Learning the INTERACTIVE WAY: April 2010

Interactive Whiteboard & Audiovisual Special THE MONTHLY PUBLICATION ON ICT AND EDUCATION

INDIA VOLUME 6 ISSUE 4

ISSN 0973-4139

Rs. 75

APRIL 2010 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

Learning the

INTERACTIVE WAY...

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VOLUME 6 ISSUE 4 APRIL 2010

digitalLEARNING

ISSN 0973-4139

RNI NO. UPENG/2008/25311

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Contents 22

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EVENT REPORT

COVER STORY

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‘CLASSROOM OF THE FUTURE’AUDIOVISUAL AIDS AND INTERACTIVE WHITEBOARD

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INTERACTIVE WHITEBOARD AND AUDIOVISUAL AIDS PRODUCT MATRIX

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EMERGING DIRECTIONS IN GLOBAL EDUCATION: CATALYSING CHANGE LEADER SPEAK

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INDUSTRY LEADER SAY

THIMMIYA A.M, SR. VICE PRESIDENT & HEAD– DISTRIBUTED LEARNING, MANIPAL EDUCATION

POLICY MATTERS

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HARNESSING INDIA’S POTENTIAL THROUGH SKILL DEVELOPMENT Sharda Prasad, DG, ET

COMMENTARY

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UNION BUDGET 2010 - 11 IN EDUCATION GOING BACK TO ELEMENTARY

CORPORATE DIARY

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Jaemes Shanley, Director of Sales-Asia Pacific-Latin America-New Mexico, mimio

MY JOURNEY

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Enhancing the process of Teaching - Learning through Interactive Technology

SRIDHAR RAJAGOPALAN, MANAGING DIRECTOR, EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVES PVT LTD. (EI) REGULAR FEATURES

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‘Learning the SMART Way...’

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‘The Power of Genee...’

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News India

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Digital Classrooms with ‘ScienTECH’

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News Corporate

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MARK YOUR CALENDAR

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NEWS

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EDITORIAL

Learning the Interactive Way! Technological advancements have an unprecedented effect on the methods of teaching-learning process globally developing the concept of the ‘Classroom of the Future’ as an extremely advanced and modified picture. It is continuously promoting shift in paradigm of learning from teacher-centric to learner centric. Concept of multimedia in education, though not new, has gained momentum recently; with integration of voice, data and video shared resources creating synergistic effect. The convergence of media and education is also encouraging change in the curriculum in universities all across the world.

Interactive Whiteboards are emerging as powerful pedagogical innovation in area of teaching and learning. Of late Audio-Visual aids have become one of the most effective and advanced mode of communicating with people. With 4.9 million classrooms in 1.2 million schools of which 1.6m are in Private schools (private schools only represent 19% of the total number of schools), the Indian market clearly provides a significant market opportunity for suppliers of IT equipment, says the report. One million Interactive Whiteboards will be sold globally in 2010 according to a Futuresource Consulting report. The Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) phenomenon continues to take hold, with nearly 750,000 boards sold worldwide in 2009 and the market on track to top 1 million sales in 2010, according to a new strategic report from Futuresource Consulting.

The future picture of the IWBs and multimedia equipments in terms of its usage and demand will be higher and it is crystal clear, say experts and market leaders. There is an obvious major boom to see in the education sector in India in terms of using technology in comparison to the global scenario. The observations say that India will undoubtedly become one of the world’s largest ICT markets in the coming years as the country already has an exceptional world class infrastructure of knowledgeable expert companies fully capable of delivering highly effective ICT implementations nationwide. digitalLEARNING explores the issue further...

Dr. RAVI GUPTA Editor-in-Chief Ravi.Gupta@digitalLEARNING.in

President: Dr. M P Narayanan | Editor-in-Chief: Dr. Ravi Gupta | Product Manager: Dipanjan Banerjee (mob: +91-9968251626) Email: dipanjan@elets.in Editorial Team: Dr. Rajeshree Dutta Kumar, Shipra Sharma, Divya Chawla, Sheena Joseph, Yukti Pahwa, Sangita Ghosh De, Subir Dey, Pratap Vikram Singh, Gayatri Maheshwary, Saba Firdaus Sales & Marketing Team: Fahimul Haque (Mobile: +91-9873277808), Gaurav (Mobile: +91-999097333), Debabrata Ray, Anaam Sharma, Arpan Dasgupta, Bharat Kumar Jaiswal, Anuj Agarwal, Priya Saxena, Vishal Kumar (sales@elets.in) Subscription & Circulation: Astha Mittra (Mobile: +91-9810077258, subscription@elets.in), Manoj Kumar, Gunjan Singh Graphic Design Team: Bishwajeet Kumar Singh, Om Prakash Thakur, Shyam Kishore Web Development Team: Zia Salahuddin, Amit Pal, Sandhya Giri, Anil Kumar IT Team: Mukesh Sharma, Devendra Singh | Events: Vicky Kalra Editorial & Marketing Correspondence: digitalLearning - G-4 Sector 39, NOIDA 201301, India, Phone: +91 120 2502181-85, Fax: +91 120 2500060, Email: info@digitalLearning.in digitalLEARNING is published by Elets Technomedia Pvt. Ltd. in technical collaboration with Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS).

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COVER STORY

‘Classroom of the Future’ Audiovisual aids and Interactive Whiteboard TECHNOLOGY PLAYS THE MOST IMPORTANT ROLE IN MODERNISING GLOBAL EDUCATION SYSTEMS AND INDIA SHOWS NO EXCEPTION IN THAT. IN SUCH SCENARIO, THE USAGE OF INTERACTIVE WHITEBOARD AND AUDIOVISUAL EQUIPMENTS IS EMERGING AS ONE OF THE POWERFUL PEDAGOGICAL INNOVATIONS IN THE TEACHING AND LEARNING PROCESS. SANGITA GHOSH DE, digitalLEARNING, EXPLORES.

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The advancement and inventions in the domain of technology are having an unprecedented effect on the methods of teaching-learning process globally developing the concept of “classroom of the future” as an extremely advanced and modified picture.

Technology plays the most important role in modernising global education systems and India shows no exception in that. Need and awareness for technologyenabled education is spreading in across the verticals of the education system in India. According to the researchers and experts, technological determinism and the predictability of technological change in education have now become the area of research and analysis.

In the process, the idea of multi-media concept in education, has gained much momentum where the integration of voice, data and video resources creates synergistic effect. The emergence of this new concept of media convergence is also changing the curriculum in universities all over the world.

Multimedia, which also connotes to Audiovisual term of the medium, is usually a combination of computerised and electronic devices that includes a combination of text, audio, still images, animation, video, and interactivity content forms in contrast to conventional media which only use traditional forms of printed or hand-produced material. Here particular attention is paid to the audio and visual presentation of the material with the goal of improving comprehension and retention. In that scenario, the usage of Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) and Audiovisual equipments is emerging as one of the powerful pedagogical innovations in the teaching and learning process.

THE BACKGROUND AND OPPORTUNITY According to a recent research report by Futuresource Consulting Ltd. of United Kingdom, India provides a significant market opportunity for suppliers of IT equipments, because of its 4.9 million classrooms spread across 1.2 million schools (of which 1.6 million are in private schools - private schools only represent 19% of the total number of schools in India). Overall, there are almost as many private schools in India as there are government schools which have computers, however, the market is extremely fragmented with a vast disparity in the education system throughout the country.

In most schools, IT equipment tends to be located in an IT lab as opposed to individual classrooms, thereby limiting the potential penetration opportunities for IWBs and projectors.

According to Jaemes Shanley, Director of Sales-Asia Pacific-Latin America-New Mexico, mimio - a leading IWB vendor, “Given that today’s students tend to be already “digital” in their awareness and orientation, one could also argue that use of Interactive Whiteboard in the classroom simply makes the environment more relevant for students. The IWB and related interactive systems at work in the classroom not only utilise the power and versatility of digital media and information as content for learning but also synchronise the classroom context with the contemporary world outside the school.”

Outside IT Labs, a cost-effective bundled solution incorporating PC, projector and IWB – appears to be the best route to increasing IWB sales.

With high levels of import tax providing a significant barrier to market entry in a price sensitive market, vendors will have to consider long term production/import strategies in order to be competitive.

Local assembly or local factories are potential considerations.

General awareness about Projectors and Interactive Whiteboards (IWBs) is reasonably high, some schools have already started purchasing and many can be immediate targets for technology. But still there are a number of schools where there are a very few computers and virtually no Projectors, Interactive Whiteboards or any other technology. Although such schools are keen to implement new technology, they are dependent on State or Central Government funding.

Any manufacturer succeeding in

private schools will be well placed when the Government starts implementation.

There are 5-10 States to focus on initially.

Over 200,000 projectors and 100,000 IWB sales are forecast in the next 3 years, affirms the report.

INTERACTIVE WHITEBOARD In that scenario, Interactive White Board or Electronic White Board is emerging as one of the powerful pedagogical innovation in the teaching and learning process. They were originally developed for office settings and are a relatively new technology to education.

The usage and application of IWB is fast catching up to the pace as a tool to enhance teaching, and as a tool to support learning. A number of themes were identified about the potential benefits of IWBs for teaching in terms of flexibility and versatility, multimedia/ multimodal presentation, efficiency supporting planning and the development of resources, modelling ICT skills, interactivity and participation in lessons.

IWBs have now become flexible and versatile teaching tool across age groups and settings, ranging from nursery, to further and higher education and even distance education. This versatility extends to the content of lessons and activities. One of the major advantages claimed with regard to IWBs as a teaching tool is that they are ‘interactive’.

Experts state that students are motivated in lessons with an IWB because of ‘the high level of interaction – students enjoy interacting physically with the board, manipulating text and images’.

IWBs present ‘more opportunities for interaction and discussion’, thereby exemplifying the ambiguity contained within the term ‘interactive’. In addition digital LEARNING

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to promoting the technical interactivity of IWBs, broader pedagogic claims are also being made that IWBs facilitate more interactive lessons. It is felt by some teachers that it enhances teacher–pupil interaction, ‘by encouraging students to offer answers to questions, which if correct can be noted on a flipchart’ and was supported by ‘the strong visual and conceptual appeal of the information and learning resources that are displayed’.

Interactive White Board or IWB, is a type of large interactive display that connects to a computer and projector including web browsers and proprietary software.

A projector projects the computer’s desktop onto the board’s surface, where users control the computer using a pen, finger or other device. The board is typically mounted on a wall or on a floor stand. Dixons City Academy in the North of England was the first non college or university learning environment to make use of interactive whiteboards after the schools then principal Sir John Lewis showed a keen interest in the developing technology. An interactive whiteboard can now be found in every classroom of the school.

IWB enables the user to draw, write or making notes, drag and markup onto the surface controlling the PC. The Interactive White Board (IWB) device is connected to a computer through a wired medium such as USB or a serial port cable or via a wireless connection like Bluetooth.

The combination of mouse and keyboard emulation allows the user to control the computer display almost exclusively from the Interactive White Board.

Interaction between the user and the content that is projected onto the Interactive Whiteboard primarily takes the form of a either a digital pen or stylus (Electromagnetic) or a finger or other form of token pen (Resistive).

ASSOCIATED ACCESSORIES The IWB operation needs support from a series of accessories in terms of a multimodal point of functionaries. The first and foremost one is a Projector that enables the display of the computer monitor to be projected onto the white board. ‘Short Throw’ projectors and of late ‘Ultra Short Throw’ projectors have shown more efficiency in the operation.

Next a Track allows the white board to be placed in a way to provide additional wall space at the front of the room. Some tracks provide power and data to the white board as well. A Mobile stand is also necessary to move the white board 8

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to be moved between rooms. The height is also adjustable as well.

A Printer allows copies of the white board notes to be made. Slate or tablet makes it possible for the students to control the white board away from the front of the room.

There is a Personal Response System which facilitates the students to answer test questions posted on the white board or take part in polls and surveys. Attached is also a Wireless unit through which the interactive white board is connected to a computer and operates wirelessly.

A Remote control allows the presenter to control the board from different parts of the room and eliminates on-screen toolbars. Interactive Whiteboards are sold in a wide range of varieties based on the technology and the usage.

Resistive- These kind of Whiteboards

•

•

•

•

are composed of two flexible sheets coated with a resistive material and separated by a microthin air gap. This technology allows one to use a finger, a stylus, or any other pointing device on the surface of the board.

Electromagnetic- These interactive Whiteboards work on magnetic sensors that react and send a message back to the computer when they are activated by a magnetic pen. A number of wires are attached to the computer from the board.

Other alternative and emerging sensing technologies include: Optical and Infrared- The white • board surface responds to the pressure created by finger and marker through infrared light. This technology allows whiteboards to be made of any material; with this system no dry-erase marker or stylus is needed.

Embedded Dot Patterns- Here • the white board surface have a microscopic dot pattern embedded in the writing surface where a wireless digital pen with an infrared camera reads the dot pattern to determine the exact location on the board.

• Capacitive- Here, just like the

electromagnetic type, the capacitive type works with an array of wires behind the board. In this case however the wires interact with fingers touching the screen instead of an electromagnetic pen.

Laser- The board reacts to infrared laser beams that sweeps across the white board surface. The board surface is usually constructed with a hard surface like usually ceramic on steel, which has long life and erases cleanly.

Ultrasonic and Infrared- Here, the marker or stylus sends out both an ultrasonic sound and an infrared light to the white board surface that is made of any material.

Ultrasonic only- The devices have two ultrasonic transmitters in two corners and two receivers in the other two corners. Touching with a pen or even the finger in the whiteboard causes these point waves to be suppressed, and the receivers communicate the fact to the controller.

Frustrated Internal ReflectionInfrared light bounces within a flexible and transparent surface.

Image processing software turns the light spots observed by the cameras into mouse or pointer movements.

THE USAGE The interactive Whiteboards are meant to replacing traditional Whiteboards or flipcharts. The school network digital video distribution system can also be interconnected through using an interactive whiteboard and can also interact with online shared annotation and drawing environments in the form of interactive vector based graphical websites. They offer a powerful facility for integrating media elements into teaching to enhance content and support collaborative learning.

Interactive whiteboard serves the purpose of an electronic file and allows the teacher to keep notes and annotations for later distribution in both paper as well as in electronic formats. Companies and projects are now focusing on creating supplemental instructional materials specifically designed for interactive whiteboards. Interactive whiteboards are also being used for shared reading lessons and Mimic books are one such resource which is being used for shared reading and allows teachers to project children’s books onto the interactive whiteboard to mimic books. “IWB’s are

the most important tools of day to day learning they have changed the way we teach and train. They spare teachers form routine mundane work. A greater learning experience with real and lively images is achieved. Besides, a copy of session is saved and can be handed to students for further revision. Further utilising IWB features of Internet and Netconferencing takes the session beyond the boundaries of Classroom,” voices Mohammed Ghouse, Manager, (Analyst & Media), Scientech Technologies Pvt. Ltd. IWB can also be integrated in the process of the Learner Response System. Manufacturers provide the facility of classroom response systems that are integrated with the interactive white board products along with handheld ‘clickers’ that are operated via Infrared or Radio signals, which also enables the analysis of the student performance for subsequent review. With these facilities combined, teachers can present material and receive feedback from students in order to direct instruction more effectively and carry out formal assessments and tests.

AUDIOVISUAL EQUIPMENTS Of late Audiovisual aids have become one of the most effective and advanced mode of communicating with people.

There are a variety of Audiovisual aids giving wider option to the user to select which are appropriate to the method.

Audiovisual aids communicate facts and ideas through the eyes to the mind and emotions. Visual aids include films, slides, videos, overhead projection, books, photographs, models and charts.

Audio aids communicate ideas through the form of music or tape recordings, television, records, sound films, etc. It is possible to produce education and

communication materials with the mix of sounds on tape, particularly by mixing music, sound effects and dialogue along with the visuals and text but keeping it simple and uncluttered. The modern set of equipments of Audiovisual component synchronise sound with vision in the most effective manner.

Audiovisual aids strengthen an instructor’s verbal presentation while helping his students capture a specific message. Audiovisual aids keep an audience’s attention throughout a presentation and help them remember particular information. If instructors use simple, efficient aids, they will enhance their teaching.

THE RECENT PROJECTORS AND DISPLAY PRODUCT Plasma Display panels and giant video walls, LCD Screen, multimedia projectors are the vital components of the Audiovisual aids that are in vogue in the education sector of late.

LCD Screen – Liquid Crystal Display televisions (LCD TV) are one of the most effective ways of the Audiovisual communications in the teaching-learning process, where the television sets use LCD technology to produce images. The screens are wider, thinner and lighter than of the conventional screens of similar display size, and are available in much larger sizes as well. This combined set of features made LCDs more practical than Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) for many roles.

LCD TVs are quickly catching up the market displacing the major competitors in the large-screen market, the plasma display panel and rear-projection television. LCDs are, by far, the most widely produced and sold television technology today, pushing all other technologies into niche roles, say experts.

Plasma Display PanelA Plasma Display Panel (PDP) is a type of large and flat panel display of 80 cm or larger. A mixture of noble gases are filled in between innumerable tiny cells of two panels of glass.

The noble gas layer in the cells is turned into a plasma through electrical emission process, which emits ultraviolet light that excites phosphors

to emit visible light. Plasma displays should not be confused with LCDs, as it uses different technology, look similar in presence though.

Multimedia and 3D Projector– It’s a video projector that takes a signal and multiplies an image on a projection screen using a lens. The projectors needs bright light to project the image, and the recent technology can work on the curves, blurriness, and other inconsistencies through manual settings.

These days projectors are widely used for classroom training with live applications in many schools and educational institutes, connected to an interactive white board, PCs, laptops in an interactive teaching learning process.

Of late 3D projectior, one of the most advanced methods of mapping threedimensional points to a two-dimensional plane has come up with new age technology. The most current methods for displaying graphical data are based on planar two-dimensional media, but the technology of 3D projector is widespread, especially in computer graphics and pictures.

The usage of Audiovisual equipments give the necessary variation and a change of pace in the study material to help maintain the students’ attention and interest. With the pictures available in the presentation, students actually become able to speak and write on a topic enhancing language skill. The aids also ensure bigger student participation to achieve maximum effectiveness.

THE MARKET 1 million Interactive Whiteboards will be sold globally in 2010 according to new Futuresource report . The Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) phenomenon continues to take hold, with nearly 750,000 boards sold worldwide in 2009 and the market on track to top 1 million sales in 2010.

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Visual Instruments, India Pvt. Ltd.

Epson

THE OBSTACLES

Source: Futuresource Consulting Ltd.

The interactive-whiteboard industry is expected to reach one of every seven classrooms in the world by 2011. In India, currently 0.2% of schools have Interactive whiteboards. By 2011 that figure is forecast to reach 4.7%.

“All regions experienced major growth last year, spread across multiple countries rather than localised hotspots,” says Colin Messenger, Senior Consultant, Futuresource. “Back in 2005 only three countries sold more than 10,000 IWBs; last year we saw 12 countries hit this level. Driven by continued technological developments, our projections show that one in six classrooms will have an Interactive Whiteboard by 2012. There is a justifiably strong mood of optimism amongst manufacturers.”

In the 66 countries covered within the Futuresource report, Messenger calculates there are over 31 million classrooms, a huge market potential for companies operating within this sector.

“Few markets hold the promise of education, where we’ll see very strong sales growth for at least the next five years. It’s remarkable to see how IWB technology allows teachers to connect with students in much greater depth, bringing the outside world into the classroom and transforming lessons into exciting world experiences. That’s the tangible component which continues to drive this market forward,” says Messenger.

In the Indian education sector, the estimated installed base of IWBs is 9k and projectors 112k. These numbers are forecast to increase to 111k and 276k by 2011. It may be more relevant to consider IWB penetration by school not classroom.

“Private schools are investing every year to increase the ICT classrooms and also on up gradation of existing class rooms.

In the government sector the ICT growth depends on the funds allocation by the central government to states,” observes Harish A. K., Senior Business Manager, 10

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Research says that a potential barrier for IWB sales is that, in many Indian schools, computers tend to be used in computer labs rather than in classrooms. The implication for IWB sales is that, initially, the opportunity may be a single sale per school into the labs until computers expand from the labs into classrooms. Therefore, it may be more relevant to consider IWB penetration by school not classroom.

Currently 0.2% of schools have Interactive whiteboards. By 2011 that figure is forecast to reach 4.7%, explains the report of Futuresource.

The opinion is that the Indian Government needs to play a much more active role and take the lead before we can expect a big jump in technology implementation; this will require a real spending focus However, in the last 18 months the Central (not State) Government has accelerated ICT deployment in schools and has funded some early tenders and have focused on K11 and K12 schools.

The Indian Government realises that there is a real need for quality education in order to match international standards.

Technology is not directly an issue but promises to spend on schools and education are high on the list.

THE ROADMAP

education, using technology and resulting a huge potential of quality development of mankind, he further added.

According to Ghouse, at Scientech, “Serious and sincere efforts are required for further penetration of IWB ‘s in our education system. Therefore, incentives for schools and colleges for setting up themselves on the 21st century track is also required through some government policy.”

The observations say that India will undoubtedly become one of the world’s largest ICT markets in the coming years as the country already has an exceptional world class infrastructure of knowledgeable expert companies fully capable of delivering highly effective ICT implementations nationwide. “In my opinion, what will both trigger and catapult the growth will be the alignment of these highly capable Indian private company resources and suppliers of world leading solutions with government policy and commitment to applying the powerful leverage of ICT to Indian public education,” says Shanley at mimio.

Further to that, according to Harish at Epson, “The average usage would be 4 hours every day for 5 days a week and only 25% of the class rooms are equipped with computer aided teaching, though. As the teaching methodology has changed India needs to equip teachers on the computer aided teaching methodology which will play a key role in increase of computer aided teaching.”

But lack of money is the main barrier of installing IWB, say experts. Installation can be difficult due to the huge distances and lack of knowledge in some schools.

The school environment also causes many challenges like power supplies, distance and basic infrastructure. More importantly, the message about IWBs needs to get through the schools across the country. \\

The future picture of the IWBs and multimedia equipments in terms of its usage and demand will be higher and it is crystal clear, say experts and market leaders. There is an obvious major boom to see in the education sector in India in terms of using technology in comparison to the global scenario. “As the world is moving towards technology driven education system, India is also not far behind and capturing the pace very fast,” foresees Pankaj Kayathwal, Business Vertical Manager LG Electronics India. There is also a good competition growing in between the private and government and state run institutes in India in terms of the quality of Source: Futuresource Consulting Ltd.

COVER STORY

Interactive Whiteboard and Audiovisual Aids Product Matrix Name of Vendors

CATEGORIES OF PRODUCTS Interactive Whiteboard

LCD/Plasma TV Screen

Projector

Actis Technologies Pvt. Ltd

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Almoe Digital Solutions

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Ceeco Technologies

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Dispro Visual Technologies Limited

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Canon India

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Epson India Pvt. Ltd Genee Solutions India Pvt Ltd

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Hitachi India Trading Pvt. Ltd

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LG Electronics India

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Mimio Interactive Teaching Technologies

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Panasonic India

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Promethean Limited

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Onida Electronics

Samsung India

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Scientech Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

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Smart Technologies Inc.

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Vivitech Corporation

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INDUSTRY LEADER SAY

OPPORTUNITIES AND IMPACT

PANKAJ KAYATHWAL Business Vertical Manager, LG Electronics India

MOHAMMED GHOUSE Manager, (Analyst & Media), Scientech Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

HARISH A. K. Senior Business Manager, Visual Instruments, Epson India Pvt. Ltd.

JAEMES SHANLEY Director of Sales-Asia Pacific-Latin America-New Mexico, mimio

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There is a paradigm shift in using the tools for purpose of education today. Educational Institutes are trying to develop a system of more and more scientific gadgets to create much effective teaching-learning process. This also cut down the cost in the process. Because good faculty cause a high expenditure and replacing manpower with effective technology results in good quality of teaching with lesser cost. There is an obvious major boom to see in the education sector in India in terms of using technology in comparison to the global scenario. As the world is moving towards technology driven education system, India is also not far behind and capturing the pace very fast. There is also a good competition growing in between the private and government/state run institutes in India in terms of the quality of education, using technology and resulting a huge potential of quality development of mankind.

IWB’s are the most important tools of learning. They have changed the way we teach & train because education has become Edutainment providing a greater learning experience to both, the Teacher and the student. We provide Interactive Classroom Solutions consisting of Clasus, Legamaster and Luidia’s Interactive White Boards or eBeam Interactive Devices, Quizdom Voting Pads, Document Camera, Wireless Tablet, Projector etc. In comparison to international market, Indian market is slow paced but a potential market. There are still a million classrooms left to be made Interactive. The penetration of equipments is much higher in private schools than Government schools. Government should promote them more widely through a policy. Otherwise the growth will be slower. We are sure India will be emerge as the fastest emerging market for quality education in the next few years.

Considering the world wide market scenario the only segment where there is consistent growth is Education across the globe. The teaching methods are drastically changing from the conventional black board to computer based teaching with interactive content. Interactive classroom teaching (ICT) is the current trend in education with graphical representation where students gain much more practical knowledge in reality world. In this the teacher is using the computer, IWB & projector for the teaching. This kind of teaching is motivating students to be involved in every aspect and teachers are in receipt of good results from maximum students. The growth in India is almost 15% - 20% every year on the education segment and lot of funds being allocated to education from the government very year. Epson has range from 35K to 70K for the standard class room projector.

There is probably no other nation like India, which has seen the transformative impact of a well educated and technologically literate workforce on the national economy. India already has some of the worlds most highly innovative providers of ICT to education bringing comprehensive interactive classroom solutions which integrate equipment, content, training and support to schools. The rapid growth in adoption of ICT and IWB’s in the private schools sector will migrate to the public or government schools sector in the coming years and when it does, will be of unprecedented scale. At this moment, mimio provides a range of portable and highly affordable solutions for creating Interactive Whiteboards in classrooms. The cost of these systems can start at prices as low as Rs 32,000.

OPPORTUNITIES AND IMPACT

INDUSTRY LEADER SAY

SURESH KUMAR GARG CEO, Dispro Visuals

COLIN MESSENGER Senior Consultant, Futuresource Consulting Ltd. UK

PETER ORMEROD Vice President, Promethean Ltd.

RANJIT YADAV Director Mobile & IT, Samsung Electronics

India is no doubt an emerging market in the segment of IWB and audiovisual equipments in the education sector. But lot needs to be taken care of, though. There is a dearth of proper knowledge of the usage of the equipments. Continuous feedback required from teachers as well as parents. There need to be awareness about the products and the usage of it. The premium and good schools always include these equipments in their infrastructure. But there is still a dearth of general consciousness in the subject. Dispro Visual Technologies Ltd., with over a dozen firsts to his credit.,having 30 years of practical experience in projection displays. Dispro Visual has an exclusive range of Interactive products like Dispro E-Board, Intensaa H18 Interact, High Quality Rear Projection Systems, Dispro Touch LCD TV, Inwall Interact, Holo Magic Screen, 3D Plasma and LCD, Interleaved 3D LCD Panel and Dispro 3DTV 100 System.

In the Indian education sector, the estimated installed base of IWBs is 9,000 and projectors 112,000. These numbers are forecast to increase to 111,000 and 276,000 by 2011.The Indian Government already realises that there is a real need for quality education in order to match international standards and allow them to compete and not get left behind. With 4.9 million classrooms the Indian market clearly provides a significant market opportunity for suppliers of ICT equipment. However, the market is extremely fragmented with a vast disparity in the education system throughout the country. Driven by continued technological developments, our projections show that one in six classrooms will have an Interactive Whiteboard by 2012. In the 66 countries covered within the Futuresource report, there are over 31 million classrooms, a huge market potential for companies operating within this sector.

Interactive Whiteboards are becoming an increasingly common classroom resource and already schools and colleges are seeing the benefits that this technology has in transforming teaching and learning across the curriculum. Teachers are using the technology to develop their range of pedagogical strategies and are beginning to exploit the technology to act as a catalyst in enhancing teaching and learning. IWBs are taking education to the next level, by actively engaging the students and make them understand the things rather than just remembering the facts. The impact is tremendous as there is a saying that rather than explaining in thousand words, show a picture. Promethean was the first to launch integrated voting products, the first with integrated board and short throw projector and the first interactive whiteboards with multiinput capability, Promethean leads from the front.

IWBs demonstrate clear effectiveness in improving student participation, concentration and learning efficiency. Globally IWBs are showing a healthy acceptance in schools. In the US, the IWB Market is set to grow from 375K units in 2009 to about 637K units in 2010. At Samsung, we have focused on creating IWBs that are not only sleek in design but also have a brilliant technical edge. Our innovative Touch screen 650 E IWB has a wide viewing angle and supports multimedia display ranging from photo, flash and video. We feel that the IWB has a good potential in India with the focus in education gearing towards drawing greater interactiveness and participation from students. The market in India for IWBs is just about getting created. As the classroom environment progresses towards an engrossing interactive session with av aids, IWBs would serve the purpose of integrating digital content and enrich the learning experience.

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CORPORATE DIARY

India will become one of the world’s largest ICT markets www.mimio.com

adults will be characterised by ubiquitous information technology and that both social and professional communication, interaction and collaboration will be enabled by digital tools. The IWB and related interactive systems at work in the classroom not only utilise the power and versatility of digital media and information as content for learning but also synchronise the classroom context with the contemporary world outside the school.

JAEMES SHANLEY DIRECTOR OF SALES-ASIA PACIFICLATIN AMERICA-NEW MEXICO, MIMIO

What are the major impacts that Interactive Whiteboards and Audiovisual equipments have overall in transforming education system?

The universal appeal and educational impact of Interactive Whiteboards, of which more than 750,000 units were sold and installed worldwide in 2009, derives from their ability, when utilized by appropriately trained teachers to create lessons and learning exercises that are more engaging and stimulating to students.

How does the use of IWB and AV aids change the dynamics of the classroom?

Given that today’s students tend to be already “digital” in their awareness and orientation, one could also argue that use of Interactive Whiteboard in the classroom simply makes the environment more relevant for students. Most students recognise that the world they will enter as 14

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How do you see the Indian market of IWB and AV aids is growing in comparison to the international market?

While India is at an early stage in the adoption of classroom technologies like IWB’s, we see three important factors at play, in addition to India’s huge population size, which are likely to catapult India to the forefront of large markets for educational technology in the near future.

Firstly, there is probably no other nation which has seen the transformative impact of a well educated and technologically literate workforce on the national economy that can accelerate the extraordinary growth of the Indian economy in the future. Secondly, India already has some of the worlds most highly innovative providers of ICT to education. India the fastest growing and one of the largest markets for mimio outside of North America over the past two years.Thirdly, that the rapid growth in adoption of ICT and IWB’s in the private schools sector will migrate to the public or government schools sector in the coming years and when it does, will be of unprecedented scale.

What is the comparative ratio of the usage of IWB and A/V aids in India comparison to the global perspectives?

In mimio’s experience, most IWB and A/V adoptions in the K-12

educational system of India are primarily in the private schools today, with some some of the national government schools just beginning to trial some solutions.

I would describe government education authorities’ position today as one of interest, analysis and trial more than active support of adoptions but that can and probably will change quickly and fairly soon.

Could you please mention about the range of the products the price range?

At this moment, mimio provides a range of portable and highly affordable solutions for creating Interactive Whiteboards in classrooms. The cost of these systems can start at prices as low as Rs 32,000. The additional of whiteboard digitizing tools and accessories or RF wireless computer interface can increase the price up to as much as Rs 60,000 but overall the combination of low product cost, negligible installation costs, and unsurpassed warranty (5 years) and low warranty service costs makes mimio an ideal solution to bring ICT to a maximum number of students within any given budget.

How do you see the future picture in terms of usage and the tentative market size?

India will undoubtedly become one of the world’s largest ICT markets in the coming years. It already has an exceptional world class infrastructure of knowledgeable expert companies fully capable of delivering highly effective ICT implementations nationwide. In my opinion, what will both trigger and catapult the growth will be the alignment of these highly capable Indian private company resources and suppliers of world leading solutions with government policy and commitment to applying the powerful leverage of ICT to Indian public education. \\

CORPORATE DIARY

Enhancing the process of Teaching - Learning through Interactive Technology www.PrometheanPlanet.com

PROMETHEAN’S VISION Promethean’s vision is to develop the learning process into one that inspires, enriches, enlightens and excites people with a passion to positively transform lives.

Promethean is a global leader in interactive classroom solutions that empowers teachers to engage, educate, assess and motivate learners. Developed by and for educators, its award-winning ActivClassroom is an innovative and integrated suite of solutions providing time-saving technology for teachers and engaging, informative content for the modern-day classroom that has been proven to significantly raise achievement levels.

Beyond the classroom, Promethean’s integrated learning system also provides comprehensive training and support. Promethean Planet is the largest and fastest growing dedicated interactive whiteboard community. More than 320,000 educators from around the world currently access and adapt downloadable flipcharts, participate in conversations on the ActivEducator blog and share best practice to create fun, engaging lessons that capture both the imagination and attention of their students.

A GLOBAL COMPANY WITH AN IMPRESSIVE PEDIGREE Founded by Chairman, H. A. Cann, Promethean began life in 1977 as Terminal Display Systems Ltd and specialised in graphic display systems and digitisers. Since then it has experienced tremendous growth and development 16

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and established itself as a leading developer of collaborative, interactive classroom solutions.

The company has grown rapidly with turnover increasing year on year; in 2008 Promethean surpassed £100m turnover.

Promethean’s status as a leading provider of complete interactive technology solutions to the education sector has been achieved in less than five years. As the first company to introduce education-specific interactive whiteboard software, the first to launch integrated voting products, the first with integrated board and short throw projector and the first interactive whiteboards with multi-input capability, Promethean leads from the front.

Following an extensive brand review in April 2004, the decision was taken to align all of the ancillary divisions within the Group under one globally identifiable name, and in September 2004, ‘Promethean Technologies Group Ltd’ was launched – from 2007 the company became known as simply ‘Promethean’.

Promethean companies span the globe consisting of a Group headquarters in Blackburn (UK), overseas offices in the USA, France, Germany, Hong Kong and China and a growing network of distribution partners providing Promethean solutions to every continent.

LEADING THROUGH INNOVATION From a progressive innovation team, to after sales support and continuous

professional development, Promethean employees pride themselves on listening to the needs of those who use their systems, to continually provide the highest quality solutions.

By aiming to continue the advancement of interactive technology solutions, working towards the development and enhancement of learning opportunities and teaching strategies, Promethean continually help to raise the standards for future generations and positively influence the quality of our society.

CONTINUED SUCCESS Promethean continues its drive to increase its market share by building upon our successes and strengths.

Major investments in research and development, increased global market penetration through a ‘best in class’ partner programme and growth of the Promethean Developer Network will all contribute to our continued and increasing success. \\

CORPORATE DIARY

‘Learning the SMART Way...’ www.smarttech.com

Twenty-two years ago, SMART’s executive chairman and co-founder, David Martin, conceptualized the SMART Board interactive whiteboard – the first and most widely installed interactive whiteboard in the world. In 1991, the first generation of the SMART Board interactive whiteboard was introduced.

Currently in its sixth generation, the SMART Board interactive whiteboard line has expanded to include models integrated with projectors and other tools. SMART’s focus has expanded to include a variety of supporting hardware, software and content to create complete classroom and meeting room solutions.

The SMART Board interactive whiteboard connects to a computer with a USB cable (older models use a serial cable) and draws the power it needs from the computer. The SMART Board driver

automatically starts when the computer is turned on, and the interactive whiteboard becomes active once the driver is running.

When you connect a digital projector to your computer, you can project the computer image onto the SMART Board interactive whiteboard. The SMART Board driver converts contact with the interactive whiteboard into mouse clicks or digital ink. This feature enables you to use your finger as a mouse or write overtop of applications. Simply by touching the large display, users can access and control any computer or multimedia application, including the Internet, CDs and DVDs, and write notes in digital ink and save their work to share later. The SMART Pen Tray automatically detects when a user picks up a pen or the eraser. Buttons activate the On-Screen Keyboard, right-click and help functions.

ABOUT SMART SMART Technologies is an industry pioneer and global education market segment leader in user-friendly ICT

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products and group collaboration tools.

The award-winning line of SMART Board interactive whiteboards is the most widely installed in the world because of its unsurpassed product quality, versatility and ease of use. The SMART Board interactive whiteboard is used to teach over 30 million students in more than a million classrooms around the world.

SMART is a private company founded in 1987. Employing more than 1,500 people, SMART is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, with assembly facilities in Ottawa, Ontario and offices in Bonn, Paris, Tokyo, Shanghai, New York City, Chicago and Washington, DC. SMART has been issued and maintains a broad portfolio of patents with numerous U.S., Canadian and other patents pending. In 1992 SMART formed a strategic alliance with Intel® Corporation that resulted in Intel’s equity ownership in the company.

SMART products are sold through dealers across North America and distributors worldwide. Learn more about SMART, visit www.smarttech.com \\

CORPORATE DIARY

‘The Power of Genee...’ www.genee-india.com

Genee World is headquartered in Wolver-Hampton, West Midlands, England and has a presence in seven countries worldwide; Genee World, currently in India is known as Genee Solutions India, earlier located at Gurgaon(Haryana) but now shifted at Delhi.

Are all boards the same? You definitely will not think so after using the Genee PowerBoard!

The first thing to notice is the construction. It has a solid, durable surface meaning that there are no vulnerable membrane surfaces to damage at great expense. Normally, this would mean ‘electronic’ pens to activate the whiteboard interface, but not with the Genee PowerBoard. The clever thing is the surrounding curtain of infra-red beams that detect any movement within the board area. This could simply be your finger or the extendable ‘wand’ that not only adds a flourish to your presentation but also means that you can be further away from the direct line of the projector beam.

The second thing to notice are the ‘softkey’ icons on either side of the board.

The Genee Power Board’s soft keys can be configured to hyperlink to a range

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of presentation tools, files or resources along with floating toolbar which can be moved and positioned to sit anywhere on the screen and can display either horizontally or vertically.

The next clever thing is that the software can be set for different levels which determines the number and complexity of the tools available on the tool bar. This might be linked to individual users because of their preferences or developing capabilities, or to different presentation activities and their particular requirements. These can, of course, be conveniently saved for future use.

The floating toolbar has all the usual features such as being able to set pen widths and colours, transparency settings etc. along with some special applications that enhance the use of the Genee PowerBoard:The intelligent pen, for instance, allows the user to draw a regular shape freehand and then convert it automatically into a formal shape. As soon as the shape is completed it is automatically recognised and converted into a regular shape.

The laser pen allows the user to draw a line to highlight or indicate text or an object on the whiteboard. The line drawn will flash until a different tool is selected from the toolbar which prompts the line to then disappear.

However, the most stunning and useful feature is the ‘Rover’. The rover facility allows the user to scroll the page in any direction as if panning over a large sheet of paper. Use either the rover tool from the toolbar or make at least two points of contact on the board to be able to move the slide around.

Unfortunately, there are many examples where interactive white boards (IWB’s) are just being used as ‘expensive flip charts’ with electronic ink. Their effective use depends on high quality training and a good supply of appropriate resources.

Genee Solutions not only carry out professional installations but also provide comprehensive training, technical support and a vast range of curriculum content such as the highly rated ‘Maths on Board’, and even include a set of 12000 images and animations.

Genee Solutions also provide the complete answer for the 21st Century classroom where ‘interoperability’ is the key. Seamlessly integrating Genee Visualisers, ClassComm Response Systems and GeneeSlate mobile presenters has had a proven impact on students’ learning and progress in both Primary and Secondary education through their total engagement and involvement in lessons. Teachers and students are instantly provided with feedback, and assessment is an integral part of the process giving teachers more time to teach.

The GeneePowerBoard comes in a range of sizes, up to a class beating 105”, with a full 5year guarantee. \\

Harnessing India’s Potential through Skill Development www.dget.nic.in

The present paper talks about Government of India’s perspective on vocational training, skill development and employment. The paper confines to skill development, leaving aside education.

Government of India realised that unless we modernise all our existing institutions, upgrade and revise the course curricula and make them industry driven, things will not move.

There are two flagship schemes under DGE&T: (i) Craftsmen Training Scheme-CTS which turns out people trained for the shop floor requirement of the country, and (ii) Apprenticeship Training Scheme –ATS, which is also trying to link training with the actual industrial environment.

Under the Craftsmen Training Scheme (CTS), there are 7605 ITIs and ITCs (Govt.-2076 & Pvt.- 5529) with a seating capacity of 10.62 lakh . ITIs are owned and run by the government and ITCs are owned and run by private sector, they could be corporates, NGOs or individuals and other different kinds of entities. There are 112 trades. Many other economies, particularly developed economies have a much larger number of trades. Australia has around 340 and Germany has 350. Training duration is 6 months to 3 years. Entry qualification is VIIIth to XIIth Standard and age from 14 to 40 years.

There is no age limit for women.

Under the Apprenticeship Training Scheme (ATS), we have 24,815 establishments which impart apprenticeship training. There are 188 trades and they altogether cover 2.79 lakhs seats while Germany as I mentioned, trains about 6.5 lacs apprentices per year. Duration of the Courses is 6 months to 4 years and entry qualification is 8-12th Standard & ITI pass-outs but in case somebody has passed ITI then that

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SHARDA PRASAD

So the Government took following decisions: (i) Modernize & upgrade all the existing Government ITIs. (ii) Set up large number of skill development institutions in Govt., Private and Public Private Partnerships with some kind of accreditation standards so that they deliver required quality (iii) Run all ITIs/ ITCs in 2-3 shifts, which is quite easy (iv) Introduce short term modular courses (so that we can train larger numbers in shorter time) in addition to long duration courses. We had been running longterm courses- six months, one year, two year and some even three year courses in the training institutions. Industry requires faster turnout and therefore short term courses are necessary (v) Take up training of trainers in big way. This is a huge problem, not only in India but in rest of the world also. The whole world is facing the problem of trainers.

Therefore this is one issue which has been flagged. So the broad strategy is that we train trainers in very large numbers who can meet the requirement of different sectors of economy. (vi) Achieve greater involvement of industry in skill development. Unfortunately, for historical reasons in India skill development efforts were started by government, while in some of the best economies e.g. in Germany it is all driven by the industry. Last year their total expenditure on skill development was of the order of 35 billion Euros in a country of 82 million population and it trains about 650,000 apprentices every year, Out of the expenditure of 35 billion Euros, industry contributed about 28 billion last year which is 80% and the government both federal and the landers equivalent to state governments here contributed only 20%. In India 100% expenditure is made by the governments both the centre and states. (vii) Use of Information & communication technology tools for greater outreach to remote areas. And we have already started this. We had the traditional concept of teacher taught ratio I: 20 or 1:30. Why it can’t be 1:1000, 1:10,000 or 1: Million. We just have to set up a studio, a receiving station and arrange lectures.

Any number of persons can receive lessons like this.

period is reduced from his apprenticeship training. Minimum age is 14 years and there is no upper age limit.

UP GRADATION OF EXISTING ITIS Up gradation of ITIs into centres of excellence actually started quite accidentally. Government had neglected skill development sector for quite some time. ITIs were set up way back in 1950s and 60s with an objective that they would

train people to meet the requirement of the industry. And Pandit Nehru was so passionate about it. A decision was taken in 1968 by National Development Council that these institutions, being closer to the people, may be transferred to the state governments. They were transferred on April 1, 1969 lock stock and barrel to the state governments and probably that’s when the problems started. They were plan items in the central government as soon as they were transferred to the

4538 Vocational Training Providers (VTPs) have been registered and 22 Independent assessing bodies empanelled who assess the competencies of trainees so that the quality of training is not compromised.

NCVT certificate is given to successful candidates. India is the first country which has done this innovation.

NATIONAL SKILL DEVELOPMENT POLICY

state governments, they became non plan items.

In 2004, after the new government was, formed, Finance Minister Chidambram was holding a pre budget meeting with the captains of Industry. One of the important issues raised by them, besides other things like taxations etc., was that government was running a huge system but the quality of people produced was not up to the mark and they were not relevant to their current requirements of skills. Chidamdram announced in the first budget he presented that we would upgrade 500 ITIs into centres of excellence by investing domestic resources and would also take world Bank assistance. That’s how this scheme started. We took up the first 100 ITIs in 2005-06 at a cost of about INR 160 crores and took World Bank credit of US $280 million to upgrade 400 ITIs. The idea was not to upgrade just one time but there was some kind of paradigm shift.

Another feature of the policy was that it took in to account the fact that in another 10 or 20 years the machinery would become irrelevant as the technology is changing fast and the one time big investment would then go waste. So we thought that industry must be put in the centre of the whole skill development effort like what the rest of the world was doing. Up gradation of remaining 1396 ITIs (at that time we had 1896 ITIs) was taken up in PPP mode, in addition to 500 already taken up and Finance Minister announced in 2007 budget a commitment of about INR 3550 crores.

IMCs were converted into societies which comprised five members from

the industry, five from the government and the Principal would become the Member Secretary. They were given full academic, administrative and financial autonomy so that they became the new management and took all decisions at the local level and didn’t have to refer anything to the state government or the Directorate. Infrastructure development has already been taken up in 500 Govt.

ITIs, 100 Domestic funded and 400 World Bank assisted. In addition, Centres of Excellence (COE) for producing multi skilled workforce of world standard at a cost of INR 1741 crore (Domestic – INR 160 crore and WB INR 1581 crore) are also being created. Total number of ITIs covered under PPP is 600.

SKILL DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE This was also announced in 2007.

The private sector infrastructure was taken into account and tried to use that infrastructure to train people according to requirement of the industry. The initiative is demand driven with short term training courses based on Modular Employable Skills (MES). A person can do any module; he can do second module, third module, fourth and so on as per his choice and need of the industry. The cost of training is borne by Govt. of India. A Scheme has been approved to train 1 million people at a cost of INR 550 crores in 5 years.

Thereafter infrastructure so created will be used to train one million every year. 3.54 Lakh people have already been trained/ tested since inception against a target of 1.90 Lakh. 970 course curricula have been developed against a target of 200.

The National Skill Development Policy has been formulated and was approved by the Union Cabinet on February 23, 2009. In last 60 years we didn’t have any policy and it is a laudable work which has been done. With Prime Minister himself guiding the whole process we have been mandated to skill 500 million persons by 2022. The policy aims at enhancing individual employability and strengthening competitiveness of the country. It addresses the issues such as National Qualification Framework, expansion of outreach, equity & access, quality and relevance, skill development for the unorganised sector, benchmarking of skill deficit, setting up of Sector Skill Councils, etc. It is a mammoth task but by the time India completes 75 years of independence we should have adequately skilled manpower in the country if we want to reap the demographic dividend.

NATIONAL SKILL DEVELOPMENT MISSION Prime minister announced National Skill Development Mission on August 15, 2007 which has been put in place.

Following institutions have been created under this Mission: Prime Minister’s National Council on Skill Development: This is headed by the Prime Minister himself and he conducts its meetings. There are about 8 cabinet ministers, 6 persons from private sector.

Nandan Nilekani, Rajendra Pawar of NIIT, Professor C.K. Prahlad and many eminent people are members. They

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give the vision and guidelines for the concerned ministries to implement. India is the only country where this kind of skill development authority is headed by the prime Minister A National Skill Development Coordination Board: It is headed by Dy. Chairman Planning Commission. 17 ministries of government of India are enaged in skill development activity and a huge coordination effort is required which is being done by the Planning Commission.

National Skill Development Corporation: This is headed by M V Subbaiah from corporate sector. They have been given a resource of about INR 15000 crores to take care of skill development requirement of different sectors of economy Because ultimately the states are the implementing authorities, Chief Ministers have been requested to set up State Skill Development Missions under their Chairmanship so that skill development gets the focus by the state. 18 States have already setup such Missions.

had no training infrastructure. So prime Minister announced that we set up 1500 ITIs in the current XIth year plan and the remaining in XIIth year plan.

the will five five

Introduction of following modules in all ITIs and ITCs has been made compulsory effective next year and every child, whatever discipline he chooses, will have to go through these modules: • Communication Skills, team work, interpersonal behaviour, problem solving etc.

• Basic Computer skills • Proficiency in English • Entrepreneurship Development Skills.

• Quality Management tools.

• Occupational Safety & Health

Today, most of the institutions are located in the urban areas but about 70% of our population is in rural areas.

So, the Prime Minister took a decision that we reach out to rural areas to set up skill development centres and give the private sector a leading role in running these institutions. It is not only training but also their employment and with the involvement of private sector, probably, the employability will improve and quality of training will also go up.

The other scheme is to establish 50,000 Skill Development Centres in PPP mode which will be smaller versions of ITIs. One centre will be set up in a cluster of 8-10 villages so that youth in that area can easily access them. These will cover the whole country and will be set up in areas which have not been covered hitherto.

At present we do not given any training in services sector which has contributed about 55-56% of GDP. Similarly, there are 94% workers in the unorganized sector but there is no organized training and skill development programme for them.

In primary sector, there are not many training centres in agriculture and different allied sectors. We are mostly addressing requirment of only the secondary sector –manufacturing and activities related to that. It has therefore been decided that SDCs will be running modular courses based on the industry requirement of primary, secondary and tertiary sectors.

In-Principle approval of Planning Commission for opening of 5000 SDCs has been given and RFP has been prepared and issued to Transaction Advisors for appointment of a Consultant. Fund requirement in the next three years will be INR 1000 crore and the government is committed to provide the money by way of viability gap funding. Our hope is that private sector will come forward in a big way. We have already started the process and may be in 10 months time we should start the roll out of these SDCs so that the country has the required institutions to turn out the numbers which are required for harnessing the demographic dividend. \\

NEW SCHEMES There are two schemes which have been formulated. One is setting up of 1500 new ITIs in PPP mode for which In- Principle approval of Planning Commission has been received. RFP has been prepared and issued to Transaction Advisors for appointment of a Consultant. Fund requirement for this project in next three years will be INR 3600 crore. We conducted a survey and found that 2868 blocks in the country

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SHARDA PRASAD DIRECTOR GENERAL, EMPLOYMENT & TRAINING AND JOINT SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF LABOUR & EMPLOYMENT, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

Shri Sharda Prasad is serving the Government of India as Director General with the Directorate General Employment & Training, Ministry of Labour & Employment. The Minsitry is the apex organisation for development and coordination of national level programmes relating to vocational training and employment services.

NEWS

INDIA

PURANDESWARI SAYS NCHE WILL BE THE APEX Recently, at the 20th annual convocation of Kuvempu University, Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development D. Purandeswari mentioned that the regulatory bodies of higher education such as the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) will not be done away with, after the constitution of the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE). These institutions will be subservient to the latter.

The Bill for NCHE formation might be placed before Parliament in May or June. Purandeswari suggested another important recommendation of the National Knowledge Commission that universities should have a limited number of colleges affiliated to them, ranging from 70 to 100, so that they could coordinate with them in a better way to ensure quality education.

INR 50 CRORE FOR REGISTRATION OF NEW FOREIGN UNIVERSITIES According to the Foreign Educational Institutions (regulation of entry and operation) Bill, the foreign universities will be checked from repartriating profits from Indian campus though education, by making it mandatory for the universities to publish a prospectus for settling in India. The new education providers settling down in India are required to deposit an amount of INR 50 crore with the body that will register them, which is the University Grants Commission (UGC).

Various levels of registrations are to be done by the foreign universities at various levels, but the bill promises time bound registration to them.

APPROACH TO ANGANWARI WORKERS, IN AN ATTEMPT TO ROPE IN KIDS TO SCHOOL To increasse the number of students in government schools and to reverse the trend of decreasing number of students, the Punjab School Education Department (PSEB), for the first time, a proactive stratgey has been adopted by the latter. The department has made a decision of sending its teachers, including over 28,000 anganwari workers to convince parents of children, including those not part of anganwaris, to admit them in government primary schools.

JHARKHAND SCHOOL GIRLS TO GET FREE BICYCLES Class 8 girl students in Jharkhand are to receive free bicycles, to check the dropout rates in government schools, mentioned state Human Resource Development (HRD) minister Hemlal Murmu on March 15, 2010, night while replying in the assembly on his department’s budget for 2010-11. Earlier, free cycles were provided to girls of tribal and Dalit families.

The objective of this action is to support girls to study up to the secondary level. According to a state government report, the majority of girls in the state leave school after studying upto Class 5 or 6. The literacy rate in the state is 54 % against national average of 65 %.

The women’s literacy rate is below 40 %. Additionally, it was announced that 48,410 primary school teachers had been appointed for schools.

FOREIGN UNIVERSITIES CAN NOW APPLY TO OPEN CAMPUSES IN INDIA On 15th March 2010, the proposal to allow foriegn universities to set up campuses in India was passed

by India’s cabinet.

This is to reduce the flow of Indian students abroad. Tens of thousands of students head to universities in the United States, Britain and Australia among others for quality education each year. Political parties have in the past opposed the entry of foreign universities, saying the poor will not be able to afford the fees. A figure of 13.8 million will be reached most likely, as far as the demand for graduates goes over the next five years, analysts have estimated. But with only 13.2 million students graduating over the same period, India will face a shortfall of 600,000 graduates. India is to turn into a sought destination for top foreign universities, with India’s large English-speaking population and growing middle class.

YALE WELCOMES RAKESH MOHAN, WITH LACK OF OFFERS FROM INDIAN UNIVERSITIES The former Reserve Bank of India deputy governor Rakesh Mohan, who was previously appointed as the faculty with the prestigious Yale University, recently told that he was not offered a teaching job by any Indian university, as a professor. This was in response of a query regarding him not chosing any Indian university for teaching. Mohan added he would like to see India as the intellectual centre of the world in the coming years. He hoped that India would work towards restructuring its higher education system, to level up with the huge amount of work taking place across Asian counrties.

He is currently the non-executive vicechairman of the Indian Institute of Human Settlements, and global advisor to the McKinsey Global Institute, McKinsey and Company. The economist will formally serve the faculty from July 1. digital LEARNING

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CORPORATE DIARY

Digital Classrooms with ‘ScienTECH’ www.scientech.bz

MOHAMMED GHOUSE Manager, (Analyst & Media), Scientech Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Scientech’s Interactive Classroom Solutions are designed to engage all the students within a classroom.

It provides the teacher with a dynamic teaching tool that makes assessment for learning instantly achievable.

Seamless integration makes presenting and preparing lessons simple.

Our Interactive Classroom consists of Interactive White Boards or Interactive

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devices eBeam, Wireless Tablet, Document Camera, Response Systems and Computing Devices.

Our Solutions are ideally suited for the Indian Classrooms Environment, For instance Our Interactive Whiteboards support use of regular dry markers (avoiding extra white boards) its helpful when your are dealing with power crisis or addressing casual meets and not to forget they can withstand dents too.

Similarly our Document Camera is extremely user friendly, just 2 clicks and glimpse of any object/ human face from Real World is brought to the Digital World. To add with it runs on USB, no extra power supply is required.

Well features of our Solutions are endless. Further with our extensive Training programs our Solutions prove their added value.

Our objective and efforts are to put Indian Schools and Colleges on the Digital Track of 21st Century with Scientech’s Interactive Classroom Solutions.

COMPANY PROFILE Scientech Technologies is a Global Technology company in the field of

Test and Measurement Instruments, Technology Training Equipments, Simulation/Teaching Software and Online Education. It serves a variety of academic disciplines and offers a vast selection of products, state-of-the art Educational and Interactive Classroom Solutions (Interactive Whiteboard, Response Systems). Its products engage the students’ hands and minds and help translate their ideas into reality. Scientech Technologies excellent student-centered learning concepts range from middle school to college/ university levels.

Scientech Technologies exclusively represenents Global brands such as M/s Luidia, USA, M/s Designsoft, Hungary, and few others for their range of products.

Through its own 16 offices and over 60 dealers, Sciectech products are available across India. Scientech customers are also spread across the world in over 60 countries through its agents.

Scientech has top end R&D teams which are constantly working on providing innovative products and solutions for Education, Industry and Research.

With Scientech you are in safe hands !! \\

COMMENTARY

Union Budget 2010 - 11 in Education

Going Back to Elementary SANGITA GHOSH DE

Plan allocation for elementary education increased by 16% from INR 26,800 crore in 200910 to INR 31,036 crore in 2010-11. In addition, States will have access to INR 3,675 crore for elementary education under the XIIIth Finance Commission grants for 2010-11.

The education sector is considered as the virtual base of the country’s economic and social developmental agenda.

India is known for its intellectual capital worldwide, a lot remains to be done though.

In order to support the developmental measures in the economy, adequate investment in training, skill development and education in the larger economy was necessary and need of the hour as indicated by the experts.

The Budget announced a major allocation with an increment of INR 31,036 crore in the current fiscal year against the previous year’s allocation of INR 26,800 crore for elementary education which is a INR 4,236 crore or 16% increase from the 2009-10 fiscal. In addition to this, the states’ access to a grant of INR 3,675 crore in the current year for basic education will ensure states’ responsibility of the 65:35 CentreState funding arrangement dedicated to the Right To Education (RTE).

National Skill Development Corporation has approved three projects worth about INR 45 crore to create 10 lakh skilled manpower at the rate of one lakh per annum.

An extensive skill development programme in the textile and garment sector to be launched by leveraging the strength of existing institutions and instruments of the Textile Ministry to train 30 lakh persons over 5 years.

The spending on social sector has been gradually increased to INR 1,37,674 crore in 2010-11, which is 37% of the total plan outlay in 2010-11.

Another 25 per cent of the plan allocations are devoted to the development of rural infrastructure.

Allocation for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme stepped up to INR 40,100 crore in 32

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The excerpt from the speech by Pranab Mukherjee, Minister of Finance, during the presentation of the Union Budget, 2010-11: “Madam Speaker, I rise to present the Budget for 2010-11..... For the UPA Government, inclusive development is an act of faith. In the last five years, our Government has created entitlements backed by legal guarantees for an individual’s right to information and her right to work. This has been followed-up with the enactment of the right to education in 2009-10..... To fulfil these commitments the spending on social sector has been gradually increased to INR1,37,674 crore which now stands at 37 per cent of the total plan outlay in 2010-11. Another 25 per cent of the plan allocations are devoted to the development of rural infrastructure. With growth and the opportunities that it generates, we hope to further strengthen the process of inclusive development.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 creates a framework for legal entitlements for all children in the age group of 6 to 14 years to education of good quality, based on principles of equity and non-discrimination.

In recent years, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) has made significant contribution in improving enrolment and infrastructure for elementary education. About 98 per cent of habitations are now covered by primary schools. I propose to increase the plan allocation for school education from INR 26,800 crore in 2009-10 to INR 31,036 crore in 2010-11. In addition, States will have access to INR 3,675 crore for elementary education under the Thirteenth Finance Commission grants for 2010-11.”

2010-11. However, there is no specific mention of the Higher Education allocations this year, though.

Union Budget 2009-10 announced the provision for the scheme ‘Mission in Education through ICT’ substantially increased to INR 900 crore and the provision for setting up and upgradation of Polytechnics under the Skill Development Mission enhanced to INR 495 crore. INR 827 crore allocated for opening one Central University in each uncovered State. INR 2,113 crore allocated for IITs and NITs which includes a provision of INR 450 crore for new IITs and NITs. The overall Plan budget for higher education was to be increased

by INR 2,000 crore over Interim B.E. 2009-10.

IMPACT ON EDUCATION SECTOR – MANY CONCERNS REMAIN The industry has partially applauded this budget for making a greater increase in the expenditure outlay for elementary education only.

The allocation for the higher education sector has not been increased for the current fiscal over the last fiscal and is perhaps not enough to meet the targets to achieve the gross enrolment ratio of 30% by 2020, say experts.

Points have been raised that initiatives mentioned for skill development are still not adequately funded. The scheme comes under 17 different ministries and lots need to be done on the coordination.

Unless there is a concrete effort to mobilise the projects, employability and

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employment growth on one side and growth in industry and services on the other, outcomes may not synchronise and thus would not become sustainable.

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION AND RTE GETS SUPPORT The Finance Minister in his Union budget 2010 speech explains his focus on Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 which bears a legal agenda for privileges of children within the age group of 6 to 14 years. He also noted the achievements of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) launched by the government, that talks about improving the infrastructure for basic education.

“If we look at the total allocation on school education for this fiscal year we find that almost INR 14, 433 crore will be collected from the education cess and transferred to the Prarambhik Shiksha Kosh (PSK) for SSA and Mid Day Meals in schools and the remaining to be spent on other areas of school education which is not enough even as it is,” says Sushma Berlia President, Apeejay Stya Group.

Taking forward its commitment, the Budget proposed INR 15,000 crore allocation for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) which has a focus to act as a vehicle towards fulfilling RTE provisions.

According to Amit Gupta Chief Executive Officer, S. Chand Group, “Though there is an increase in the allocation for primary and secondary education, the increase is not commensurate with the task of increasing the level of enrolments which is still in the region of 61% in 2007-

compared to 68% in China, 87% in Brazil and 82% in Russia. RTE if enforced, requires much higher central support than what has been allocated to SSA”.

The RTE Act has already been notified, and set to come into effect from April, 2010. The Ministry of Human Resource Development has estimated an expenditure of INR 1.78 lakh crore for the implementation of the Act over the next five years. The total funds earmarked for SSA estimated at INR 92,000 crore at present, will also be diverted and merged with RTE funding. The HRD Ministry’s calculations show that around INR 82,000 crore and more is required over the next five years for the Act’s implementation.

Now, with another INR 15,000 crore allocated under SSA in the budget, RTE is expected to take off successfully. RTE and SSA apart, INR 9,440 crore has also been allocated towards the Mid-Day Meal programme, followed by Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan with INR 1,700 crore, and adult education and skill development programmes with INR 1,173 crore.

INSUFFICIENCY IN HIGHER EDUCATION Experts expected this year’s Budget to bring in more allocation of resources in higher education but primary education seems to be the focal point of Budget 2010- 2011. According to their opinion this year’s Budget cannot be taken as a balanced one as it involves insufficient expenditure as far as higher education in the country is concerned.

If not directly, additional provisions could have been made for the betterment of the higher education sector as a whole. Budgetary allocation for higher education should have been increased by at least 20% over last year. Unless the government increases allocation to the secondary and tertiary education sectors, it becomes next to impossible to develop the skilled manpower to realise the projected double-digit growth in the next fiscal.

Dr. M P Ravindra, Advisor, Education & Research, Infosys has shown his concerns on the allocations in higher education saying, “Considering that the world is moving irrevocably into knowledge economy and an improved state of higher education which gives the opportunity for adding to speedier and better rate of economic growth, the silence on the topic of investment in higher education in the budget is very disappointing. Also, the FDI in higher

education has to be liberalised if the huge chasm that exists between demand and supply is to be narrowed.” According to him, the country has a dire need for Virtual University but there is not even a mention in this direction.

The higher education sector needs sufficient funds because over the years there has been a continuous increase in the cost of education in India, which is again a deep concern for the common people. The rising demand for higher education also makes the need for educational loans imperative. The continuing tax relief in education is a positive move but the expectation of further tax relaxation in the interest of parents and students was actually there.

This would have made higher education more affordable.

According to Lokesh Mehra, Regional Manager, Corporate Responsibility, Cisco South Asia, “Only an overall outlay of INR 11,000 crore hike in Secondary Education and 900 crore for National Mission in Education through ICT would barely assist in getting this project kick started.

Also, the curtailment of fund allocation to IITs, IIMs and IISc also means that they may have to raise fees or seek some source of funds to maintain or upgrade and sustain their existing infrastructure.”

Futher to that Mehra added that while the Union Budget had a focus on development of new schools and universities it did not highlight the importance of knowledge grid network for interconnecting all the new institutes and existing universities. The interest rate for education loans was also an area of curiosity and the budget was expected to announce an amendment in the existing interest rates which also missed the focus this year.

The expectation from the budgetary allocation in the higher education sector is based on the three pillars of expansion, inclusion and excellence. In India there is over 44% of the population below the age of 14 years and over 65% below the age of 35.

This young population needs to be converted into a dynamic economic advantage by providing them the right education and skills. “A wider policy to bring multiple sectors and ministries to accelerate National Skill Development Mission, policy in technology driven education and overall higher education system needs a lot of attention. However, the budgetary support on these strategic issues will put India on the path of innovation economy,” says Anshul Sonak, Manager, South Asia Education, Intel.

REITERATING ON HOPES There has been a overall mixed reaction, though. Sonak at Intel observes, “More allocation for academia driven research, building sound industry linkages, emphasis on faculty development at all levels of education, and allocation for better governance of overall education could have been worked out.”

While Madan Padaki, Co-Founder & CEO, MeritTrac critices, “The Government has spent a lot of money and time on expanding reach, access and the overall “quantity” of students in school and colleges, lots needs to be done on the quality aspect. I expected that this budget will address some aspects of outcomes measurements in the education sector and link outlays to outcomes.”

Dr. Ravindra, at Infosys analyses the situation saying, “I am of the opinion that the budget needs a closer look to bridge the yawning gap and also have schemes to promote merit. I am afraid going forward, only children of the rich and elite would be the ones who would be able to afford education if the trend does not reverse. We need to invest 5 to 6 times more than budgets indicated for the XIth plan but there seems to be no such intent.” \\

HIGHLIGHTS - EDUCATION BUDGET 2010-11 •

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A major allocation with an increment of INR 31,036 crore against the previous year’s allocation of INR 26,800 crore for elementary education INR 4,236 crore or 16 per cent increase from the 2009-10 fiscal The states’ access to a grant of INR 3,675 crore in the current year for basic education Ensure states’ responsibility of the 65:35 Centre-State funding arrangement dedicated for RTE No specific mention in the Higher Education allocations National Skill Development Corporation has approved three projects worth about INR 45 crore to create 10 lakh skilled manpower at the rate of one lakh per annum An extensive skill development programme in the textile and garment sector to be launched to train 30 lakh persons over 5 years Spending on social sector increased to INR 1,37,674 crore in 2010-11, which is 37% of the total plan outlay in 2010-11 Another 25 per cent of the plan allocations are devoted to the development of rural infrastructure Allocation for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme stepped up to INR 40,100 crore in 2010-11

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2009-10 •

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Union Budget 2009-10 announced the provision for the scheme ‘Mission in Education through ICT’ substantially increased to INR 900 crore the provision for setting up and up-gradation of Polytechnics under the Skill Development Mission enhanced to INR 495 crore INR 827 crore allocated for opening one Central University in each uncovered State INR 2,113 crore allocated for IITs and NITs includes a provision of INR 450 crore for new IITs and NITs Plan budget for higher education to be increased by INR 2,000 crore over Interim B.E. 2009-10 INR 990 crore for Multi-Sectoral Development Programme for Minorities, Grants-in-aid to Maulana Azad Education Foundation, National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation and pre and post matric scholarship for minorities Allocations for the new schemes of National Fellowship for Students from minority community and Grants-inaid to Central Wakf Council for computerisation of records of State Wakf Boards INR 25 crore each allocated for establishing new campuses at Murshidabad in West Bengal and Malappuram in Kerala by Aligarh Muslim University INR 50 crore allocated for Punjab University, Chandigarh

Education Budget 2010-11 - EXPERT SAY “The Union Budget has come across like a mixed bag scoring high on some aspects while missing few areas of concern. While the budget declares allocation of funds for elementary and school education, it has not been able to meet the expectations of secondary and higher education.”

Lokesh Mehra Regional Manager, Corporate Responsibility, Cisco South Asia “I am very disappointed with the lukewarm response to the excellent recommendations made by NKC or YPC and there is no mention or reference to those proposals. Only eight paragraphs of the budget speech touch the topic of education and that too nothing much about higher education especially when the gaps in quality and quantity are both under strain in comparison to China and Korea.”

Dr. M P Ravindra Advisor, Education & Research, Infosys “We laud this budget, however, what has been disappointing are the actual figures. The outlays which have been actually allocated to higher and school education still fall far below not only the expectations but even the minimum basic requirement of 6% of GDP.” Sushma Berlia President, Apeejay Stya Group “This budget is moderate as per plan already in place. Some of the areas where we could have done more allocation are in areas like teacher professional development & trainings, SSA modernisation and institutional infrastructure expansion for RMSA goals, Research & Evaluation on Education, technology integration for education modernisation for higher education and schools.”

Anshul Sonak Manager, South Asia Education, Intel

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“The Budget is positive for the sector. Government has continued focus in schemes like SSA, ‘Saakshar Bharat’ and plan allocations under ‘Ministry of Social and Empowerment’ etc. Excise duties on paper and Paper Board were not enhanced. Higher weighted deduction in case of payments to research organisations would enhance such activities. But privatisation and corporate investment of education has not been covered.”

Amit Gupta CEO, S. Chand Group “In the previous year there were a slew of allocations for the higher education sector - including setting up of more IITs, IIMs & NITs and having one Central University in each uncovered state. I am also not sure of the impact of allocation of funds for ICT in education and for upgrading polytechnics under the Skills Development Scheme.”

Madan Padaki Co-Founder & CEO, MeritTrac “The budget speech had a very small mention on vocational education. In fact, not much was required to be said as the government had already laid out and stated their commitment to vocational education earlier The budget also had a specific mention to train people for the garments industry – an initiative to be driven by the textiles ministry.”

Hari Menon CEO, IndiaSkills “It is essential that specific allocation within SSA be made for quality aspects of teaching learning process. These steps would help focus on the critical issue of quality of education and promote accountability.”

Sandeep Saha Vice President - Strategic Relationships, Educational Initiatives

LEADER SPEAK

Distributed Education: Learning and Beyond www.manipalu.com

THIMMIYA A.M SR. VICE PRESIDENT & HEAD– DISTRIBUTED LEARNING, MANIPAL EDUCATION

Manipal Education provides with a service of distance education. Can you tell us about the importance of distance learning and skills education?

Present day distance learning is based on ideology of creating and building on human capital. It has moved to another level all together with objective of creating substantial work force that can aid in raising the economy of a country to newer heights. The former is supportive of what is known as the ‘Earn & Learn’ model. This model enables people who are already in jobs or people who want to get into jobs, to avail educational opportunities whereby they can learn the fundamentals of a particular skill and gather knowledge from hands-on practicals with certification. Scope of vocational training is now being realised at a wide scale. This is applicable right from 10+2 level to Post Graduation.

There is provision of scalability in between employment. ODL programmes help in enhancing career profiles.

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What are the challenges in the field of distance education?

Rather than a specific challenge, be it across – distance education or campus education – is employment versus employability. The biggest challenge is whether people today fit into their work spaces or not. I think the challenge that organisations face is that they need people firstly and with full productivity, gone are the days when they could hire people put them for induction for years and then get productivity out of them. So they need people on priority basis who can give immediate productivity.

So largely distance education appeals to people who are working largely education appeals to people who are working. So they bring with them their experince, that exposure of the practical work and the course is also laid out in such a manner that it helps them optimise their productivity. Our courses are also geared to meet the challenges.

We have in our own way tried to design the curriculum including lot of practical experiences, presenting real-life situations so that candidates are more competent.

In formal learning streams, all subjects are not possible to find and that is where distance learning education opens doors to different courses.

What is your understanding of the eLearning scenario w.r.t distance education? eLearning is basically seeing a paradigm shift. From Teacher – Centric to Learner – Centric in both campus nad distance education. We have come up with inititaives like EduNext, which is collaborative learning – which addresses the issue of teacher and student centric learning. Now earlier in Teacher centric mode, teacher would come teach and go and student would also go bakc home and learn from what teacher had taught. So what answers were gathered were the ones taught, while,

in a learner centric mode, a student can browse for information, and gather as much information as student wants.

The challenge equally exists for the teacher fraternity, with technology that has come to stay. Everything and every information is available flexibily anywhere, at any time.

What are the kind of support does an education service provider like yourself, expect of the government?

I think support isn’t the correct thing that we seek, it is the clarity that we want.

I think if rules and regulations are not opaque or grey, and there is a clear cut policy and farmework, of what can be and what can not be done with no ambiguity on that one; but keeping in view all the aspirations and flexibility. The rules that are rigid are not helpful. Inclusiveness and expansion are two things that are to be implemented if you need to proceed with any action in relation to above.

What do you opine of PPP, especially, when people mostly see it as a profiteering collaboration for the private sector?

You listen to any world leader, from developed or a developing country, you will find two important pegs in that, one is education and health. We at Manipal Education, ever since inception 57 years back we have dedicated ourselves to education and health. We did not enter this sector becasue of the commercial aspect.

The amount of investment we made, that people asked us not to for various reasons, was made for a casue not profit. And distance education is a cause to support increase in GER. Even the courses that we initially started were to provide customised and professional education to the masses. As well as to help the existing professional sector. \\

EVENT REPORT

Emerging Directions in Global Education: Catalysing Change EDGE 2010 was a conference that was spread over a period of three days (3-5th March 2010), at Indian Habitat Centre, New Delhi, with agenda that was to address the ‘Emerging Directions in Global Education’. The first day witnessed registration for workshops and inaugration of the conference and two workshops.

THE FIRST DAY Workshop I: “Lessons Learned: Issues to Consider in Building a National Admissions Test” by The College Board, USA. The panelists for the workshop consisted of Janine M. Farhat, Senior International Specialist, The College Board, who also chaired the session; James Montoya, Vice President, Higher Education Relationship Development, The College Board; Dr. C. Peter Magrath, Senior Presidential Advisor, The College Board; Dr. Andrew Wiley, Executive Director for Higher Education, The College Board; and Madan Padaki, Co-Founder 7 CEO, MeritTrac Services.

WORKSHOP II: EDUCATION GOVERNANCE The panelists coinsisted of Prof. N. Ravichandran, Director IIM Indore; Prof.

Rachel Davis, Adjunct Professor, National University of Singapore; Prof. Krishna K. Ladha, Professor, IIM Kozhikode; Prof.

C.V. Baxi, Former Director, MDI Gurgaon; Sharat Kumar, Former Director, IMT Ghaziabad; Dr. Pallab Bandyopadhyay, Vice President – HR, Dell Perot Systems; Prof. Pankaj Gupta, Director, SIBM Bangalore (Also the Chairperson); and Dr. Vidya Yeradekar, Principal Director, Symbiosis. The last session of the day was a Round Table on ‘Catalysing Change’ (Close-Door), whereby, the day ended with a close door meeting between the eminent dignitories present at the conference, which was followed by dinner.

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Left to right: Anand Sudarshan, Dr. V S Ramamurthy, Sam Pitroda, Shri Kapil Sibal, Dr. Martha Kanter and Prof. V N Rajasekharan Pillai at the inauguration of EDGE 2010

THE SECOND DAY The next two days of the conference saw sharing of views and discussions held between many eminent scholars and head of the institutions. To begin with, Shri Kapil Sibal, Human Resource Development Minister, Government of India, in his inaugural address of the Third edition of Emerging Directions in Global Education( EDGE) stressed the need for giving freedom to the universities and education institutions for them to develop ability to collaborate globally and find solutions to global problems. He said, “Education through global collaboration can provide solutions to the global problems. But we will have to reform the structure to allow it to happen, and for that we need to give freedom to our universities and educational institutions.”

Dr. Martha Kanter Under Secretary, US Department of Education was the ‘Guest of honour’. Other dignitaries present were Sam Pitroda, Advisor to the Prime Minister of India, Dr. V.S

Ramamurthy, Director NIAS, Prof. V.N Rajashekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor, IGNOU, and Anand Sudarshan, MD & CEO, Manipal Education amongst many other prominent names in the education sector. Three research reports - NIAS EDGE vision document 2010; Catalysing Change, EDGE - Ernst & Young Report “Building blocks for education” and FED UNI (Federation of Universities), Parthenon Report on ‘Bridging The Higher Education Gap: National Universities And Other Models’ were released during the inauguration function. Two More reports - Institute of International Education (IIE) Report on ‘International India: A Turning point in Educational Exchange with the US’ and EDGE-VALUNITES report on ‘Examinations and the role of technology: Emerging Directions were also released later in the day.

Sam Pitroda, in his “highlight lecture” said that it was a time to question fundamental issues and a time to change in big way in education sector.

He advised the gathering to stop talking

and start taking action now. Expressing concerns over declining quality, he said in 90 per cent of our universities the quality was not up to the mark and needed to be improved substantially. He said expansion was also a key issue and the government was committed to open 14 universities of innovation and 400 new colleges. He said diversity was critical to innovation.

of higher education. The high rate of obsolescence of knowledge will result in greater emphasis on lifelong education and the realization of a learning society.

The session highlighted the need for strategic policy interventions and industrygovernment-academia interactions to strengthen engineering education in the country.

ENHANCING EFFECTIVENESS OF EXAMINATIONS BY LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGY

EDGE AWARDS

This session endeavored to look at issues related with traditional paper-pencil examinations and the potential benefits of leveraging technology to deliver such exams. The session provided insights into the awareness, perception, readiness and experience of key stakeholders in Indian higher education with respect to technology solutions to assessment, primarily online examinations. “It was heartening to note that decision makers are not only aware of the benefits of using technology for assessments, but they have also indicated positive intent with regards to implementation of online assessment,” said Dr Arun Nigavekar, Former Chairman, UGC and member MeritTrac Education Advisory Panel.

HOLISTIC INFRASTRUCTURE FOR QUALITY EDUCATION Adequate or good infrastructure is needed, in order to enhance the quality of education and services that the institutions provide. Classrooms should be equipped with the equipment needed to facilitate communications between instructors and students.

The session provided valuable inputs in such requirements and emphasised that libraries and World Wide Web or electronic resources go hand in hand with research. Current references and subscription to journals and magazines will facilitate the task of the students and the faculty. Also, with the limitless amount of new resources regarding almost all topics, virtual library is very crucial in this field.

QUALITY IMPROVEMENT IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION India, like other countries, is aware that a new age is dawning – one that will be characterised by unimaginable advances in technology, knowledge and synthesis of knowledge, triggering major changes in the objectives, contents, and methods

‘EDGE Personality of the Year’ award was conferred on Prof. Yash Pal, an accomplished scientist and the architect of the Report of “The Committee to advice on renovation and rejuvenation of Higher Education” which has emerged as a reference for the Government to formulate education policies. Prof Yash Pal also delivered a ‘Vision Talk’ in the context of the present education scenario and future directions in an interesting and engaging talk.

The second award Young EDGE Award 2010 was presented to Shri Achyuta Samanta, Founder KIIT University and Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences for his commitment to inclusive growth in the field of education. It is commendable that through his efforts very high standards of education is imparted exclusively to tribal children in one of the educationally deprived regions of India. The day two ended with the above ceremony, whereby, the awardees were honoured.

THE THIRD DAY The third day of the conference had sessions and discussions on Engaging India: Initiatives at US Universities Session by (AIEA), Highlight Session with Presentation on FED UNI: Parthenon Report on ‘Bridging The Higher Education Gap: National Universities and Other Models’ (report released and discussed by Karan Khemka, Partner & Asia Office Head, and Rob Lytle, Partner, The Parthenon Group), session on ICT Empowering Education, Progressive Directions in Online Education for Quality & Reach, and session on Vocational Education by Choice, ENGAGING INDIA: INITIATIVES AT US UNIVERSITIES-CONDUCTED

BY AIEA The talks revolved around on the topics that over the past several decades India has been one of the major exporters of knowledge resource to the West. But in contrast, little has happened in the

reverse direction. However, much of this stands to change with the globalisation of education. Although during the session, it was established that, US institutions will serve as examples of the options and opportunities that might exist for others to explore.

The session was chaired by Dr. Duleep Deosthale, Vice President for External Relations, AIEA & President Knowledge Exchange Institute.

ICT EMPOWERING EDUCATION In the next session, the panelists discussed on tomorrow’s technology solutions to create IT enabled campuses for better management, better dialogue amongst parents, teachers and students, better delivery of education making it a delightful learning and teaching experience and enabling sharing of knowledge resource by connecting campuses. The discussion was led by Rajeev Shorey, President, NIIT University.

PROGRESSIVE DIRECTIONS IN ONLINE EDUCATION: FOR QUALITY AND REACH The following session also observed that shortcomings in the Indian education system like limited reach, flawed delivery system, and paucity of faculty can be addressed through online education.

The education sector is waking up to the interesting possibilities through online education. The session brought together the leaders and pioneers in the online stream to share experiences and point out possibilities for the future. The subject was chaired by Prof. K.R. Srivathsan, Pro Vice Chancellor, IGNOU. VOCATIONAL EDUCATION

BY CHOICE The concluding session debated largely that Vocational Education is slowly emerging as one of the looked upon streams and both government policy makers and industry leaders are vocal about the need for VE and are taking steps to promote the cause.

It was all debated by Hari Menon, CEO, Indiaskills, Sabyasachi Das, Vice President, National Skill Development Corporation, Swapna Dhawan, Principal, Campus & Beyond, Kate Shoesmith Senior Manager for Policy and Practice, Centre for Skill Development, London and Ramesh Takulia, Director-Learning and Development, Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces. \\ digital LEARNING

APRIL 2010

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NEWS

CORPORATE

LPI, POTUGESE AGENCY COLLABORATE FOR PROMOTION OF SKILLS TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION A collaboration recently took place between the Linux Professional Institute Potrugal (LPI), the world’s premier Linux certification organization, and UMIC, the Knowledge Society Agency of Portugal’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Education. This collaboration is to promote training and certification of professional skills in the use of Linux, open source technologies and free software in higher education institutions in Portugal.

Jim Lacey, president and CEO of the Linux Professional Institute mentioned that LPI’s major objective is that its affiliate in the region would be providing TTT that is ‘trainthe-trainer’ programmes in order to certify instructors within participating academic institutions under this initiative. The Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education through UMIC has also been working with Portugal’s universities and polytechnics over the past five years to develop more than 60 professional training courses in ICT for more than 2,200 students.

CORPORATE EDUCATION TO BE THE FOCUS OF U21 GLOBAL U21 Global, the online university promoted by a consortium of international universities, is one of the Manipal Group investee, is soon to get a facelift. To get into agreements with around 10 other institutions, U21 Global, mostly private universities in India. Its focus also lately, has been shifting to corporate education despite originally setting up an online university offering masters degree programmes. Established in 2001 as a joint venture of 17 member of international university consortium Universitas 21 and Thomson Learning, it was to offer online business degree programmes to students.

Manipal Education Group, however, in 2007 acquired a 50 % stake in U21 Global by purchasing the holding of Cengage Learning and gradually upped it to 75 %.

The Rest of the partners in U21 Global include institutions like the Universities of Melbourne,Nottingham, Birmingham and Virginia.

CORPORATE COACH FOR GETTING MAXIMUM OUTPUT FROM EMPLOYEES Starting soon, Allegany College of Maryland through its popular continuing education course, will teach corporate coaching, practical skills that managers can use for work place results. Corporate coaching is to deal with the practical application of coaching and mentoring employees so that they deliver results, grow their capabilities and improve communication.

Jeannette Rudy Fitzwater, a registered corporate coach, uses an interactive curriculum that allows for the discussion of real workplace issues and solutions. The aim of the course is to guide employees to think and do for themselves to deliver the needed results, motivating employees to take on responsibility and perform effectively, and growing employee capabilities that lead to future growth and success.

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PEPSICO PLEDGES NOT TO SELL SUGARY BEVERAGES IN SCHOOLS WORLDWIDE

On March 16, 2010, Pepsi Consumer advocacy groups announced that the company will stop selling full-sugar soft drinks to primary and secondary schools around the world by 2012, very happily.

Kelly Brownell, Director of Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, lauded companies action. The Center for Science in the Public Interest also applauded the move, which stems from a campaign led by CSPI called the ‘Global Dump Soft Drinks Campaign.’ Coca-Cola and the International Council of Beverage Assns. were also at negotiations that led to the PepsiCo announcement, these took place in Geneva, convened by the World Heart Federation. Earlier this month, the American Beverage Assn. released a report on school beverages, in which it reported an 88% decrease in total calories in beverages shipped to schools and a 95% decrease in shipments of fullcalorie beverages.

SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS WITH E-MODULE FROM ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA TIndian schools will be hit with Encyclopedia Britannica textbooks, along with an online study module from April 2010. These textbooks will cover matter in four subjects - computer science, mathematics, environmental studies and general knowledge, told President, Encyclopedia Britannica, Jorge Cauz.

This information has been revealed after the knowledge giant made inroads into the school textbook business in India with a collection of 30 books, 10 knowledge CDs and nine teacher’s manual. The Britannica books cover the National Council for Education, Research and Training (NCERT) syllabus from classes one to eight. The internet modules under Britannica Online School Edition (BOSE) have been created for three levels including elementary (primary), high school and senior high school, covering classes one to twelve.

MY JOURNEY

Tracking the life and times of the acheivers It was probably in my class 3 or 4 history textbook that I read that ‘Augustus Caeser completely transformed Rome. When he became emperor, it was not a great city.

But when he died, it was completely transformed with miles of good roads and good facilities’. Somehow, those lines have always stayed with me. Years later, some of us asked ourselves ‘Can one person (or a small group of people) change the world?” and told ourselves that the answer was ‘yes’!

Sridhar Rajagopalan, Managing Director, Educational Initiatives Pvt Ltd. (EI)

All-India Exposure: I did my schooling in Calcutta and Delhi, engineering in Madras and have now lived for the past 15 years in Ahmedabad, giving me a strong basis to claim to be ‘all-Indian’. I got a ZX Spectrum home computer thanks to a generous uncle in the US when I was in class 9, and at IIT Madras moved from punch cards to a Siemens mainframe computer. IIM Ahmedabad upgraded their PC lab (from XTs!) the year I was there and I was in-charge of the lab. At IIT, I used to bunk my engineering drawing classes (having had the advantage of already having done that in class 11 and 12) to work on my passion – computers!

Mr Sunil Handa’s LEM Course: At IIM, I went through my First Life Changing Experience. It was a course called ‘Laboratory in Entrepreneurial Motivation’ offered

by Mr Sunil Handa. I did not do the course because I wanted to be an entrepreneur –I had no such clarity. I took it because it was ‘different’ (the same reason I took Prof Indira Parikh Exploration of Roles and Identities course which was also a rewarding experience).

LEM taught us many super-critical things the Indian educational system does not. (Unfortunately, only the partly converted take such off-beat courses in the first place.) We learnt that an entrepreneur is one who challenges the givens. We interacted with people like Dr Verghese Kurien of Amul. We learnt the value of regularly reflecting, working hard and persevering. This course probably laid the seeds of entrepreneurship in me.

IBM: The year I graduated from IIM, I joined IBM (then Tata-IBM), but the timing could not have been worse. IBM was going through it first major loss in history and had to bring in an outsider Lou Gerstner to rescue it. IBM treated the Indian operation as a distributor, and the only focus in Tata-IBM was to sell computers priced 2-3 times that of competition!

Without the maturity to understand the need for sales, I saw the company as not focussing on product and technology.

More importantly, I was asking people how the work we were doing was meaningful – ‘should we not be using IT to change lives for the better?

Eklavya: Convinced that I was not working to find ‘real solutions to real problems’, I was wondering what to do next. In September 1995, I made a trip to Ahmedabad with Venkat to visit Mr Sunil Handa who had the crazy idea of starting the school. By the end of the day-long meeting, Venkat and I had decided to join (to start) the school! Many people including friends and family thought I was crazy (something I had never contested any way). I am leaving the world’s largest computer company and home in Delhi to start a school in Ahmedabad? (Remember, this was 7-8 years before starting a school had become a cool – and profitable and headline grabbing – thing!)

I have often been asked how I took the decision, whether it was difficult, whether I have regretted it, etc. Frankly, it was not a difficult decision, and I have never regretted it. Yes, we took pay cuts, but I think my keen desire to make a real difference made this an easy decision. I somehow felt that working with Mr Handa and Venkat and Sudhir (my other colleague who passed out of IIMA a year after Venkat and me), I would be able to achieve much bigger things that I could in an MNC or a typical career.

We did a lot in the 5-6 years in Eklavya and the school. One of the most important learning experiences was the extensive visits we made to schools across (and also some outside India). We got to see many schools closely. We did a number of things at Eklavya - we offered scholarships to bright and needy students in many colleges in and near Ahmedabad, started an annual award for the best teachers for the city, admitted 20-25% of school students from street children, created a teacher training course, started a poster campaign to celebrate teachers, studied Montessori and Froebel in depth, offered parenting courses and many other things that were both interesting and gratifying. Slowly the school also established itself well in the city.

Once the school and teacher training college were established, we started thinking about next steps. The Gujarat 2000 earthquake had given us an introduction to rural education at close quarters and we got involved in rebuilding a school in an earthquake-affected area. But I had also identified a larger problem – that of rote learning – and wanted to do something to tackle rote learning in all schools. That was how we started Educational Initiatives in 2001.

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Vipassana: The 6 years I spent at Eklavya gave me a lot, but one of the most important things they gave me was an accidental introduction to Vipassana meditation. It would be fair to call it My 2nd Life Changing Experience. The idea of 10 day silence was fascinating. I went as an open-minded sceptic, but came back transformed. Since 2001, I have gone for the 10-day course every year (along with my wife) and I practise 1-2 hours of meditation daily.

One of the things I have learnt from Vipassana has been this simple philosophy: ‘always ask if you are adding value. Try to add value without looking for personal gain. Keep checking if your intentions are good (and your mind is pure) – if they are, you cannot do bad. Identify your weaknesses, and smilingly but tirelessly keep trying to overcome them.’ I think this philosophy applies equally to an individual and a company.

Starting Educational Initiatives: In 2001, we started EI – Venkat, who was already running Give Foundation, contributed part of his time to EI and Sudhir joined a few months later. Our vision in EI was to help remove rote learning from the Indian educational system. I feel we have made a lot of headway in the last 8-9 years and we can actually sense ‘victory’ in the next few years. It has been an exhilarating experience.

One of the ideas I have always strongly believed in was to go for a for-profit model (though the intent never was to make money). I believe for-profits should be allowed to run schools – not because I am for people making money from schools and becoming rich, but because I believe this model will attract the best to the field and encourage innovative solutions.

EI was the first time we were running a company completely on our own. We were fanatical about doing it 100% honestly and especially about 3-4 years ago when we switched 100% to legal software, I felt our resolve was strengthened even further.

ASSET: We had enough firsthand experience in our years at Eklavya that rote learning dominates our teaching-learning systems. Instead of preaching, we decided to do something to ‘show the world’ that rote learning is widely prevalent and ineffective. So we devised questions that test understanding (for example in a concept like density or algebra) and first showed it to teachers. Teachers would say ‘Of course, my students can answer this.’ Then we would ask students (sometimes in front of teachers) and often less than 20-30% of students would answer what seem to be very easy questions. This was how ASSET was born, and it is now done by almost 4 lakh students every year from schools in every corner of the country. It provides schools diagnostic as well as benchmarking feedback showing them where they stand.

In 2006, a study done by EI with support from Wipro was featured as the cover story of India Today.

Working with governments and partners: Slowly based on requests of governments and funding agencies (sometimes based on requests from parents whose students had done ASSET) we started offering similar services to governments and have worked with Harvard University, the World Bank, UNICEF and many others. Recently a large 18-state assessment of student learning was completed with funding support from Google. Senior EI members have also been members of a number of MHRD committees on topics related to assessment and learning.

Mindspark: Mindspark is an ICT-based learning programme developed by EI based on actual student assessment data. It is a questions-based adaptive learning programme. This means that the system provides inputs to each child based on his or her actual learning level (not just the class he/she is in). This has potential not only in private schools but also government schools where it is common for some students in grade 5 to be at the grade 2 level, while others are at grade 3 level.

Overall learnings: 1. Always questioning the givens, do not do something merely because everybody does it. This is not just in professional life, but in important personal decisions like marriage, etc. also.

2. Any success we obtain is due to the support of hundreds of people around us. These include family members and team members. Personally I feel grateful to many, many such people.

3. What can you be best in the world at? If our mantra is to add value to today’s world, we have to be best in the world at something – both individually and as a company – the journey is always worth it!

4. Focus on doing your best, do not focus too much on the consequences: Sounds like the Gita, but a mantra needed to run a company! We do not have our success or failure in our hands, only our efforts.

Sridhar Rajagopalan is the Managing Director of Educational Initiatives Pvt Ltd. (EI) which he started in 2001 along with some IIMA colleagues. EI works deeply in the area of student learning and assessment through its products Mindspark and ASSET and sees technology as an important tool for attaining social transformation through an educational transformation that will see every child ‘learning with understanding’.

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