Education For All - Will we make it? : April 2008 Issue by digital LEARNING Magazine - Elets Technomedia Pvt Ltd

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digitalLEARNING Volume IV Issue 4 April 2008 ISSN 0973-4139

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Education for all

WILL WE MAKE IT?

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Contents Volume IV Issue IV, April 2008

Trinity Future-In 37 Product: USB-Based Computer Security

38 Commentary: Are ICT Skills The Bridge To New Opportunities For Everyone?

45 Partnership: An Innovative Approach To “Blended” Learning

The Foyer

Conference 40 Baramati on Information and

Cover Story

Dialouge

Education For All Will We Make It?

Communication Technology (ICT), 24-25 March 2008, Baramati, Pune

‘Modern’ And Technical Education In Madrasas

Research e-Learning 18 Brihaspati Platform Nagendra Kumar Singh, Sanjay Pal, Kishore Kumar Shukla

Policy Matter Policy 22 Collaborative Development Suits India Interview: Terry Culver, Deputy Director, Global e-Schools and Communities Initiative (GeSCI)

Corporate Diary

Bala Subramanium President, School Division, NIIT

Country Focus

Ghana’s Education Triumvirate Interview: Agnes AsamoahDuodu, Deputy Coordinator, ICT in Education Programme Unit, Ministry of Education, Ghana

Leader’s Speak

Directions In 54 Emerging Global Education 2008

Regulars

Mark Your Calendar

News Sunil Khanna Co-Founder, Topper TV

Sricharan Iyengar Co-Founder, Greycells 18

42 46 52 56

Corporate India Asia World

All the articles are available online at www.digitalLearning.in

digital LEARNING Volume IV, Issue 4 | April 2008

President M P Narayanan Editor-in-Chief Ravi Gupta Group Directors Maneesh Prasad, Sanjay Kumar Programme Co-ordinator Jayalakshmi Chittoor Assistant Editor Manjushree Reddy Research Associate Rachita Jha Web Editor Arunesh Dogra Marketing Siddharth Verma +91-9811561645 (India) email: siddharth@csdms.in Subscription & Circulation Lipika Dutta (+91-9871481708) Manoj Kumar (+91-9210816901) Sr Graphic Designer Bishwajeet Kumar Singh Graphic Designers Om Prakash Thakur Chandrakesh Bihari Lal (James) Web Zia Salahuddin Santosh Kumar Singh Amit Pal Editorial and Marketing Correspondence digital Learning G-4 Sector 39 NOIDA 201301, India Phone +91 120 2502181-85 Fax +91 120 2500060 Email info@digitalLearning.in Printed by

Editorial Education For All: Future Imperfect Recently, the ‘2008 Global Monitoring Report on Education For All by 2015’ was released by UNESCO. While education constitutes a crucial and obvious element for over all development of any country, setting goals to levearage the weight of the United Nations behind a universal goal has been an effective approach. What remains to be seen is whether the targets stated in the EFA will be met within the stipulated time. Truthfully, as the report clearly states, 58 out of the 86 countries have not yet reached universal primary enrolment and are unlikely to achieve it by 2015. Out of 101 countries, more than two-thirds will not have succeeded in significantly reducing adult literacy by 2015. Education has beguan to acquire significant weight in any country’s agenda, including India. Developing and under developed countries in Sub- Saharan Africa and South and West Asia are struggling to cope with these goals. Some countries lack sufficient political or financial capability to implement policies, many are witness to unceasing political conflicts that hinder social development. Other problems that plague social progress are lack of gender sensitivity and social support systems which have left a large number of women out of school. Teacher training and availability is a perennial problem. Moreover, difficulty in finding quantifiable data that would aid in mapping ongoing progress constitutes all together another challenge in itself. The silver lining is the increasing power of technology to open avenues that would have earlier been unfeasible. A notable fact is that today, students from premier Indian institutions, such as IITs can earn while they learn by e-Teaching weakers students in other countries. Budgets are increasing, traditional education systems are debating reforms, and even the private sector involvement might just bridge the gap between the demand and supply of higher education. Niche television channels run by corporate which focus exclusively on educational content have also made an appearance. While the prospect of technology are exciting in the current scenario, the achievement of overall goals such as those stipulated in the EFA agenda seem unlikely unless we have a few breakthroughs that allow scope for much more than what is currently possible. Large scale education dynamic still depend on factors, such as aid and access. The first can and has been addressed by the government(s) to an extent. We at Digital Learning hope that ICT will help in the latter. Education needs to turn around from teaching the past to facing the future.

Vinayak Print Media, Noida Gautam Budh Nagar (U.P.) India Email: vinayakprintmedia@gmail.com digital Learning does not neccesarily subscribe to the views expressed in this publication. All views expressed in the magazine are those of the contributors. digital Learning is not responsible or accountable for any loss incurred, directly or indirectly as a result of the information provided.

Ravi Gupta Editor-in-Chief Ravi.Gupta@csdms.in

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Education For All

Will We Make It?

Have national governments followed up on their commitment to the EFA goals? Has the international community provided adequate support to national governments? Is the world, as a result, progressing towards EFA by 2015 and, if not, which are the goals that have been neglected and the countries or regions in greatest difficulty?

April 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

ducation has always been a unique ng a means of basic livelihood to a very effective way to deal with future needs of society. However, everyone knows that unless education for all is achieved, the next level to which education needs to be revamped in order to address the very same needs of society will not be feasible. ‘In April 2000 more than 1,100 participants from 164 countries gathered in Dakar, Senegal, for the World Education Forum (WEF). They affirmed their commitment to achieving Education for All (EFA) by the year 2015,’’is how the legend goes on the UNESCO portal. Expanding from paradigm shifts in development programmes, the EFA represents a change over to a global ‘imperative’ that leverages universal sensibilities based on, amongst other things, factors that are propelling economies to boom. Examples of paradigm shifts in global initiatives are many, such as the change over from family planning programmes to the more holistic ‘mother and child care’ programme; or on realising that more than half the world’s work force relies on street food, the initiative to educate street hawkers and vendors on hygiene. Meanwhile, back at WEF 2000, six key education goals were identified and were aim at meeting the learning needs of all children, youth and adults by 2015. While a lot has happened interim, there still is a lot of ground to cover. Countries that have posted significant progress number 51 out of a total of 129, while 53 are still in the process of catching up with their targets, yet another 25 are closer to the starting point as evidenced by the EFA Development Index. The included small print here states that the Index cannot cover states in uncertain or fragile conditions or suffering from conflict or even, for that matter, recovering from conflict. Strengthening and supporting ‘fragile’ states has been an emerging priority on the EFA agenda since 2000. Such states are characterized by weak institutions, prolonged economic hardship and/or conflict, with a direct negative impact on education development. More than half a billion Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 4 April 2008

people are estimated to live in thirty-five fragile states. Although the number of armed conflicts around the world is in decline, most wars continue to be fought in the developing world, with civilians suffering the most casualties. By investing in education in post-conflict situations, governments and the international community send out a forceful message about building a more peaceful future. The four main areas that the index quantifies are universal primary education, adult literacy, gender parity and education quality. Let us take a look at where we stand viz, each of these six goals. Early childhood care and education: Strangely indicative of the state of affairs is how early childhood care and education programmes generally do not reach the poorest and most disadvantaged children, who stand to gain the most from them in terms of health, nutrition and cognitive development. There is a paucity of policy measures aimed at providing care and education to children below the age of three. However the silver lining is

c ov

er s tor y

that child mortality rates have dropped. Immunisation campaigns and improved access to basic health facilities have led to a significant decline in child mortality. However, the comprehensive care and education of children below age 3 remains a neglected area and one difficult to monitor for want of adequate data. Meanwhile, the supply of preprimary education to children aged 3 and above has improved, but remains very uneven. Many developing countries still have limited or non-existent preprimary education systems; where they exist at all, too often they combine very low enrolment ratios with insufficient numbers of teachers (and even fewer trained teachers), resulting in high pupil/ teacher ratios (PTRs).

Universal primary Education

Access to and participation in primary education have sharply increased since

The six EFA Goals •

Goal 1: Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children

•

Goal 2: Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to, and complete, free and compulsory primary education of good quality.

•

Goal 3: Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills programmes

•

Goal 4: Achieving a 50% improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults.

•

Goal 5: Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls’ full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality.

•

Goal 6: Improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills.

three regions, in Latin America and the Caribbean and in many countries in East Asia and the Pacific. Attention is required to those fragile states, and to those countries in or emerging from conflict, for which no data are available but where the situation of primary education is bound to be worse.

Dakar, and the number of out-of-school children dropped from 96 million to 72 million between 1999 & 2005. The Arab States, sub-Saharan Africa, and South and West Asia have shown substantial increases in enrolment ratios. However, progression through the primary grades and school completion remain important concerns nearly everywhere. The number of countries that have made education compulsory by law has education has moved to 203, taking the overall percentage to 95% while 23 countries that lacked legal provisions for compulsory education in 2000 have made the neacessary changes. What is heartening is the speedy increase in participation levels in sub-Saharan Africa (23%) and South and West Asia (11%). However, the efficacy of the increase remains moot as in other areas such as pre-primary education, the region lags behind the others.

Access to and participation in primary education have sharply increased since Dakar, and the number of out-of-school children correspondingly dropped from 96 million to 72 million between 1999 and 2005. Most regions are close to reaching universal primary education (UPE). In the three regions that are not â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the Arab States, sub-Saharan Africa, and South and West Asia â&#x20AC;&#x201C; substantial increases in enrolment ratios have taken place in many countries. However, progression through the primary grades and school completion remain important concerns in those

Inequalities remain within countries: between regions, provinces or states; between urban and rural areas; between rich and poor households; and between ethnic groups. Recent evidence points to lower participation and completion rates for children living in slums or belonging to poor families living in non-slum areas. Many countries with relatively high primary enrolment ratios need still to address equity issues.

Adult Literacy

With 774 million adults who lack basic literacy skills (measured by conventional methods), the growing consensus is for more direct measurement of literacy skills would significantly increase the global estimate of the number of adults denied the right to literacy. Most

The number of out-of-school children went down to 72 million evidencing the inclusion of 24 million children between 1999 and 2005. In spite of the increase, substantial differences exist amidst regions depending on factors such as whether the area was rural or urban. Poorer populations and disadvantaged sections were as systematically disadvantaged as those children living in slums. Clearly, education is dependent on the political state of the country as 35 fragile states contained 37% of all out-of-school children. In further bad news, if things carry on the way they are, 58 out of 86 countries that have not yet reached universal primary enrolment will not achieve it by 2015.

April 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

countries have made little progress during the past decade in reducing the absolute number of adult illiterates, with the notable exception of China. The adult literacy rate in developing countries increased from 68% to 77% between the periods 1985–1994 and 1995–2004. Of the 101 countries still far from achieving ‘universal literacy’, 72 will not succeed in halving their adult illiteracy rates by 2015.

A noticeable fact here is that about 64% of the total number of adults lacking in literacy are women. What’s more, this figure has remained unchanged since the early 1990s. This brings us to the next important goal of the EFA, eliminating gender disparity.

Adult literacy remains a global issue 774 million adults (of whom 64% are women) still lack basic literacy and numeracy skills. East Asia, South and West Asia and sub-Saharan Africa are home to the vast majority of the one in five adults worldwide who are denied the right to literacy. Except in China and a few other countries, there has been little progress during the past decade in reducing the large number of illiterate adults.

75% of the total numbers of countries at parity or close to it at primary level, while 47% are close to reaching the goal in secondary education. However, only 18 out of 113 countries that missed the gender parity goal at primary and secondary level in 2005 stand a chance of achieving it by 2015.

Gender: Back in 2005, 59 countries had achieved gender parity in primary and secondary education. Percentage-wise,

The goal of eliminating gender disparities in both primary and secondary education by 2005 was missed in a great majority of countries. April 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

Only 59 countries, about one-third of the 181 countries for which data are available, had achieved the gender parity goal, very few of them since 1999. Gender disparities persist in many countries, particularly at the upper levels: while 63% of countries with data had managed to eliminate gender disparities in primary education, only 37% had done so at the secondary level. Girls’ access to primary and secondary schools, while improving, remains a major issue in countries where overall participation levels are still low. In countries with higher participation levels (developed countries, Latin America and especially the Caribbean, the Pacific), boys’ underparticipation in secondary education is a growing problem.

Quality

Relatively low and unequal learning achievement in language and Mathematics characterised many countries worldwide. Lack of proper classroom facilities, textbooks and instruction time have prevalent in many developing countries and fragile states. To varying degrees, all countries need to improve the quality of education. There is no single strategy, but key elements include health and safety at school, enough learning time and textbooks, skilled and motivated teachers, and effective teaching methods. To address teacher shortages and limit costs, many governments are hiring teachers on temporary contracts. In the long term, governments need a policy framework assuring the integration of contract teachers with regular teachers into one career stream. Classroom practices and curricula influence teaching and learning. Of particular importance are the use of children’s mother tongue, regular assessment, enough textbooks, and access to information and communication technology. Many countries are moving towards a system of continuous pupil assessment. While there is a long way to go in promoting multilingualism and mothertongue initial instruction in primary education, progress is being made. Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 4 April 2008

Pupil/teacher ratios have increased in sub-Saharan Africa and in South and West Asia since 1999. Eighteen million new primary school teachers are needed worldwide to reach universal primary education by 2015. International and regional assessments and a growing number of national assessments conducted since 1999 show that relatively poor learning outcomes in language and Mathematics, as well as other subjects, still characterise many countries worldwide. The need to improve these outcomes, especially their uneven distribution within countries, remains a salient challenge in all countries. On average, more than 60% of countries allocate fewer than 800 yearly hours of instruction in grades 1–6, even though recent research confirms positive correlations between instructional time and learning outcomes. Many developing countries, especially in Africa and Asia, and in conflict-affected areas, have crowded classrooms, poor school infrastructure and inadequate learning environments. Acute shortages of teachers are common, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, and South and West Asia, and even greater shortages of

trained teachers in some countries hinder quality teaching and learning.

Generic changes

Changes in education spend outside of North America and Western Europe increased in about 50 countries but declined in 34 between 1999 and 2005. The sub-Saharan Africa and South and West Asian regions increased their public expenditure on education by just 5% annually but even this marginal increase does not seem adequate in terms of achieving EFA goals. On the aid front, low-income countries received on average US$3.1 billion a year in 2004 and 2005. Basis current trends, bilateral aid to basic education will likely reach US$5 billion a year in 2010. Even when multilateral aid is included, the total will still be well below the US$11 billion a year required to reach the EFA goals. Apparently aid to education is still not targeted to the neediest countries, and a minute share goes to early childhood and literacy programmes. Key to the situation seems to be that countries with primary net enrolment ratios below 80% in 2005 but making significant progress towards UPE increased their education expenditure as a share of GNP from 3.4% in 1999 to 11

4.2% in 2005, on average. In countries where progress has been slower, the average share decreased. The ultimate responsibility for achieving EFA lies with governments, but for many countries, especially the poorest, progress also relies on support from donors. Official development assistance from bilateral donors grew by 9% annually between 1999 and 2005, but preliminary data indicate a downturn in 2006. In 2005, the G8 countries made commitments to increase aid substantially through a variety of means, including traditional development assistance and debt relief. Yet donors need to accelerate plans to scale up aid to Africa if their promises are to retain credibility. Donors and international agencies need to increase aid to basic education sharply to meet the annual external financing need of US$11 billion by 2010; to at least 10% the share of basic education in bilateral sectoral aid and improve governments’ capacity to use larger amounts of aid effectively. Projections suggest that, without accelerated efforts: • 58 of the 86 countries that have not yet reached universal primary enrolment will not achieve it by 2015; • 72 out of 101 countries will not succeed in halving their adult illiteracy rates by 2015; • only 18 of the 113 countries that missed the gender parity goal at primary and secondary level in 2005 stand a chance of achieving it by 2015.

Latin America and the Caribbean. SubSaharan Africa, and South and West Asia, the two regions with the lowest literacy rates and the highest number of out-of-school children, need to pay much stronger attention to the inclusion of youth and adults in basic education through literacy and other programmes. Across the world, more than 18 million new teachers will need to be employed by 2015. Sub-Saharan Africa faces the greatest challenge. To reach universal primary education the stock of teachers will have to increase from 2.4 million in 2004 to 4 million in 2015, in addition to the 2.1 million new teachers required to replace those leaving the teaching workforce. Growth in per capita income across all low-income countries creates the potential for higher government expenditure on EFA, as does the increasing share of national income that governments across Asia and sub-Saharan Africa allocate to EFA. But governments face the need to spend more on secondary and tertiary education, as well as on basic education. According to the EFA 2008 Report, ‘the gender parity goal set for 2005 has been missed. Only 59 out of 181 countries with data have no gender disparities in both primary and secondary education. Most of these countries had already reached gender parity by 1999. Only three countries eliminated gender disparities between 1999 and 2005.

Countries making significant progress towards universal enrolment in primary education have tended to increase their education expenditure as a share of GNP. In countries where the progress has been slower, the share has decreased.

Very significant progress has been made in terms of enrolment in primary and lower secondary school, especially for girls and in some of the regions and countries that were facing the greatest challenges in 2000. A major equity challenge remains: to enrol and retain all children, especially the poor and disadvantaged, and those living in fragile states.

The analysis also signals that, although early childhood care and education is receiving increasing attention, participation rates remain relatively low in all developing regions except

This year’s EFA Global Monitoring Report marks the midterm point in the international commitment to provide a quality education to all by 2015. It assesses progress towards expanding April 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

early childhood learning programmes, achieving free and universal primary education, realizing gender parity and gender equality in education, reducing adult illiteracy and improving education quality. It highlights innovative projects and strategies, and underscores the urgency of pushing forward with a common agenda for action. The Report notes some real gains, especially in getting more children into primary school. Many governments have taken measures to reduce the cost of schooling and tackle obstacles to girls’ education. But great challenges remain. There are not enough schools, teachers and learning materials. Poverty and disadvantage remain a major barrier for millions of children and youth. Policies exist that address both access and quality, but they require much bolder action, from the earliest age, to reach the most vulnerable groups and dramatically expand literacy programmes for youth and adults. Fields as important as early childhood care and education (ECCE) and learning opportunities for youth and adults, including in literacy, have suffered because of continued neglect from national governments and the international community. This is a further aspect of the equity challenge: giving all people an educational start (through ECCE) and compensating for past failures to do so (via youth and adult programmes, especially literacy). The quality of education is increasingly perceived as the pervasive issue, across the world. Systematic assessments of learning outcomes, which have become more frequent in recent years, show problematically low and/or unequal levels of learning in most countries. Although the proportion of an age cohort entering the first grade of primary education is high or has increased in most developing countries, many children do not complete the primary cycle and even fewer master basic literacy and numeracy skills. Reforming classroom teaching and learning, and the management of schools, so as to reduce gender Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 4 April 2008

inequality and improve the quality of education has proved difficult and not easily amenable to global policy prescriptions. The flow of external financial support for basic education grew consistently between 2000 and 2004, but declined in 2005 and remains totally inadequate overall, compared to needs, in terms of both level and allocation. The vision of EFA has tended to be reduced to an emphasis on provision of formal schooling at primary level, which is necessary but insufficient to achieve education ‘for every citizen in every society’. This limited vision has particularly been reinforced at the international level, where the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), with their focus on primary education, are dominant and with the growth of the Fast Track Initiative (FTI), which also largely limits itself to primary education, albeit in a broader sectoral context. The EFA agenda rests on a belief that public policy can radically transform education systems and their relationship to society within a few years, given adequate political will and resources. This belief extends not only to the provision of basic facilities for formal primary schooling, which several developing countries have indeed proven able to dramatically expand over short periods, but also to subtler aspects of the school system such as gender stereotypes and the relationship between teachers and pupils, on which the achievement of Goals 5 and 6,

respectively, depends. While the Expanded Commentary on the Dakar Framework states that achieving EFA by 2015 ‘is a realistic and achievable goal’ (UNESCO, 2000a, para. 5), doubts have been expressed concerning the 2015 target; for many countries this would imply, for instance, a speedier transition from elitist to near-universal enrolment in primary education than has ever been Observed.

Global trends affecting education

The global prospect for achieving EFA is influenced by trends in such diverse and interrelated areas as demography, urbanization, migration, health, and economic and political systems. Changes in these areas, have important consequences for government resource allocation. These include population growth, urbanization and health, sustained economic growth, reduced poverty, increasing inequality, the rise of the knowledge economy, democracy and governance and finally in efforts to increase and harmonize aid. Enormous strides have been made towards achieving universal enrolment and gender parity at the primary level, and aid has demonstrably supported effective national efforts, as the diverse examples of Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, India, Mozambique, the United Republic of Tanzania, Yemen and Zambia demonstrate. If this momentum is to be maintained and even accelerated, if it is to be complemented by progress towards the other EFA goals of quality, literacy, early childhood and the 13

learning needs of youth and adults, and if it is to be extended to all countries, action is needed by all stakeholders at the global level and by national governments, civil society and donors at the country level.

Global priorities

All stakeholders need to ensure that: 1) EFA remains a priority on the global agenda in the face of emerging global issues such as climate change and public health. It is critical to keep up broad advocacy for EFA and to show that it can also contribute in important ways to these other dominant issues. 2) EFA as a whole is the focus and not just UPE. Since the MDGs include only UPE and gender parity, and since primary enrolment has so far been the area of greatest success, there is a danger of focusing exclusively on this one goal. 3) Policy and implementation emphasize five key factors â&#x20AC;&#x201C; inclusion , literacy, quality, capacity development and finance. a) Inclusion means encompassing: the marginalized and disadvantaged, whether they be poor, rural and urban slum residents, ethnic and linguistic minorities, or the disabled; all age groups, from early childhood (ECCE) to adults (especially literacy); and girls and women, particularly as the 2005 gender parity goal has been missed. It is essential not to write this goal off but rather to achieve it on a new timetable. b) Literacy is, of course, part of inclusion, but must be singled out separately as it is the most neglected goal and the world suffers the shame of having about one in five adults still not literate, despite the notable example of China. c) Quality is now receiving increasing priority but remains a major challenge everywhere, especially in low-income countries. d) Capacity development, increasingly the obstacle to achieving the full, challenging EFA agenda, is especially an issue as attention turns from broad 14

system expansion alone to encompass inclusion, literacy and quality. e) Finance is a key element when governments face the need to increase national expenditure on EFA as well as on secondary and higher education, and when aid for basic education in lowincome countries must be raised to at least US$11 billion a year to achieve EFA. 4) More focus is put on sub-Saharan Africa and on fragile states, the region and group of countries least likely to achieve the goals by 2015 or even 2025 on present trends, though other lowincome countries must not be neglected. 5) The international architecture is made more effective, encompassing all of EFA and integrating the various partial initiatives, with a focus on the five priorities above. Also, with many countries extending the concept of basic education beyond primary level, the EFA agenda is moving beyond a strict interpretation of the six goals, as reflected by the increased coverage of secondary education in this Report. While it may not be appropriate to redefine the EFA goals formally, the EFA movement can and should take account of the trend towards an extended vision of basic education in the formal sector.

Will we make it?

The evidence since Dakar is clear â&#x20AC;&#x201C; determined national governments have made much progress in all regions, and increased aid aligned to national efforts has demonstrably worked to support this progress. We must maintain this momentum â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and accelerate it if all the goals are to be met. Time is short. Only if all stakeholders now embrace and maintain a relentless focus on EFA as a whole, rallying around the key elements of inclusion, literacy, quality, capacity development and finance, will the right to education at every age be fulfilled.

INDIA: Where do we stand? It is around sixty years ago that India began its programme for providing free and compulsory education to all

April 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

children by transforming the elite oriented system of school education inherited from the colonial rulers to a mass education programme. The task became a virtual race against increasing population which outstripped the pace at which children could be enrolled and educated in schools. Notwithstanding this demographic challenge, the system grew in size and with that the number of children participating in schooling also grew multifold. The struggle to reach the long cherished goal of universal elementary education continues even today. On the policy front: Move to adopt a rights based approach The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) formulated in 1989 and the World Declaration on Education for All adopted in 1990, marked the beginning of a new era of advocacy and action in favour of children at the global level. Within India, recognition to this perspective has come with the amendment to the Constitution in 2002 making education a fundamental right of every child in the age group 6-14. The legislation ‘Right to Education’ which is under the consideration of the Government makes some concrete progress in this direction. But even more difficult is the task of determining the extent of violation of the fundamental right in case of those millions of children who remain outside the formal school either because they never get enrolled or drop out from school during the constitutionally mandated age of 6 to 14 years. Further, if one takes into cognizance the results of several achievement surveys conducted recently, what about the right of those who suffer silent exclusion even while sitting in the classrooms as the schools fail to impart any learning?

Mapping literacy status across Indian States

Independent India began its educational journey with a serious handicap as only around 18 per cent adults possessed basic literacy skills. The situation has vastly changed as successive generation got the opportunity to pursue school education. Thus, examining literacy status across the country Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 4 April 2008

indirectly reflects on the efficiency and effectiveness of the school system that has grown multi-fold during the last six decades. Over the last five decades, there has been an impressive growth in literacy in India. In 1901, a little over 5% of Indian population was literate, which increased to around 16% in 1950, a mere increase of 11 percentage points in the literacy rate during the first half of the century. In the post-independence period, the decadal growth in literacy has shown a substantial progress. In 2001, almost two-thirds of India’s population (65.38%), and around threefourths of males (75.85%) and more than half of females (54.16%) were literate. What has been the progress since 2001?

Across the world, more than 18 million new teachers will need to be employed by 2015 Seven states carry the burden of two thirds of the illiterate population in the country. In fact 60 percent of the illiterate population is accounted for by the States of UP, Bihar, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh which had been among the nine states identified as educationally backward nearly three decades ago. Regional variations in literacy rate become more pronounced when analysis is done at the district level. According to 2001 census, around one-fifth of 591 districts6 (i.e. 81 districts) have literacy rate equal to or less than 50%; most of the low literacy districts (26 districts having literacy rate less than 40%) are located in the states such as Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh. In terms of absolute number of illiterates in 2001, the top 100 districts are found in 11 states – Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal (see Chart 7). These districts are home to 120.03 million illiterates (around 40% of illiterates of the country). In fact, sixtyseven districts in the country spread over 9 states are having million plus

illiterates, together accounting for 88.51 million illiterates (see Map 2). These districts are spread over nine states some of which are otherwise educationally advanced. Female illiteracy rate is more than 50% (maximum of 81.51%) in 253 districts mostly located in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, J and K, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh (see Chart 3). These districts have 104.62 million female illiterates, which accounts for 54.51% of female illiterates in the country. In 17 districts, more than 3/4th of the females are illiterates. The variation in the literacy rate across social groups and household types is also very high. In terms of social status, the population can be grouped into four categories – i.e. Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Other Backward Classes (OBC), and others. The SC and ST population are generally disadvantaged in most of the states in India. According to the 2001 Census, India has 16.2% and 8.2% of SC and ST population respectively.

Can India Achieve EFA Goals by 2015?

After sixty years the country is again at a critical juncture. The goal of universal elementary education appears to be certainly achievable. At least three factors seem to support such optimism. First, the demographic change that is unfolding across several states is quite reassuring. With falling birth rates, the reduction in demand for school places is clearly visible. This is amply evident form the estimates presented in Table 22 on the projected trajectory for achieving universal elementary education by 2015. With this comes the hope that mobilising necessary infrastructure and human resources is not beyond the realm of possibility in the near future. The second major factor supporting such a positive view is the current state of Indian economy. The fast growing economy has offered enough leeway in planning development programmes using domestic resources. This again is clearly evident from the expanding size of the fund accrued in the Prarambik Shiksha Kosh created for supporting elementary education 15

Projected Child Population, Enrolment and Out of School Children, 2004-05 to 2014-15

Source: ^2004-05 enrolment from Selected Educational Statistics, 2004-05

efforts by imposing 2% education cess on all taxes collected. This indeed is a far cry from what prevailed 15 years ago with dwindling foreign exchange reserves and increased need for seeking external assistance. The third factor is the groundswell created through mass mobilization during the last 10-15 years which has begun to pay. Peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s participation â&#x20AC;&#x201C; those who seek education as well as those who seek to support educational activities has literally grown to enormous proportions. What about other Dakar Goals? As increase in literacy rates are closely linked to elementary school participation, and if the rate of increase in literacy rate in recent years is any indication, the Dakar goal for literacy would also be achieved with minor exceptions of some States. Move towards gender parity in participation at various levels has been quite impressive in recent years and one would foresee the country meeting the target; but the same cannot be said with regard to indicators of gender equality. Disparities in this regard are likely to persist as they are dependent on factors outside the domain of educational action linked to social and cultural practices. Nevertheless, unprecedented level of mobilization of women witnessed at 16

Aid to basic education in low income countries doubled between 2000 and 2004 but decreased significantly in 2005 the grassroots level achieved through programmes of SHG and other economic and social empowerment strategies have begun to demonstrate that even these socio-cultural hurdles can be overcome. Provision of life skill programmes for out-of-school youth and young adults is gradually picking up and is likely to take concrete shape in the nest few years under the 11th five year plan. The answer for this area seems to lie in enhanced programmes of public-private partnership on the one hand and increased involvement of NGOs on the other. The real challenge before the planners will continue to be of incorporating the most marginalized among the traditionally disadvantaged social groups and minority communities. Making available good quality education for all will of course be a long term agenda that will have to be pursued even

beyond 2015. If current assessments are any indication, this is going to be the toughest challenge ahead. In conclusion, it appears that National and State Governments have been till now heavily preoccupied with reporting the progress in terms of expansion of schooling facilities and coverage of children in the relevant age group. This supply-oriented approach to development of elementary education, to a large extent, has resulted in multifold expansion of the system adequate enough to accommodate all children. But, there has been probably inadequate attention towards critical issues of regional imbalances and social inequity. Attention has been missing on the marginalized areas and social groups acting in whose favour is not only desirable but would also make a significant on difference in quantitative progress. In particular, improving public institutions catering to the marginalised and the poor has remained a neglected area. What is needed at this juncture is to focus on efforts that improve the delivery system; strengthen the management of schools and teachinglearning processes in the classroom, and their impact on learning levels. Attention has to be paid to better utilisation of resources at district and sub-district levels on quality improvement programmes. Education development efforts during the coming years need to focus more on these aspects with a clearly defined transformative vision. Even from cursory observations, it is clear that States which have addressed such issues in the last decade have registered greater progress than those which have invested their attention only on reporting quantitative progress by utilizing resources provided by the Centre. The two have to go hand in hand; quantitative progress without attending to processes and outcomes would only lead to unviable and unproductive structures in the long run, eventually burdening the poor and increasing inequalities. While the country would continue to face several challenges and hurdles in these efforts, one could safely state that lack of finances is not likely to be a serious obstacle in marching towards EFA goals. April 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

RCH A E RES

Brihaspati e-Learning Platform http://home.iitk.ac.in/~ynsingh/tool/brihaspati.shtml Nagendra Kumar Singh MIETE, Sanjay Pal, Kishore Kumar Shukla

s opposed to the computerbased training of 1980s, the term e-Learning refers to computer-enhanced training. e-Learning is usually delivered via a personal computer. It includes learning delivered by other communications technologies. Methods include online lectures, tutorials, performance support systems, simulations, job aids, games, and more.

India’s premier educational institution IIT Kanpur launches its own LMS using an opensource frame work to build e-Learning courses and deliver them across wide area networks

e-Learning may also be used to suit distance learning through the use of WANs (Wide Area Networks), and may also be considered to flexible. University Grant commission (UGC) recommends ‘Brihaspati the virtual classroom’ web based e-Learning system to be used by universities and colleges free of cost. Brihaspati Virtual Classroom is a software developed by IIT Kanpur. It is an open platform for learning, based on the java servlets content delivery system. Administrator (Admin) has the main authority of Brihaspati. The cost of the software is free and anybody can login into Brihaspati as a ‘Guest.’ In this case the username and password both would be’ Guest’ but the Instructor and Student accounts are created by the Admin user. It is a very user-friendly open source framework and can be used effectively to build e-education applications. Every Instructor can independently register students in their specified course. Instructors and Students both have their own unique password and login ids. Brihaspati gives full freedom to the Instructor and Student to come in contact with each other 18

Brihaspati work flow diagram: April 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

through e-mail, chat, and discussion boards.

Architecture and entities

Brihaspati is implemented in java using Turbine, an open source framework, as secure web application. This confirm to the Model View Controller (MVC) paradigm which aims at separating content, presentation and business logic. There are very five possible entities in the system at present. These are Administrator (for the learning management system), Instructor (primary and secondary), Student and the Content Author. At the moment, each course can have a single primary Instructor and any number of secondary Instructors. Additional Instructors can be added and deleted to course by the Admin at any time. However, removal of the primary Instructor leads to removal of the course as well. This structure resolves the IPR issues involved in any academic environment where the same course might be taught by different instructors in different semesters or academic years.

registration for Course and User (Author, Instructor and Student) are added. Automatic update information is sent to the users by Local Mail. Administrator Interface: On the Administrator interface front, Admin can now create new courses along with primary Instructors and later or simultaneously add secondary instructors. Online flash messages have been incorporated and single or multiple students can be added optionally. Modification of passwords and profiles of Instructors and Students, activation, deactivation and deletion of courses depending on whether it is offered in the current semester as well as adding and removing courses for students have been incorporated in the list of features available on the administrator interface. Course and user details can, of course, be updated by the Admin and multiple courses can be registered in a single step. In case the same course is taught by different Instructors, course number aliasing handles the situation. Feedback of the Instructors and their login status

Advantages of Brihaspati • • • •

• • • • •

Access to consistent standardized learning materials 24x7 access to flexible e-learning Track personal achievement and progression Virtual Communication enabling the sharing and dissemination of information throughout the College/Institution Improved access to learning opportunities Equitable access to learning Instant feedback on learner achievement Personal area to store work and other files Track attendance & assessment result

Instructors can create Sharing Content Object Reference Model-compliant (SCORM) course packages using SCORM Packager. Courses are seperated into topics and saved in a directory. This makes it easier for Students to browse courses as there is an XML descriptor file present for

GUI language and custom interface

Brihaspati has been designed to support multiple GUI. In the current distribution, we have English, French, Hindi, Bangla and Marathi as supported languages. GUIs in other languages such as Malayalam, Telugu and German are being developed. Amongst the more general features of Brihaspati Learning Management System are its in-built authentication system and the fact that any other Indian language GUI is available optionally as part of the customization offered on the LMS. The LMS also contains help documentation for users. The lists of active courses have now been made visible for those who do not have login IDs. Various functionalities and facilities such as a glossary, a calculator and even a personal and shared notebook have been added. Password management has been definitely tweaked and online Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 4 April 2008

Architecture

can also be verified by the Admin. There is a handy calendar tool for time management; this feature is common to Instructor and Student interfaces as well. Interface for Instructor and Student: Instructors can upload and publish courses in a single click, change the course headers. Course-specific news and general news can be generated.

each topic. The sequence of published content and topic can be modified and with the remote course capability comes separate uploading and publishing ability. Aliasing of contents has been incorporated and a chat tool has been integrated (a modified Babylon – open source freeware) which requires its own server and does not work over hosted 19

web space. Similarly the integration of a whiteboard tool (Babylon) requires its own server and does not work over hosted web space. Wiki – a course specific website which uses Revision Control System (RCS) and allows its users to become its page authors has also been incorporated along with a single threaded discussion board. Now looking for content has been made easier with the search engine which searches courses and the web. Other features include: • Notification System (single and multiple courses in one step) • Management of Question Bank database • Task Management Tool for personal task management • Random generation of new password when passwords are forgotten • Forget password with hint question available (hint question and its answer can be modified) • Single step deletion of all the students in the course • Mail Based Interaction • Group Management (Creation, Modification, Set Activities, Deletion) 20

Instructors can analyse their performance in their courses. The Admin can also create student reaction surveys for all Instructors. Assessment quizzes come with an automatic grading function and assignments can be assigned to the students on topics being taught. Author Interface: Separation of Content Creator and Instructor functionalities makes navigating the Author interface easier. Content is uploaded in a repository as content creator. Permissions for others to access the content from the repository are assigned and set. The metadata generated can be browsed by the Instructor. Using the accessible content repository, organisation of material for course content can be accomplished.

The user will have right to use all the content which he has uploaded into repository. Content creator can aggregate of existing content to build bigger content entities. Question banks, sections, images can all be saved as single entity and aggregated to form larger objects. All the students and instructors of IIT, Kanpur, (3,500 users) have access to nearly 500 courses through this LMS. In case an Instructor desires, he can also make this material accessible to others outside IIT Kanpur, by enabling the Guest account feature for his course. Almost 78 colleges and universities are currently using Brihaspati. This software provides access to remote courses from all other Brihaspati installations.

Nagendra Kumar Singh received an MCA degree from Indra Gandhi National Open University New Delhi in 2003 and an M.Sc. (Physics) from Kanpur University. Currently, he is working as Senior Project Associate (Team Leader) in the Brihaspati project. He is also actively involved in architectural design and development and testing of “Brihaspati The Virtual Classroom”. A Life Member of IETE and also a member of executive committee IETE Local center Kanpur, his research area is e-Learning, Networking, Software Engineering (Quality and Reliability). e-mail: singhnk@iitk.ac.in Kishore Kumar Shukla did his B.Tech(Electronics & communication) from Sikkim Manipal institute of Technology in 2003.Currently working at IIT Kanpur as a Project associate on the Brihaspati project and The Virtual Classroom for the last four years, he is actively involve in architectural design, development and implementation of Brihaspati. His areas of innterest include e-Learning and related technology, peer-to-peer technology, RFID, Mobile technology. e-mail: kkshukla@iitk.ac.in

April 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

29-31 July 2008 Pragati Maidan, New Delhi

India's Largest ICT Event

Its How We Deliver The High Definition ICT And Education Experience

Dr V S Ramamurthy, Chairman, Board of Governers, IIT Delhi

N Ravi Shankar, Joint Secretary, E-Learning Group, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Department of Information Technology Subhash C Khuntia Jt. Secretary, Dept. of School Education and Literacy, MHRD, Govt. of India

Dr. K Kasturirangan, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha)

MEET THE KEY STAKEHOLDERS IN ICT IN INDIA

R Chandrashekhar, Additional Secretary, DIT, Ministry of Communications and IT, Govt of India

Terry Culver, Deputy Director, Global e-Schools and Communities Initiative

Deepak Pental, Vice Chancellor, Delhi University

M C Pant, Chairman, National Institute of Open Schooling

Ashish Garg, Country Programme Director- India, GeSCI

O N Singh, Commissioner, Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti

Aakash Sethi, Executive Director, QUEST Alliance

Dr R Sreedher, Director, Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA)

Randeep Kaur, Learning Advisor, Plan India

Dr Rajashekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi Open University

icy l o p ter t ma

Collaborative Policy Development Suits India

Terry Culver, Deputy Director, Global e-Schools and Communities Initiative (GeSCI) Terry Culver, has over ten years experience in partnership and community development, education, and communications. Previously, he was Project Development Officer at the Harvard Institute for International Development, where he was involved in a number of education, health, and economic projects in West Africa, Southern Africa and Eastern Europe. Recently, Terry was in India to be a part of the ongoing collaborative process in making of the ‘National Policy on ICTs in School Education’ under the aegis of Ministry of HRD, Government of India along with strategic support from GeSCI, when he shared some of his experiences with the Digital Learning Team... ? Policy matters can be lengthy,

involve processes that vary from country to country. How has GeSCI’s journey been over the years? It’s different in different countries. In some places policies are a very quick and centralised process and in other countries they are a more collaborative, long term process. Our preference is that the policy development device is used to engage all the stakeholders, because you may need them for implementation. A 22

collaborative development process is particularly well suited to the ICT in education field because it’s not a single section when you look at it. Pedagogy, curriculum, training, content, infrastructure, technology also need to be taken into account. So dealing with a collaborative process is a good practice and is particularly relevant for ICT in education.

? How do you handle the logistics,

for example, the time taken to get all stakeholders in a common forum? You might wish it would take a week. But I think to do it right and to do it well, it takes a long time. Up to a point, the longer it takes the more valuable the time is. The process has to move, but at the same time people need to be clear on what the process is. I think it is important to give everybody an equal opportunity to participate in April 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

that process. There are low points and high points and in many ways policy development is the easy part of the process. The implementation of the policy is where all the challenges come in and is where the rubber meets the road.

? Which has been the quickest policy

formulated and which are the slower ones? How has the range been like? In some countries it is still going on, even though deployment has begun. Two years or longer. It varies on country, it varies on the amount of engagement stakeholders have in the issue and with the government. I think a lot depends on the willingness of the government to establish some kind of multi-stakeholder process. Infrastructure helps and scale makes a difference. In a smaller country with a centralised education system one can develop a policy process much quicker. It also has a lot to do with the amount of awareness that stakeholders have of the value and relevance of ICT in education. You have to integrate the other elements of the education system. In other words, you have to transversalise ICT across teacher training and development, across curriculum development, standards, exams, because otherwise it will be an isolated unit and won’t have any impact at all.

? How do you handle the attention

usually given to a third party facilitator in a policy formulation process? In terms of participating in this process here in India, it’s very humbling because of the scale and complexity, because of the amount of activity and amount of knowledge involved. In terms of GeSCI our primary role is to support the Ministry in establishing and continuing this process. We are neutral when it comes to all kinds of issues having to do with ICT in education. Platform, maintenance, delivery, that is all for the government to decide. We try to make it Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 4 April 2008

clear that our primary relationship and support is directed to the ministry of education and not to make any decision, but to support the decision making of the ministry.

? How do you go about the process

of policy formulation? What are the milestones that occur? We think of our work in certain stages and we predict a certain amount of time for a particular stage. There is an assessment that occurs at regular intervals, to make sure, not so much as to specific deliverables have been achieved, but that the process is moving with a certain momentum. There might come a time when we need to have certain things completed but if you are

for us is sustainability. We are not designed to stay as an advisor for years on end. At some point the ministry has to take complete ownership and control. We are positioned as a catalyst to get the process moving. We take a step back when some of the major implementation challenges come forward. In a way it’s a test of the entire process, if the ministry and the stakeholders can adapt to that and respond to that. At the same time it is hard to step away and take that risk.

? What are the things that change if

the policy formulation process ends up taking longer? If there’s been a change in the leadership

It varies on the amount of engagement stakeholders have in the issue and with the government and I think a lot depends on the willingness of the government to establish some kind of multi-stakeholder process. Infrastructure helps and scale makes a difference. engaged in a process for a year or two, you will know there are problems in the process before you get that far. Often it has to do with the way the ministry works, or it has to do with certain challenges within the country. Sometimes the holdup is well beyond our control or well beyond the control of the ministry. We do not have a one-sizefits-all answer. Sometimes we try to build awareness about our approach to the issue.

? What would be a worst-case

scenario? For us, besides natural disasters which are unpredictable, the biggest risk for us is engaging initially, then having things peter out and never begin implementation. So the biggest risk

of the ministry, that is a difficult challenge. Sometimes it takes time to reconstruct that level of engagement. In one particular country, we have had three different ministers of education in two-and-a-half years of engagement. The problem is that you need a higher level of political will to make the policy happen. If a new minister comes in or if there is a change in the staff of the ministry, we really want to get them on board before going too far ahead.

? How does GeSCI get the ball

rolling, so to speak? How is GeSCI organised in terms of these influences? Some of it is research-based, but it is very focussed on hands-on tools. There were 2-3 things that emerged as possible tools that would have helped in the implementation of the policy. There are 23

all kinds of things that came up that are universally challenging. They provide some guidance at the district or state level. Something very hands on would make the difference between the policy being a policy and the policy being reality.

? What kind of assumptions do you carry while engaging the process of planning the draft national policy? There is a major presumption – that it can be done at all. That is quite

programmes in ICT. How do you see this convergence happen? There are two questions. One is, how do you coordinate this effort with other national activities, and the other one is how do you strike a balance between investments for ICT and investment for long-term programmes. What we always try to do is to combine the national policy for ICT with the other national policies. So what we would expect all to do a policy analysis of the policy objectives developed here

on the current policy for ICT in education being formulated in India; how does it compare to other policies or countries? The policy being developed here in India is actually distinct. There is the challenge of education being on the joint list of the federal government and the state governments. The question is how one establishes policy guidelines in a way that can be universal and accommodate the federal government’s view yet flexible so that states with

In terms of participating in the Policy process here in India, it’s very humbling because of the scale and complexity, because of the amount of activity and amount of knowledge involved. In terms of GeSCI our primary role is to support the Ministry in establishing and continuing this process something, to say that we are going to develop a national policy. Other than that, the value of ICT in education and that the stakeholders and governments can coordinate efforts. The third is consensus building amongst the stakeholders that a range of people, NGOs, students, teachers, private sector can agree on a set of principles and a process. They can sit around a table and agree to what is to be done. We proceed with the assumption that it can be done. The government has to make the final decision. In many ways, the process here is about putting government in a leading role but we have to strike that balance between the government and stakeholders.

? This policy will not work unless

the government comes out every now and then with other developmental 24

with the other national efforts and education objectives so that there is a clear connection between the two. At some point, we would have to engage in a certain amount of outreach to that program as well.

? What are some of the other

their enormous diversity of geography, language, culture, economic status, etc can take it up. That is a big challenge indeed. I don’t think you can compare it to any other scenario. Also we cannot proceed with an isolated plan. It really has to be aligned with the other nationallevel plans.

? Can you share your perspective

There is another level of coordination that has to take place in terms of outreach and that has to be an ongoing process with a certain amount of clarity. There are two aspects to the policy, setting the objectives and background which in itself is not really enough. The crucial part would come in the second phase where we develop a series of tools and practical options using case studies that would help states in the implementation of the policy. Without that, it would be just another document on the shelf.

activities that GeSCI is involved in? We bring knowledge assets such as our experience in other countries, decisionmaking tools, etc. We also do a lot of comparative work — comparative analysis of policies, infrastructure, and comparative analysis of how objectives for ICTs in education can connect with overall education priorities. We do a lot of knowledge based work on trying to help people understand how ICTs in education can integrate into the overall education levels.

April 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

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29-31 July 2008, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi

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ou l a i

‘Modern’

And Technical Education In Madrasas

Traditional institutions of learning like Madrasas are now at a cross road, where they exposed to so called ‘modern influences’. What is the appropriate response? Maulana Shah Muhammad Fazlur Rahim Mujadiddi Nadwi is the Rector of the Jamiat ulHidaya, a unique madrasa in Jaipur, Rajasthan, which combines religious, ‘modern’ and technical education. He also heads the Shah Muhammad Abdur Rahim Educational Trust, which runs several educational institutions in Jaipur and elsewhere. In an interview with Yoginder Sikand he shares his views on tradition and modernity and madrasa education in India.

You are considered to be a pioneer in seeking to combine religious and ‘modern’, including technical, education in the madrasas. How did this all start? The story goes back to my greatgrandfather, Hazrat Shah Muhammad Hidayat Ali, a noted Naqshbandi Sufi and scholar. He felt the need for reform in the madrasa system abd introduced ‘modern’ subjects for which purpose he set up the Madrasa talim ul-Islam in Jaipur. This was the period before India’s independence. However, he died in 1951, and his dream was left unfulfilled. Following this, my father, Shah Muhammad Abdur Rahim, seeking to pursue this dream, contacted various large madrasas across India, exhorting them to open departments of ‘modern’ and technical education so that their graduates could be economically self-sufficient instead of depending on others. Yet, his efforts met with almost no response. Some ulema argued that it was impossible to combine religious and other forms of education. Others said that while it might be possible, it would serve no positive purpose. Yet others admitted that it was possible and a good 26

thing but declined to act on my father’s advice on the grounds that this would mean a departure from the tradition set by their predecessors. Receiving no positive response to his appeals, my father decided to set up a model madrasa providing religious, ‘modern’ as well as technical education so that others could possibly emulate it. This took the form of the Jamiat ul-Hidaya, which began functioning in 1985 under the management of my father till his death in 1994. What is the course of studies that students at the Jamiat ul-Hidaya undergo? In contrast to most other madrasas, at the Jamiat ul-Hidaya students study the various Islamic disciplines till the graduation or alimiyat level, but alongside this they also have to study various ‘modern’ subjects, for which we follow the syllabus prescribed by the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT). This year, our students appeared for the tenth grade examinations conducted by the National Institute of Open Schooling,

and the results were quite impressive. Our course of study begins at the 6th grade. After students finish the 10th grade examination, they do four years more of religious education while also learning a particular technical trade or craft, such as computers, automobile repairing, draughtsmanship, accountancy and so on, so that once they finish they would not have to depend on others for their livelihood. In this way we are trying to bridge the enormous gap between madrasas and the ‘regular’ system of education. Several of our students are now studying at regular universities, such as the Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi and the Aligarh Muslim University. Some of them are working as ulema, but many others have taken up a range of other occupations, including in banks, offices, business concerns and translation bureaus in India and in West Asia. One of our students even became an aircraft engineer. In terms of teachers’ background, also, we are quite different from most other madrasas. Roughly half of our teachers are madrasa-trained ulema and the rest have studied in ‘modern’ colleges and April 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

universities. Likewise, roughly 700 of our students come from families with different sectarian affiliations, which is in contrast to most madrasas that select only those students whose parents subscribe to their particular school of thought. Some ulema insist that technical education must not be introduced in madrasas, arguing that this might overburden the students, or divert their attention from their religious studies. How do you, as one of the pioneers of technical education in madrasas respond? We do not say that all madrasa graduates should become professional ulema or madrasa teachers. Everyone needs to pursue some occupation and people should have career options. Why cannot an alim, a graduate of a madrasa, be a good accountant, government official, journalist or businessman? That way they will be also able to tell people they meet with in their professional capacities about Islam and about Muslims. Of course, our main intention is to train good, pious and committed religious scholars, but they must be able to become economically self-sufficient, which they can be if they know a particular trade or craft. This is no innovation, I must stress. After all, many leading ulema in the past took up a range of careers, including some that are considered as ‘humble’, but yet made immense contributions to society. For instance, Imam Qudduri worked as a potter, and Imam Abu Hanifa engaged in trade. While being economically self-sufficient they were also able to devote themselves properly to their scholarly pursuits. Some ulema argue that madrasas must not teach ‘modern’ subjects, claiming that this would be simply too much for the students to bear. How do you react to this view? I firmly believe that for the ulema and madrasa students to join the ‘mainstream’, they must have at least a basic knowledge of certain ‘modern’ subjects, as well as English and local and regional languages. In the absence of this, Muslims cannot progress and nor Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 4 April 2008

can the country as a whole. Increasingly, I think, many ulema are themselves realizing this. The division between ‘religious’ and ‘secular’ or ‘worldly’ education that some people make is completely unIslamic. Islam sees knowledge as a comprehensive whole and positively encourages the acquisition of all forms of socially useful knowledge. If you look at Muslim history, you will see that in the past Muslims produced many scientists, philosophers, mathematicians, doctors and so on. Many of them were pious Muslims and several of them were Islamic scholars at the same time. What reforms would you suggest in the present system of studies followed in most traditional madrasas? The syllabus today followed in most South Asian madrasas is some variant

or the other of the dars-e nizami, a curriculum developed three hundred years ago by Mulla Nizamuddin of the Firangi Mahal in Lucknow. For its times, the dars-e nizami was very appropriate and relevant. It was also joboriented, helping train bureaucrats and officials for the royal courts. But today, the dars-e nizami has largely lost its link with employment, and an institution that no longer has that sort of link cannot last long. Hence, I would urge, madrasas need to reform in accordance with modern needs, while still preserving their basic purpose of training would-be ulema.

I think the only way this can happen is to incorporate and give a respectful place to basic ‘modern’ subjects in the madrasa curriculum, as we have done in the Jamiat ul-Hidaya. In this way, students after gaining a basic grounding in religious and ‘modern’ subjects can later decide for themselves if they want to go on specialize in Islamic Studies or in one or the other ‘modern’ subject. Some ulema dismiss talk of introducing basic ‘modern’ education in the madrasas as an alleged ‘antiIslamic conspiracy’. How do you look at this claim? I think some people are apprehensive that changes in the madrasa curriculum, even on the lines that I have suggested, might damage or destroy the religious identity of the madrasas. I, however, beg to differ. I think this fear is baseless. It

is wrong to see even the most sincere suggestions for reform as a ‘conspiracy’. People who think like this need to open their minds and seriously look at reality. At the same time, however, I must state that when certain dominant Western powers or anti-Muslim ideologues talk of the need for madrasa ‘reforms’, their intentions are certainly suspected. There is a hidden motive behind their urgings. They are often motivated by the intention to control, damage or destroy madrasas, Islamic identity and commitment to diminish the influence of the ulema. 27

What do you feel about the functioning of madrasas that are linked to government-appointed madrasa boards in certain states? How do you think the state should seek to relate to madrasas? With a few exceptions, I think the general experience of such madrasas has been that once they come under such boards their standards decline and teachers do not take their teaching work

wild allegations against madrasas, no evidence of a single Indian madrasa being engaged in terrorism has been discovered.

invite non-Muslims as speakers and as members of the audience. In this way, non-Muslims can also learn what madrasas are actually all about.

Besides those who are willfully engaged in seeking to defame the madrasas, there are others who think of madrasas in stereotypically negative terms primarily because they have had no association with the ulema or even

Can you briefly describe the other educational projects that you have recently launched? A decade ago, we started the Imam Rabbani Public School in Jaipur. We began with 5 lady teachers and 35 students. Today, it is a Hindi-medium school till the 12th standard, following the Rajasthan state school curriculum. It is now one of the biggest Muslim-run schools in Rajasthan, with some 3,000 students. Girls and boys are roughly equal in number. Many of our teachers are Hindus.

Why cannot an alim, a graduate of a madrasa, be a good accountant, government official, journalist or businessman? very seriously, being assured of a regular salary from the government. I have not heard of a single madrasa whose standards have improved after coming under a government-appointed madrasa board. So, personally I think that rather than taking the task of changing existing madrasas or of constituting madrasa boards in more states or of setting up a National Madrasa Board, as is now being talked about, the state should open its own model madrasas that combine both religious as well as ‘modern’ education. It is much better if the managers of the madrasas themselves take up the task of madrasa reforms than to let the state do so. How do you see the ongoing propaganda offensive against madrasas in India, targeting them alleged ‘dens of terror’? This propaganda is completely wrong and baseless. It is a sinister ploy to defame madrasas, the ulema and Muslims in general. Now, if some antisocial character secretly takes refuge in a madrasa without revealing his real identity, how can you blame madrasa or all madrasas for that matter? The same is true if such a person hides in a college, a church or a temple. Madrasas in our country do not preach hatred towards other communities or engage in or encourage any illegal or unconstitutional activity. Anyone is welcome to visit madrasas to see things himself. From time to time, Indian Muslim leaders have been declaring that if a single madrasa is proved to be engaged in training terrorists we Muslims would be the first to demand that it be shut down. However, despite all sorts of 28

with ‘ordinary’ Muslims. I think this is an issue that the ulema desperately need to address. Most ulema have very little interaction with people of other faiths. I think we must seek to build good relations with them. The lack of communication is responsible to a large extent in promoting misunderstandings on both sides. In this regard, I would also suggest that the ulema and the non-Muslim media should increasingly interact on a positive basis, and not, as is often the case, only in the context of some sensational issue, real or imaginary. The ulema should seek to write in languages other than Urdu, such as English, Hindi and the various regional languages, to communicate their views and concerns to nonMuslims who cannot read Urdu. For this they need to learn other languages, and not consider that any language belongs to or is associated with only a particular community or that Urdu is a somehow ‘Muslim’ language, which is not quite the case. Further, I strongly believe, not just for the Indian Muslims, but for our country as a whole to progress, Hindus, Muslims and others must closely interact, considering each others’ problems as their own and as of the country as a whole. They must seek to solve them jointly. Madrasas should organize regular programmes, to which they can

Besides this, we are also running three civil service coaching centres, one each in New Delhi, Lucknow and Aligarh, to train Muslim students for various civil service examinations and to assist them to get admission into Muslim-run institutions of higher learning without paying hefty donation fees. When we set up these centres, some people felt it was pointless. They argued that in any case Muslims would not be admitted into civil services due to anti-Muslim discrimination. But my argument was that we should understand that we are a minority, and that the many rights that our country’s Constitution gives us can only be actually secured when we have adequate representation in the government services. Only in this way can we effectively put forward our views and articulate our voices to the government, the bureaucracy and society at large. Anti-Muslim discrimination can be addressed only when we join the ‘mainstream’ through the democratic process. So, my answer to our critics was that Muslim students can indeed get into the civil services if they are competently trained. And I must say that our civil services’ training centres have met with fairly good success.

Article reprinted. Courtesy: Yoginder Sikand, a freelance writer, working out of Bangalore and Delhi who writes mainly on issues related to Indian Muslims and inter-community relations. http://madrasareforms.blogspot.com/2008/03/interview-maulana-fazlur-rahim-on.html April 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

knowledge for change

India's Largest ICT Event 29 - 31 July 2008 Pragati Maidan, New Delhi www.eINDIA.net.in

Co-Organisers

Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications & IT Government of India

UN Global Alliance for ICT and Development

Supporting Partners

速

The World Bank e-Thematic Group

eINDIA2008 Thematic Tracks

INDIA

2008

INDIA

2008

Introduction

Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS) announces and invites you to join the premier ICT4D (Information and Communication Technology for Development) event - 'eINDIA2008'. The event aims to examine the myriad challenges which appear in integrating Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) with different spheres of life, to share and work together, to analyse and assess, as well as to work towards realising a technology enabled knowledge society.

Important Dates Call for papers: Open now Submission of Abstracts: 30th April 2008 Notice of Selection: 10th May 2008 Submission of Final Paper: 1st June 2008

Important Links eINDIA2008, the fourth annual ICT4D forum in India will be convened at New Delhi, India from 29th to 31st July 2008. The three day forum aims to render active conferencing, networking and showcasing, while organising six seminal tracks- egov INDIA, Digital Learning INDIA, Indian Telecentre Forum, eHealth INDIA, mServe INDIA, and eAgriculture INDIA. As an international event, apart from the general public and the media, the eINDIA2008 Conference and Exhibition expects to bring together 4000 high level representatives of the ICT industry, government, civil society, academia, and the private sector, from all across the globe to share the best practices and digital oppor-tunities for development, to discuss and exchange knowledge and ideas that will shape the future of global ICT development. The Conference offers a perfect platform for establishing and fostering high level networking contacts with leading representatives of the world's ICT sector on both governmental and business levels.

Conference Objectives •

Provide a collaborative forum to participants to share

Abstract Submission: www.eINDIA.net.in/abstractonline.asp Delegates Registration: www.eINDIA.net.in/register

knowledge and ideas, enabling them to develop cross-sectoral contacts and partnerships, as well as to enhance their knowledge, expertise, and abilities; •

Give a reference framework for describing impact, and looking at approaches and methods currently used in the ICT4D sector, and their suitability;

•

Highlight barriers of ICT integration in India and other countries, and identify gaps in current research;

•

Synthesise the main results of experience sharing and the progress made in recent years to provide a baseline for discussion with policy makers, and community of practitioners.

Organiser Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (www.csdms.in) is a leading Asian non-governmental institution engaged in advocacy, research and community building in e-Government, ICT for Development, and knowledge management issues, through capacity .

Programme Advisory Board Chair

Co-Chair

R Chandrashekhar

S C Khuntia

Additional Secretary, DIT, Ministry of Communications and IT, Government of India

Joint Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of HRD, Government of India

Today, technological implementations may reach across campuses, institutions, departments, offices and other workplaces and often require the integration of systems involving both academic and business units. It is a collaborative approach, that needs not only technology, but also strong leaders who know how to engage whole communities as well as top-level strategists. We invite you to join us for Digital Learning INDIA2008 in New Delhi, from 29-31 July 2008 to examine the myriad challenges that appear in ICT and Education, to share and work together and to analyse assess, and create actionable plans for leading technology- enabled education. The conference follows three previous ICT in Education conferences in India and two in Asia. It will provide a unique opportunity to interact with education leaders and decision makers from around the country and beyond, who have a shared interest in improving educational achievements with the integration of ICTs.

Key Themes

Who will attend

School Track • Introducing ICTs into the School System: e-Education Policy and Practice • Building the ICT Infrastructure : Flexible Integration Solutions in a Dynamic Environment • e-Content and Open Source • Empowering Educators with ICTs • Improving Technical and Vocational Education • Quality Development, Quality Assurance, and Quality Education • Smart Classrooms with ICT • e-Education and the Global Network

Higher Education Track • Unleashing the Strength of Universities Through ICTs • Policy Issues and Large-Scale TakeUp of ICT Education • Digital Higher Learning Through Partnerships • Empowering Educators • Improving Technical and Vocational Education • Quality and Education Standards • Teaching and Learning Online • Alternative Assessment Strategies, Innovative Approaches in Evaluation • Global Perspectives to Higher Education

• • • • • •

• • • •

And also • Partnership Sessions Focusing on Critical Issues Hosted by Education Movers and Shakers • Corporate Best Practices and Professional Learning Sessions

Vice-Chancellors, Principals, Directors, Deans and Registrars School Principals and Administrators, Teachers and Trainers Policy-makers & Regulators Senior Staff from Government Departments People from International Development Cooperation Agencies Representatives of International Education Missions and Leaders of Professional Associations, and NGOs Corporate Training and Development Executives Human Resources Executives, and IT Managers CEOs, Technology and Service Providers Publishers, Instructional Designers and Content Providers

Call for Papers! The organisers invite papers on the above mentioned conference key themes. Abstracts should be submitted, in no longer than 400 words, at www.eINDIA.net.in/abstract. Last date for submissions is 30 April 2008

Supporting Partner The Global eSchools and Communities Initiative (GeSCI), the Dublin-based United Nations ICT Task Force provides strategic advice to Ministries of Education in developing countries on the effective use of Information and Communication Technologies for educational and community development. GeSCI will provide strategic partnership in eINDIA2008 event and help conceptualise and build the agenda of the conference. The eINDIA conference will provide the right context to take forward the discussions and.recommendations of stakeholders, in line of the ICT in Education Policy formulation.

www.eINDIA.net.in/digitallearning Contact Person: Siddharth Verma: Mobile No: +91-9811561645, Email: DL@eINDIA.net.in

Exhibition Floor Plan Media and Partners Zone Cafeteria 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 Cafeteria 18 sqm 9 sqm 9 sqm 9 sqm 9 sqm 9 sqm 9 sqm 9 sqm 9 sqm 9 sqm 21 sqm

Hall No. 11,10

9 sqm

Pragati Maidan, New Delhi

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66 9 sqm

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63 20 sqm

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For Exhibition Enquires:

82 83

6 sqm

Lunch Area

9 sqm

50 12 sqm

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24 sqm

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28 30 sqm

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12 sqm 20 sqm

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32 sqm

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Cambridge University Press

21 sqm

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87 12 sqm

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30 sqm

12 sqm

32 sqm

Lunch Area MBD Alchemie

36 sqm 40 sqm 42 sqm

21 sqm 48 sqm

60 sqm 63 sqm 84 sqm

Designmate 81 sqm

90A

54 sqm

www.eINDIA.net.in

108 sqm

18 sqm

120 sqm 130 sqm

16 130 sqm

63 sqm 18 sqm

190 sqm

Cargo Entry

Lunch Area

21 sqm Educomp

18 sqm

Almoe

126 24 sqm

127

EdistaLearning

9 sqm

mimio

190 sqm

129

36 sqm

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107 9 sqm

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132

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130

42 sqm

109 15sqm

7 133 108 sqm

120 sqm

123

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Schnellopt

Globus Infocom Ltd.

128

48 sqm

125

120 sqm

138 60 sqm

135

36 sqm

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32 sqm

36 sqm

136

24 sqm

110 15sqm

111 9 sqm

112 9 sqm

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2 Metalearn

18 sqm

21 sqm

9 sqm

9 sqm 108 sqm

Globus Infocom Ltd.

102 103 104

106

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100 101

12 sqm 9 sqm 9 sqm 9 sqm 9 sqm 9 sqm

9 18 sqm

9 sqm 12 sqm

105 Promethean

Secretariat G-4, Sector - 39, Noida, UP, India Tel: +91-120-2502180 - 85, Fax: +91-120-2500060 Email: info@eINDIA.net.in, Web: www.eINDIA.net.in

56 sqm

16A

ACTIS

The Exhibition will be a critical space for professional interactions amongst participants, within the conference.

40 sqm

20 sqm

eINDIA2008 will feature an Exhibition and Demonstration area, where leading international ICT4D players, manufacturers, suppliers and service providers will present their latest products and services.

S Chand

36 sqm 19

18 sqm

Exhibition

54 sqm

Edutech

18 sqm

12 sqm

20 sqm

Everonn

39 16 sqm

12 sqm

Digital Learning Exhibition Area

sales@eINDIA.net.in

42 sqm

Digital Learning Exhibition Area

Sudiksha Learning

54 sqm

SMART Technologies

84 sqm

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114

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indicates tentatively blocked

Digital Learning Exhibition Area

egov, eHealth and mServe Exhibition Area

21 sqm

Corporate Diary | Leader’s Speak

We Can Give Talent To Industry www.niit.com

Bala Subramanium

President, School Dvision, NIIT

“We started as an IT training company, and have now developed into ‘global talent company” to train their staff on the subject of multiple processors. They had a team of developers who formed the basis of the support structure for the training we came up with. A rather extreme case would be Ford, who were dealing with a worldwide need for training for their new car distributors. These are some examples of the kind of corporate e-learning solutions this business generates. For further development in e-Learning, we have also taken over companies like Cognitive Arts and Element K who have a large library of content, not just in IT, but also in soft skills, and other management areas.

? Can you give us a brief overview of the current

organisational structure and your activities? NIIT is present predominantly in India, China, Europe, USA, Europe, Middle East, Commonwealth countries, we’re now into Latin American countries. People know it as an IT training company, more through its GNIIT course, which actually help people to prepare and place the best students in the industry under a brand that falls under the Individual Learning business (ILS). NIIT has four distinct businesses; I would not like to use the word ‘divisions’ because business implies a single identity. In effect, they are separate companies within a common brand. Individual Learning Business: In most countries around the world, they ensure that after 12th or equivalent, students can go through IT undergraduate courses. They come to our training centres and after the intermediate course, we guide the undergraduate students for further career building through IT. There are two kinds of programmes for careers in IT. Which they can do while in college or outside of college, the other is Curriculum of Advanced Technology Studies (CATS) which is for working professionals. The second business is the Corporate Learning Solutions (CLS) that is built for corporate professionals. Here the training objective is very clear, job performance. Most professionals enroll on behalf of their company. We train professionals in and outside India, though most of the work we do is outside India, for example, Nokia, Intel, Phillips, Google, etc. One example I can give you is that of Intel, who wanted Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 4 April 2008

Our third business is School Learning Solutions, which covers what we call the ‘school segment’ for the time being. It caters to the K-12 projects. We also have two emerging businesses, IFBI (Institute if Financial Banking Industry), which is a joint venture between NIIT and ICICI Bank, specifically to create financial professionals for the banking sector. We provide training on aspects of banking such as insurance. The private sector of banking is growing by leaps and bounds but there are two problems. One problem is retail reach, which is handled with technology. Today, banking is done through the Internet and ATM machines. The need there is to come up with a support system and staff for this technology. We provide the training to fill this gap. That is how we train professionals from the industry. In an accompanying small and very niche programme, we take fresh graduates and train them. We even place them in the industry once their training is complete.

? What pedagogies and delivery modes are you using, is

there anything new on the anvil? Recently, we undertook a concept based learning programme called Synchronous learning to deliver IIM courses by satellite. Named NIIT Imperia, it delivers courses from IIM Calcutta, IIM Ahmedbad, IIM Lucknow, IIM Indore and delivers them over a distance learning platform. Now we have added courses from IMT as well. These courses can be accessed through any our centres where you can register. The courses are divided into a two-day introduction followed by a one-week final project delivered through e-learning. Some 33

Corporate Diary | Leader’s Speak With the advent of service sector, there is also a demographic shift; we believe that we can give ‘talent’ to industry and not just IT products and solutions

of the special features of these courses is that you can still connect or talk to the teacher, to other students, which has been a very successful initiative.

? What is the kind of future that you foresee for your

organization in terms of globalisation? We started as a IT training company, and have now developed into ‘global talent company’. We believe that India is growing and has a large need for training talent as we are fast becoming a service sector economy. There is dearth of skilled middle level and top management executives. With the advent of service sector, there is also a demographic shift; we believe that we can give ‘talent’ to industry and not just IT products and solutions. We have two essential areas in which we excel. One, we create learning material, which includes content, pedagogy, relevance, etc. We also handle the process of education delivery to the end point. This is known as Education Process Management. In essence we input the requirement, budget and constraints and create a solution and deliver it. We want to have certain value for education. We aim to satisfy our learners by giving more than they expected. The integrity of the system is very important. There are times when we say we are sorry, when it is not in our philosophy, we don’t take it up. We have proper talent development, stipulated by very clear cut drivers. We have always been known for our people, we believe in respect and not popularity. Our mission is very clear, we want to make NIIT successful by imparting pertinent education through technology.

? How good is the state of the e-learning market

currently? Market is getting slightly organised but is still fragmented. My view is that that unorganised segment is leading the way here. 34

The biggest problem, as a result, is that our customers do not know what they want. So in order to deliver the product, it is a responsibility for us to educate them alongside. The student number is huge at around 8 million schools. So initially we decided to start with the school student and beyond, especially when the retail segment looks so interesting . What is interesting in India is that it is structured around boards. Where as in China they follow a multi-tier system. I can go and implement it there. In US, they have a very interesting thing, National Education Policy, where the grants are defined for every stage of education and there is a standard committee. The federal government defines it, and the state government follows it. Then we have the school districts, where essentially most of the schools are public schools. They are better than our public schools because they have better funds. There are very few private schools. The grants are given. Grants can either come from government or individuals. Even I can go and give a grant. So essentially, our marketing efforts are worth it when a new grant has just been given, or when a new policy has been created. The moment it is given, you go and give it to the school units. This is what every country does, India is different, very different. So any model that we import from other countries will have to be adjusted. Here each private school can implement things differently. Also 50-80% of all schools in India are local language schools. Only about 10% are English medium schools. Very rarely can you take one product and implement it across the board in all schools. We are saying that we are in government schools segment as well as the private school segment. The upmarket schools that charge higher and they don’t mind paying a little more. So from the IT point of view, we are already in private schools and now we want to facilitate the integration of IT in Government schools. April 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

Corporate Diary | Leader’s Speak

Niche Toppers take To TV

www.topperlearning.com

Greycells18 Media Pvt. Ltd. has launched India’s first curriculum based education TV channel ‘Topper’ which is part of the Topper Integrated Learning System (www.topperlearning.com). Topper initially caters to classes IX to XII, and provides validated curriculum based content. Greycells18 Media Pvt. Ltd. is a joint venture created by Sunil Khanna (former head DTH, Reliance & CEO, DishTV), and Sricharan Iyengar (former, VP and Business Head ESPN Star Sports). Digital Learning team talks to them to find more...

Sunil Khanna Co-Founder, Topper TV

professors go through it and add their inputs. Educomp validates the content, then our production team takes over and puts it into TV language, in terms of what would be engaging for viewers. Then content is scheduled according to the curriculum so that repeats as per the students academic sechedule.

? Tell us a bit about the scheduling side of things, what are

? Toppers is televised currently only on Tata Sky, any

particular reason? The Tata Sky footprint is about four and a half million subscribers and they are adding two lakh per month. Reliance is starting March end and hopefully we shall be on it too. There are actually two reasons; one is that the channel has to be interactive. The second is that we are not looking at an ad-driven model but at a purely subscriber base driven model. The channel has to be interactive and analogue cable simply does not have those features. Once you target a specific user group, you find that advertising simply cannot support that. Niche channels are always supported by the subscription model.

? How do you differ from other channels such as 24x7?

the guiding principles for scheduling? Different school timings exist for different students, some might have early morning school timings, and others might have afternoon school timings; so we have to have a late night slot as well. Everyday we put in half an hour of original programming and during exam times this might go up to one hour every day. There are these three prime times so the student can choose the timing that they are comfortable with and every two and a half hours, it moves to the next class. It’s like having a timetable that says ninth class students will be on Toppers at 3 p.m. everyday. Timings do not change but content length does. For example right now we have half an hour of additional content some are nearing examinations.

Education in the Indian market is such a huge opportunity that I believe it could be a major driver for us as well. We started it purely from the ABC of market in terms of what is the niche, and we found it’s education

We have taken feedback from students and the shows have really been helping students. The USP of our channel is that it is the content is based on CBSE curriculum.

? What measures do you take to ensure the delivery of the quality content to student? We have timetables, and we use interactivity to build that direct relevance. Repeats are available; lessons are also available on the website. As of now the content is in English, but from next year on we shall add Hindi as an audio option that one can choose. We have analysed the entire curriculum of NCERT and we keep pace with the way schools deliver that. We have an in-house team that creates a module of the course. The Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 4 April 2008

? Could you explain the concept of niche channels on

television? Very clearly what we are seeing is that in times to come the TV industry would get split into two categories or genres. One would be mass kind which would attract eyeballs. There will always be completion in that segment. The other segments of the industry that will evolve and come more and more into focus are niche channels. Niche channel means you have to find some reasonable size of audience. 35

Corporate Diary | Leader’s Speak ? What is the connection between TV and education?

There has to be a viable business model. Now if you put this channel on free to air mode, there is a large part of the market which will not like this channel. Education is the starting point, it is extremely relevant and people are willing to pay extra since adds value to your career. Education in the Indian market is such a huge opportunity that I believe it could be a major driver for us as well. We started it purely from the ABC of market in terms of the niche, and we found its education.

? Your content is aligned with CBSE and State boards.

How do you handle the delivery of this content and updating it as well? We have not felt the need for any coordination with the point of origin of the content. We have taken the guidelines and moved forward with that. We update content keeping in mind the changes in the syllabus.

? What made you choose that the hybrid mix of an older

media such as television on a slightly newer platform such as D-T-H? At the end of the day it has to be a mix of both, it can’t be a show that no one will watch. We were very clear that we are going to use the visual medium as much as possible because the strength of TV is that you can make people see things. Visual items need to be reinforced, outdoor shoots, 3D graphics, laboratory visuals, and similar kinds of things that can be practically demonstrated.

Sricharan Iyengar Co-Founder, Greycells 18

? Are there any plans to handle the cultural and language diversity in India? We are dubbing content. Probably by the next academic year, we shall have content available in Hindi. As we go along we shall be adding more regional and state languages. We are very clear in our minds that we want to do it in multiple languages.

? What were some of the hurdles that you had to face in

the course of content creation? Quite a few. Actually the biggest thing was that we didn’t have a benchmark. If I am starting a news channel today, I know what NDTV looks like, I know what IBN looks like and I know my channel should look a little better than that. Here there is no benchmark and whatever you’re doing, you’re challenging yourself. If we had another year to generate content, we would have definitely done better. In fact, some of the episodes, we have rewritten eight times, scripted eight times. We have shot a few episodes four times over and junked three of those. It is part of all the learning process, without which you will never reach anywhere.

? Are some subjects easier to handle than others in terms

of translation to a visual medium? Of course, from a TV perspective, Physics and Chemistry are easier than Mathematics because you have those many reallife examples that you can fall back upon. Maths can also be taught in terms of topics such as volume and permutation and combination which comes out beautifully on television but topics such as differentiation and integration, there you definitely have problems. 36

? How is the website aligned with the content shown on

the channel? We are selling a Topper Integrated Learning System. The idea is to provide an educational service and not to provide a TV channel. By definition, an educational service implies that the kid should learn what you are trying to teach him. Education by definition is interactive but TV by definition is not interactive. When we conceived the product, we knew that just a TV product is not going to work. There had to be a return path for the kid to go back and ask questions if he needs to or take a test if he needs to. We did not launch the TV channel till the website was ready, because both had to be launched simultaneously. Going forward, I feel this will be a big medium because most kids have mobile phones today. The idea behind the website was to provide that vital interactivity to kids. A kid watches a TV programme and if he has doubts, he can ask questions on the website. He can also look at what questions other kids have asked. He also requires information on what he might have missed out on, so the site also has the schedule laid out. The same programme will be telecast again over a period of time and the student can always schedule what they might have missed out on. We are also planning to put Video On Demand (VOD) content up on the site. April 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

Corporate Diary | Product Trinity Future-In

USB-Based Computer Security

www.trifuturein.com

ith the expansion of the knowledge web through the Internet, easy availability and exchange of information has grown up. There is an increase in knowledge awareness, piracy too has evolved with technology. If statistics are not wrong, an estimated USD 40 billion was lost in the year 2006 to software piracy globally. This figure went up to around USD 60 billion this year. The costs to the economy due to pirated software show why efforts to reduce pirated software must be greater than before. The education and digital learning industry faces a similar problem. Intellectual property created by a learning company is at a great risk of being counterfeited. The intellectual and creative cost of developing content is extremely high. Content is the core of all training sessions. Content is their Intellectual Property Right (IPR) and their future. Content could be in the form of courseware or other data. Today, most of the training institutes have moved to the digital method of training or Computer Based Training (CBT). Content could be in the form of eBooks, e-Learning software, documents, spreadsheets, presentations etc. The effort involved in creation of this digital content is immense. However, securing content once created, is a great challenge and under constant threat. These threats usually constitute the following causes: • Competitors could get hold of the digital content and upgrade their own content, improving their quality at an others cost. • Counterfeiters can edit/delete/or merely reproduce the content, thereby generating income for themselves at virtually no cost. • Students can copy and share content Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 4 April 2008

•

with other potential student clients resulting in loss of revenue. Paid teachers can copy it and run their own private classes.

Trinity Future-In, a Bangalore- based company, has explored the patterns of delivery, storage and security of digital content. The outcome clearly indicates that existing systems that are in the form of CD, DVD’s or the Internet are very vulnerable and counterfeiting is the greatest threat and cause of very substantial losses. Every creator of digital content is looking for a foolproof mechanism to protect and secure his IPR from being stolen.

Trinity Future-In has invented a unique USB device that will be used as the distribution media in a suite of applications. The Trinfin Suite offers its own data writer that is used to package software and data in a patent-applied-for format to be stored in the device.

How does the technology work? There are several layers of security – both in the form of software and firmware. Working from within the content, unlike the commonly used external ‘lock and key’ approach, the invention makes files invisible and

Trinity Future-In has invented a unique USB device that will be used as the distribution media in a suite of applications

After four years of intensive research, Trinity has come up with a new technology suite of devices based on the USB delivery medium to protect digital content better than other security systems. It is a new storage, delivery and distribution media, doing all three with security never seen before. Opinions have been expressed about how the Trinity Suite of devices may change the way data distribution will occur in the future. Exhaustive testing has proven that the invention works to the highest level of expectation. Certification from the Standards Testing and Quality Control Laboratory confirms the results.

those which are visible are rendered inactive. There is no place for a duplicate ‘key’ that can be used, or a vulnerable ‘lock’ that can be picked! And all this happens without the loss of user friendliness or efficacy. The technology follows a second degree of authentication. Data once written into the distribution media can only be viewed. Once written, neither the user nor the writer, will be able to change, edit, delete or copy the content. The first unauthorised copy made to generate the mass production of counterfeit copies, is blocked. Every attempt, outside the proper use of the device, is met with invisibility or inactivity. 37

Corporate Diary | Commentary

Are ICT Skills The Bridge To New Opportunities For Everyone?

http://www.microsoft.com/

Microsoft was founded on the belief that technology can empower people and organisations to pursue their dreams and realise their full potential. Over the past three decades, we have seen that idea come to life for millions of people, as information and communications technology has become less expensive, more widely available, and a mainstay of personal and professional life in many parts of the world. Everywhere, it seems, the power of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is enabling enormous societal changes, increasing personal and business productivity, creating economic opportunities that were once out of reach, and redefining the way people work, communicate, and live their lives. But the good news is not universal. Despite the rapid growth and widespread adoption of information and communications technologies, the disparity between people who are able to benefit from ICT and those who are not is a problem that affects the vast majority of people worldwide. For example, one key part of our lives remains largely as it was before the dawn of personal computing - the classroom. Education today isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t that different than 30 years ago. In most classes, rows of students still sit at their desks, listen to the teacher, read from printed text books, and hand in written assignments. Although technology has tremendous potential to transform the learning experience, it has yet to reach many of the people who need it most. 38

Certainly, this is a serious problem for millions of young people in developing nations, inner cities and remote rural areas who, because of poverty or location, lack access to ICT and skills training. It also affects people whose skills have not kept pace with technological advances, and it affects people with disabilities, age-related impairments, or other difficulties that may interfere with their ability to use technology. In communities around the world, opportunities are being lost and high-wage jobs are going unfilled because people lack either access to ICT or the skills to use it. We know that technology alone cannot address the challenges of education and workforce development. Instead, it requires strong partnerships with educators, business, communities, NGOs, and governments to identify unmet needs and develop effective, scalable solutions that work in concert with other reforms and advances. To that end, Microsoft is building on a network of partnerships to ensure that relevant, accessible and affordable technology can make a substantial impact on education and skills development for underserved communities throughout the world. These efforts form part of Unlimited Potential, our commitment to bring the benefits of technology â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and the economic and social development it can enable â&#x20AC;&#x201C; to the 5 billion people who are underserved today by making technology more affordable, relevant and accessible. The company aims to do so by helping to transform education and foster a culture of innovation, and through these means enable better jobs and opportunities. For Microsoft, promoting digital literacy requires not just resources but resourcefulness. Not just network infrastructure, but economic incentives and not just good software, but good public policy as well. Achieving widespread digital literacy requires that we work in partnership with others. This work is vital; because we understand that at the heart of exclusion are the loss of opportunity, and fewer chances for new beginnings. For many educators, it has become a challenge to make the learning environment enriching and engaging. The importance April 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

Corporate Diary | Commentary of promoting digital literacy and tapping onto the power of ICT is most apparent in the transformation of the learning experience for today’s students, many of whom are digital natives.

ICT for the first time, to those who want to strengthen or expand their skills.

For example, the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development in the State of Victoria, Australia, recognised, in recent years, that they needed to help teachers bridge the digital generation gap with their students. They did this by providing them with easy online access to interactive, multimedia teaching materials that they could adopt in the classroom. This also gave teachers an online platform to share best practices and resources in conducting lessons that were relevant to their students.

Through the Microsoft Unlimited Potential – Community Technology Skills program, we are partnering with NGOs, IGOs and telecasters to support a wide range of basic digital literacy skills training programs that reach learners of all ages and abilities. This includes non-traditional community learners such as seniors, at-risk youth and people with disabilities, as well as experienced workers who want to update or advance their technology skills or small business owners using technology to realise entrepreneurial success.

Teaching and Learning

Microsoft’s commitment to education and learning aims to benefit learners of all ages, giving them the skills they need at every stage in their lives. For young people, that means infusing technology in developing fundamental skills such as reading, writing and math. For teachers and educators, it means making sure they have the technology know-how to enrich the learning environment and pass technology skills to their students. For adults, it

Not just network infrastructure, but economic incentives and not just good software, but good public policy as well means supporting IT skills training programmes to improve their ability to compete in the workforce of today’s global economy. Crescent Girls’ School in Singapore is one such institution which has committed itself to making learning a collaborative experience, based on a learner-centric approach. Their creation and implementation of the Global Learning Faculty (GLF) directly addressed the changing nature of learning as well as the proliferation of new media tools such as blogging, instant messaging, web conferencing and podcasting - tools that students were already using in a non-classroom environment. The GLF enabled students to be the initiators of learning, where they could experience the benefits of a collaborative learning environment. Through our ‘Partners in Learning’ initiative, we are working in partnership with governments, educators and industry leaders worldwide to offer knowledge and skills to students and teachers in K–12 classrooms and eliminate the gaps in ICT access, implementation and usage. Partners in Learning provides technology skills training to the broad spectrum of people who want to learn from people who are encountering Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 4 April 2008

Workforce Development, Employability and Entrepreneurism

Accessibility

For nearly two decades, Microsoft has been a leader in accessible technology, making it easier for people with physical, cognitive, visual and other impairments to enjoy the benefits of computing. Our software also enables other companies to develop technology solutions that empower people with a wide range of mild-to-severe disabilities and age-related impairments to work more easily and productively. The need for accessible technology is underscored by demographic trends that forecast a shrinking workforce and rapidly aging population in much of the developed world: Japan’s population is aging faster than that of any other country; by 2050 an estimated 60% of the working-age population in the European Union will be over age 60; and by 2020, one-in-five U.S. workers will be older than 55; an increase of more than 50% since 2000. Microsoft is involved in several ongoing programs and partnerships around the world that provide technology training and assistance for people with a variety of impairments and disabilities. At Microsoft, we believe that by providing technology, training and tools to people of all ages and abilities, we can help to create social and economic opportunities that have the power to change lives and transform nations. That is the purpose behind our work on important issues such as workforce development, education and accessible technology – and the reason for our mission as a company - to enable people and businesses throughout the world to realise their full potential. Pamela Passman is the Corporate Vice President, Global Corporate Affairs in Microsoft Corporation. Pamela oversees Microsoft’s community and philanthropic investments and outreach. She has leadership responsibilities for Microsoft’s crosscompany, global corporate citizenship efforts and Microsoft Unlimited Potential.

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Exploring ICT for Rural Communities Baramati Conference on Information and Communication Technology (ICT), 24-25 March 2008, Baramati, Pune

he Baramati-based Vidya Pratishthan’s Institute of Information Technology (VIIT) and Intel jointly organised the Eighth Annual Baramati Conference on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for Communities at VIIT campus, between 24th and 25th March 2008. This was the eighth in a series of conferences organised by VIIT. The conference focused on scale and economic benefits of ICT for Communities, exploring avenues through which governments, NGOs, development agencies and corporations can work, to successfully scale ICT initiatives to benefit the community. The event saw representation from over 135 delegates from across the globe.

in vans, five of which currently serve village schools in and around Baramati. Also, Intel Teach program helps local educators integrate technology to enhance classroom learning. It hopes to train 1 million teachers (having trained nearly 40,000 educators in Maharashtra) and help more than 30 million students across India by 2008. Jainder Singh, Secretary, Department of Information Technology, Government of India was optimistic on the use of technology as an empowering tool for

Intel added, “Under the World Ahead Program, Intel is committed to work with governments and the industry across the globe to facilitate better health and education through technology. Conventions such as the Baramati Initiative on ICT not only create awareness on global technology trends but also foster an environment for interaction and collaboration between industry, government bodies, international experts, university circles and World Ahead alliance, to help enrich the quality of technological and

Opening Presentations

Subhash Pani, Secretary, Planning Commission delivered the keynote speech. In his speech, he applauded the grassroots initiatives undertaken by VIIT and Intel in the health and education sector. He also highlighted the need to use appropriate technology to suit the local conditions in what he referred to as ‘Technology Osmosis.’ He cited availability of power and Internet connectivity as one of the major challenges ahead as we ahead on ICT for communities. Speaking for Intel, John Davies, Vice President, Intel Corporation described their activities as, “Technology can expand what’s possible to create opportunities for the people of India. Through the World Ahead Program, we remain focused on accelerating access to technology, improving education and increasing Internet connectivity.” On the education front, Intel will help equip about 100 mobile computer labs 40

the communities for access and delivery of healthcare and education services. Wishing the conference a success, Jainder Singh ended the keynote address with a call to the delegates to share and learn from the successful initiative of Baramati. R Shivakumar, Managing Director (Marketing and Sales), South Asia,

intellectual human resource available for the rapidly proliferating technology economies.”

Proceedings

The first session on ‘Successful models of digital communities’ highlighted the need for innovation; it showcased the successful initiatives undertaken by Reliance, Grameen April 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

Suvidha Kendra, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and Teleradiology. The session moderated by M Moni, Deputy Director General, National Informatics Centre. He introduced the theme and invited panelists to share key challenges, impediments and examples of communities that implemented innovative usage models across education, healthcare, citizen services and farming communities. The key challenges that emerged included lack of financial requirements to scale up, lack of trained human resources, acute shortage of electricity, certification for computer courses and local language content. The following sessions focused on healthcare delivery and role of telecentres. The second day focused on the technology in education initiatives. Anshul Sonak, Corporate Affairs for Education from Intel moderated the session. Dr Robert B Kozma, Educationist made a presentation on Aligning policies and programmes: Increasing the impact of educational ICT. He said that for increasing the impact of Educational ICT, we should look at when ICT is introduced into the educational system and whether it will influence the educational outcomes. What kind of educational change is desired and what are all the factors influence? Dr Kozma also made some very valid points in his presentation on improving on a system that is currently good, where the desired outcomes are increased access, resources, performance and efficiencies. He also stated that the role of ICT for achieving these desired outcomes was to extend the reach of the educational system, provide a large amount and wide range of current digital content, support student learning and reduce costs. He also emphasised for the transformation of educational system. He described how for a ‘systematic change,’ ICT can act as ‘lever for change.’ However ICT by itself will not bring change. Vasudha Kamath, Director, CIET, spoke of how ICT in teacher training emerged and advocated that technology and education should come together. “ICT has the potential to bring people together to share ideas and become Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 4 April 2008

initiative of Unlimited Potential initiative by Microsoft that aims at synchronising teacher training, curriculum development with technology infrastructure deployment to realise optimum benefits from ICT in education. He shared his views that for transforming education – local innovation is key enabler for jobs and opportunities (connections, communities, partnerships).

members of the learning community. This is not only at cognitive and teaching level. The use of chat rooms can be used as a mode of economic and low cost technology based on discussion groups. The teachers are also using video-conferencing. Its not just a technology tool but the teacher should also be prepared to use it in the classrooms. ICT is also used for creating learning resources as educational technology; the teacher and faculty should be ready to incorporate them in their teaching. We are encouraging research to support open resources such as moodle in the Learning management systems (LMS). Evaluation and assessment is possible anytime and we do not have to wait for months for students results and outcomes. ICT is also used in research, as it is an important component of the educational development-such as constructivist approach for education as highlighted by NCERT in its guidelines. In the National Curriculum Framework, it is mentioned that students should exchange new ideas, building on their experiences, creating new knowledge. State should be proactive in delivering the NCF and ICT can play an important role in making the curriculum more interactive. Latif Nathani, General Manager of Unlimited Potential Group, Microsoft India, showcased the successful

Under the project Shiksha in India, Microsoft has trained 200, 000 teachers and 10 million students benefited. He also shared the Innovative Teachers Leadership Award (ITLA) that attracted 15,000 entries. He mentioned the new initiative of Microsoft Digital Literacy for CSCs that includes computer basics, Internet and web basics, productivity software, security and privacy and digital lifestyle. Alok Bhargava, IL&FS spoke about using technology for education. He mentioned about the National Policy on ICT in School Education, which is currently being developed with wide participation. Larger ownership on the local community has to be made. In his valedictory speech Tom Burns, Director, Content & Services, World Ahead Program, Intel spoke of the continuum need to work together with the community to provide value and allow the system to be upgradeable. The future is for collaboration and economic sustainable solutions in business models, followed by empowerment of communities to achieve scale. The challenge for India is that, it is a country that will invent and innovate and hence the challenge is to achieve the scale ‘10x execution’ to maximise reach. The conference saw the participation from individuals, firms and organisations working on community centres having grassroots experience in making ICT work for communities. The importance of ICT through shared access facilities such as telecentres was universally felt to offer a promising reach to a number of people, such was the perspective shared by most participants at the conference. 41

Corporate Diary | News e-Learning portal from Hyderabad

Rational, AIX, and Enterprise Applications.

Hyderabad based IT education company SQL Star, launched an e-Learning portal which aims to promote systematic changes in the current teaching-learning paradigms in Indian education. The portal, thelearningport.com, is a comprehensive learning solution aimed at reducing the gap between student readiness and employer expectations of an industry-ready workforce, the Hyderabad-based company said. Speaking to media persons here, SQL Star Chairman and Managing Director N R Ganti said the programme has been modelled to deliver a blended model of offline and online education. Being online in a world without borders would facilitate collaboration among peers and between students and industry, he said, adding the series of courses offered are a combination of domain knowledge and soft skills training. The shortage of skilled manpower in the IT industry is a critical barrier to the growth of Indian economy. The only way to overcome it is by facilitating societal transformation by equipping the workforce with 21st century employability skills so that it is ready to compete in the global e-Learning.

Student e-Tutors make easy bucks

Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a new way to earn as you learn. If you are a student of math or science and have decent communication skills, you can make upto Rs 17,000 a month e-Tutoring kids in America and Europe. Educational process outsourcing is enabling over 100 Delhi students rake in handsome dividends from a few hours spent answering queries and clearing doubts. Manya Education Private Limited, an e-tutoring firm, recently began campus recruitment in IIT-Delhi, Delhi University and Jamia Millia Islamia. Academically strong students from the Sciences stream were shortlisted and subsequently trained for a month. 42

The e-Tutoring model requires these student-teachers to log on to a chatbased software and answer queries from students in the US and Europe. For an average four-hour session, they earn between INR12,000 and INR 17,000, depending on competency. Beginning with Math, Physics and Chemistry, Manya Education plans to include social sciences lessons. Students-teachers can draw diagrams and figures using the software and transfer files if required.

IBM completes e-Learning programme

International Business Machines Corporations (IBM) announced its successful completion of Phase 3 of EDU-SAT satellite based educational programme in Karnataka in collaboration with Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaun (VTU). The programme comprises 100 hours of live lectures transmitted to over 100 schools in the state and were attended by 15,000 students. The programme aims at equipping post graduates with the necessary technical knowledge and skills so that they are better positioned to compete in the competitive market driven world. The course module includes courses like System Z, Java, Web 2.0, Eclipse, Cell Architecture, SOA, High Performance Computing, Linux, DB2, Autonomic Computing,

IBM is working towards the consistent expansion of Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s IT ecosystem and its University Realations team has been cooperating with the academia to evolve open standards-based IT skills, developing strategic linkages with universities while assisting with curriculum development and instructional material, helping colleges develop consistent and high quality curricula for leading and emerging technologies, promoting high quality education and evangelizing Open Standards technologies which is crucial for the future of IT industry.

Intel donates 300 PCs to the Chhattisgarh State Intel Technology India Pvt. Ltd. today marked the first anniversary of the Intel Teach program in Chhattisgarh by donating 300 PCs to the State government for the benefit of government-run schools.The Intel Teach Programme is an educator development programme that aims at effectively integrating the use of technology in the classroom to facilitate and enhance teaching and student learning.

The program till now, has trained over 2,000 teachers in Chhattisgarh, who in turn have reached 3,60,000 students, enabling them to take up socially relevant issues along with helping them improve their communication, problem solving and critical thinking skills. The Chhattisgarh government in collaboration with Intel will work towards equipping uninitiated teachers into using technology and through this public-private cooperation, they plan to train 7,000 teachers in the next two years, and adopt various schools for Technology Aided Learning implementation. With the donation of 250 computers and 50 Classmate PCs, Intel aims to extend its World Ahead Program to Ashramshalas and girls schools. Over 50 schools in Chhattisgarh will benefit, with April 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

Corporate Diary | News each school receiving minimum of five PCs. The PCs will be wireless-enabled and supported with Internet connectivity and basic software applications along with digital educational resources. In India, Intel plans to donate 10,000 PCs to state governments and teacher training institutions and train one million teachers in technology application. As a result, Intel expects to help more than 30 million students across India. In India, the Intel Teach Program has currently impacted over 8.40 lakh teachers across 15 states governments, two Union territories, 40 teacher education universities and central government schools like Kendriya Vidyalaya and Navodaya Vidyalaya. Under the Intel Learn Program, the company has reached out to nearly 40,000 students in India.

Edurite Tutorials launched in Bangalore and Karnataka World’s premier online tutoring company TutorVista.com and its

subsidiary Edurite Technologies announced the launch of its tutoring centers in India. TutorVista.com that teaches 10,000 students in USA and UK through a network of 600 teachers across the country has now made a foray into India with Edurite Tutorials – a technology driven tuition and test preparation center. Edurite Tutorials has launched its services in Karnataka with seven centers in Bangalore and 11 centers spread across semi-urban districts of Karnataka such as Hassan, Bijapur, Davanagere, Shimoga and so on. 10 more centers in Karnataka will be operational in the coming weeks. Edurite Tutorials will offer tuitions for CBSE syllabus - 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th plus All India Engineering Entrance Exams (AIEEE) as well as Karnataka State

Board – 9th, SSLC, PUC and CET Entrance Exams covering subjects in Math and Science. Edurite has undertaken studies which have proved beyond doubt that collaborative, technology enabled techniques have a better impact on the understanding of subjects and academic performance of students. The tutorials use multimedia tools to make subjects easier and interesting. Online LIVE teacher help is available 24x7 to clarify doubts and access large question banks containing previous year’s exam papers. Regular quizzes and tests are held to assess comprehension. The tutorial sessions are made interesting with concepts, animation, pictures, diagrams, practical sessions and quizzes. “A total of 300 centers will be operating across India by end of 2009, which will be expanded to 500 centers in the next three years”, confirmed Srikanth Iyer, CEO – Edurite.

Rapid growth in corporate education

Institutes like Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur and Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI) Jamshedpur have on paper about 30 executive education courses per year. This figure has doubled in the last few years as the amounts charged for each training programme has gone down by 60 %. This rise is also fuelled by rapid technological advancement around the globe, making it imperative for professionals from all walks of life learn new technologies and update and upgrade their knowledge, much after completing formal education in the college. Moreover, there is a shortage of 20-40% in the leadership positions across sectors. Although many companies have found internal training to be a substitute, after a point it becomes expensive. Harvard Business School (HBS) just completed its first five-day executive education programme in Hyderabad. If the course were to be taught at the Harvard campus, it would have cost USD 10,000 (around INR 400,000) upwards. However, an Indian executive gets it for as relatively low

as INR 180,000. At IIT-Kharagpur, XLRI Jamshedpur, and IIM Calcutta, around 200 executives take the executive education programmes every year, with course fee ranging between INR 5,000 and INR 35,000, with a few courses costing up to a couple of lakhs. For example, the Danish embassy of Dhaka had sent people for a four-month management course at IIT-KGP at a cost of approximately INR 60 lakh. The level of importance of executive education has reached outside profit-oriented companies too. The Ranchi-based Xavier Institute of Social Service (XISS) too is in the process of drawing up a calendar of topics for training of non-government organisations (NGOs) keeping in mind the priorities of small and middle level NGOs. XISS executive education courses, usually range between INR 25,000 and INR 50,000, and address current topics and concerns ranging from general management to specific functional areas that include human resource, rural development, information management,

April 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

Corporate Diary | Partnership

An Innovative Approach To “Blended” Learning

www.schandgroup.com

Combining the e-Learning expertise of Houghton Mifflin with the local strengths and experiences of S. Chand, a leading Indian publisher, HMSC is poised to offer the best Maths, English, and Science blended learning solutions to Indian schools. HMSC’s awardwinning educational software will be used alongside interactive tools and solutions to supplement and enhance traditional textbook teaching. The software consists of highly engaging, graphic-rich, audiodriven courseware that has shown measurable results in improving students’ performance. This courseware is delivered through a management system that allows teachers to organise and manage “Blended” learning is an innovative style of learning that combines different types of technology with traditional teaching methods to ensure that all students understand what is being taught and that all topics are taught thoroughly. HMSC Learning Pvt. Ltd., a rising star in the firmament of digital learning in India is introducing a “blended approach” to the Indian market by offering an exciting blend of e-Learning software, tools, interactivities, and textbooks to assist teachers in reaching all students and in providing a selection of choice methodologies.

their classes; create, share, and assign activities and tests; generate reports that show each student’s progress; and create and share lesson plans and professional development tools. The interactive tools and solutions allow teachers to present the software and students to interact with and add to it in engaging, highly constructive ways. With such a rich array of products, along with the educational and IT support of HMSC, teachers are guaranteed to have a higher degree of student success. Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 4 April 2008

News india IITs and IIMs to adopt distance education

Corporation (DSIIDC) is being entrusted with an upgradation project at 198 schools in the next two years backed by a budget of INR 250 crore. The budget also increased the uniform subsidy from INR 300 to INR 500 per annum thus allowing children to buy a winter jersey. This will also be extended to students admitted under the freeship quota along with the payment for books. Free braiile books will also be provided for both government and private schools. Among other measures outlined, the government also plans to establish a Delhi Knowledge Development Foundation to develop and enhance distance learning in technical education.

The Government allowed the top engineering and MBA institutes to offer courses to students through distance and mixed mode, a move that could prove to be a major breakthrough for high quality distance learning. The University Grant Commission (UGC), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and Distance Education Council (DEC) are three regulatory and approval agencies that will jointly monitor the process. The joint panel also aims to minimize the usual long drawn out bureaucratic process. While the AICTE will be in charge of the technical institutes and courses, the UGC will handle other universities and the DEC will take care of overall regulation. The panel will also design curriculum and learning methods along with certain standards to promote uniformity in open and mixed (distance plus institutional) education.

Delhi budget for education increases The Delhi budget announced an additional INR 238 crore ( INR 809 to 1,405 crore) for education, a development indicative of the Government’s intention to improve the educational infrastructure of the national capital of India. The Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development 46

DU airs programmes on its FM to help students keep exam stress at bay

The Delhi University has started an initiative to keep its students free from exam-related stress. The varsity has begun airing programmes for students on its radio channel FM 90.4 to deal with stress during exams. The programmes started with the community radio broadcasting tips on how to deal with exam stress, apart from answering exam queries. It started a series of phone-in programmes in which students could call up psychiatrists for answers to their queries. However, all phone-ins on exam are done randomly without any fixed dates or even names for them.

Distance learning courses for spoken English Former Maths teacher Ganesh Ram, a graduate from Madras University embarked on a small journey to provide tutorials for spoken English in 19848 Now he is one of the biggest national players in the field of open distance

learning with close to 3,000 students being enrolled per day. He established the Vivekanand Institute in 1984 (now renamed Veta). One of the biggest challenges faced by many students was difficulty English speaking. His most innovative contribution in the field was teaching English through the use of local languages like Tamil, Telagu and Malyalam. A few years later, Ram expanded to over 200 training centres covering Kolkota, New Delhi and Mumbai and a corporate training centre in Singapore training over 20 lakh students. The other challenge lying ahead of the entrepreneur is tackling the neighbourhood teacher or the unorganised sector. Taking into consideration a recent Nasscom survey stating that only 10 % of Indian graduates have the requisite proficiency in English speaking as needed by IT/BPO sectors and the rapid market growth, the future for this venture started by ram holds immense opportunities. Moreover, Ram plans to capture 50-60 % of this market in the next five years and is planning another 300 centres to achieve one Veta centre for every 1 lakh plus town.

Govt to set up 6,000 schools with private participation The government has fast-tracked its plan to invite private money into schools and hospitals through public-private partnerships (PPP). It has set a target of opening 6,000 well-equipped schools across the country by the beginning of next fiscal. There would be one school in every block offering classes up to XIIth standard. The proposed schools are expected to change the way education is imparted in the country, particularly in rural areas. The ministries of higher education and finance are working on the norms to bring together private sector’s efficiency and the government’s commitment to society. The scheme would also allow the private partner to leverage the idle assets in April 2008 | www.digitalLearninG.in

government facilities to raise additional revenues and provide better services to students. They would also be entitled to government grants. To give a boost to the social sector, the government intends spending INR34,400 crore in the next fiscal, 20% more that the funds earmarked for the current fiscal. It had also announced in this year’s Union Budget a plan to set up several thousands of high-quality model schools with INR 650 crore.

Right To Education Bill, 2008: 25% quota for poor in private schools at entry level Private schools across the country will be required to do its part to ensure all children between 6 and 14 receive free and compulsory education. The Right to Education Bill, 2008, makes it mandatory for private unaided schools to set aside 25% of their annual intake at the entry level (class one) for disadvantaged children in the neighbourhood.

India’s ICT spend still behind

The allocation for education in Budget 2008-2009, amounts to 0.8% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (including the contribution by the states, this goes up to 3.57% of GDP) and by the end of the eleventh five-year Plan, it is expected to increase to 6% of the GDP (this would include contribution by the states). Meanwhile, as far as enrolment in higher education is concerned, the gross enrolment ratio (GER) in higher education is expected to increase to 15% by the end of the XIth Plan, from the current GER of 10%, according to a senior government official. The government will also establish 16 central varsities in the hitherto uncovered states. Despite this, the overall allocation for the higher education sector is only 0.37% of GDP according to Ernst & Young-EDGE 2008 report on ‘Globalising higher education in India,’ whereas Brazil spends 0.91% of its GDP, Russia —0.62% and China, 0.50% of its GDP on higher education. Developed countries such as Australia spends 1.19% of its GDP on education, Canada (1.88%), the UK (1.07%) and the US (1.41%) — therefore, these countries spend on an average 1.39% of their GDP on higher education. In India, according to a recent HRD ministry document, the target for XIth Plan is to achieve 80% literacy rate while at the same time, reducing the gender gap in literacy to 10%. According to a senior government official, the aim is increase allocation to education to 6% of the GDP by the end of the XIth Plan. The Ernst & Young report states that percentage of GDP allotted to education in India, is way below the ‘planned 6% of GDP as stated under the National Policy of Education in 1968. It stresses that India requires to ‘substantially increase public funding on higher education and/or look at boosting private funding in higher education’. The First or “basic” traning will acquaint the librarians with the computer and its uses. The second level will teach the librarians how to use IT grades and library software package they will learn how to handle databases and catalogues The third and final “advanced” level will teach the librarians how to conduct research online Via Internet.

North East to come under the IT umbrella

Private unaided schools, that is schools that don’t receive funds from the government, will not lose out financially. The government will foot the bill for the disadvantaged students on the basis of what it sets aside per child in government-run schools. The government spends roughly INR 1,700 per child as against an average of INR 1,100 by a private school. Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 4 April 2008

Delhi University goes HiTech, its turn of the librarians Now that libraries at Delhi University have gone hi-tech, it’s the turn of the librarians. From the next academic session, the Delhi University Library System (DULS) will initiate training programmes for its librarians that will help them acquaint themselves better with the digitalised libraries.

Mizoram is soon to become the first north-eastern state to step into the IT fold. With the help of US based IT training community ‘New Horizons’ and funding from the North Eastern Council, the Mizoram government plans to convert 200 of the educated unemployed youth into IT trained professionals in the coming month. These professionals will then be expected to set up IT businesses in the region or assist the state government to place e-governance in all spheres. Another 200 will be enrolled for the second batch. New Horizons, which is a certified 47

Slim availability of high-quality college education in India

According to ‘ Gartner’s Market Trends: Industry Analysis, India 2004-2009’, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) investments in India are expected to double by 2009, which implies that the need for a skilled workforce is growing exponentially. India has a 1.1 billion population with literacy at 52%, high poverty levels (319 million live below USD 1 per day), wide rural-urban divide. There is a shortage of talent and skills already being felt by India’s mushrooming IT industry. Each year over 3 million graduates and postgraduates are added to the Indian workforce according to Nasscom. However, only 25% of technical graduates and 10-15% of other graduates are considered employable in IT and ITES segments.

estimated that they IITs require 3,500 to maintain their teaching standards. The situation at IIMs is little better.

Govt plans game kiosks to bring kids to schools

The number of technical schools in India, including engineering colleges, has gone up three fold in the last decade as per the All India Council of Technical Education. Part of the skills-gap problem is that a miniscule percentage of India’s youth pursue higher education. No more than 7% of Indians aged 18-25 go to college, according to official statistics. Even a more fundamental level of education is proving difficult with nearly 40% of the people over the age of 15 being illiterate. In north India alone, studies reveal that there are a significant number of engineering institutes: Delhi 14; Chandigarh 5; Haryana 38; Himachal Pradesh 5; J&K 5; Punjab 45; Rajasthan 56. However, these institutes face problems associated with shortage of skilled teachers, funding, language and outdated syllabi. It is estimated that India would require a workforce of 500,000 capable IT professionals in the IT and ITenabled services sectors by 2010, according to the Economic Survey. However, over the past 15 years, India has produced 1.6 million professionals and faces the uphill task of producing another 0.8 million in the next two years. training partner of companies such as Oracle, RedHat and Microsoft and entered Indian IT Training and education space in 2002 with a joint venture with Shriram Group Companies, Shriram Global Technologies and Education. New Horizons has set up its centre in the capital Aizawl and trains graduates and 10+2 students along with offering them project based work experience with the Information Communication Technology (ICT) cell of the Government’s Planning Commission. The project also ensures that students pass the international vendor certificate examination to maintain national standards. Although the training is free for students, there is a heavy fine of INR 48,000 or forfeiting of certificates to discourage student from dropping out. The second phase of this public private partnership involves training of 5,000 students across the north-eastern region. However, one of the major impediments in this public private partnership’s (PPP) noble goal of including the much 48

ignored north-eastern region into the IT realm is the poor Internet connectivity.

IITs sharing faculty

The government appears to have hit upon a novel faculty-sharing solution to tackle the shortage of quality faculty at the premier Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). The shortage will accentuate now that eight new IITs have been announced. The plan for IITs envisages that professors from the IITs in Delhi, Kanpur and Madras will mentor students at the new IITs in Rajasthan, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, respectively, by shuttling to-and-fro and taking classes at both the institutes. A similar plan may be later laid out for the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) too. To begin operations, every IIT would require at least 50 whereas every IIM would require at least 20 faculty members. The faculty crunch at IITs and IIMs is already acute. The seven existing IITs have 2,630 faculty members, according to the HRD ministry). It’s

``Khulja Sim Sim’’- in a bid to educate more children from slum areas, the Delhi government’s education department is exploring means of introducing education the fun way. In order to get them involved in the learning process the department is working on a project to install computer kiosks in slums offering educational video games for free. The concept of Khulja Sim Sim is a fallout of the concern over the fact that many children in the Capital’s slums still stay away from school. As per the plan, slums will be surveyed and those with a large number of children not enrolled in schools will be identified. These slums will be top priority. In every assembly constituency, one slum will be identified. This would add up to a total of 70 slums. In these 70 slums, a government school will be identified and a computer kiosk will be set up within the complex near the entrance of the school. However, this kiosk will not be part of the school and even the entrance to the facility will be through a separate entrance so that the functioning of the school is not disturbed. With the concept ready, the government now plans to look into the logistics and decide on whether a private or a government agency will look after them. April 2008 | www.digitalLearninG.in

try n Cou cus fo

Ghana’s Education Triumvirate

Access, Quality and Equity

• • • •

e-Content Teacher training Attrition of teachers Infrastructure

Ghana sees the potential of ICTs to address these challenges in education. Agnes AsamoahDuodu, Deputy Coordinator, ICT in Education Programme Unit, Ministry of Education, Ghana shares more about her countries education triumvirate with digitalLearning

Could you please give a brief introduction on the education scenario in Ghana, with reference to technology mediated teaching and learning and the emphasis laid on it? The Ministry of Education, Science and Sports implemented education reforms in the country with an emphasis on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in September 2007. Currently, ICT has been incorporated in the school curriculum, begining with the pre-tertiary institutions. ICTs are Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 4 April 2008

now a subject on the schools time table from primary or class one to senior high school.

core subjects are English, Mathematics, Integrated Science, Social Studies and ICT.

At the Junior High School (JHS) level, alongside English, Mathematics, Social Studies, Integrated Science involving Agricultural Science, French and of course, a Ghanaian language, Technical and Vocational and Agricultural Education and Training (pre-vocational) and ICT are taught. At the Senior High School (SHS) level again, the

The Ministry of Education, Science and Sports has also passed imperatives on Open Universities and Distance Learning Colleges that are being established to train and re-train teachers. The country has put emphasis on technology aided education at all levels and this is one of the main highlights in the Education Reforms. 49

Is education in Ghana affordable to all? Education in Ghana is affordable up to a certain level because education from primary to JHS is free for all Ghanian students. This is possible

National Council for Tertiary Education. If there should be a review, all stakeholders are assemebled or gathered together for discussions, after which it has to go through a process.

The country has put emphasis on technology aided education at all levels and this is one of the main highlights in the Education Reforms due to the implementation of capitation grant by the government. At the SHS level fees are subsidised by the government. What are the challenges for education in the country? What is the role ICTs can play in dealing with the challenges? The main focus on education is access, quality and equity. The challenges for education now are: • Model of deployment of ICTs in the school • Software or the operating system, utility, software applications and e-content • Training of teachers in the use of the new syllabus (with ICTs incorporated) • Infrastructure • Attrition of teachers How do you review the implementation of educational policies and practices? Pre-tertiary educational policies are implemented by Ghana Education Services and Tertiary policies by

Have you tried to compare the state of education in Ghana with that of any other country which in your view is a progressive one? What are the areas where the country needs focused attention? What is your view on India’s education system? Many comparisons have been made and the country tries to adopt some of the best practices but always taking the Ghanaian context into consideration. The current one is the Africa Knowledge

How do you see the role of private sector participation in the country’s educational activities? How does Ghana’s policy support in the lines of PPP? Ghana’s policy supports PublicPrivate-Partnerships (PPP) and it has spelt out in the main highlight of the education reforms. The private sector has contributed to education in diverse ways: infrastructure and capacity building, funding, etc. What is your vision for the future? How do you plan to take forward this vision? What is there in your personal agenda? My vision for the future is to see an educational portal set up, where teachers can develop their e-Content and post them to the portal for students and other teachers to access. The Ministry doesn’t have the expertise in instructional designers who would train teachers to develop their own content and my plan is to

The Ministry doesn’t have the expertise in instructional designers who would train teachers to develop their own content and my plan is to get them trained Exchange Workshop held in Nairobi, last December. At the workshop we came across several ongoing country programmes in e-learning that we could use or learn from.

get them trained. My personal agenda is to do a short course, at most 12 months, on Instructional Design to be able to train teachers to develop their own content.

Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody else has thought. Let’s discover more @ eINDIA2008 www.eindia.net.in 50

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Smart Classrooms

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News asia Bangladesh building knowledge based society

Bangladesh is an emerging market for WiMAX (World Wide Interpretability for Microwave Access) technology. Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has plans to give WiMAX license in May this year, which will bring a dynamic solution to establishing long-haul data communication link to distant areas. The introduction of WiMAX can be utilised to build knowledge centres across the country where people can get e-Education and related services which will effectively improve their livelihood. State-run BTTB

Viet Nam wired

Vietnam has made huge strides in ICT usage. As of now all communes in the country have telephone services. Over 38.8 million Vietnamese are telephone subscribers and 74% of these are mobile services. Viet Nam had 8 million mobile phone subscribers during 1995-2005. The figure was 10 million in 2006 and 17 million in 2007. On the Internet front, 32% of all communes have Internet access and 18.9 million, or 22.7% of the population, are internet users. Vietnam has promoted the application of ICT throughout society, but with focus on e-government, e-banking, e-education and healthcare services.

(Bangladesh Telephone and Telegraph Board) has its Digital Data Network (DDN) node in 64 districts. Areas under these nodes can easily be connected with the internet, generating tremendous opportunity to unlock potential in unprivileged areas.

ICT revolution in PNG

In Papua New Guinea, the development of what is known as PNGARNET, short for Papua New Guinea Academic and Research Network, is being spearheaded by universities, in particular the Divine Word University in Madang. PNGARNET, set to be soon, is a company wholly-owned by the PNG Vice-Chancellors Committee and was formed with the express purpose of facilitating the efficient cost-effective delivery of Internet services to Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) and research in PNG, so that PNG tertiary students can receive a worldclass education. All organisations which are part of the Office of Higher Education (OHE) in PNG can get involved in PNGARNET. PNGARNET is providing efficient Internet resources to its members through a satellite Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN). The third PNG National Educational Plan offers the challenge that the

universities provide a world class education to its citizens. This plan presumes that PNG tertiary students will be able to access the learning resources that are commonly provided via Internet connections, thus, PNG students must become world learners. The equipment including satellite dishes, antennae and Block Up Converters (BUCs) - a device used in the transmission of satellite signals, for the sites of the PNGARNET partners has been sourced mainly from China.

ICT and Posters in Mauritius Students of the Teacher’s Diploma course in Mauritius recently organised an exhibition of interactive posters as

part of their module concerning the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in subject teaching. This exhibition of interactive posters for use as teaching aids in primary schools was organised by students of the Teacher’s Diploma course under the leadership of Kaviraj Goodoory, lecturer in ICT, who is also the coordinator for the module of ICT in subject teaching. The organising committee decided to launch a competition to “encourage students to work hard” and the posters that won prizes were the ‘most creative ones which would encourage pupils to use their five senses.’ Meanwhile the MIE is infusing all its teacher training courses with ICT in order to prepare students to successfully use ICT when teaching their subjects. The MIE gives access to ICT to all its students and that makes it easier for them to find innovative ways of teaching. But the authorities must make sure that teachers are given the tools to be able to put their creativity into practice. April 2008 | www.digitalLearninG.in

? Accountability and Assessment Systems that Meet Local Education Needs ? Technology Tools and Resources That are Available to Support the Accountability, Student Information, and Data Requirements ? Ways Technology Can Support the Accountability and Assessment Provisions ? Challenges with Technology Based Assessments ? Moving Accountability Data from Information to Action ? Demonstrating Use of Data and Decision Making to Achieve the Educational Requirements.

Digital Learning India 2008 will deliberate on ‘ALTERNATE ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES AND INNOVATIVE APPROACHES IN EVALUATION’

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er y o ef

Indian Education At EDGE

Emerging Directions In Global Education 2008 3-5 March, New Delhi

he Indian Education sector is at the tipping point and it is important for the education community to develop a unified vision to encourage education sector to look at globalisation not as a challenge but as an opportunity. The mandate at present is to prepare the Indian education sector to meet the challenge of producing large pool of students who are well equipped in various streams of knowledge and well trained to meet the expectations of globalised economy. To provide new thinking and directions for the burgeoning Indian education sector, a group of government and private education institutes and organizations came together to host the three day conference - EDGE 2008 in New Delhi from March 3-5, 2008. The conference, with the theme of ‘Emerging Directions in Global Education,’ was inaugurated by Union HRD Minister Shri. Arjun Singh, who emphasized on making more investment on higher education and finding out the working solutions for entry and regulation of foreign institutes. Singh said private-public partnership in higher education is a very good idea, but so far private fund has been a constraint. There is a long way to go and the key to India’s aspirations (in higher education) lies in innovative thinking, teachers’ training and technology. Emphasising the role of trained teachers, Singh said, only trained teachers can produce good students. ‘At the same time, unless we improve our education in elementary and secondary level, we cannot improve the higher education system,’ he also stressed. 54

‘The government is committed to the cause of reform, equity and quality in education. Vocational training and employability should also be our focus while imparting education,’ the minister added. The inaugural ceremony also had the presence of Rod Pryde, Regional Director, British Council India and Sri Lanka, Dr Ramdas Pai, Chairman, MEMG International India, Dr Kasturirangan, MP Rajya Sabha & Director-NIAS and Prof V N Rajasekhran Pillai, Vice Chancellor, IGNOU. On the occasion ‘India Education Vision’ document was released by the HRD Minister. The vision document is the outcome of the deliberations held by members of the vision group and academic programme committee of EDGE conference shared by Dr Kasturirangan.

Dr. Kasturirangan, MP, Rajya Sabha & Director, NIAS, said there were tremendous opportunities and challenges for India as the working age population from 15 to 59 years will be increasing only in India . He said there was a compelling need to learn from other countries. It was important to see how international community looks at Indian higher education. Rod Pryde, Regional Director of British Council, described how India is becoming an important destination for higher education. There was no possibility of becoming a global player in higher education field unless one comes to India, he added. The 3-day conference saw a plethora of industry experts from across the globe, who deliberated on the key issues like paradigm shift in technologies and its impact on the education, innovative financing solutions for education April 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

infrastructure, content development and delivery, and creation and management of human resource. Some of the key speakers at the conference include: Anand Sudarshan, MD & CEO, Manipal Education; H.E. Sir Richard Stagg, KCMG, CMG, British High Commissioner to India ; Dr. Ramdas M Pai, Chairman, MEMG International India; Sam Pitroda, Chairman, National Knowledge Commission, GOI; Mr. William Nóbrega, Author and Consultant; Dr. Bhalchandra Mungekar, Member, Planning Commission, Government of India; Martin Davidson, CMG, Chief Executive, British Council; Peggy Blumenthal, Executive Vice President, Institute of International Education; T.V. Mohandas Pai, Member of the Board & Director - Human Resource, Infosys Technologies; Geoffrey Clements, India Director, Commonwealth Business Council Academy; Tan Sri Emeritus Professor Gajaraj Dhanarajan, VC & CEO, Wawasan Open University; Kiran Karnik, Former President, National Association of Software and Service Companies; and Prof. Jeremy Williams, Chief Academic Officer, Knowledge Universe, among others. EDGE released the E&Y Report on Education, alongside the conference proceedings. The report covered an analysis of the current state of India’s higher education and an assessment of the opportunity for it to internationalise through various models. The research further provided insights into higher education best practices in the global landscape, highlighting successes of internationalisation through right policy frameworks and initiatives of institutes and cull out lessons for India. Besides the conference sessions, workshops on harmonisation and governance of education, and an interactive session with UGC Members, a round table on making India the global education destination were also part of the scheduled activities. The Round Table session, ‘Making India the Global Education Destination,’ brought together Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 4 April 2008

eminent personalities, to address some key questions, such as: •

• •

•

What measures should the higher education sector and the Government of India take to meet the needs of its fast growing economy? What are the impediments to growth faced by the higher education sector in India? What are the global trends affecting higher education? How different countries have capitalized on them and what are the lessons that can be learnt? What global best practices have

been adopted and what can India learn from them? The sponsors representing leading institutions and corporate bodies from across the globe got an opportunity to showcase myriad technologies and services, new tools of education, new methodologies and practices, unique approaches to learning and training, innovative financing models and some path-breaking ideas, through the ‘EduExpo’. EDGE also felicitated the Padma Awardees of 2008 from the field of Science and Education.

Conference Deliberations Internationalisation of India Education: The Big Picture This session set the tone for the 2-day focused Conference. The stalwarts addressing the gathering elucidated the direction in which the education sector is set to move and charted a course of action for Indian educators aspiring to have an edge in the emerging future education scenario. International Education Initiatives: Best Practices for a Global Vision The session brought together leaders of international educational exchange organisations from North America, Europe and Asia to discuss global mobility and exchange. Educators acquired an edge by getting an insight into the implications of new approaches to global education, the emerging trend of ‘brain-exchange’ and best practices. Paradigm shift in Education through Emerging Technologies The session focused on the emerging technologies, which will have a tremendous impact on education processes & pedagogy. It also prompted the stakeholders in the education sector to get ready to make these emerging technologies an integral part of the education system to have an edge in the future. Innovative Financing Solutions in Education Educators got an insight into how various financing models can be a means to realise their growth plans. The session also brought into focus innovative methods of financing which will enable students, aspiring to higher education, to overcome the rising costs of education. HRD: Challenges for Industry & Opportunities for Institutes Indian industry is faced with many challenges such as depletion of skilled workforce, lack of soft skills amongst students and the need for continuous training of their employees for better output and retention. The HR experts and progressive educators focused on how educational institutes can collaborate with industries to overcome these challenges. Technology Enabled Learning Access to education, affordability and equity can be achieved with pervasive use of technology as a tool in education. The session focused on technologies, imperative for the educators to be future-ready. Innovative Approaches in Evaluation & Assessment The speakers outlined the online test delivery in India, relevance of scientific testing theory in developing content for examination and the use of mobile telephony for learning / testing.

News world NIIT moulds Botswana entrepreneurs

Business studies should instill a sense of entrepreneurship in the minds of those studying it, Botswana’s Assistant Minister of Education, Peter Siele said at the NIIT graduation ceremony in Gaborone He commended NIIT for their contribution towards provision of Information Communication Technology (ICT) training at a time when the country had to embrace the changes brought about by the IT age. He also commended the Institution for having been among some of the private institutions offering tertiary education even at a time when government was not sponsoring students in private institutions. Around 200 graduates were awarded their Professional Diplomas in Information Technology and the Honours Diploma in Applied Management and Business Skills. The 10 year old institution has 65% of staff members as locals, which was in line with the localization and training policy.

Etisalat and BT unite for research

The Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (etisalat), British Telecommunications Plc (BT) and Khalifa University will establish a joint research and innovation centre in the UAE. 56

Through collaboration with industries, universities and governmental organisations, the centre will encourage international collaboration, research and innovation in the fields of next generation networks, systems and services. The merge will further enhance Etisalat’s competitive position among the telecommunication companies in the world and increase business relations in the region.

South Africa Academy to enhance ICT skills

The newly inaugurated e-Skills Academy of South Africa aims at increasing the country’s Information Communication Technology (ICT) systems and public awareness in the area. The e-Skills Academy is aimed at accelerating the development of professional qualifications and ‘jobready’ skills in the ICT sector. It offers internationally accredited courses and certified qualifications that are designed to meet requirements defined by technology users throughout, both the private and public sectors of the South African economy.

Uganda’s Nationwide data backbone completes first phase

The first phase of the National Data Backbone, capable of delivering ICT services to 28 million Ugandans has been completed, making Uganda the first country in the other East African Community (EAC) member states to deployed ICT infrastructure at such a scale. Uganda’s ministry of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) together with Chinese technology company, Huawei, bore the cost of the first phase, approximately USD30 million. The first phase covers the capital Kampala, Entebbe, Bombo and Jinja is complete and is being tested. IP enabled

phones with videoconference facilities have been installed in all government ministries and departments/agencies. The second phase of the e-Ghana project will see fiber-optic cables laid from the southern coast to its northern border with Burkina Faso. This project will link to the other submarine cable initiatives that are planned for the eastern Africa coast. Before the National Data Transmission backbone government unveiled plans, private players had moved to lay their own fibre networks. The national backbone comprises two technologies and will be laid mainly around Kampala and along the transmission routes in the East, West and the North.

Ireland attractive for Indian students

Ireland is slowly but surely treading upwards as one of the most preferred destination of students in India wanting to study aboard. The country has carved a niche for itself in teaching various courses in English at all top colleges and Universities. Over 1,000 Indian students are spread across various universities and colleges in Ireland, mostly enrolled into various courses in Bio-Sciences, Business Administration, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering among others. Studies reveal that Ireland has been seeing a consistent increase of foreign students at 10% per annum. Ireland housed nearly 25,000 international students in 2006. Because of its booming economy (which is growing at a steady 8.5% every year) most IT majors and Pharma companies such as Intel, Microsoft, Dell, IBM and Hewlett Packard. With nearly 37% students attaining tertiary level of education in Colleges, Technology Institutes and Universities (as against the overall European Union average of 27%) the government has earmarked nearly 20.7 billion Euros for various education related causes in Ireland. April 2008 | www.digitalLearninG.in

Mark Your Calendar april TCC 2008 Worldwide Online Conference 15-17 April 2008 Online http://tcc.kcc.hawaii.edu

2nd International Computer & Instructional Technologies Symposium 16-18 April 2008 Izmir, Turkey www.icits.org

Third International Conference on Interactive Mobile and Computer Aided Learning, IMCL2008 16-18 April 2008 Amman, Jordan http://www.imcl-conference.org

International Conference on Open and Distance Education ICODE’08 25-27 April 2008 Rome, Italy http://wahss.org/

Third International Conference: Organizational Learning, Knowledge and Capabilities 2008 (OLKC) “The Many Senses of Organisational Learning and Knowing” 28-30 April 2008 Copenhagen, Denmark www.dpu.dk/olkc2008

may Sloan-C International Symposium on Emerging Technology Applications for Online Learning 7-9 May 2008 Carefree, Arizona United States www.emergingonlinelearningtechnology.org

5th Global Conference: The Idea of education 8-10 May 2008 Budapest, Hungary www.inter-disciplinary.net/ati/education/ioe/ioe5/cfp. html Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 4 April 2008

ACA European Policy Seminar: Exporting education: Europe’s role in transnational education. 16 May 2008 Brussels, Belgium http://www.aca-secretariat.be/08events/upcoming.htm

13th International Conference on Education 20-23 May 2008 Brunei Darussalam, Brunei www.ubd.edu.bn/news/conferences/webice08/ index.htm

Higher Education: Spaces and Places for Learning, Innovation and Knowledge Transfer” 21 - 23 May 2008 Helsinki, Finland www.highereducation.fi.

Fifth EUREDOCS conference “Modernising European Higher Education: Priorities, Ideas and Challenges” 23 - 25 May 2008 CIPES, Porto, Portugal http://www.euredocs.sciences-po.fr.

TL2008 - Teaching and Learning 2008 26-28 May 2008 Aveiro, Portugal www.iask-web.org/tl08/tl2008.html

e-Learning Aprica 28-30 May 2008 Acra, Ghana www.elearning-africa.com

june

The Emerging Global University Market 5- 6 June 2008 Reykjavik, Iceland ACA Annual Conference “Beyond 2010 - Priorities and Challenges for Higher Education in the Next Decade” 15 - 17 June 2008 Tallinn, Estonia

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UN Global Alliance for ICT and Development

Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications & IT Government of India

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