of teachers who are experienced and also trained in the new-age pedagogies. We have many training programmes offered in-house to keep the teaching quality high.

Technology is the driving force of the education system today. Teaching-learning practices are moving away from teacher centric to student led. The teachers are trained to use the vast online resources available to enhance the learning experience for the students and facilitate enquiry.

The knowledge is no longer confined to text books, so Flipped and Blended methodology is practiced widely in our schools. The change is now visible where the old-school mindsets are changing and teachers are learning new technologies and strategies to use for their classroom practices.

What are the measures adopted at the schools under Kalorex group to nurture global citizens along with nurturing dedication, devotion and compassion among them?

How do you meet the expectations of parents and requisite government standards simultaneously for your school?

“Shaping Glocal Learners” (Global + Local) is our motto. By this, we intend to give global experiences even within local environments.

So we have programmes through the British Council, Department of Education and Training – Queensland, Desh Apnayein initiative and teacher exchanges through USEFI, running in all our schools where students and teachers get the best exposures of international teaching practices and values.

Our inbuilt Kalorex Taxonomy defines Glocal Learners as students who are 21st century citizens, with enquiring minds and a sense of ownership to their country and care for the environment. Students partake in drives and programmes towards civic responsibilities and duties. Our lesson plans also imbibe values and sensibilities through experiential pedagogies.

I believe the system has to work hand-in-hand with the society and the government. Parents will definitely have expectations of their child’s school and so it is important to keep them in the loop for any academic or administrative decisions. Our all schools follow the regulations and standards set by the Government but we also believe that we must set the bar high for ourselves. For this reason, we set certain quality standards for ourselves and conduct audits and trainings towards them. We try and incorporate the latest pedagogies and technologies to keep up with the fast pace of learners and expectations of the parents.

What is your vision and mission for upcoming years?

Our vision is always to be focused on providing quality education with a mission to keep our systems evolving and dynamic as per the needs and demands of the educational sector.

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Seth M R Jaipuria School Ensuring Nation Building With Quality Education

School Perspective

The school ensures holistic development of all students through holistic and integral education under the supervision of a team of committed, innovative, and motivating teachers, says Shreevats Jaipuria, Vice Chairman, Seth M R Jaipuria Schools and Jaipuria Institute of Management, in conversation with Elets News Network (ENN).

What are the ways in which your school has reached out and connected with its neighbouring community?

“

We have a strong belief in teacher development and learning as it paves the way to success for any educational institution.

We provide multiple training opportunities in-school and outside school to teachers on pedagogy, and subject knowledge

”

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Understanding the community around us is an integral part of a good education. We have multiple programmes and opportunities through which our school and college students reach out to the community around them. These include community service, group projects and cultural activities.

How do teachers qualify school’s expectations and receive support from your school in achieving the organisation’s vision?

We have a strong belief in teachers’ development and learning as it paves the way to success for any educational institution. We provide multiple training opportunities in school and outside school to teachers on pedagogy, and subject knowledge. Moreover, we provide them with new teaching ideas for each and every topic in the syllabus through close to 1,00,000 lesson plans developed by us.

How does Seth M R Jaipuria Schools encourage developing leadership capacity in its students?

Leadership can’t be taught in a traditional classroom setting. It is developed through practice. From a primary level, the school should make students participate and take responsibility both within and outside the classroom.

What are the values inculcated by the school in its students to be successful in life ahead?

The most important skill in today’s world is the ability to learn itself. We try to inculcate selflearning in our students, and try to make them

self-motivated from a very young age. In today’s world no success is possible without the ability to work with people and in teams. This requires empathy and listening skills. It gives not only a pathway to success but also makes one a better human being, who understands and helps people around himself or herself.

How do you perceive the present-day educational system in our country?

There are many world-class institutions both at the school and higher educational level. But the average quality of institutions is very poor. We need to bridge this gap between a few great and mostly poor institutions.

What are the challenges faced by the Indian education system? How can it be resolved?

The greatest challenge is to improve access of quality education. We need to build schools that invest in improving the skills of teachers, and give students the skills to be required not only today but in the coming years as well. There are many institutions that are able to do this outside metropolitan cities.

What is the vision and motivation behind starting a new educational institute?

Whenever we start a new educational institution, our focus is on how we can give a differentiated learning experience to the student. We strongly believe that education has to be learner-centric and participative. My vision is to make quality private education available to students across towns and cities in India. For far too long, quality institutions have been concentrated only in metropolitan cities and a few state capitals. This must change.

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University Perspective

ASU: Nurturing Young Leaders The Apeejay Stya University (ASU) aims to promote academic autonomy and empowerment, risk-taking and commitment for exploratory research across disciplines among its faculty and students, says Aditya Berlia, Co-Promoter, Apeejay Stya and Svran Group and Pro-Chancellor, Apeejay Stya University, in conversation with Elets News Network (ENN).

What are the innovative methodologies adopted by Apeejay Stya University (ASU) that differentiate it from other higher education institutes of India?

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India’s greatest challenge in the next decade will be to employ more than 15 million young people entering the workforce each year. The curriculum followed at ASU helps its students to become industry-ready graduates.

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The Apeejay Stya University was established in 2010 as a centre of global learning. The objective behind the university was the positive transformation of society through value-based education among students. In a short span, ASU has been bestowed with numerous national and international awards and accolades. ASU – India’s first Industry-Centric Technology and Liberal Arts University is the result of Apeejay Stya & Svran Group’s commitment of developing a knowledge-based society.

The teaching-learning practices followed at the university emphasise on trans-disciplinary approach and encouraging research across all programmes and disciplines to solve complex problems.

At ASU, each course is carefully designed and vetted, and is revisited regularly in sync with the changing market dynamics based on a markto-market approach. ASU allows its students to graduate at their own pace (early or late) by choosing their own customised path and have the freedom to choose their own majors and minors.

How does skill and vocational training help the university to train its students for a better future? How is the university leveraging the role of industries in this regard?

India’s greatest challenge in the next decade will be to employ more than 15 million young people entering the workforce each year. The curriculum followed at ASU helps its students to be industryready graduates. Moreover, industry interfaces, workshops and mentoring by industry leaders help

students in gaining the requisite skills and flair to face the challenges of the 21st Century.

ASU has multiple associations with industries across the globe including CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM, PHDCCI, NEN, AIMA, NHRD, MEDICI Institute, World Brand Congress and CMO Asia. ASU also nurtures the concept of entrepreneurship through an E-Cell in association with National Entrepreneurship Network and has a unique Incubation Cell in association with PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry and various industries.

Research is a very important aspect of higher education, how is the university encouraging its students for research activities?

ASU is a centre for innovation and research in Applied Science & Technology, including support for research in emerging technologies, Biosciences, Clinical Research, Pharmaceutical Sciences and Electronics. State-of-the-art research and technology incubation facilities are available to students and researchers. We provide research opportunities across all levels including real-time industry-led research.

Along with education, career related guidance is also very important for youth, what steps have been taken by ASU in this regard?

Career related counselling and guidance is provided to ASU students during their academic journey.

Each school at ASU has notable industry CEOs as part of their Advisory Boards. The Corporate Resource Centre of ASU has an excellent placement record achieved through extensive training and competency building modules.

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Safari Kid Offering Customised Learning to Children Our learning environment is meticulously created and researched.

The design of our schools encourages imagination, creativity and provides a stimulating learning environment, says Jitendra Karsan, Chief Executive Officer, Safari Kid, in an interview with Elets News Network (ENN).

Preschool Perspective

What is the vision and mission of Safari Kid? We provide the most comprehensive early childhood curriculum, customised to each child’s needs, with the greatest amount of care. The objective of Safari Kid is to provide safe learning environment, high quality education based on our proprietory learning approach for every child.

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Our Safari Kid communication app builds a level of transparency in communication as teachers send weekly reports and images of children doing different activities.

”

Curriculum lays a strong foundation for children’s learning, what are the areas of focus while designing it for the early childhood education at Safari Kid? There is a conclusive research that shows that first five years are the most crucial time for brain development in an individual. The experiences children have in these years help shape the adults they will become. We have the most comprehensive, research-driven early childhood programme. Safari Kid’s emergent curriculum takes best practices from Reggio-Emilia, Waldorf and Montessori teaching methods. Our accelerated early years learning programmes developed over 10 years in Silicon Valley focuses on the fundamental development areas of physical, personal, social, emotional, creativity, imagination, cognition, language and communication.

Our strongest pillar being customisation of curriculum best suited to a child’s learning abilities.

Above all, the most crucial element is we care. We care about the child’s development, well being and their happiness.

Along with creating a stimulating learning environment at preschool, what are the measures adopted at Safari Kid for a safe premises?

At Safari Kid, we take great pride in our security measures adopted for our children-on-campus.

State-of-art CCTV cameras cover the entire premises and classrooms. Parents can view live CCTV footage of campus on-demand. School buses are

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equipped with Uber tracking devices and parents get regular updates on the bus locations, pick-up and drop points. We recruit only female support staff or care providers at all centres. We strictly follow a no male policy on campus. Our teachers are well trained to address/report/handle any safety or medical issue. We have strategic tie-ups with nearby hospitals for emergency services and some centres have dedicated nurses as well. Our Safari Kid communication app builds a level of transparency in communication as teachers send weekly reports and images of children doing different activities.

Along with Studies, how does Safari Kid help students develop independent learning, creative thinking, and excellent communication skills?

At Safari Kid, the children are introduced to different activities based on PSED (Personal, Social, Emotional Development) and CLC (Cognition, Language and Communication) development such as public speaking, show and tell, and student-led conference, so as to ensure that they become more independent and are ready to face the world. At the end of every session, Safari Kid students emerge as confident, unique, reflective and critical thinkers.

How Safari kid involves parents along with teachers for holistic development of its students?

There are different programmes and events designed at Safari Kid that bring together the parents and the teachers so as to provide a holistic development for kids, such as student-led conference, sports day, annual day etc. We host events like Diwali and Christmas markets where parents put up stalls and sell their wares. Besides, the regular school programmes and activities, we have an open communication policy not only with the parents but with staff as well. Stateof-the-art Safari Kid Parent App is designed to keep parents aware about their ward’s progress and to connect with their teachers.

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Rangoli Preschool: Making Learning A Joyful Experience

Preschool Perspective

Laying emphasis on identifying and nurturing the natural talent of students and making learning a matter of sheer joy, remain the two important guiding principles of Rangoli Preschool, says Prahar Anjaria, Chairman, Rangoli Group of Institutes, in conversation with Elets News Network (ENN).

How Rangoli Preschools are different from other preschool brands in the country?

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A Preschool is every child’s first step to formal education. At this stage, it is essential that the curriculum is designed with consultation from teachers and eminent educationists

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Rangoli boasts of many distinct features which make it a premier brand across western India. These include a research-based in-house development course curriculum support, giving importance to every individual centre with a focused approach on quality and last but not the least, an extensive startup and ongoing support.

What innovative practices are adopted at Rangoli Preschools to support learning needs of its students?

We believe that every child is different and thus we give them personalised treatment. Also, all the children don’t have same learning abilities. A child may be an auditory learner, visual learner, a logical learner or kinesthetic learner. Therefore, we have designed our curriculum and training module to meet needs of all type of learners. For example, our story-telling sessions comprise four different aspects: Narration, flashcards, puppets usage and role plays/dramatisation.

What are the focus areas in curriculum to help children becoming futureready citizens?

Developing social skills is the need of the hour.

We believe education is not only within the four walls of the school. Children need to be given exposure with the different people of the society.

They need to interact with them to develop their communication skills.

Apart from it, the different types of cultural activities and religious fests bring them together.

While dealing with their peers, they learn and unlearn lots of new things. Even the cultural exchange is also possible through different meets.

We organise different activities for the involvement

of parents and grandparents to interact with each other. As now, each part of the country has become cosmopolitan, our children need to respect all religion and accept cultural diversity.

Please describe about Next Generation Preschools and the E4 Pedagogy.

Rangoli Preschools lay emphasis on identifying and nurturing the natural talent of its students and making learning a joyful experience. A Preschool is every child’s first step to formal education. At this stage, it is essential that the curriculum is designed with consultation from teachers and eminent educationists. We, at Rangoli, have done that and designed the courseware that has a sharp focus on various developmental areas like socio-emotional, creative, language, physical, cognitive, intellectual, moral and aesthetic development.

Rangoli follows an E4 pedagogy that uses innovative methods to create a learning environment helping every child to utilise the pedagogy and achieve the milestones of learning and development.

This is our methodology where teachers explain various concepts using their creativity, encourage children to explore things and express their thoughts.

It also helps teachers to judge the learning outcome.

What is the vision and mission of Rangoli Preschools?

Rangoli Group of Institutes works with the vision of being among the top educational institutes of India by imparting quality education. We wish and attempt to have the best schools and preschools in each and every area to cater different needs of parents and students.

The mission is to give every child, the unique entity and personalised treatment they deserve, Make learning a matter of sheer joy. Give teachers the esteem and space for realising their potential.

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Little Millennium: Nurturing Innovation in Education

Preschool Perspective

Guided by the spirit of every child is unique, Little Millennium has been at the forefront of bringing innovative products in the early childcare space in India for over a decade, says Raman Bajaj, CEO, Little Millennium Education Pvt Ltd, in conversation with Elets News Network (ENN).

How the practices followed at Little Millennium Preschool provide its students with fun learning and allaround skill development?

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We created India’s first scientifically developed preschool curriculum that focuses on the holistic development of each child, based on sequential learning and developmental milestones

”

Little Millennium’s key value proposition and its core differentiator is its scientifically developed “Seven Petal” curriculum, which ensures the overall holistic development of every child, through play activities and collaborative group work. The curriculum’s seven key development areas for children include: cognitive development, fine and gross motor skills, language development, personal awareness, socio-emotional development and nurturing individual potential. The curriculum is delivered using the Eclectic Approach that takes the relevant strategies and methodologies from multiple schools of thought on early childhood from across the world, to improve learning among preschoolers.

A young learner’s day at Little Millennium is a healthy mix of play (structured play and free play), fine motor activities, cognitive activities, language learning and so on. Little Millennium’s sports curriculum called Kickers Club - a first of its kind sports curriculum, is uniquely designed for kids in 3-6 years age bracket. This curriculum helps children inculcate the love for sports at an early age and develop collaborative skills. Also, we foster a love for sports and yoga amongst our young learners through a path-breaking practice called the Story Yoga that combines the joy of listening to stories with desired outcomes by enacting the same through simple stretching exercises and yoga asanas. This ensures the perfect all-round growth of the child’s body and mind.

How the preschool maintains a safe, hygienic, comfortable yet a fun-filled learning environment for students?

As a responsible playschool chain, we have an exhaustive list of safety and security compliance

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measures which includes measures such as restricted entry into the school premises, police verification of support staff, strict use of Escort cards during dispersals, school premises under CCTV surveillance, training to teachers on incident management and reporting, fire extinguishers and first aid kits, among others.

Regular audits by our teams ensure full compliance with all safety measures. In addition, our business partners and teachers are regularly trained on fostering emotional literacy, which caters to the emotional and psychological wellbeing of our children.

How are you ensuring in the curriculum to enable the children become future-ready in career?

We created India’s first scientifically developed preschool curriculum that focuses on the holistic development of each child, based on sequential learning and developmental milestones. Our stimulating environment and scientific curriculum nurtures the roots and lays the foundation to help every child achieve success in all phases of life.

What methods are adopted at Little Millennium to enhance parents’ involvement in holistic development of their wards?

At Little Millennium, we conduct interactive and engaging workshops on joyful parenting, especially for parents. These workshops are aimed to create awareness about the joys of Parenting and are designed to help parents nurture their children through behavioural deviations and habit disorders such as throwing tantrums, anger and aggression, nail-biting, laziness, boredom etc. and give them an environment of positivity that is truly holistic. These interactions cover important topics like the key challenges in parenting, understanding of early childhood years and developmental needs of children.

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CMPS: Nurturing Joy of Learning Among Children

Preschool Perspective

Keeping the overall development of the child, Cambridge Montessori Pre School (CMPS) is obligated to ensure an environment of love, compassion, harmony, developing critical thinking and making the child independent, says Pankaj Kumar Singh, Managing Director, Jalsa Ventures Private Limited, in an interview with Elets News Network (ENN).

What practices are followed at Cambridge Montessori Pre School (CMPS) to support children learn, explore and grow in a warm and caring atmosphere?

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The curriculum at CMPS provides stimulating learning experience that respond to every student’s unique characteristics and learning styles so as to reach their full potential.

”

The right learning environment combined with the right teaching methods enable the development of students’ emotional and creative abilities. The environment at CMPS is according to the early childhood needs which inculcate lifelong love for learning, exploring, creating, imagining among students and expanding their horizons for gaining knowledge. Our childhood education programme takes cognizance of differences and adapts to the specific needs of every child.

How does the curriculum at CMPS support in nurturing every aspect of holistic development i.e. physical, social and emotional along with educational?

The curriculum at CMPS provides stimulating learning experience that respond to every student’s unique characteristics and learning styles so as to help them reach their full potential.

It aims at preparing students for a productive life in which their skills, patterns and attributes are constantly changed or developed and applied as part of their lifelong learning.

It challenges teachers to think differently about the student’s cognitive and affective development, the more so as we believe, we have to inculcate the 21st century skills in our learners.

How are the teachers trained at CMPS to meet the educational needs of every child individually in these critical early years?

role in a child’s life. At CMPS, teachers are trained and made to work together with colleagues, families, administration, policymakers and community to support young children’s educational needs.

Teachers at CMPS are encouraged to participate in regular trainings, workshops, assessments which makes them more efficient in handling grim situations and be able to provide required acumen and resources.

Along with Studies, how the CMPS helps its students inculcating independent learning, creative thinking, and excellent communication skills?

CMPS is the perfect blend of academics, culture appreciation and socialisation. The children get benefitted from the learning environment, intrinsically interesting materials and age appropriate designed activities which enhance their creativity, thinking skills and inculcate language abilities.

Our goal is to provide a rich environment to allow children to explore the world around them with limitless learning opportunities.

What is the vision and mission of CMPS? Vision - Cambridge Montessori preschool aspires to be amongst the top ten Pre School Chain in the world by 2030.

Mission - We will attain this milestone by coordinating with top-notch montessorians across globe, high-end curriculum, strongest possible safety & security measures, affordable and viable business plan and strong operational support.

Everyone along with teachers plays an important

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Shridhar University: Grooming Globally Competitive Leaders

University Perspective

With a strong focus on skill development and employment-oriented programmes, Shridhar University aims to nurture its students as globally competitive citizens, says Vijay Pal Yadav, Chairman, Shridhar University, in conversation with Elets News Network (ENN).

What are the unique programmes offered by Shridhar University to nurture its students as globally competitive citizens?

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Shridhar University is a technology and livelihoodoriented university. As far as technology is concerned, we are having collaboration in Computer Aided Designs (CAD) and also teach cloud computing techniques.

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In Indian educational system, workforce preparation and skills development are the aspects that are considered as the most important among the lot.

Thus, recognising this, a paradigm shift must take place in Indian educational landscape that would also enable our students to be globally competitive.

Shridhar University is educating young people to become global citizens as it allows them to learn about the interdependence of the world’s systems.

It believes that solutions to global challenges are achievable. It feels morally-compelled to confront global injustices and takes responsible actions to promote a just, peaceful and sustainable world.

How is the university collaborating with industries to boost employability of students through skill training?

Shridhar University is clearly focused on Workforce preparation and skill development by offering employment-oriented programmes and creating a career path for non-graduate employees through our unique programmes. Apart from the normal skillsrelated programmes we are also associated with various skill development related departments of India for implementing skill development projects for high school dropout and backward / minority class of people. We are providing skill upgrade options to the formal and informal sectors of the employed category through credential-based educational programs and non-credit oriented training programmes.

What are the initiatives taken by the university to make students competitive amidst such emerging technological trends?

Shridhar University is a technology and livelihoodoriented university. As far as technology is concerned, we are having collaboration in Computer

Aided Designs (CAD) and also teach Cloud Computing techniques. However, we have not yet reached the level of Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality. As of now, we teach web designing, CAD and software programmes related to daily and domestic use. In short, we do cater for practical, livelihoodrelated and daily useable technology needs as part of our teaching.

How is the university encouraging its students for research activities?

We put a strong emphasis on research and innovation. This we do, through supporting excellent research within the core academic disciplines across the university, promoting research outcomes and support staff for original research endeavours. We also develop a strong web presence for research, focused around the relevant themes while also linking with the research entries of various departments and centres to ensure academic colleagues, potential collaborators, funders and policymakers are fully aware of the university’s strengths, providing a clear framework in which development of the impact and outcomes from research activities are seen as a priority, with support put in place, to encourage such activities, and promoting activities that communicate our research strengths and successes in engagement with the wider public.

Along with education, career-related guidance is also very important for the youth, what steps have been taken by Shridhar University in this regard?

A placement cell has been established at Shridhar University with an aim to provide career guidance cum placement assistance for all its students. The role of the cell is to provide necessary training to the students to make them suitable for company interviews by enhancing their communication skills, personality development and general knowledge. The cell is also responsible for providing opportunities to students for placement.

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myskoolbus - A Mobile App for Child Safety With the occurrence of a lot of criminal incidents against innocent children, trackNOW Pvt Ltd has developed a new concept for child safety. myskoolbus -mobile app meant for child’s protection, and mentored by Cherie Blair Foundation (London), observes Elets News Network (ENN).

article

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There is nothing more precious to a parent than a child, and nothing more important to our future than the safety of all our children -Former US President Bill Clinton once said

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s we know, India is going through a crucial phase of transition, from being a predominantly rural country to one where most people now aspire to live in cities.

While there was 24% increase in crimes against children between 2010-11, it rose up by 52.5% from 2012 to 2013, shows a latest report by Save the Children. The United Nations Children’s Fund (unicef) elucidates child security as “strengthening of country environments, capacities and responses to prevent and protect children from violence, exploitation, abuse, neglect and the effects of conflict”.

Myskoolbus enables tracking the current location of the mode of transportation used by schools. Today, this app has over 10,000 users with 50+ schools and 8,000 parents on its platform.

For parents, it has become a stroke of luck. The app offers so many benefits like monitoring timing, routes and driving patterns, receiving notification for speed limits or unchartered routes, being informed in case of breakdowns.

It also conveys via SMS, in case of delay in the bus, 5-minute advance notification before the bus arrives, notifies where and when a child gets on or

off the school bus and much more. It doesn’t seem less than an amazing app to keep affectionate kids enjoying their childhood without any fear of being harmed.

Pooja S Khemka, CEO and Founder, trackNOW Pvt Ltd, says as a mother herself she could relate to other mothers’ plight while waiting for their beloved child to return home safely.

“It’s just like keeping fingers crossed everyday until you see your child coming back from school,” she adds.

The fact is there is a requirement to understand that childhood injuries are not usual accidents, they remains in the child’s heart for lifetime. There is need to supervise them as well.

Children are naturally curious and will love to explore the world around them. We need to watch them, as they can wander at the blink of our eye.

It is our responsibility as parents/guardians to make their world as safe as possible so that their exploration process is injury-free and full of fun.

Keep keen attention on the activities your child does, as he does not understand danger.

After all, the children deserve to be happy, healthy and safe.

“As far as revenue is concerned, we charge a meagre amount from the parents annually and by the schools as their fleet management charges.

Larger ecosystem partners are school chains that have multiple branches across the country.

Recently, CBSE has made it compulsory for schools to use GPS in their vehicles, which is another boost for us.” adds Pooja S Khemka, CEO and Founder, trackNOW Pvt Ltd.

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Advertorial

Bezalel Institute: Exemplifying Life-Skills T

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Christopher Prasad Haridass CEO and Founder Bezalel Institute for Higher Education Pvt Ltd

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here has been a considerable increase in the number of private educational consultancies on the rise, the major challenge is to make clients realise how different are we from our competitors. Also, another major challenge is to establish our credibility in the market where a few unfortunate cases of fraudulence are still on the rise. Apart from this, another challenge is to show compliance with both the university and Government regulations and this has been achieved by legally registering the company, thereby establishing compliance.

In terms of spoken language training centers, a major challenge is being unable to assess individual student’s need and cater to that specific need because unlike textbook-based English learning, spoken language training has to meet the need of students across a diverse age group and competency levels.

In the language training center at Bezalel, the one innovative method we blindly believe is customised curriculum, as this helps in catering to the needs of students, professionals and the like, according to the purpose for which they decide to take up any specific training course. Also a wide range of available techniques and technology is used for achieving maximum results.

In a world of competition, innovation not only helps the organisation but also the students in achieving the maximum return for the money invested.

Thus, a user-friendly interface for students and agents to provide a hasslefree process for student registration, university application, document submission, fee payment etc, with individual login is provided. Another service unique to Bezalel is that we provide student support throughout the university tenure including a local guardian.

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Billabong School: Bringing Change with Students’ Holistic Development

School Perspective

Along with an aim to enable students become professionally successful and personally secure individuals, Billabong School is committed to produce individuals who are caring and committed Indians, says Priti Agarwal, CEO & Founder, Billabong High International School, Kanpur, in conversation with Elets News Network (ENN).

How do you develop a curriculum that is both interesting and focused on the holistic development of students?

At Billabong School, an enriching curriculum begins with the planning of coherent and relevant scheme of works and lesson-plans by our qualified teacher. Our curriculum seeks to develop and enrich every student’s subject knowledge. We use an active learning approach, a high level of challenging environment, use of appropriate questions, group work exercises, along with a thrust on digital technologies to keep our students constantly motivated.

A good school must have good student-teacher coordination. What methods are followed at Billabong School to maintain a healthy coordination between teachers and students?

Billabong is truly blessed with teachers who are passionate about teaching, and who continuously create immersive platforms of learning for their students. Our all teachers are extremely committed to the idea of pastoral care in school, and this I believe, paves the way for a strong teacher-student connect.

What strategies do you follow for innovation and reforms in the school administrative system?

We are all global citizens living in a creative society, impacting each other, every second of our existence. The technological revolution in recent times has established best practices in education, which have become a formal template of expected standards, and also an evaluation grid of any organisation in the reckoning. Administration, being a continuous dynamic process, is always a work in progress to us. Thus, we are reviewing and improving our administrative practices all the time.

How does the school meet expectations of parents and government alike (in terms of ensuring essential standards)?

While imparting education, we meet the expectations of parents, Government alike through implementing effective planning in our teaching and learcning and assessment practices. Along with this, a strong co-curricular thrust on creating enrichment platforms in sports, vocational education and transferable skills like work-discipline and language competency also help in this regard.

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In order to maintain a good learning environment, what activities, along with studies, are conducted at the school?

Billabong High International School offers a unique and wonderful enrichment platform to all its students. This we do through hosting of our various initiatives that include: • IIMUN – Indian International Model United Nations. This is an organisation based in India which conducts simulations of United Nations and Indian parliament in different cities.

• BHIS family quiz – The parent and child participate together to turn on their thinking caps.

• Cross-over faculty – An initiative under which exceptional teachers travel from the top schools in the UK to teach and mentor our teachers and students.

• In-service training of teachers – This initiative is executed both in online and offline mode in partnership with Cambridge and Yale – the two world famous institutes.

• Open day – Open Day provides an opportunity to prospective students and their parents to visit the school and observe the curriculum prior to their actual enrolment.

• World Scholar’s Cup - Duke of Edinburgh International Award • Annual quiz program • Guest lecturers/ TED talks • Aerospace & science discovery camp • Vocational courses • Maths online • Career counselling through software like Naviance • Regular debate coaching workshops • World school debate

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BenQ’s Environment Friendly Solutions for Enhanced Learning Environment

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he receding air quality in India’s capital, New Delhi, has raised many concerns over time.

According to the latest WHO list, India has the dubious distinction of being home to 22 of the 50 (source) most polluted cities globally. Proper precautions are necessary, especially when we witness such changing times. With air pollution at its peak in India, the need of the hour is to drive damage control excessively.

The Indian Medical Association declared a public health emergency, leading to immediate actions like closing schools. The education sector took a hit despite being a key contributor to the country’s GDP at the turn of the century.

Indian schools have open playgrounds with sand pits, and most classrooms are subjected to no windows or open windows. Adding to this, the AQI (Air Quality Index) levels are higher inside than outside. Keeping pace with the modern times has led to creating greater volumes of educated individuals. According to studies, iIt has been proven over time that uninterrupted learning has been a proven tactic to increase retention and assimilation of information in Indian students.

Withthese standards not being met, the quality of education is lacking considerably; hence, it is time to create and offer a dustproof environment for the Indian education sector.

The fall in quality of the Indian education system is primarily due to lack of smart solutions along with the rising cost of maintaining them. However, over time Indian schools have implemented smart solutions such as projectors to offer affordable yet an effective education to the masses. 80% of India’s school teachers have agreed to the smart educational system.

Recent studies show alarming numbers of dust pollution, and hence, classroom projectors have been adversely affected by dust. Proper dustproof mechanisms will assist in maintaining the lifetime of projectors. Without such mechanism, the maintenance costs will be significantly higher leading to increase in unnecessary overheads.

In the absence of dustproof technologies,

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projector’s performance could experience the following: • Image Blemish-Image blemish is usually caused by dust accumulation on DLP chips. Due to dust accumulation on internal parts and color wheel sensors, there can be a deterioration in image quality (brightness and color decay,) which can affect the overall classroom experience.

• Thermal Issue- In the presence of dust, projectors face thermal hikes and results in lagging,which could severely impact the experience and performance drastically • Overheating - If certain amount of dust is accumulated in the filter or the ventilation system, it will lead toprojectors’ airflow beingconsiderably reduced. The reduced airflow may result in overheating, equipment malfunctioning, breakdowns and undesirable maintenance costs.

• Signal Detection Failure- When dust accumulates on internal parts of projectors; the projection will face delays in visuals, flickering and may shut down without warning.

These can be avoided in the long run by taking corrective measures. BenQ’s Dust GuardTM Series has passed testing in a simulated environment with large amounts of fine dust, soot, and milled cotton lint. It filters out large amounts of dust accumulation, and becomes invulnerable to it.

Also, the optical engine is sealed, which enhances to the safety of the projector.

The Dustproof solution ensures optimal reliability and performance by extending projector’s lifeline, reducing maintenance frequency by ⅓ and ensuringhigh image quality without color decay. It also blocks out 90% of particles and PM 2.5. The Dust Guard series is also equipped with smart eco technology, further ensuring reliable eco-friendly operation in classrooms.

The education sector will continue to grow in the next few years. To ensure all Indian students receive the best education, it is time to look for relevant solutions in order for us to define our path to future success.

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Technology Infusion in Education The entire world has been reduced to a global village due to the advancement of technology, making it a digital world wherein technology becomes a necessary life skill, writes Sudhir Goel, Head of Commercial Business, Acer India for Elets News Network (ENN).

Industry Perspective

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When a classroom is equipped with technology, students are provided with an instant access to information across the globe that just adds up to their learning experience.

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he infusion of technology has been a huge catalyst for the education sector as a whole.

The rote learning methods are gradually being done away with and schools both in urban and rural areas are adopting advanced teaching methods.

Smart classrooms are becoming a norm and teachers at the same time are considering ways to improve the teaching methods and make it more interactive. Education cannot be limited behind closed doors and blackboards, these days, it is more about the way a child is taught to deal with practical scenarios and using technology to enhance the learning experience.

By 2030, the urban population in India is expected to grow faster than its overall population at present. This means that our economy and education system will be under tremendous pressure. According to the present scenario of education system in our country, not all sections of the society receive quality education and access to quality institutions. People have become more aware of the importance of education and this can only be attributed to the reach of technology to various parts and various strata of the society.

For technology to penetrate completely in the education sector, in both urban and rural areas, there has to be government policies and support to accelerate the change.

Rural areas still face difficulties to even get an easy access to basic education, lack of teachers, lack of interest, poverty, gender differentiation, lack of infrastructure, common curricula are few of the reasons which are holding back the progress in rural education. But with the use of technology, education can be improved with greater reach to the rural and underprivileged.

Our education system, both urban and rural, at present is in urgent need of digital infusion because it allows for personalised learning, and access to a global perspective.

The academic potential, strengths and

weaknesses and learning pace of every student can be catered to. It opens up communication channels, allowing students to get more attention as well as enabling them to track their coursework progress and identify areas of improvement. Student feedback can, in turn, help improvise the system.

Device-based learning, such as through computers and projectors, will get rid of textbook constraints. Students can use a digital surface anywhere. Virtual Reality can be used to help student use e-learning platforms on mobile devices to interact directly with study material, and Augmented Reality can help teachers and trainers in performing tasks.

When a classroom is equipped with technology, students are provided with an instant access to information across the globe that just adds up to their learning experience. This also fosters a more collaborative learning environment; students, networked together online, can share information, work together on group projects, and interact with the instructor.

Since we are still a developing country, a right recipe of education and technology would be a combination of blackboard and smart classroom technology wherein the instructors should always remember that students have widely heterogeneous needs and learning styles.

Also, it should always be remembered that the instructor’s goal should be deep learning and that excellent teaching skills are needed to reap benefits from technology and overcome its limitations.

(Views expressed are author’s personal)

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Serosoft Delivering Leading-Edge Solutions in Education Automation Serosoft is focused on creating sustainable value growth through unique ideas and innovative solutions for the education sector, says Arpit Badjatya, CEO & MD, Serosoft Solutions, in an interview with Elets News Network (ENN).

Edu-Tech Perspective

Please describe briefly about the solutions provided by your organisation and how do they support educational institutions’ needs.

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With our cuttingedge productAcademia, we have been able to remove bottlenecks such as – nonconfigurability, lack of interoperability, expensive and lengthy implementation initiatives and inadequate workflow capabilities.

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Serosoft’s Academia is a robust, feature-rich, analytics-equipped, user-friendly product which is built on a cutting-edge and flexible architecture, enabling institutes to automate and streamline their functions and processes for both learning and administration, from enquiry to graduation.

Academia empowers educational institutions of varied sizes and operations to focus on delivering high-quality education without worrying about the administrative processes. The architecture of Academia is designed in such a way that it meets the different needs of schools, colleges and universities.

Academia helps create an educational community where each of its users can get their entire job done on a click. It ensures better interaction between students, teachers, parents and institute’s management. It helps institutes’ administration in taking effective decisions for better management of available resources. We are benefitting over 5,00,000 learners from 200 institutions of 10 countries.

What are various problems of institutes that Serosoft solutions help in resolving?

At Serosoft, we rise to meet the challenges of a rapidly evolving educational landscape that includes implementation of new technologies, new educational business models, and cost pressures.

With the goal of promoting effective learning, teaching and automating educational administration, we assist institutions to implement our flagship product – Academia.

Our domain expertise helps schools/colleges/ universities and training institutes to address the questions like how to cope with the existing system constraints? Where should they deploy their resources? How to integrate and automate the fragmented functions, departments and processes?

Our experience of over 200 educational clients helps us to understand the critical problems associated with the existing student information

systems. With our cutting-edge product-Academia, we have been able to remove bottlenecks such as – non-configurability, lack of interoperability, expensive and lengthy implementation initiatives and inadequate workflow capabilities. It ensures cost savings, higher efficiency, greater personnel productivity and better ROI for our clients.

What makes Academia better than its competitors?

We have developed Academia to be a world-leader in campus automation. We believe we have a five-fold advantage over competitors owing to: High Configurability: Academia provides high level of configurability which allows for quicker implementation and a low cost of ownership for customers.

Multi-centre capabilities: Academia can efficiently automate multi-centre/multi-brand organisations.

Our largest customer manages a group of 100 schools through one platform.

Focus on Technology Innovation: We ensure innovation in our product and the embed cuttingedge technologies like Mobility, Artificial intelligence, Nudge Tech, focus on CX and Inbuilt Analytics.

Focus on ROI for the customers: Apart from all the efficiency and productivity gains, we ensure our customers are ahead of their competitors and can use Academia as a competitive advantage. Academia has ensured incredible IRR on the investment for many of our customers.

Our Culture and Domain Expertise: We have a high performing team with tremendous education domain expertise.

Please describe your vision mission for upcoming years.

and

Our vision is to be the world-leader in education automation. Our mission is to design and deliver leading-edge solutions that ensure efficiency, cost-saving for the education ecosystem and positively impacting the lives of two million learners by 2022.

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CONFERENCE | AWARDS | EXPO

APU Delivering ResearchBased Interdisciplinary Learning Advertorial

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n an effort to mentor Scheduled Tribe (ST) students of Arunachal Pradesh, the Apex Foundation established a private university with professional degree programmes, providing prospective ST students a wide range of career streams. Though the dropout and attendance rate in the State were far more than the national average, the university provides youths an exposure to new ideas and career opportunities. They have started observing how much they can achieve after professional education.

The Law and Library programme at Apex Professional University (APU) saw the maximum enrolment and today is a proud platform of many future lawmakers and book keepers from a community which is amalgamation of nature’s own heritage and strong tribal roots. APU has not only opened their world to different career opportunities, but gave them hope for the future. Today, we feel immense proud to claim that more than 90 per cent of the students are from ST community alone, perhaps the highest percentage in any private university in India.

The effects of the APU’s professional programmes are now being felt far beyond the Arunachal Pradesh — they are reaching to remote communities in far North East, which is home to many similar habitats.

For APU, the learning goals are important to establish a comprehensive interchange so that teachers and students understand the purpose.

Teachers benefit from using frameworks to organise objectives and clarify it for themselves and for students. They plan and deliver appropriate instructions, design effective assessment tasks and strategies, and ensure that instruction and assessment are aligned with the effective learning goal. Working on Bloom’s Taxonomy platform, the university imparts knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation in a systematic order.

The University is run by board of Governors and the Founder & Chancellor Acharya Dhanwant Singh. Acharya Dhanwant Singh is an Allumni of IIM-A, a technologist, social entrepreneur and a Corporate Yogi.

Else than establishing APU – the only private university in India to educate and empower Scheduled Tribes (ST) by enrolling more than 90 per cent ST students, he also has experience of more than 21 years of leadership, mentoring and research. He has organised and attended more than 30 state-level, national and international workshops, seminars conferences and training. He also has been conferred with more than 19 prestigious outstanding awards and prizes from various prestigious institutions in

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Acharya Dhanwant Singh Chancellor Apex Professional University India and abroad. He has laid many milestones in the field of online and distance education for the benefits of working professionals.

Being among the eminent educationist of the nation, he is adviser to many projects and a strategy consultant to various national and international institutions as well as business houses. He is member and fellows of more than a dozen institutions.

It is because of the selfless educational services and vast social connect, that Ministry of Aayush has bestowed the first ever Yoga Park in Arunachal Pradesh, to be fully functional under Apex University Umbrella. There will be courses on Yogic Sciences, medicinal plants, Astrology and Vastu, that too with the ancient yet modernised Gurukul Methodology.

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conference report conference report

Inauguration of Education Conclave Bihar (From L-R): Prof Dolly Sinha, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Patna University ; Sita Sahu, Mayor, Patna; Krishna Nandan Prasad Verma, Education Minister, Government of Bihar

Education Conclave Underlines Technology’s Key Role to Enhance Quality

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echnology can play a key role in improving the quality of education, said Bihar Education Minister Krishna Nandan Prasad Verma recently in Patna while participating in the Education Conclave, Bihar organised by Elets Technomedia with Microsoft as presenting partner.

Considering the scope and endeavours being made by the Nitish Kumar Government in Bihar, this education conclave organised on June 22 held a distinct significance from various dimensions.

The conclave was the confluence of policymakers, heads of schools and higher education institutes, university vice-chancellors and officials from the edu-tech corporate. Over 200 schools and higher education institutes participated in the conclave from all over Bihar.

Also present on the occasion were Patna’s Mayor Sita Sahu and Bihar State Higher Education Council’s Vice-Chairman Kameshwar Jha, who deliberated on challenges and their contribution to the education sector during the conclave.

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digitallearningonline

@dl_magazine

The education conclave observed participation of edu-leaders including Prof Dolly Sinha, Pro Vice Chancellor, Patna University; Dr R K Pande, Vice Chancellor, Dr C V Raman University; Jaidevrath, Senior Director, Microsoft; Abdul Hamid, Secretary, Patna Municipal Corporation and Nand Kishor Kushwaha, Member, Food Commission, Government of Bihar.

The conclave witnessed panel discussions on the topics like: Transformative Practices towards Ensuring Quality in Higher Education, How to Scale up Personalised Learning in School Education and Reforming Education in The Age of Technology.

During the conclave, top universities, B-schools, Engineering Colleges and Schools were also felicitated by digitalLEARNING magazine for their exemplary work in the field of education.

The industry presentations during the summit highlighted the scope of technology and its comprehensive effect on the education sector. A glimpse of the conclave:

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Krishna Nandan Prasad Verma Education Minister Government of Bihar

“With regards to Bihar’s educational landscape, I can say that the State, in recent times, has made rapid strides on many fronts. The current Government is committed to accelerate the pace of digital transformation of State’s educational institutions and for this, we are joining hands with many relevant stakeholders too. I am sure that various issues deliberated in the conclave would further offer us useful insights on the areas that need to be worked upon.

The schools with not enough teachers can use smart classes, e-learning and digital learning to boost the education sector. A digital revolution is needed in the State’s education sector so that students may study through computers and enjoy the learning. The State Government is working towards making the education system transparent. It is the reason that only deserving candidates can qualify the exams.”

Magazine launch at Education Conclave Bihar (From L-R): Sita Sahu, Mayor, Patna; Krishna Nandan Prasad Verma, Education Minister, Government of Bihar; Kameshwar Jha, Vice Chairman, Bihar State Higher education Council, Government of Bihar

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conference report

Sita Sahu Mayor, Patna

“Just as food is essential for a human being, similarly good education is essential for an all-round development of citizens. Today, I am pleased to state that Bihar in recent times, has taken many pathbreaking initiatives to bolster the state of education in Bihar. I am happy to say that the State’s students are now able to avail educational facilities and opportunities at par with the standards prevalent in any other State in the country.”

Nand Kishore Kushwaha

Kameshwar Jha

Vice Chairman, Bihar State Higher Education Council, Government of Bihar

Member Food Commission, Government of Bihar

“There is an increased interest both by policymakers and administrators of Bihar’s various for educational institutes for transforming State’s institutions into digitally-enabled institutions which indeed is a positive sign. Increasingly, institutions are embracing latest technologies to transform the delivery process of educational content. I am so pleased with the pace of State’s digital transformation that I can assure you, after one year from now, in each district of Bihar you would find at least two digitally-enabled institutions.”

“Education is about finding out from the children: what are they good at? How good they are at the things they are good at? When it comes to good education, you really do need to keep the idea of ‘good elitism’ in mind. In the form of global collaboration, particularly Guyana and India partnership is in the area of offshore medical schools with providence in India operating in Guyana.”

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digitalLEARNING

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conference report

Prof Dolly Sinha Pro Vice-Chancellor Patna University

“The digitisation has a tremendous scope in improving the state of education in the country and thus, I would say, bringing about educational reforms through digitisation is the need of the hour. Further, there is a need for the establishment of universities which should act as a model for the rest of the educational institutions in terms of digitisation and modern techniques. Besides, for first-time learners, an emphasis on the holistic development of the candidates need to be nurtured, this should include components such as gender issues, ethics, cleanliness, and environmental sustainability.”

Dr R K Pande

Jaydev Rath

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Senior Education Director Microsoft

Vice Chancellor Dr C V Raman University

“We, at Microsoft, believe in empowering students and teachers create the world of tomorrow. The mantra for achieving this is by way of achieving better outcomes for students and backed by technology, managing educational institutions effectively and efficiently. For this, we have partnered with Government of India for its various IT-enabled initiatives, one of them is SWAYAM (Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds) platform, whereby 30 lakhs students are being benefitted out of it. There is a need for more of such initiatives.”

“Today, across Bihar there is a dearth of teachers who are digitally skilled and are able to impart the education as per the demands of the current scenario.

While of late, I acknowledge the State’s policymakers have left no stone unturned for actualising an ICT-led education landscape in the State, a lot is still left to be done. I am sure inputs received under today’s conclave would be useful in this regard.”

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Director Kaizala in Education, Microsoft

Dr C V Raman University “Our key focus areas include an updated curriculum in tune with the realities of today’s job market and a digital approach to education. Most of our courses are ICT-backed. We give a strong emphasis on making sure that we always have the latest in IT infrastructure. In recent times, the university has been focusing on promoting skill-based programmes such as The National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) which is a competency-based framework that organizes all qualifications according to a series of levels of knowledge, skills and aptitude. We have vocational courses such as courses in cloud computing, robotics too.”

conference report

Prajyot Saran

Brijesh Singh

“Microsoft Kaizalaa, our mobile app for large group communication and work management can play a significant role in transforming the educationalcontent delivery. The app showcases many features such as the ability to connect with people both outside and inside the organisation, broadcast information such as text, photos, videos and documents. It also facilities Collection of data via polls or surveys, coupled with a chat interface and an ability to connect with external partners through a public group. We believe such an app can give a boost to an organisation’s work efficiency.”

Varun Dua

Solution Specialist Lead Azure in Education, Microsoft “Cloud technologies can really transform the Indian education landscape and this is the best time to invest in cloud technologies in the education sector since it opens a plethora of limitless possibilities and computing opportunities that can be made available for the benefit of students. For example, you can start a virtual lab in cloud, without worrying about your local infrastructure. Thus, if your local computer has a browser, internet connection, you can now think beyond your imagination and create unlimited applications.”

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Balendu Sharma Dadhich Director Localisation, Microsoft

“Considering the fact that India being such a vast country and home to numerous languages, I would focus upon the utility of localisation (in terms of language-based content) in the educational-content delivery. Going forward, I believe, organisations that are taking localisation seriously are bound to succeed in the education sector in India. This holds true for the State of Bihar as well.”

Saif Khan

Simran Dawar

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Product Marketing M365 Education, Microsoft

Zonal Manager Vawsum

“We, at Microsoft, strongly believe that digitallybacked delivery of educational content is the way forward and there exist a plethora of untapped opportunities if we are really able to effectively harness the full capability of new-age technologies such as cloud for educational purposes. While we are empowering students through our innovative product offerings, we also offer applications to have some control over students’ usage of IT environment. I think that was one important area flagged recently by the industry and our device management solutions are exactly meant to offer such a control only.”

“Vawsum’s Parent teacher engagement app can improve the already -existing connect between school and parents. It can especially be a boon to nuclear families who wish to always remain in touch with their wards’ school but due to lack of time, at times, are unable to do so.”

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Panel Discussion: How to Scale up Personalised Learning in school education conference report

(From L-R): Niraj Gupta, Principal, Takshila School, Gaya; Simran Dawar, Product Marketng Education, Microsoft; Col Prem Prakash SM, Principal, Radiant International School, Patna; Reeta Jha, Director - Academics, NIMS International School, Jaipur.

Panel Discussion: Reforming education in the age of technology

(From L-R): Prof Shahshank Shekhar, Bhagalpur College of Engineering; Dr Md Masood Ahmad, Director, Maulana Azad College of Engineering and Technology; Anupam Singh, Director, Seth MR Jaipuria School, Patna; Prof (Dr) Nirmal Kumar, Principal, Bhagalpur College of Engineering; Reeta Jha, Director - Academics, NIMS International School

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Panel Discussion: Transformative Practices Towards Ensuring Quality in Higher Education

(From L-R): Dr Abhijeet Singh, Director, VIDM Institute of Design and Management; Neeru Kumari Jha, Administrator, International School of Management; Balendu Sharma, Localization Lead Microsoft; Dr A K Nayak, Director, Indian Institute of Business Management; Kameshwar Jha, Vice-Chairman, Bihar State Higher Education Council, Government of Bihar; Dr Sitesh, Registrar, Dr C V Raman University; Dr Md Masood Ahmad, Director, Maulana Azad College of Engineering and Technology; Sanjay Kumar Parida, Dean-Academic ,Indian Institute of Technology

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for making Education Conclave Bihar a Grand Success As Elets Education Conclave 2018 in Patna witnessed the congregation of eminent bureaucrats, policymakers, edu-leaders, edu-tech thought leaders and key stakeholders on June 22, we thank Bihar Education Minister, Patna Mayor, every participant, speaker and exhibitor for sharing their thoughts and innovations in the conclave and making it successful.

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Inauguration of Education Conclave Chhattisgarh by Shrichand Sundrani, MLA-Raipur North; Pramod Dubey, Mayor, Raipur along with other eminent dignitaries

I

Pondering Chhattisgarh’s Education Scenario

n an endeavour towards revisiting the education scenario of Chhattisgarh, exploring possibilities and challenges in terms of improving the quality of education in the State and understanding plans and achievements of the Chhattisgarh Government for it, a day-long Education Conclave Chhattisgarh was organised by Elets Technomedia Private Limited in Raipur with Microsoft as a presenting partner.

Shrichand Sundrani, MLA- Raipur North; Pramod Dubey, Mayor, Raipur, inaugurated the conclave held on June 27.

Speaking on the occasion, Mayor Pramod Dubey said that educating children is the biggest philanthropic work every citizen can do as a contribution to the society.

Also deliberating on the occasion as a special guest was MLA Shrichand Sundrani who said, “Children of poor and middle class families should also be admitted in private schools, so that all sections of the society have same access to education and are at same level in terms of education.”

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On this occasion, “Teach For Raipur” an initiative of Raipur Smart City Limited was felicitated for its role in developing Raipur as an education hub.

The conclave was the confluence of policymakers, heads of schools and higher education institutes, university vice-chancellors and officials from the edutech corporate.

The conclave witnessed panel discussions on the topics such as: ‘It’s about Getting a Job – Not a Degree: Building strong linkages among educators, employers, and entrepreneurs’; ‘Collaborative working between schools and edtech companies to simplify Digital education’ and ‘Building a Successful Educational Brand’.

During the conclave, top universities, B-schools, engineering colleges and schools were also felicitated by digitalLEARNING magazine for their exemplary work in the field of education. The industry presentations during the summit highlighted the scope of technology and its comprehensive effect on the education sector. A few glimpses of the conclave:

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Magzine Launch at Education Conclave Chhattisgarh (From L-R): Sudhakar Rao, Director-Branding, ICFAI Group; Shrichand Sundrani MLA-Raipur North; Pramod Dubey, Mayor, Raipur; Dr R P Dubey, Vice Chancellor, C V Raman University.

Pramod Dubey Mayor, Raipur

“The country is becoming smarter in various aspects.

Cities are becoming smart and working methodology of people is becoming smarter and digitalised. It is the need of hour to work on health and education sector of the country. It is good to see that the conclaves like this playing their part in improving the education sector of the country. The biggest challenge municipal schools are facing is lack of teachers. The platform can help us in addressing the challenge by partnering with municipal schools in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.”

Shrichand Sundrani MLA-Raipur North

“Our Prime Minister not only wants employment for youths of the country but he wants every youth to generate employment for others as well. In line with the vision of our Prime Minister, Chhattisgarh Government has started many schemes to boost the education sector in the State. From very few universities, the State now has a significant number of central universities, state universities, private universities and higher education institutes.

Raipur is gradually becoming the leading education hub of North India.”

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Engineer-in-Chief Naya Raipur Development Authority “When we talk about education, a lot of words come to my mind such as knowledge, learning, literacy, schooling, skills, quality education and value education. All these are part of imparting education.

Every such aspect of education must be taken into account in order to improve the education scenario in the country.”

Gaurava Mishra

Jitendra Singh Meena

Chief Operating Officer Raipur Smart City Limited

AIG Traffic and Technical Services PHQ Chhattisgarh Police

“Every citizen must have a feeling of belongingness towards his/her on city. This is the reason we have started “More Raipur” which is derived from the term “Aamchi Mumbai”. It means that the city is mine and I must take care of it.”

“Over 12 lakh people lose their lives annually across the globe due to road accidents. In India, the number is 1.5 lakh annually. These numbers are so huge that the road safety cannot be neglected. United Nations has also declared the present decade as the decade of road safety to reduce road fatalities.”

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Sudhakar Rao Director-Branding ICFAI Group

“India is one of the largest economies in the world which is expected to rise at a rapid pace in the coming years. This also offers an opportunity for education sector to disseminate knowledge through technology to improve the education ecosystem.”

Dr R P Dubey

Dr Jawahar Surisetti

“Higher education across the globe is changing at a rapid pace. Today, the demand is of skill-based education. The Government is also focussing on skill and vocational training of the students and has started various schemes in this regard.”

“Experiential learning is important for kids to remember things throughout their lifetime. Along with teachers, parents can also play a very important role in it. Schools may opt for creative ways to impart knowledge. It will improve the students learning outcomes.”

Vice-Chancellor DR C V Raman University

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Psychologist and Educationist Raipur

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conference report

Dr Jayati Chatterjee

Ashish Gupta

Head of Department Dr C V Raman University

Director - Modern Workplace Education, Microsoft

“The Education system needs to be reformed for providing quality education to the students. Digital technologies and tools may help in bringing this much-needed reform. The platform like education conclave supports the universities to discuss and know about the latest and best practices followed across the globe.”

“It is impossible to replace the “Gurus” (teachers) who are the drivers of any achievement by the students. The technology just helps the teachers to improve their efficiency and deliver the education to students in a better way.”

Swati Kaushal

Head-Advocacy and Evangelism Microsoft “Microsoft has a huge presence in the education sector. The company through its various products helps the institutions to reach their maximum potential in terms of learning outcomes and digitising the classrooms. Our products enable Information Technology delivery in institutes through ICT tools.”

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Panel Discussion: Building a Successful Educational Brand

(From L - R): Raghunath Mukherjee, Principal, Delhi Public School, Raipur; Durga Rao, Additional Director, Shankaracharya Group of Colleges; Dr Jawahar Surisetti, Psychologist and Educationist, Raipur; Abhishek Pandey, Director, Disha Institute of Management & Technology; S V Tiwari, Head Corporate Training BIT DURG; Sonia Wadhwa, Microsoft Innovative Education

Panel Discussion: Collaborative working between schools and ed-tech companies to simplify Digital education

(From L - R): Shanmugam Paramasivan, Principal, Rungta International School; Dr Shruti Gupta, Director, Brilliant Public School, Bilaspur; Priyanka Tripathi, Principal, Krishna Public school, Raipur; R K Trivedi, Dean, O P Jindal Group of Schools; M Fredrick, Principal, St Xaviers Public School, Korba; Chetna sharma, Principal Monet DAV School

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Panel Discussion: It’s about Getting a Job – Not a Degree: Building strong linkages among educators, employers, and entrepreneurs conference report

(From L - R): Dr A K Satpathy, Director, Gayatri College of Pharmacy; Prof (Dr) R Shridhar, Head of Technology, Commerce and Management Department, Kalinga University; Dr Pramod Naik, Dean-Academics, Dr C V Raman University; Dr Sanjay Kumar Sahoo, Vice Chancellor, ITM University; Swati Kaushal, Head Advocacy & Evangelism, Microsoft; Deepak Kumar Sahoo, Director, Biju Patnaik University of Technology.

Key Participants in the conclave

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