Asia’s First Monthly Magazine on ICT in Education
INDIA VOLUME 7 | ISSUE 01 | JANUARY 2011 | ISSN 0973-4139 | `75 www.digitalLEARNING.in
Education Leaders Speak Saluting excellence in education
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Vineet J
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Dr Mah
Shameema Parveen
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Anniversary special issue
Dr. Manmohan Sharma
Peter Ormerod
Contents
digitalLEARNING Volume 7 > issue 01 > JANUARY 2011 issn 0973-4139 rni no. upeng/2008/25311
story 12 cover School Education@2010
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“Once children learn how to learn, nothing is going to narrow their mind. The essence of teaching is to make learning contagious, to have one idea spark another”
Chairman, Central Board of Secondary Education
Member, Planning Commission
community college
interview
16 Vineet Joshi
Dr Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan
Empowering 38 AKASHDEEP: Air Force Personnel through Knowledge
20
Sir John Daniel President and CEO, Commonwealth Of Learning
24 Sharda Prasad
Director General,DGET, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India
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K Anvar Sadath Executive Director, IT@School Project, Govt of Kerala
higher education skill development Development Holds Key to 46 Skill Economic Development
30 Dr Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan Member, Planning Commission
50 Srikanth B Iyer
48 Dr Anjlee Prakash
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CEO, Learning Links Foundation
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Dr Rajeev Shorey President, NIIT University
54 Dr G B Gunawardena
Vice Chairman, National Education Commission, Sri Lanka
policy matters
Director & COO, Manipal K-12 Education
Vivek Govil President and CEO, Pearson Education
57 Anish Srikrishna
Chief Marketing Officer, Pearson Education
www.digitalLEARNING.in
REGULAR FEATURES
7 National News 8 International News 10 Corporate News
Co-Founder and CEO, Edutech
case study
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=62935433920&v=wall
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Vice Chancellor, University of Delhi
58 Shameema Parveen
33 The Centrality of ICT in Education 60 Intel Education Initiative in India http://twitter.com/dl_magazine
Prof Dinesh Singh
corporate diary
44 Prof Dinesh Singh
Vice Chancellor, University of Delhi
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42 ICT in Education Need of the Hour
Visit www.digitallearning.in for news, interviews, resources and articles on ICT in education in India
editorial
Saluting Education Leaders
Advisory Board Prof. Asha Kanwar, Vice President, Commonwealth of Learning Dr. Jyrki Pulkkinen, CEO, Global eSchools & Communities Initiative (GeSCI) Shri Subhash C Khuntia, Joint Secretary, Department School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India Prof. V N Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor, Indira GandhiI National Open University (IGNOU) President: Dr. M P Narayanan Editor-in-Chief: Dr. Ravi Gupta Managing Editor: Shubhendu Parth VP - Strategy: Pravin Prashant Editorial Team: Dr. Prachi Shirur, Dr. Rajeshree Dutta Kumar, Divya Chawla, Sheena Joseph, Yukti Pahwa, Pratap Vikram Singh Sales & Marketing Team: Debabrata Ray, Arpan Dasgupta, Bharat Kumar Jaiswal, Anuj Agarwal, Fahimul Haque (Mobile: +91-9873277808), Rakesh Ranjan (sales@elets.in) Subscription & Circulation: Gunjan Singh Mobile: +91-9718289123 (subscription@elets.in) 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
Over a period of six growing years, digitalLEARNING has brought to its readers various spices and essence of education in the environment of ICT. It has celebrated, acknowledged and applauded the technologies that have been inducted; introspected upon; deliberated and questioned in terms of relevance, quality and accessibility; implemented; reviewed; and discarded or accepted in our daily educational living. We have presented to you issues related to diversity and definite aspects of the field covering dimensions of all educational sectors such as government policies, K12 (school education), higher education, vocational training and skill development, open and distance learning, corporate planning and executions, and civil societies’ participation. We have catered to issues including B Schools, open universities, interactive whiteboards, collaborations (Public Private Partnerships), news updates, events, Right to Education and schooling, upgradation of skill development and vocational training and resource guide, to name a few. The magazine issues have covered, so far, the phenomenal changes, initiatives, achievements, landmarks and engagements that have supported the developmental issues. Amongst the above, we searched for the experts in the field to disseminate the best practices to the readers. It is known that everybody has an opinion, a manner of thinking, experience and way of executing operations. But only those are valued that have already or have the potential of providing value to the society at large. These are the specialists from the areas of K12, higher education, open and distance learning and vocational education. They facilitate capacity building in various areas and deployment knowledge at a large scale. With the above backdrop, we bring to you the 6th Anniversary issue of digitalLEARNING Magazine in salute to the leaders who have revolutionised the field of education and technology, integrating the both to form the new age knowledge system which is seeking extension and inclusiveness globally. We hereby, acknowledge all the commendable effort that these leaders, from different walks of life have made for introducing and building a culture of ICT facilitated education amongst the naïve, the youth, the professionals and the experts. As a platform we welcome all the leaders and experts from different fields to come and join us in this initiative of discovering what we had, what we have and what we can inspire for in the future; simultaneously, examining the mistakes of the past, the feedbacks of the present and the motivation gained for the future.
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).
Dr. Ravi Gupta Editor-in-Chief Ravi.Gupta@digitallearning.in
Owner, Publisher, Printer - Ravi Gupta, Printed at Vinayak Print Media D-320, Sector 10, Noida, U.P. and published from 710, Vasto Mahagun Manor, F-30, Sector - 50, Noida, UP Editor: Ravi Gupta
digital LEARNING january 2011
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knowledge for change
news > national Satellite use by IIM Calcutta to reach students New executive programmes are being offered now by Indian Institute of Technology, Calcutta through broadcast mode over satellites. This will enable the participants enrolled in such programmes to attend the sessions through a virtual
classroom. Suited for the students having 5 to 15 years of work experience with a current job in hand and it primarily targets the middle management segment of the corporate. It consists of 14 modules, taught by regular faculty from IIM Calcutta. The face to face faculty contact component is held twice during the 1 year programme.
Government schools to have Internet and emails Government schools to have Internet and emails Computer education in Bangalore schools are soon receive a shot in the arm if the third phase of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT), an initiative by the directorate of primary and secondary education, gets implemented. e-Mahiti Sindhu and the Revised Class projects were the earlier initiatives that the department had implemented to introduce computer education in schools in the state include, followed by the first two phases of the ICT. ICT phase III aims to provide students exposure to internet and e-mail and provide instruction via computers. The project is being implemented at a cost of `426 crore and 4,396 schools across the state, including 1,763 government secondary schools under Mahiti Sindhu project, 11th finance commission and Revised Class projects, and 2,633 government-aided high schools will be brought under its ambit.
Govt of India Suggests Privatisation of Higher Education
`12.3 crore released by Govt for setting polytechnics
Indian central government has suggested that increased private participation in the higher education in India is being seen as a viable financial model. Centre has recommended raising fees in higher education institutions and allowing schools to function as profit-making bodies with a regulatory mechanism in place. The Mid – Year Analysis for 2010-2011 tabled in Lok Sabha suggests provisions for financing grants for students belonging to the weaker sections who want to pursue higher education. They can repay after the students start earning so as to ensure sustainability of the system.
`12.3 crore per polytechnic has been sanctioned by Human Resource Development Ministry under the initiative of ‘Sub-Mission on Polytechnics under Coordinated Action for Skill Development’. The State Governments/ Union Territories will be provided with allocated funds for setting up of new polytechnics in 300 un-served and underserved districts of the country. Respective State Governments/ Union Territories will receive the financial assistance in support of providing free of cost land and meeting the recurring expenditure in running these polytechnics. At present, out of 300 districts, 239 districts have already been provided with financial assistance for the purpose. For the remaining 61 districts, the concerned departments/ State Government can avail of assistance by providing land free of cost and agreeing to meet the recurring expenditure.
digital LEARNING
JANUARY 2011
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news > international
NMS now the ICT provider to every secondary school in Blackpool NMS now the ICT provider to every secondary school in Northgate Managed Services has been appointed by the Blackpool Council to deliver ICT services and solutions to every secondary school in the borough as part of a Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme continuing under the new coalition Government. This is a UK£3.5million five year contract, which will see the Northgate embed core technology and ICT infrastructure, including connectivity, storage and communication tools, tailored to the individual needs of the area’s secondary schools. The BSF funding announced earlier this year saw changes and the Blackpool Council’s BSF
GFS programme receives ICT support from Globe, Philippines Through the Global Filipino Schools (GFS) programme for select public schools nationwide, Globe Telecom Inc. has invested in the use of ICT for education. The three-year programme is to upgrade the schools’ ICT infrastructure, from internet connection to computer labs to encourage the use of ICT for learning, teaching and school management in partnership with the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Coalition for Better Education (CBE) as well as Microsoft Philippines. 60% of Globe’s corporate social responsibility budget has been allocated for education. Through its CSR arm, Globe Bridging Communities, the telco aids the public school system using mobile and broadband technologies as well as ICT capability building.
China at 4th position for spending on research in the World
funding were reduced to cover three sample schools. The rellocation of funding across all schools to help meet the individual needs of all schools and raise the standard of ICT provision across Blackpool, was decided upon by the council.
The National Bureau of Statistics reported that China has spent more than 580 billion Yuan (about $87 billion) in scientific research and development (R&D) in 2009, making China the world’s fourth major investor after the US, Japan and Germany. Recently, the findings were published as a part of the national Research and Development resources survey, held
ICT board at Kenya receives Sh160 million from WB An announcement was made by The World Bank that $2 Million (Sh160M) grant will be given to the Government to speed up integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into education system. The Ministry of Information and Communication’s national agency will manage the grant and the ICT Board will support students in universities and colleges acquire laptops at a subsidised rate. Under the programme, students will be
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eligible for price rebate between 15% and 33% on the purchase of laptops from select retailers. With laptops, students will be able to access the Internet, which
is available on campus and off-campus from service providers. The ongoing programme, through the Kenya ICT Board and the Kenya Education network (KENET) provides subsidised Internet access across all universities and colleges in the country. The programme allows a student to first of all shop for a computer, then key in his or her details in a Wezesha portal to be verified by college administration and the ICT Board.
for the second time in the country.
Launch of two plans under PSPTN, Central African Republic Two action plans are being formulated and anticipated to be launched by the Ministry of Higher Education, under the National Strategic Higher Education Plan (PSPTN) next year to ensure the success of the New Economic Model (NEM) and propel the economy of the country. Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin mentioned that PSPTN which enters the second phase (2011-2015) would be supportive with respect to the plans for Innovation and Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
news > CORPORATE
ETEN CA opens seven centres in the city ETEN is a pioneering initiative from IndiaCan Education, a joint venture between India’s leading education company Educomp Solutions Ltd and the world’s largest education company Pearson Limited. ETEN is a VSAT based coaching platform which seeks to overcome the biggest challenge in education today – dearth of good quality faculty and bridge the crucial access, equity and quality barriers plaguing the education landscape across the country. Through the ETEN platform, India’s best faculty is now able to reach out to students located across the country seamlessly, with the same ease and the same level of interactivity as in a normal physical class. Launched by Educomp in 2008 with a handful of centres, ETEN has grown to over 120 centers in a short span of 2 years and has benefited over 40,000 students. Fast growth of ETEN CA is testimony to the fact that satellite based coaching is filling a huge gap in coaching needs of students across India.
Educomp launches CareerFirst in Modern Barakhamba
CareerFirst—an offering from EduIgnite, the career counselling and planning division of Educomp Solutions Ltd, India’s largest Education Company— launched its first Career Resource Centre in Delhi’s prestigious Modern School at Barakhamba road. In the absence of timely career intervention,
awareness and guidance, students often end up choosing inappropriate careers and thus achieve partial success professionally. To empower students to overcome this tendency and make right career decisions, psychometric testing and personalised counselling provided at the right time is crucial. This is where CareerFirst comes in. CareerFirst aims to create career awareness among students of classes 9th to 12th through psychometric assessment backed with counselling and guidance. EduIgnite, by setting up a Career Resource Centre right inside the school, allows students uninterrupted access to information and counselling.
ViewSonic Launches Worlds Slimmest, Multi-touch View Pad ViewSonic, the worldwide leader in visual display products from the USA, today launched the ViewPad 7 and ViewPad 10 – the latest generation of intelligent communications tablets incorporating full mobile phone functionality, computer and gaming capabilities. At 1.15cm in thickness, the ViewPad 7 device is also the world’s slimmest, multi-touch, all-in-one tablet. Designed to meet the work, lifestyle and entertainment needs of today’s
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sophisticated consumers, the ViewPad 7 and ViewPad 10 integrate unique and innovative functions, and consolidate a multitude of individual electronic devices into one.
Users can surf the Internet, take and share photos, play games, listen to music, and connect with friends via the ViewPad tablet. Fully wirelessenabled, measuring 17.9cm x 11cm in size (7-inch screen) and weighing 375g, just insert a SIM card to enjoy 3G phone functions. It boasts a slimmer body compared to other netbook devices, making it highly portable for work and travel.
Core Projects explores higher education sector
Core Projects and Technologies Limited, an education service provider company, is planning to set up a university in Hyderabad next year. Core is in talks with six North-American and British Universities for a partnership, and is to set up the first phase on 50 acres of land at the cost of INR 200 crore. Core Projects has acquired 194 acres of land for INR130 crore for the university at Gadchiroli, Andhra Pradesh, in close vicinity of the Indian School of Business (ISB). Core, which was founded in 2003, is present in seven states in India; 20 states in the US; 40 institutions in the UK; 8 African and 3 Caribbean nations. While infrastructure would be provided by Core, the campus would be that of a foreign university.
February 5, 2011 The Claridges, New Delhi
exploring frontiers of
technology in higher education.. Target Audience Chancellors and Vice-Chancellors of leading universities Principals, Directors, and Deans of colleges and higher education institutions Academicians and Education experts Policy makers from central and state education departments Education technology vendors and solution providers
Discussion Topics Technology road map for higher education Institutions Role of technology in improving academic quality Smart class rooms and smart campuses Online assessment tools and associated technologies Virtual learning environments Distance education and remote learning
Key Speakers
Prof S S Mantha
Dr Girdhar J Gyani
Sharda Prasad
Dr S S Jena
Shakila Shamsu
Chairman (Acting), AICTE
Secretary General, Quality Council of India
Director General, DGET, Ministry of Labour and Employment
Chairman, NIOS
Joint Adviser (Education), Planning Commission
Prof V N R Pillai
Prof S K Jain
Dr Devi Singh
Vice Chancellor, IGNOU
Director, IIT Gandhinagar
Director, IIM Lucknow
Dr Kripa Shankar Vice Chancellor, GBTU
Dr B B Bhattacharya Vice Chancellor, JNU
many more...
Organisers
Presenting Publication
Knowledge Partner
Supporting Partner
For programme enquiries: Sheena Joseph, Email: sheena@digitalLEARNING.in, Mob: +91-9971841718 For sponsorship enquiries: Fahim Haq, Email: fahim@elets.in, Mob: +91-9873277808
www.digitalLEARNING.in/highereducationsummit
cover story
School Education @2010 “Once children learn how to learn, nothing is going to narrow their mind. The essence of teaching is to make learning contagious, to have one idea spark another” -Marva Collins
By Yukti Pahwa
E
ducation system saw remarkable changes in the year 2010. Many reforms were sought, formulated, implemented, reviewed and deliberated upon. Broadly, the changes happened with Right to Education, grading system and introduction of continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE) coming into effect; welcoming technology, research, innovation and raising concerns over issues such as shortage of teachers, teacher training; and so on.
drews Ganj says, “RTE is effectively being implemented at our school. Many NGOs have also joined hands with us as a support for the same, like Times of India and so on. It is during the summer vacations that we use their help and mobilise children from disadvantaged areas through play-way method and share with them the value of education, followed by their enrollment in the schools after the vacations.”
Right to Education
CCE and the Grading system
The Right to Education Act finally came into effect on April 1, 2010, with the aim of improving the Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) across the country. With this enactment government has promised to provide all children between the age of six and 14 the right to school education and making it imperative for every school in the country to allocate 25% seats for students from disadvantaged section of the society. The implementation has begun at many schools. Rajini Jain, Principal, MCD School, An-
This year Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) took some vital steps in the area of school education. They introduced and executed a new examination system, changing the basis of the same from a marks-based evaluation system to a grading system, making 10th standard board examination as another option. Continuous and Comprehensive Examination (CCE) was rolled-out that has introduced a range of activities and non conventional methods as against the regular yearly or half yearly pencil-paper
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tests. To support this, Bandana R P Lazarus, Head – Dept. of Biology, Delhi Public School, Vasant Kunj said, “I think CCE is a very good scheme as the students to be monitored and observed everyday giving us a holistic picture of their development. We get an idea of not only the academic but also their scholastic aptitude. This has also led to mass participation of children in extra-curricular activities.” Additionally, talks are on for making unified Common Entrance Exam (CEE) for different streams. For instance, 14 new central universities had a CEE for enrolling students in various graduate courses for students who had passed 12th standard exam. On the basis of respective scores, they could then seek admission.
Training for Teachers There have been numerous deliberations of teacher shortage, lack of quality teaching and access of teachers to the right kind of material for making teaching learning process more interactive and effective. Additionally, efforts are being made not only by government
The Right to Education Act finally came into effect on April 1, 2010, with the aim of improving the Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) across the country
but private institutions also to go beyond the above mentioned lacunae and provide for the best education system. To elaborate, TeacherSITY is an organisation that works for teacher empowerment and has partnered with associations such as Army Welfare Education Society, KVS, NVS and some private CBSE affiliated schools. The work of the organisation reflects through the words of Shabda Birfani Bedi, Director Research, Educational Research and Deisgn, TeacherSITY. She shared that TeacherSITY runs “a technology intergrated 215 days prorgamme, by way of a pre-programme and a post programme. So any teacher who registers for the prorgamme for it has to register online, has to go through a five day residential programme and do a pre-proragmme assignment that is web based. The reach of the programme has been close to 2800 teachers, which has been so because of the use of technology. Even for the post programme, which is for 180 days has a technology interface. Partnership with management has
“...There is a need for 10,000 teachers, who also require training as they have to cater to children with with varied backgrounds. For this we need resources” Dr Mahender Nagpal
Chariman, Education Committee, Municipal Corporation of Delhi
been observed to be very useful in running prorgammes because they help in some kind of regulation to ensure that all three parts of the prorgamme are taken seriously by the teachers. Teachers need a forum where teachers can display their innovations. And that becomes a critical component for them to enhance their self esteem.”
Technology, Partnerships for Education CBSE turned international by collaborating with 25 schools across Gulf countries, bring forth CBSE International wing. Private partnerships have been on a roll with increased investments from companies such as CORE Projects
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“RTE was long overdue. I agree and disagree with a lot of things in it but this change is good. Atleast, it is getting people to discuss things, evaluate the system as a whole and improving it. Earlier, the only change was the revision of curriculum”
the Director, Secondary Education, government of Haryana for implementing Comprehensive Computer Education Project (CCEP) in 213 schools in 20 districts across the state. Signs of innovations were again displayed across a huge spectrum in school education. NIIT, for instance, in association with Fourier Systems, a worldwide leader in science education, launched Mobile Science Lab for schools – an innovative learning solution, which integrates Science Lab with classrooms.
Amol Arora
Investments @ Education
Managing Director, Shemford Schools
and Technologies Ltd. The firm is bidding to set up 50 schools in partnership with the Rajasthan government, and wants to partner the Central government to establish more schools across India. In an announcement made by NComputing, earlier this year it was mentioned that it was selected to provide desktop computer access to 600 government
schools as part of a computer literacy initiative launched by the Bihar government. Rolta signed a formal MOU with Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) as the Resource Partner, for providing Geospatial Technology Vocation Course, for XI & XII standard students. An agreement was signed between Everonn Education worth `47 crore with
Other Education Highlights @ 2010 Some highlights from higher education sector • Privatisation of Higher Education suggested by government advocated by UGC Chairman Prof Thorat • Foreign and Indian Higher Education Tie-ups/ partnerships • CBSE sought by govt to hold the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) and the All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT) • Corporate and foreign university collaborations; and Indian and foreign university collaborations • Union Cabinet approved the proposal for incurring an expenditure not exceeding `3,000 crore during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan Period for setting up of 13 new central universities • UIN project by UIDAI and IGNOU
Few highlights from sector of Skill Development and Vocational Training • Improved vocational training standards sought by HRD Ministry, government of India • `12.3 crore released by Govt for setting polytechnics • Kapil Sibal, Minister, HRD, advocated for vocational training at open school • UIDAI and HRD partner for education schemes • A huge of over `120 crore was released by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment as central assistance to the Government of Andhra Pradesh under the centrally sponsored scheme of Post-Matric Scholarship to students belonging to the Scheduled Castes. • Plan of regulating education advertisements, according to the guidelines prescribed by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) • Vocational Education becoming sector specific, eg Automotive sector training by HRD promoted • All India Management Association (AIMA) launched a Management Aptitude and Skills Test (MAST)
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The education sector across Indian markets saw a lot of corporate investments. Additionally, more and more schools are also adapting technology, especially, in the form of interactive whiteboards to catch up with the private schools. Reportedly, companies such Everonn, Educomp, NIIT Ltd, Edserv, and so on, have made an investment in education sector in a manner that could not go unnoticed. CORE Projects and Technologies Ltd, a technology provider to educational institutions, recently disclosed that it is planning to open 30 schools, with an initial investment of `450 crore. S Giridharan, EdServ Chairman and CEO mentioned that `130 crore fund has been raised for business expansion. With the funds raised, he said they were well funded for the Pan-India expansion, and confident of achieving revenues worth `150 crore and a net profit of `40 crore for the financial year 2011. Around `325 crore will be reportedly invested by the private equity $1.4 billion New Silk Route (NSR) in Hyderabad-based Sri Chaitanya Educational Group, known to be one of the country’s largest network of private schools and junior colleges. This has been noticed as the biggest foreign investment in India’s education section. . Everonn Education planned and decided to setup around 300 schools across India over a period of five years. What 2011 should focus on, is a powerful combination of relevant initiatives, aligned with idustrial partnership and life long learning. \\
Photo: Joe
Interview
Vineet Joshi, Chairman, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in conversation with Dr Ravi Gupta, Sheena Joseph and Yukti Pahwa, talks about the vision and role of CBSE as an institution. He shares with the team his outlook on ICT inclusion in schools and implementation of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation
Regulating K12 Education Centrally What is the main role of CBSE? CBSE is not an administrative body, which grooms the schools. Our role is to issue guidelines that inform the clientele (schools affiliated to CBSE) about the good practices available in the field. The idea of circulating the circulars to the schools is to make them aware of the possibilities that exist. In the times to come, if schools
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desire, we will come up with guidelines on how to process the available mechanisms optimally. The focus of CBSE over years has shifted from being just an examination body to an academic body. What is CBSE’s vision with respect to implementation of ICT at schools?
Firstly, there is an issue of the numbers. If we need to reach out to a large number of schools, it is imperative to use ICT. Secondly, ICT can help a teacher go beyond monotony and better time management. Additionally, what National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has prescribed, in terms of ICT, should be integrated in
classrooms. We encourage self-realisation amongst schools. Can you elaborate on Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) and the role that ICT holds for implementation of CCE? Teacher is the nodal point of implementing CCE. At the same time CCE is meant for the students. We are working towards realising benefits for both. For teachers, we are working on the supply side of knowledge. We are coming up with content on formative assessments. Summative assessments take place only at the end of the term, while the CCE is continuous in nature, done at regular intervals of time, with purpose of diagnosing problem areas and suggesting remedial actions for the same. This is the basis of CCE. We are also going to start with training on the formative assessments, in the coming year. On the demand side, we are sensitising the parents, as to what they should be expecting inside the classroom. We are working for both the sides – equipping teachers and principals on one hand, and parents on another; so that everybody can appreciate the system and demand it. As far as ICT goes, its integration with CCE is important. One of the immediate uses of ICT is the help it provides in processing of records and records-keeping for the teachers. It also facilitates good learning environment inside the classroom. With a country where the usual ratio in a class is one teacher to 50-60 students, do you think CCE implementation is viable? Firstly, under the right to education act every school till standard eight is suppose to have teacher to student ratio of 1:30. Its actual implementation in classrooms might take time, but, the ratio has to come into place across all the schools as it is one of the mandates prescribed under the act. Secondly, the schools will have to come out with innovative ideas on addressing the issue of large number of students, in respective classrooms. ICT usage is supportive of
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One of the immediate uses of ICT is the help it provides in recordskeeping for the teachers. It also facilitates good learning environment inside the classroom CCE implementation. It is not meant to be a burden for teachers but otherwise. CCE entails evaluation and explanation of the evaluation done. It is very important for teachers to explain the reason why a child scores an eight on ten or a nine on ten, and why certain marks were lost. How does CBSE work for maintaining evaluation standards? Formative assessment done earlier didn’t carry any weightage or make a difference to students’ final grades. It was only meant for feedback. Secondly, summative assessments were done by the schools. The board’s intervention ensures that a minimum standard, which is to be maintained by students who pass out of this system, is to be achieved; and it ensures that the teachers prepare and teach the required syllabus to the students without escaping or missing any topic. The idea is to encourage teachers to develop skills for carrying out such assessments independently. Formative system will take some time but for summative assessments, board is already giving its support to the schools by preparing papers or considering the papers that schools prepare and send to us for approval. This ensures that existing standards are atleast maintained. Is ICT application encouraged internally at CBSE?
We have integrated ICT as much as we could within our own system. For instance, the process of acquiring affiliation with us has been made possible online. Right from the first step of getting applications to the final submission, everything is to be done digitally. Our officers are equipped to use computers. Earlier, we would get 500-600 application requests for affiliation but now because of making the process digitally equipped, the number of application requests reached a high number of 3000 in the year 2010. Earlier processing of the same would take a year but now it takes only six months, while maintaining transparency. We mostly use online mode for communicating to the applicants and this has also helped in minimising various errors. How is CBSE catering to its students if compared with the global situation? In India we might not be the largest board, but if you compare CBSE with any international board, we cater to quite significant number of student population. Total number of schools we cater to is 11,441 (till November 2010). In terms of number of students, across Xth and XIIth class, we cater to nine lakh and seven lakh respectively, multiplied by five to give a rough estimate. \\
From a village classroom to a virtual education experience Raghavendra Rao, a post-graduate teacher from Andhra Pradesh, had a vision of bringing biology lessons to life. He dreamed of imparting quality education to his students at the residential Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya school for rural RAGHAVENDRA RAO
children. Using simple multimedia tools that he learnt during
Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya | Kiltampalem, Andhra Pradesh
his training with Project Shiksha, he now makes videos that help bring the wonders of the local flora and fauna into the
THE ONLINE Raghavendra Rao inspires students to learn CLASSROOM: more with lessons powered by:
classroom. Rao’s learning experience with Project Shiksha has extended the borders of his classroom to the entire learning community. His
Interactive presentations with videos embedded in Microsoft Office PowerPoint
brainchild www.biology24x7.in is now a means for students to
Videos, podcasts and multimedia-rich content made with Movie Maker
like reference materials, question papers and discuss ideas.
An online library of documents, reports and reference material created with Microsoft Office Word Rich graphics with Paint and Microsoft Frontpage
delve into the world of biology and access learning resources Even visually challenged and physically challenged students who cannot come to school, now learn through podcasts and the interactive virtual classroom. The result - answers for curious minds, a livelier classroom and education for all!
ENABLING INDIA This story is one of the many steps on the road to enabling India. Partnering with 12 state governments, Project Shiksha has helped train over 5,12,000 teachers in IT skills, who have impacted over 25 million students so far. To know more about Microsoft's initiatives, visit www.microsoft.com/india/msindia
Interview
Sir John Daniel, President and CEO, Commonwealth Of Learning (COL), in conversation with Dr Rajeshree Dutta Kumar, Juanita Kakoty and Yukti Pahwa shares COL’s vision and the concerted efforts towards creating a technology enabled society
Development through Technology What is the vision of Commonwealth of Learning (COL)? COL is the only inter-governmental organisation in the world that is devoted solely to the use of technology for learning. We at COL focus on learning for development in developing countries. We focus not only on the appropriate use of technology, but what we achieve with technology. What I find interesting is that 5-10 years ago, we assumed that
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the developing countries will follow the same trajectory as the developed world. The definition of ICT application is even changing across developing countries. For instance, COL has some very successful programmes where mobile phones are being used for developmental purposes. There was a meeting of 6000 women farmers, involved in goat-rearing in Tamil Nadu, recently. The women bought the mobile phones and the
company gave them a free SIM card to talk to people within their group. Everyday short audio lessons are sent to them on their mobile phones related to their livelihood. This has come-out as an extremely powerful medium. With mobiles, they can afford to listen to the lessons. Our vision at COL is to take advantage of technology in order to make it really effective. There is no point using technology if it is not available or if
people are not ready for its application. So, in different places COL uses different technologies to provide the best to the people. Also, we have great faith in mass media as effective tools. Our office in India is pushing the drive of using community radio as a powerful community enriched tool for various activities such as learning, health and other development issues.
“Six countries that are COL’s biggest financial contributors include India, Nigeria, UK, New Zealand, South Africa, and Canada”
What is the governance of COL? We have a Board of Governors, with 30 members. Six countries that are COL’s biggest financial contributors include India, Nigeria, UK, New Zealand, South Africa, and Canada. There is one member representative from each Commonwealth region. I, as the President of COL, am the ex-officio member. We have a chairman and followed by the representative, the Secretary General of the Commonwealth. What are the other initiatives happening at COL? COL works mainly in two areas – formal and informal education. We are trying to improve and expand formal education, basically higher education, secondary education, and teacher education in the small states. Our nonformal education programme is aimed at health and livelihoods. We have skill development programmes for people in the informal economy, who cannot go to schools or colleges but need skills to take them forward. Successful examples are the ‘Learning for Farming Program’ in Tamil Nadu, the ‘Community Radio for Health Program’ in Africa and the Pacific, etc. We are also working in the area of e-Learning. The Virtual University for small states of the Commonwealth is interesting because ten years ago, the small states that comprise two-third of the Commonwealth membership went ‘dotcom frenzy’ with the coming of Internet. These countries realised that they are too small in terms of technology, people, etc. to go ahead all by themselves. So they decided to join hands. Ten years later, progress is beginning to show. Experts from these countries often get together and develop e-Learning
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courses in the areas of particular interest like fisheries, life skills, disaster management, teacher education, and port management. What results from these workshops is the framework of a course available as an open education resource that can be used and adapted in all small states, as well as, in other countries across the globe. So, this is something where COL has really made a difference by training people and making countries better equipped for e-Learning in the areas of national importance. This Virtual University is not a new institution competing with others. It is a facilitated collaborative network whereby they work together. The most recent example is the coming together of 19 countries in Maldives in March 2010 to develop a course for sustainable agriculture in small States, with focus on specific requirements of each country. In open schooling, the world’s biggest challenge is to get the 400 million children between the ages of 12-17 years into some kind of secondary schooling. In most countries that is not going to happen by building secondary schools, if
there are no resources and teachers. COL is very strongly promoting the open schooling concept. We are doing a lot of know-how transfer between India and other countries because India has a lot of expertise in this area. We do not develop the technology. We provide training in how to use this technology. For example, amazingly, the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) has 300,000 new students a year, especially from disadvantaged sections. Already half of them are registering online. In a case like this, we need not develop technology. We train the teachers, the facilitators, and the people in the system, because many come to the Open and Distance Learning (ODL) system from traditional systems. Another interesting programme in field of teacher education is TESSA – Teacher Education in Sub Saharan Africa. It includes 12 African universities, the British Open University, and various international bodies like COL. TESSA has produced hundreds of open education resources for teacher education in Arabic, English, Swahili and French. They are special because they focus on in-service training and training based on classroom reality. We emphasise on quality to make ODL better. How do you think would India, with its growing population, respond to the human resource shortages? In India, the market will take care of it. But then again, India is far too statefocused. Skill development in India is not going to reach the level it should until and unless the private sector comes in, with constructive monitoring by the State. Governments perhaps should stop acting as the main providers of education, and assume the role of facilitators. \\
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Skills, Vocations and IT@Future In a detailed conversation, Sharda Prasad, Director General, Directorate General Employment and Training (DGET), Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India, shares with Dr Rajeshree Dutta Kumar and Yukti Pahwa the concerns in the field of skill development and employability in India
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What are the highlights of the skill development initiatives, in the year 2010? The 11th Five Year Plan (FYP) started in 2007-08. And at that time we had a very ambitious plan of modernisation of ITIs, skill development initiative of training large number of boys and girls in modular skills, working with PPP model so that industry is involved in training of the potential workers, and so on. However, if we consider the total capacity or level in the country then we find that it is much less than what we should have planned. Entry into the labour force per annum, according to NSSO data, was about 12.8 million and the training capacity at the moment is about 4 million per annum. Now in order to make initiatives meaningful we must have a capacity of atleast 12.8 million.
Photo: Joginder
Interview
The prime minister has given us a mandate to skill about 500 million people by 2022 which will imply providing skills to 40 million people per annum. We have been carefully about the same, keeping in mind all the requirements including infrastructure, the trainers the involvement of the corporate and some of the systemic issues such as how to ensure that those who are trained have quality standards. We issue a national certificate which is valid throughout the country and provides a sense of empowerment to the trainees. If they do not work in one industry, they can work in another industry and this national certificate is to facilitate their mobility. What are your future plans for the field? At the moment, the DGET is involved in designing course curriculum, setting up of standards, assessment and certification, but, itself has limited capacity. At the moment DGET is providing skills to two million people. Now if we need to change this to 40 million, we need comparative structures, without which the complete training is not possible, along with proper competencies. We have planned to meet the given target by setting up 1500 more ITIs and 50,000 Skill Development Centres (SDCs) under PPP model. Additionally, we plan to have 15 Advanced Training Institutes (ATIs) which basically train the trainers, also under the PPP module. We have also planned for 12 regional training institutes for women in order to encourage and mainstream their skills. Human resource development is very crucial for growth of the country, because it is ultimately the quality of the human resource that finally determines the growth of the country. How do you plan to facilitate skill development in schools or will it be restricted to higher education sector only? Ministry of Labour aims to skill the youth, including drop-outs from schools and colleges. They, therefore, form our target group. Furthermore, to elaborate the National Qualification
Framework provides a mechanism and pathways to move from academic education to vocational training to a career and backwards. There is vertical mobility. For instance, a plumber can move vertically by becoming a master plumber that is equivalent to junior engineer, or senior engineer or even a Ph.D. Second is the horizontal mobility. After plumbing, if the person wants to do nursing or pursue higher studies, we have the provision to facilitate it. National Qualification Framework supports the latter, so that you can move up in the same discipline and also horizontally by providing equivalence. We are preparing a comprehensive National Qualification Framework, in consonance with different Indian ministries. Are we trying to meet demands of globalisation along with localisation? When we talk about quality, what we talk about is national benchmarking. For the same we have engaged Quality Council of India (QCI) to provide us with accreditation of institutions. This is being done to confirm the quality standards of the institutions reach a subsequent stage of national standards and at the subsequent stage all these institutions are to achieve internal standard certification known as the ‘ISO 17024 certification’. This is an international benchmark for the training. With this certification it is then clear that the trained person or an institution will be able to deliver atleast a certain described quality of work. The 43 assessing bodies that we have under our system are being trained by QCI and they are being upgraded to ISO 17024 standards, so that the certification provided by these institutions are not only valid in the country but anywhere in the world. There is a huge potential in our country with large number of youth who are democratic dividend but they need to be trained so that they can help us support the internal industrial demands and also the global demands. In fact most of the population in the countries across the developed world have
aged or is aging. And therefore, yes future might see our youth providing for both local and global demands. What is your outlook for 12th FYP? To my mind, 12th plan might not be very different from 11th FYP. However, the main two challenges in front of us are - the quantity and the quality. There are certain gaps for instance assessment is done in a limited number. 1000 ITIs have to be accredited per annum, but, if we have to provide accreditation to 10,000 ITIs, we do not have the manpower to do the same. We need to upgrade our structure and involve the private sector in a more structured manner so that they can provide their expertise and multiply our capability by multi-folds. We need up-scaling of the already existing institutions and creation of more institutions. The certification process has to improve to cater to larger numbers. The key to success is how close you can bring the industry to the whole effort as industry is to use the finally trained manpower. We are to constitute sector skill councils and work with the private players. We also need to use various technology laden methods such as providing with relevant e-content, web based curriculum, larger number of trainers, and so on. It is only with use of ICT that we can attain larger numbers at a faster rate and cost effective manner. Kindly mention any global partnerships that you hold. This is the age of collaboration and networking. We have different types of partnerships with different parts of the globe. There are many international collaborations we hold such as IndoGerman, Indo- Australian and Indo-UK Joint Commission. Partnerships are important not from the point of finances since government takes care of it, but what is more important is the technical co-operation and technical know-how that we gain from the partnership. We also share our know-how with many African countries. We are helping Afghanistan and many other countries as much as we can. \\
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Interview
IT Education @Kerala In conversation with Shri K Anvar Sadath, Executive Director, IT @ School Project, Govt of Kerala, Yukti Pahwa, finds about the progress of the project in state, the only state with 100% literacy rate, and the future prospects the project has to offer for the coming year of 2011
Kindly highlight the state specific initiatives in the K12 segment across Kerela in the year 2010? IT@School Project has been in forefront of implementation of an ICT enabled educational system in Kerala, ever since the Project commenced in 2001. As a result of its numerous ICT initiatives over a decade long period, it is in 2010 that the complete shift from IT education to ICT enabled learning is happening in the State. The year 2010 has witnessed some key initiatives of the Project that has changed the whole scenario of ICT based learning. This year the project received ‘Honorable Mention’ in the prestigious ‘Stockholm Challenge Award’. Some of them include – the School Wiki portal which was launched to promote collaborative content development among students, apart from being a comprehensive database of schools in the state. The Model ICT School programme was rolled out in order to encourage school authorities to enhance their infrastructure facilities thereby upgrading their institution to be a model in ICT enabled learning. A total of 140 schools (one from every constituency in the state) was selected as Model ICT School wherein Smart Classrooms which were equipped with electricity and broadband connectivity facilitatning smooth ICT based learning as well as a state of art Computer lab with
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driving digital excellence 21–23 JULY, 2011 TAJ PALACE HOTEL, NEW DELHI, INDIA
event
Convergence of thought leaders in e-Governance from all over the world
highlights AWARDS it ministers’ conclave
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most modern multimedia equipments was set up. Third is the ‘Student School IT Co-ordinators (SSITC)’. In 2010, over 28,000 Student School IT Coordinators were trained by the Project, which enabled them to even train their classmates in addition to handling most of the hardware related issues in their schools. Forth is the enhancement of ViCTERS into a complete educational medium. It is the flagship programme of IT@School Project. Today the channel is aired for 17 hours a day and is packed with local, national and international contents which include contents prepared by students, teachers, various educational institutions and even by NFDC, Deutsche Welle, BBC etc. Fifth is the Resource DVD with 8GB capacity was developed by the Project especially for the benefit of teachers. Finally, an unique educational reality show titled Haritha Vidyalayam – first of its kind in the country, which focuses primarily in promoting the best practices followed in Government Schools as well as Government Aided schools in areas such as academic, scholastic, collaborative content generation, unique projects, achievements in terms of infrastructure, ICT enabled education and Social indulgence. The web portal www.harithavidyalayam. org gives a real-time update on the programme, scores and even includes the videos, photos and other relevant information on each school. What will be the focus of your State in the year 2011? In 2010, the Project has successfully deployed ICT based learning system in Standard (Std) 8 in the State, besides the regular IT education from standard 5th to 10th. This system would be further expanded to Std 9 in 2011 and to Std 10 in the subsequent year. The deployment of free software based school management system, in line with the UID Project of Government of India, would also be an area of focus of the Project in year 2011. This would invariably comprise of a comprehensive database of all students in the State
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“In 2010, the Project has successfully deployed ICT based learning system in Standard (Std) 8 in the State, besides the regular IT education from standard 5th to 10th. This system would be further expanded to Std 9 in 2011 and to Std 10 in the subsequent year” and this would also be linked with the Education Departments’ Plan Welfare schemes. IT@School Project has successfully deployed several e-governance initiatives within the department. In terms of Capacity Building, the Project would aim at re-inforcing the teaching community with newer ICT technologies and the same would be extended to the SSITC (Student network) populace. What is your plan to bridge the digital divide in your state? IT@School is envisaged as a model for mastering the ICT approach through a three pronged approach. It spans the entire continuum of IT education that extends from IT Instruction at one end (teaching software and hardware aspects, and programming) to IT enabled education (where all the education delivery is done based on IT with multiple touch points ranging from classroom technologies to instructional design and delivery) at the other end, in a phased manner. There were numerous challenges in the past for the Project to meet its goal and there are many more ahead in its path to success. Ensuring enough ICT hardware in all schools in the state is a daunting challenge, which the Project has taken up in a phased approach. Keeping the teaching community updated in emerging trends in ICT skills is yet another challenge. Strengthening of interactive mode of learning, strengthening of online media such as School Wiki and ViCTERS etc would be challenges the Project would be facing in near future.
What is your opinion about Public Private Partnership (PPP)? From our experience, we have learnt that PPP would be less effective in terms of content development, ICT content being part of the State Curriculum. For the same reason, these contents need to be developed internally by the subject teachers themselves. Public private partnership could be undertaken in terms of infrastructure deployment in schools and allied activities. The gap which the Project might experience in terms of technical expertise in this domain could be overcome through public private partnerships. Where do you see your State in the next three years in terms of educational initiatives, especially in context of ICT? In terms of new initiatives, the Project oversees new technology not as an isolated entity but as part of the overall teaching and learning process which would eventually help in setting up a complete digitally equipped state. The new ICT based learning system which has kicked off in Std 8 would be expanded to other secondary and higher secondary levels. The next three years would be crucial to the Project, when it would aims at extending the ICT based system to other classes. Every school needs to be equipped with Smart Classrooms, apart from having all teachers fully equipped in ICT. The Project would also look at expanding its SITC and SSITC network further to the extent of making every school self-sufficient in ICT learning. New areas of Satellite based learning using EDUSAT and ViCTERS would also be looked at. \\
Satellite Connectivity Can Multiply Education Outreach
Photo: Joginder
Interview
Dr. Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan, currently Member of the Planning Commission, has steered the Indian Space programme for over 9 years as Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), of Space Commission and Secretary to the Government of India. Dr Rajeshree Dutta Kumar, Sheena Joseph and Pratap Vikram Singh, in an exclusive interview gain insights on his views on education. Excerpts: How has ISRO contributed to the education initiatives in India? ISRO’s role for promoting education has largely been in terms of using satellite connectivity to multiply the number of places where teaching can be spread. ISRO, over the past 2-3 decades, has started with Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE). The Centre for Mass Communication has extensively studied satellite outreach and from there on satellite transponders are used and connectivity has been one of the key elements of outreach for programmes in education. There are also aspects like
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higher education, teachers’ training and probationer’s training, which ISRO has tried to address through the experience of using satellite transponders and developing programme. ISRO has also promoted the development of softwares. Now various institutions have taken the responsibility of developing software for various aspects of education, which can then be transmitted. The effectiveness of these softwares in local languages has still to be established. They also have to be relevant in terms of enriching knowledge, or even curriculum based education.
Providing satellite connectivity in this context is essential so that you can multiply the outreach effect and transform single classroom - located in one location - into multiple virtual classrooms across the country. EDUSAT is a very useful satellite in terms of its capacity to provide educational programmes to different parts of the country. It has national and local transmissions which have been effectively demonstrated. For example, Vishveshwarya Technical University under ISRO has a very good faculty presence and lessons in physics, chemistry and mathematics are
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industry ready. The science and technology department can contribute towards skill development through the development of useful curriculum for locally relevant training needs. Public private partnerships can play an important role in this respect. Corporate bodies can adopt an ITI and contribute to the capacity building of that ITI to meet the requirements of a particular industry or cluster of industries. The government can contribute by providing land and infrastructure at subsidised rates, appointing teachers and keeping a dynamic curriculum. There are a host of possibilities for training in fields like agriculture and food processing. In this day and age, there is a tremendous requirement for skilled labourforce and it has now become a ma-
“Science and technology has to play an important role in developing some of the research based solutions which are locally relevant” transmitted to 100 locations within the state. This level of education can never be achieved by local teachers or locally held classes. Another important element is to create a cadre of teachers who are well informed and trained. EDUSAT is now being phased out and ISRO may have to take these steps further and anlayse how these concepts can be carried forward in terms of providing space connectivity for education. The question now is of scaling up operations and providing a sustainable service and also making sure that there is, at the level of human resource development, a very strong scientific group to develop necessary software for educational purposes. Vocational and skills development have gained a lot of ground recently. What are your views in this field? Vocational training centres need to identify requirements of the industry and churn out students who are more
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jor national mission. That is why there is a national skill centre, which the Prime Minister has instituted, to ensure that it is addressed across diverse spectrum of activities. As far as the question of space is concerned, training of trainers is one of the major requirements because when you talk of creating millions of skilled workers, there is an obvious need for training of trainers as well. The emphasis should be on using ISRO’s connected ICT systems for training. To some extent one can also create virtual classrooms where you can produce programmes which can be taught. The Space Application Centre has 25-26 centres for capacity building in space research. We can provide support locally through remote sensing and related programmes and provide solutions to the states in areas like land use and land applications, environment, forest management, and water exploration. In each one of them today remote sensing centres can provide solutions locally.
How has the government supported research initiatives in promoting, supporting or encouraging local or indigenous research and development? How do you see industry linkages in this respect? Much of today’s scientific and research support programmes have come from the Government of India and hardly 25% comes through industrial support. The government then becomes a major financial source for R&D in the country. In the 11th Five Year Plan there has been an allocation of nearly INR 72-74,000 crores from the government’s side. The government is willing to go even further for meeting research requirements of the country in areas like defence. In order to analyse how this percolates down to grassroots, there is a need to address the mechanisms of institutional framework between various states in the country. The performance of State Science and Technology Councils have not been up to the mark and there is a need to correct this situation by bringing in central agencies to help these state technology councils. Secondly, we have to rework the strength of the science and technology councils by creating better infrastructure and hiring more scientists. A cadre of scientists has to be created who can have a focused approach to problems. If we take the example of the Northeast, there are activities like floriculture, horticulture and food processing, or biotechnology related applications. These are the areas in which science and technology solutions for development of the state can be used. Science and technology has to play an important role in developing some of the solutions which are locally relevant and also take advantage of central agencies like DFC and CSIR and try to make use of their enormous capabilities to find solutions for their requirements locally and at state level. Currently these mechanisms have not reached a level where we can say that we are making an impact on state development. One of the key elements of our programme in the 12th Five Year Plan is to create mechanisms which can enable this to be carried forward. \\
policy matters
The Centrality of ICT in Education Education is universally recognised as the single most critical factor that positively impacts sustainable development. By Shakila Shamsu
T
he crucial role of education as an enabler has been accepted by international bodies such as, UNESCO. Recognising this aspect, the Universalisation of Primary Education has been accepted as one of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and The World Education Forum 2000, Dakar adopted the Dakar Framework for Action, Education for All (EFA). Dakar framework views education as a fundamental human right. The United Nations, through the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and
the UNESCO Education for All (EFA), World Summit for the Information Society (WSIS) and Literacy Decade initiatives, have set a high priority on the improvement of education world-wide. India has also evolved policies and schemes to ensure fulfilling the MDGs and to ensure equal access to education to all sections of the society as also reduce gender, regional and urban–rural disparities. While, the Xth Plan made a modest attempt to focus on education, the Eleventh Plan has gone much beyond that
and made education as one of the major thrust areas. School Education & Literacy has thus been given the highest priority in Plan allocation. Out of the total outlay of `2.70 lakh crore envisaged in the XIth Plan for Education (Central Sector), including Higher & Technical Education, an amount of over `1.85 lakh crore is for School Education & Literacy, including `1.25 lakh crore for elementary education, `6000 crore for literacy/adult education programmes, and `53,550 crore for secondary education.
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Indira Gandhi Nati Maidan Garhi, www.
IGNOU Institute for Competency Advancement of Teachers (i-CAT) offers admission in post graduate diploma in higher education management (PGDHEM) programme. The centres are in Cochin and Guwahati. The Programme is useful for academics, academic administrators, people in managerial/ leadership positions at higher education institutions, civil servants etc. who have long been confined to academic positions and most often they have to learn the issues of management of higher education on the job itself. IGNOU has conceptualised a new method suitable for higher education professionals, through this programme. The idea is to provide learning and capacity building of higher education professional managers with the skills necessary to be successful in the new working ethos and also to impart managerial skills of higher educational institutional management, in terms of campus building/infrastructural resource management, resource generation, financial management, personnel management (faculty quality upgradation, motivation, human relations, general administration) and technology management in Higher Education.
onal Open University New Delhi- 110068 ignou.ac.in
Objectives • To provide an overview of the evolution and growth of Indian higher education • To enable a broad understanding of several curricular models and issues involved in curriculum-making and transaction • To provide exposure in technology management in higher education in the context of IT applications • To enhance managerial competence for creating a vibrant research culture in the campus • To sensitise educational mangers in organising student support services • To analyse the issues of governance with special focus on management Advantages or Key/Distinct features of i-CAT Programme • Autonomous modules providing greater choice to learners • Option to obtain a PG Diploma in Higher Education Management on completion of all 8 modules, specified assignments and a project work • Can lead to MBA degree in Higher Education Management on completion of all 8 modules (48 credits) plus a Dissertation of 12 credits • Modular nature of the knowledge resources makes it possible to be used as training/short-term course materials • Possibility of offering through online, CD based selflearning instructional materials • Knowledge Modules are designed to be open-ended to add more themes as the content/need evolves • Model extensible to other thematic areas in future i-CAT Module Authors • Overall Coordinator- Dr Latha Pillai, Pro Vice Chancellor • KM1 Overview of Higher Education- Poonam Bhushan, Lecturer (selection grade) SOE and Team Leader;
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Prof C Thungamuthu, Former VC; Bharathidasan University, Tamil Nadu KM2 Management of Teaching, Research, and collaboration in Higher Education- Prof Vibha Joshi, SOE and Tram Leader; Dr Anitha Kurup, Fellow, NIAS, Bangalore KM3 Technology and Change Management- Dr. Sutapa Bose, Lecturer (Senior Scale) and Team Leader; Dr Shakila T Samsu, Joint Director (Education) Planning Commission, GOI KM4 Governance and Leadership in Higher EducationDr Vandana Singh Lecturer, SOE, and Team Leader; Prof R S Khan, Former Vice- Chairperson, NCTE, India
Requirements Post Graduate in any discipline. The medium of instruction is English. The four Modules and the Project Work will be completed in a minimum period of 1 year and maximum period of 3 years. Fee: `8000 Where to apply Student Handbook and Prospectus can be obtained from the Regional Director, IGNOU Regional Centre, Kaloor, Cochin or from Regional Director, IGNOU Regional Centre, House no. 71GMCH Road, Christian Basti, Guwahati-781005. For further details contact: Prof D S Bhattacharjee, OSD, House no. 71, GMCH Road, Christian Basti, Guwahati Phone- (0361) 2343771/2343785/2343786, Mobile(0)9706007549 | Email: grcignou@gmail.com Regional Director IGNOU Centre, Cochin-682017, Kerala, Phone- (0484) 2340203/2348189/2330891 Fax- (0484) 2340204, Email: rccochin@ignou.ac.in; igrc14@vsnl.net
\\ policy matters
The allocation for Higher Education is `84, 943 crore. The share of education in the total Plan outlay correspondingly has increased from 7.7% to 19.4%. The recently enacted legislation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE Act, 2009) made education a fundamental right and provided for compulsory eight years of schooling. This would help achieve universalising elementary education. Moving up the education continuum, policies have been formulated for making secondary education of good quality available, accessible and affordable to all young persons in the age group 1516 years. Thus, the XIth Plan envisaged a Mission, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan, (RMSA) for secondary education to consolidate the gains of SSA and to move forward in establishing a knowledge society. Vocational education, adult education and teacher education are under restructuring and reform to meet the goals of skilled manpower, literacy and capacity building of teachers. The path breaking policies are seen in the tertiary sector also. Higher education has received the much needed impetus in the current Plan. The objectives of access, equity and excellence have resulted in expansion of institutions to meet the targeted GER, provisions for inclusion to address the social and regional imbalances and several measures for improvement in the quality. Needless to state, that the quantum of resources in terms of money, manpower and time for materialising these goals would be enormous. The challenge is how to achieve these objectives of providing quality education to quantitatively larger numbers within the minimum time frame. ICT can be leveraged to play a pivotal role in achieving these objectives with cost effectiveness and efficiency. The problems like rural disconnect from the mainstream society, vast imbalances, the cultural resistance of certain communities towards modern education,
avoidance to work in rural habitations by teachers /educational administrators, faculty shortages and several other problems affecting quality and access in education can be effectively tackled by ICT. The scalability of ICT can reduce costs substantially and thereby break the “iron triangle of access, cost and quality� which Sir John Daniel has referred as a challenge in education. The G8 Heads of State concurred and acknowledged the role that ICT could play in supporting educational improvement. ICT has various functions and roles in enhancing educational transactions within and outside the classroom situations, to increase access, promote inclusivity, improve quality and transform the educational eco-system. UNESCO seeks to focus and expand the knowledge base about the issues/ questions such as how can one use ICT to accelerate progress towards education for all and throughout life? Or How can ICT bring about a better balance between equity and excellence in education? While attempting to find the right solutions, some core points must be borne in mind. Firstly, ICT is not the single medium but only a part of a continuum of technologies, including inter alia chalk, books, etc. all of which can support and enrich learning. Secondly, ICT must be considered as an educational tool, and not and end in itself and as such, used and adapted to serve educational goals. Thirdly, the widespread use of ICT in education throws up several ethical and legal issues, such as the ownership of knowledge, the increasing exchange of education as a commodity, and globalisation of education in relation to cultural diversity. The synchronisation of ICT with education has almost become an imperative need in this millennium if the goals of access, equity and excellence must be achieved. Also, in the era of globalisation, knowledge is not limited to geographical boundaries and as such, digital resources /open educational resources are critical for knowledge sharing and collaboration .\\
The monitorable targets in education for the Eleventh Plan are: Enrolment of 6-14 age group children including hard- to- reach out of school children.
Reduction in dropout rate at elementary level nearly 50% to 20% by 2011-12.
Achieve 80% literacy and reduce gender gap in literacy to 10% by 2011-12.
Extend coverage of National Literacy Mission programmes to 35+ age group.
Universalize access to secondary education: revision of norms to provide a secondary school within 5 Km and higher secondary school within 7-8 Km of every habitation.
GER in secondary education to increase from 52% in 2004-05 to 75% by 201112 and the combined secondary and senior secondary GER from 40% to 65% in the same period.
Vocational education to be expanded to cover 20,000 schools with intake capacity of 25 lakh by 2011-12.
Increase higher education GER from the present 11% to 15% by 2011-12
Intake of technical education institutions to grow at 15% annually to meet scientific and skilled manpower needs of the growing economy.
About the Author
Shakila Shamsu Joint Adviser (HRD), Planning Commission, Govt. of India.
(The views expressed by the writer are purely personal and do not reflect those of the Planning Commission.)
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corporate diary
ICT in School Education The Knowledge-based Society We are moving from an industrial society towards what is widely termed a ‘knowledge-based society’. This requires our asking questions such as ‘What will the labour force requirements of the future be?’ and ‘What do people need to know and learn to function in and contribute effectively to society?’ Widespread diffusion of ICT in society gives rise to the need for acquiring new digital competences and ICT skills. National Curriculum Framework (2005) states ‘Integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) into schooling needs serious consideration. Teachers, educators, curriculum developers, evaluators and others will have to redefine their roles to tackle ICT rich environment and harness its full potential for the benefit of learners.’
Factors Influencing Effective Use of ICT Research has shown that in order to integrate ICT effectively in the classroom
teachers will need to appreciate that use of ICT may require a new approach to pedagogy, lesson planning and the curriculum. They will have to understand the relationship between a range of ICT resources and the concepts, processes, and skills in their subject. Teachers will have to use their subject expertise to select appropriate ICT resources which will help them meet specific learning objectives. The teachers will have to develop confidence in using a range of ICT resources and also know how to prepare and plan lessons where ICT is used in ways which will challenge pupils’ understanding and promote greater thinking and reflection. For many educators, in the future, ICT will enable learning that takes place anywhere, anytime and anyhow. Research has shown that ICT can stimulate and motivate students’ appetite for learning. A challenge for many schools is to move from using ICT as a supplemental, additional, ‘bolt-on’ device to an integrated part of lessons and of pedagogy. Evidence shows that when teachers use their
Trends and challenges affecting future learning in the knowledge-based society Technological trends • Broadband internet access that is becoming widespread • Major use of Web logging, Short Message Service (SMS) and Multimedia Message Service (MMS) to connect people socially • Rise of pod casting (both audio and video) provides huge opportunities for mobile learning • The availability and use of open source software and open source content (e.g. Wikipedia) • Infrastructure convergence (integrating broadcast, phone, data and other networks) • Rise of alternative wireless technologies (e.g. Wifi and WiMax) • Content/media convergence (newspapers, music, TV, blogs etc.) • Multi-modal devices (e.g. smart phones and tablets: pictures, email, movies, play radio and phone in a single device)
A vision of future learning • Schools will remain at the heart of the learning process • Teachers and learners may not necessarily be in classrooms • Mobile learning will become more commonplace • Animations and simulations will encourage the development of cognitive and social skills • The lecture-based mode of teaching will become just one of several modes • Teachers in the future will make even more use of ICT for professional activities
knowledge both of the subject and also of how pupils understand the subject, their use of ICT has a more direct effect on pupils’ attainment. We must also realise that student access to all sorts of information is a changing the relationship between students and teacher. A major part of effective use of ICT lies in the planning, preparation and follow-up of lessons, and in particular the pedagogical thinking that links teaching style, the selection of resources, the activities and the learning objectives. There is a need to look at ways of using ICT as part of a new ‘transformative’ pedagogy of teaching and learning rather than to merely access existing information and knowledge. I would like to conclude by saying that technology in our schools is still very new, and more needs to be done to determine exactly what students of 21st century will need to learn.\\ About the Author
Sociological trends • An increase in immigration • Geographic mobility • Career breaks • Flexible working hours • More knowledge intensive jobs • Life-long learning • Demise of the ‘Job for Life’ – career paths will diversify and become more transitory, fluid and dynamic
Amit Gupta CEO S Chand Group
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community college
AKASHDEEP
Empowering Air Force Personnel through Knowledge IGNOU has entered into a collaboration venture with Indian Air Force and signed MoU to enable airmen to achieve graduate status in service within 8-13 years of their service
By Professor V N Rajasekharan Pillai
I
GNOU has entered the defence personnel education sector with the Indian Air Force (IAF) and is entering into collaboration recently for certification of the knowledge, skills and in-service training for Indian Air Force personnel. This scheme named as Akashdeep has the potential to transform post-retirement life of airmen by equipping them with formal civil qualification from a national university and preparing them for competitive job avenues, particularly in the area of vocational education and skill development.
Akashdeep collaboration between IAF and IGNOU Structured around the modular educa-
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tion, skill development and knowledge advancement programmes of IGNOU, the existing Airmen Training Institutes have been registered as Community College Centres of IGNOU which maintains a high degree of flexibility and autonomy. This will enable all serving airmen to obtain a bachelors degree through a stepwise education and examination at certificate, diploma, advance diploma and associate degree levels which will be in the areas like arts, science, commerce, business administration, hotel management, hospitality services, paramedical sciences, office management, automobile trade, and performing arts. The academic expertise of the IGNOU in the 21 schools of studies,
and over 60 regional centres across the country along with the vast and the state-of-the-art training infrastructure of the Indian Air Force will provide the necessary logistical support for the education, training and examination of the airmen at various levels.
Constitutional Background The IGNOU Act and Statutes that are mentioned under the First Schedule (Section-4) states that “the University shall (a) strengthen and diversify the degree, certificate and diploma courses related to the needs of employment and necessary for building the economy of the country on the basis of its natu-
ral and human resources; (b) provide education and training in various arts, crafts and skills of the country, raining their quality and improving their availability to the people.” The certificate, diploma and associate degree programmes that were offered through the Community Colleges were framed by various academic and administrative bodies of the University following the Act and Statutes. While formulating and implementing this scheme, the university has also taken into consideration the recommendations of the National Knowledge Commission, National Skills Mission, the Planning Commission (11th Plan) and the Committees constituted by the University Grants Commission for the 2-year Associate Degree programme and the Community Colleges. IGNOU Act 1985, Section 2(d) provides for establishing colleges, maintaining academic institutions as colleges or admitting colleges to the privileges of the University for realising such objectives. The award of the 2-year Associate Degree is by a credit accumulation process wherein a learner through successful completion of several stand-alone modules, gets a Certificate (12-16 credits), Diploma (24-32 credits) and finally an Associate Degree (64 credits).
IAF-IGNOU Training Institutes The IAF-IGNOU Community Colleges that are identified and registered under this collaboration are the Air Force Police and Security Training Institute, Bagpat, U.P., Garud Regimental Training Centre, Chandinagar, U.P., Mechanical Transport Training Institute, Avadi, Chennai, Mechanical Training Institute, Tambaram, Chennai, Basic Training Institute, Belgaum, Non-Technical Training Institute, Belgaum, Air Force School of Physical Fitness, Belgaum, Communication Training Institute, Bangalore, Electrical and Instrument Training Institute, Bangalore, Medical Training Centre, Bangalore, Workshop Training Institute, Tambaram, Chennai, and Electronic Training Institute, Jalahhalli, Bangalore, Each of these centres will have a coordinator and a
number of trainers and academic counsellors recognised by the Indira Gandhi National Open University. The IAF-IGNOU Community Colleges will identify the academic programmes which are to be offered to the community of airmen and NCs(E) (Non Combatants Enrolled and Civilians). These are the people at personal assistant level to officers equivalent to the order of Indian Army.
Requirements The criteria laid down by IGNOU for Community Colleges for award of associate degree and subsequently a fullfledged bachelor degree would form the broad basis for registration of Airmen Training Institutes of the Indian Air Force as “Air Force-IGNOU Community Colleges.” These IAF-IGNOU Community Colleges shall continue with or have a structured curriculum which would broadly correspond to a two years curriculum (4-semesters) including on the job training (OJT) for award of an associate degree. The length of the semesters will be permitted to be extended over prolonged periods to permit the individuals to continue to function in their respective appointments while also working towards academic qualifications. The maximum duration of associate degree programme shall be decided by the Air Force Headquarters, which in no case can be less than two years and may be extended upto the service tenure of the participant of the programme. The list of compulsory and elective courses for the graduate degrees will be worked out jointly between IGNOU and Indian Air Force through an Academic Committee from the list of courses being conducted by IGNOU/THE IAF. IGNOU lays down the following parameters for semesters, which will form the broad basis for planning of semesters within the Air Force-IGNOU Community Colleges: a) 1st Semester: Basic Foundation Course (16 Credits). An individual’s period under Joint Basic Phase Training may be counted against his first semester as compulsory subjects. b) 2nd Semester: Applied/Profes-
This will enable all serving airmen to obtain a bachelor degree through a stepwise education and examination at certificate, diploma, advance diploma and associate degree levels which will be in diverse areas
sional Course in the chosen programme (16 Credits). An individual’s period under Module-I Training may be counted against his second semester as Compulsory subjects. c) 3rd Semester: This may include qualifications attained through the knowledge upgradation course ModuleII, and would broadly include the following – Application oriented courses (8 credits) and Elective Courses (8 credits). d) 4th Semester: This may include
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The length of the semesters will be permitted to be extended over prolonged periods to permit the individuals to continue to function in their respective appointments while also working towards academic qualifications qualifications attained towards knowledge upgradation through compulsory internship, project and project work obtained during ‘On the Job Training’ (OJT), (16 Credits).
Committees to oversee the venture The following Governance Units/Committees have been constituted to oversee this collaboration: a) AF Liaison cell in IGNOU premises b) Joint Consultative Committee comprising members of IGNOU and the IAF which would meet quarterly c) A five-member Air Force-IGNOU Academic Committee (AFIAC), under the chair of Air Officer In-charge personnel or his nominee from IAF and a representative from IGNOU shall be constituted to address and resolve functional academic content of courses, number of credits for a subject, examination issues, award of certificates, diplomas, associate degrees or degrees of IGNOU by Air Force-IGNOU Community Colleges and any other issue(s) brought to its notice/attention. The Air Force-IGNOU Academic Committee will facilitate formulation of the detailed Standard Operating Procedures/Administrative Instructions for the various programmes.
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The Indian Armed Forces has set up numerous military academies across India for training its personnel like Military Schools, Sainik Schools, and the Rashtriya Indian Military College to broaden the recruitment base of the Defence Forces. The three branches of the Indian Armed Forces jointly operate several institutions such as the National Defence Academy (NDA), Defence Services Staff College (DSSC), National Defence College (NDC) and College of Defence Management (CDM) for training its officers. The Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) Pune is responsible for providing the entire pool of medical staff to Armed Forces by giving them in service training. Besides these institutions, Indian Air Force has a training command and several training establishments. While technical and other support staffs are trained at various ground training schools, pilots are trained at the Air Force Academy located at Dundigul. The Pilot Training Establishment at Allahabad, Air Force Administrative College at Coimbatore, School of Aviation Medicine at Bangalore, Air Force Technical Training College at Jalahalli and Paratrooper’s Training School at Agra are some of the other training establishments of IAF. The expertise of these internationally renowned training institutions will contribute to the knowledge base of this IGNOU-IAF Collaboration.
Previous Initiative Previously, IGNOU has also launched Gyandeep initiative last year in collaboration with army wherein a total of 308 Personnel Below Officers’ Rank (PBOR) of the Indian Army were awarded Associate Degrees, Diplomas and Certificates by IGNOU in different courses of telecommunications and computers at Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), New Delhi in April 2010. The PBORs were from Army Corps of Signals in Jabalpur. The aim of the project was to confer educational certification to PBORs by according recognition to in-service training carried out by individuals during the span of their service career and also to empower all PBORs by arming them with a diploma and degree so as to facilitate a second career post retirement and preparing them for competitive job avenues. More recently, IGNOU is also contemplating same kind of collaboration/ venture with INS.\\ About the Author
Professor V N Rajasekharan Pillai Vice Chancellor, IGNOU
Maximising Student Engagement Using Learner Response Systems Many schools in India are now experiencing the tremendous benefits that well used Interactive Whiteboards can bring; helping students to learn more quickly, understand more deeply and retain information more effectively. In this article, Peter Ormerod, Promethean Vice President of India, Africa and Central Asia introduces the next wave of affordable classroom technology that is set to take teaching and learning to a whole new level. “Learner Response Systems (LRS) are a ‘second wave’ classroom technology that follow closely behind interactive whiteboards (IWBs). Response systems are highly inclusive tools that offer an excellent way of eliciting responses from everyone in the class. LRS results can be instantly displayed on an interactive whiteboard, a feature which all educators can use to their advantage, either to generate whole class discussions or to explore learners’ opinions and understanding. They can also be saved for later analysis and comparison. Promethean offer several types of LRS to suit every classroom and lesson situation, from the simple but highly effective Activote, to the more sophisticated ActivExpression “full text entry” system. ActivExpression is styled like a mobile phone, so students find it very convenient and easy to use. One of the most exciting features is Self Paced Learning, where students can answer questions at their own speed. There’s also a software version called ActivEngage which can be loaded onto classroom PC’s or laptops. It’s ideal for IT labs, or other classrooms where each student has access to a PC during the lesson. With adoption of these technologies now increasing in classrooms around the world, LRS are giving educators greater insight into individuals’ understanding, knowledge and development, which is helping to inform teaching practice and real-time intervention. Enhancing collaboration and communication, handheld devices enable educators to personalise learning to the capabilities of different individuals”.
LRS Question & Answer What is a Learner Response System? It’s a low-cost hand held device that allows every student to respond to verbal or written questions from the teacher, so the answers can be displayed on an interactive whiteboard, or saved instantly on a computer. What technology is used? Some LRS use infra-red technology, though the best use wireless which is immune from line of sight issues. What are the classroom benefits? It’s a fully inclusive solution – every single student in the class can contribute.. The best systems support ‘self paced learning’ so students can respond at their own speed to an entire question bank. Teachers get immediate feedback, so the classroom dynamic quickly develops from a traditional, uni-directional flow from teacher to student, into a closely integrated learning environment facilitating immediate, informed intervention by the teacher to correct, guide, encourage and direct as appropriate. After the lesson, the teacher can review results either by individual student or for the whole class. This analysis can analysis can reveal much useful information about individual student performance, the overall effectiveness of a lesson, ideas for follow-up work and revision etc. Data can be fed back to students, shared with other teachers and with parents, to make learning more transparent and collaborative. How will student results benefit? Dramatically! When properly used, LRS ensures that students are fully engaged with the lesson material and this feeds directly into significantly improved student results. How does the software work? It varies from system to system, but with the best – such as Promethean's ActivInspire – LRS capability is fully integrated into the Interactive Whiteboard software. This means that it’s a seamless, natural and easy to use classroom tool, with no new software to learn and avoiding any possible disruption to the lesson whilst the teacher switches from one program to another.
About Promethean.Promethean are one of the world leading suppliers of Interactive Whiteboards, Learner Response systems, curriculum content and teacher training resources. Promethean technology is already in widespread use throughout India as well as in over 100 other countries. Prometheans’ Indian partners Almoe are headquartered in Bangalore, and have local offices in the main metropolitan areas and in all regions countrywide. Phone 080 4045 8686 for more information. You can find more details on www.prometheanworld.com and on Prometheans education community website www.prometheanplanet.com where more than 835,000 teachers share lessons and tips on 21st Century Learning, and access almost 25,000 lesson resources for free download.
higher education
ICT in Education
Need of the Hour ICT enabled education is not only an answer to the growing demands for enrolments in education, but is also in tune with the mindset of the present day students and helps meet the challenges in the growth of knowledge By Prof Ashok Kumar Bakhshi
I
n this information age, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) revolution has fundamentally changed the way we live now. But in India, our education system has not changed significantly in the light of the technological advances around the world. The most fundamental cause seems to have been the deep-seated belief that teaching is an art or at best an imperfect science with no role of technology in the design or delivery of instruction. Realisation seems to have dawned on the teaching community
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that ICT is primarily to empower them and not to replace them. In order to use technology to help achieve the goals of education in a better and more effective way, one has to be first of all clear about what our expectations are from the education system, what and how do we want our students to learn and what type of individuals our classrooms should produce – rote learners or those with an analytical mind having an in-depth understanding of the subject? After all education is what remains with you after you have
forgotten everything. In this technological era, the role of the teacher is changing into that of a mentor. ICT enabled education is not only an answer to the growing demands for enrolments in education, but is also in tune with the mindset of the present day students and helps meet the challenges in the growth of knowledge. ICT can help students acquire 21st century skills like digital literacy, innovative thinking, creativity, sound reasoning and effective communication. India has the third largest system of
education in the world, next only to USA and China, with more than 500 universities and around 25000 colleges. To introduce ICT-enabled education in such a large system one needs to have high quality multi-media enriched content in different disciplines for various courses including its multilingual conversion, capacity building of teachers and students in ICT skills and state-of-the-art infrastructure along with broadband connectivity for disseminating the content so that it reaches the doorsteps of the learners. The launch of National Mission on Education through ICT (NMEICT) in 2009 is a major initiative of the Government of India in this direction with an aim to leverage the potential of ICT in providing high quality personalised and interactive content, free of cost, to all the learners in Higher Education Institutions in anytime – anywhere mode. Delhi University’s Institute of Lifelong Learning (ILLL) was set up with an aim to integrate ICT with education and is presently engaged in the development of high quality multi-media enriched content in the form of e-Lessons, e-Quizzes, e-Labs and e-Lectures. While e-Lessons provide quality content with multi-media enriched value additions such as common misconceptions, points to ponder, interesting facts, did you know? etc., e-Quizzes in the form of MCQs of different difficulty levels provide the student a mechanism for self-learning and assessment through a complete, logical reasoning of the correct as well as incorrect answers. The concept of e Lectures or live lectures enables best faculty members to reach out to students across various DU colleges,
thereby not only connecting classrooms but also giving students quality learning material as well. Multi-media enables us to provide a way by which learners can experience their subject in a profound way. However, the development and increasing use of ICT in education is accompanied with a bitter contradiction– the digital divide, a term in usage since 1990s, which refers to the digital gap between people with effective access to ICT and those with limited or no access at all. This gap includes the imbalances in physical access to ICT (whether at home, college, work place or cyber café) and the resources and skills needed effectively to use the capabilities of ICT to the fullest. One can transform this digital divide into a digital opportunity by giving top priority to the development of ICT and telecommunication infrastructure (computers with internet access and broadband connectivity) in order to provide universal and affordable access to information to people and institutions in all geographical areas of the country. To promote computer literacy and build capacity in ICT skills, ICT courses should be integrated to curricula from the school level itself. Computer literacy classes in public libraries can also be used as a means of promoting and propagating ICT awareness. Since most of the time our computing facilities remain underutilized (about 30% of their potential), use upcoming technologies such as cloud computing facility etc. should be encouraged in order to harness the full potential of our computing resources.
Realisation seems to have dawned on the teaching community that ICT is primarily to empower them and not to replace them The concept of cloud computing is crudely analogous to the centralised supply of electricity. Just as centralized supply of electricity is far more efficient and cheaper rather than everyone having their own generator, similarly if all the PCs of the world were taken and gathered in a single place, they would generate enough computing power for the needs of the entire world. This could obviate the problem of physical access and connectivity. Lastly, the duplication of content should be avoided. Once content has been developed, it should rather be standardised in the light of suggestions/feedback from users and experts.\\ About the Author
Prof. A K Bakhshi Former Director, Institute of Lifelong Learning, and Presently, Head, Department of Chemistry, University of Delhi.
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Education Must Align with Industry Needs Prof Dinesh Singh, Vice Chancellor, University of Delhi in conversation with Dr Rajeshree Dutta Kumar, Yukti Pahwa and Sheena Joseph on the latest issues in field of higher education
What are the challenges and opportunities in the field of higher education? The biggest challenge that we face is the need to ensure that India remains steady and keeps moving ahead in the education sector. The momentum should be augmented and if you look at it from this point of view, it is imperative for each and every university to be a part of this march towards quality and excellence. A university must think carefully about how it can anticipate the needs of the nation and contribute to it. Therefore, the university must also examine its own activities and compare it with what it is supposed to be doing. There has to be an alignment between what students learn and the actual requirements of the real world. Unitary focus on lecture methods will not be sufficient. For instance, mathematics graduates today either end up teaching in schools or in colleges, although there can be enormous opportunities for them in the industry, provided they are trained in it. This explains the reason why the Indian Space Research Organisation opened its own university. Higher education institutes need to supply students who are more industry oriented. What is your expectation from the government with regard to the 12th Five Year Plan (FYP)?
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The government has been very good to us, especially, during the past few years and they have been very considerate towards our university, even while assigning funds to us. I have every reason to believe that the situation will continue to be the same. I do not have any extraordinary concerns on that front. The government has always been consulting the university, the Planning Commission, Ministry Human Resource Development and all concerned stakeholders for policy making. It has always been a two way process. We expect positive measures being taken for the university in the coming years. What is your opinion about privatisation of higher education? So long as the needs of the nation are fulfilled, changes are always welcome. If certain measures are detrimental to the needs of the nation and society, then there is a need to rethink these strategies. I don’t think that privatisation will create a monopoly in education. Positive outcomes can also emerge out of private initiatives in education. Harvard is a private university but that doesn’t make it a profit making enterprise. Additionally, it should also be understood that those who cannot afford should not be denied education either. There has to be a balance in that front.
Education should not become a business and it cannot run solely on profit motives. Talks are on for making a unified regulatory body on higher education and for the establishment of the National Council of Higher Education and Research. What is your opinion about the same? Not having multiplicity of authorities is a positive element. Therefore at the conceptual level it is a good initiative. It allows you to cast out the old structures and recreate new ones and usher in changes at highest level. I think it will do good for the education sector. What is your opinion about the semester system? I remember, as student, I used to feel that having examinations at the end of the year was torturous. I preferred hav-
Photo: Joginder
ing assessment tests at shorter intervals so that the end-of-year study load would be reduced. Even today, students prefer to have semester system and the least you can do is to be considerate towards students’ opinion. Some believe that the system woul hamper involvement of students in extra curricular activities such as sports but so is not the case, as is evident from the semester systems operating in universities across the world. This system is a well tried out and tested method in universities of US and UK, and it has been adequately demonstrated there that students can very actively participate in co-curricular activities along with their academic pursuit. We have already established this system in the department of science and will be rolling-it out for social sciences and humanities shortly by July 2011.
What do you think about mainstreaming vocational and skills education? It is a tragedy that we just pay lip service to the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. He would never expect one to learn without experimenting and doing things by themselves. Gandhiji wrote extensively on education, based on what he had learnt from his experiences and experiments. We burden our children today by pushing them into the maddening race of scores and subjects. Gandhiji has advocated that school students should spend a few hours of learning in a natural environment so that whatever was done with your hands is easily retained with children. We have forgotten this principal and what we need to do is to encourage action into the learning process. There is a pressing need that we produce a knowledge force which can ca-
ter to needs of the industry. We want to encourage this business of internship for students. We also want people, from industry, to set up some interactive platform. ICT can help take this further. What is your opinion about bringing about pedagogical changes? The education pedagogy must positively change in order to ensure that students grasp and understand lessons, rather than blindly learning textbook content. Classrooms should have more interaction between the student and the teacher and monotonous lecture methods should end. What is your vision for the future? Our vision has always been to provide for the needs of the nation, and we have been successful to a large extent in this. Future will only see more and more initiatives in furthering this cause. \\
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skill development
Skill Development Holds Key to Economic Development How many times have we heard the term ‘demographic dividend’ and marveled at the prospect that this holds for India? And also wondered in the same breath whether the youth of this country would be able to take advantage of this opportunity that comes rarely in the history of a nation?
By Dilip Chenoy
A
s we get ready to usher in a new year, we must not lose sight of the fact that skill development and employability still remain key issues that we would need to address over the next decade in order to achieve our objective of becoming a developed country by the year 2022 when India will turn 75. With a median age of 25 years, India currently has one of the youngest populations in the world. The forecast is that the country will have the world’s largest working population by 2030. With the Indian economy on an overdrive, the demand for a skilled workforce is expected to increase manifold in the days ahead. The challenge does not just end there. A solution also needs to be found to make our workforce more employable. It has been observed by software industry body NASSCOM, for instance, that of the
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4-lakh odd engineering graduates who pass out every year, only about 20% would meet the requirements of India Inc based on their technical and presentation skills, their ability to converse in English, and work as part of a team. Even the latest National Sample Survey data clearly underlines that only one in three among those aged between 15 and 29 is functionally literate. As of today, a mere 2% of the Indian workforce is formally skilled. In-service training is received by only 15% of workers in the manufacturing sector for example. According to McKinsey, till 2008-09, that is, before the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) started functioning, the total training capacity in India was 4.3 million persons per year against 12.8 million youth joining the workforce annually. By way of compari-
son, 96% of the workers in South Korea receive formal skills training. In Japan, it is 80%, and, in Germany, it is 75%. The figure for the UK stands at 68%. As far as enrolment in vocational education and training courses is concerned, India has a net enrolment of 3.5 million per year compared to 90 million in China and 11.3 million in the United States. The heartening news, however, is that skill development has now become one of the priorities of the Government, with the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh setting the target to skill over 500 million persons by 2022. Seventeen ministries are already engaged in undertaking training initiatives that aim to raise the skill-sets of youth in different trades. The current efforts are directed to enhance coordination, set up new capacity and also improve quality.
The Prime Minister himself chairs the National Skill Development Council. The National Skill Development Coordination Board, chaired by the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, promotes coordination among various ministries in the area of skill development. The Government has, moreover, set up the NSDC in collaboration with industry to catalyse the private sector to increase its involvement in the task of skilling the nation. The NSDC’s mandate is to train 150 million of the 500 million target set by the Government. The existing Government schemes are expected to create the balance 350 million employable youth by 2022. Launched in October 2009, the NSDC is chaired by former Murugappa Group Chairman M V Subbiah and its chief role is to encourage both for-profit and notfor-profit enterprises to undertake training initiatives by providing them with funds for this purpose. Assistance is provided in the form of soft loans, equity and grants, or even a combination of one or more financing options. Any organisation, including start-up ventures, having a scalable and sustainable business model that ensures the employability of the resources trained is eligible for funding by the NSDC. As the NSDC sees itself as a “viability gap catalyst”, the amount of funding could extend up to 75% of the project cost. The debt is offered at subsidised rates with other features like a moratorium built in depending on the nature of the project. Equity infusion by the NSDC is capped at 27% of the total paid up capital. Grant funding is considered only in select cases. The NSDC is also involved in constituting Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) that would establish quality standards for the segments they represent. The proposed SSCs would develop skill competency standards and qualifications, as well as standardise the affiliation and accreditation process. They would set up labor management information systems to assist in the planning and delivery of training, besides identifying skill development needs and preparing a catalogue of skill types.
The NSDC is also involved in constituting Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) that would establish quality standards for the segments they represent. The proposed SSCs would develop skill competency standards and qualifications, as well as standardise the affiliation and accreditation process A study conducted by management consulting firm IMaCS (an ICRA subsidiary) on behalf of the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) has forecast that there could be a likely shortage of 240-250 million people by 2022 in 21 high growth sectors. It is believed that this gap would widen if the economy grows faster in the coming decade. Similar projections have been made by CII in some sectors.
In 2010, NSDC funded many projects with the target of skilling more than 1.5 million youth in agriculture and allied activities, auto CAD, banking, construction, food processing, hospitality, as well as creating artisans for the gems and jewellery sector, over a 10-year period. The NSDC Board further approved another 13 proposals where funding is to start soon. Combined, these 18 projects would train over 22 million youth over 10 years. Some of the noteworthy projects that were approved included the NSDC’s decision to form a joint venture with Centum Learning, an associate company of the Bharti Group, to train 11.57 million youth in different trades. As well as the formation of a Special Purpose Vehicle in partnership with IL&FS Education and Technology Services, the education infrastructure development initiative of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services, to jointly set up 100 skills schools in industrial clusters and economically backward regions nationwide for training 1.94 million youth for varied vocations over a 10-year period. In the arena of Sector Skill Councils, the NSDC board approved the release
of funds for the Automotive Sector Skill Council that is likely to come up soon. For 2011, our aim is to put in place a sustainable, demand-led, person-centric skill ecosystem in India in order to achieve the NSDC mandate of skilling 150 million by 2022 and also fulfill the Prime Minister’s vision of contributing to the development of a 500 million skilled workforce in the country in the next 12 years. We also propose to increase our focus on Sector Skills Councils in 2011 so that we can put in place the framework necessary for introducing a labor management information system in almost all the key sectors of the economy. Technology would also play a facilitating role in reaching out to the corners of the country and also as an enabler to the entire skill development process. Digital content and simulators like those for driving, fork lift operators and welding will multiply. Perhaps, going forward, skill development would be the killer application – like gaming in Korea – for 3G / 4G in India. This is an opportunity for those in the digital learning space and also for new entrants. The opportunity is there for you to transform the skills landscape in India.\\ About the Author
Dilip Chenoy CEO & MD of the National Skill Development Corporation
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Interview
Linking Education, Learning and Development In conversation with Dr Anjlee Prakash, CEO, Learning Links Foundation, Yukti Pahwa, discovers about the flagship initiatives of the foundation for sustainable development, innovative education and strengthening the capacity building of professionals
What are the initiatives that Learning Links has taken in 2010? Kindly elaborate about the future initiatives. 2010 was a very exciting year for us. Learning Links Foundation launched 2 new initiatives namely the Center for Education of Sustainable Development and the Institute for Professional Development and Innovative Education. The Center for Education of Sustainable Development is working in three broad directions including citizenship education, environmental awareness and promotion of the entrepreneurial skill in students and youth. We hope to create a more inclusive society, aware of its responsibility towards the neighborhood, the community and the environment. We strongly feel that for India to succeed, its youth must be responsible citizens in all spheres (community, environment and financial) to further students commitment for active citizenship and governance by developing and understanding on the importance of citizen participation. The Institute for Professional Development and Innovative Education has been developed to provide complete capacity building opportunities for professionals working in the education sector. Our content and curricula caters to school leaders, education stakeholders, teachers and student teachers. With our partners, the Foundation continued to support the enhancement of Math and Science learning using 21st Century methods and saw results of its programs in
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ing speeds. Academic qualifications and skills are changing, and the nature of jobs is also changing. With the current trends, it is not possible to remain with a particular degree or a particular skill throughout life. The National Vocational Educational Qualification Framework will not only make the practical exposures and skills a component in education, but also will bring about compatibility between academic courses and work elements. We certainly need a common reference framework for linking various vocational qualifications and setting common principles and guidelines for a nationally recognised qualification system and standards.
“The Center for Education of Sustainable Development is working in three broad directions – citizenship education, environmental awareness and promotion of the entrepreneurial skill in students and youth” the form of reduced absenteeism, increased enrollment and better grades amongst government schools. We launched a new partnership with Texas Instruments (TI) to launch an integrated classroom solution using TI devices with a specific requirement to improve mathematics and science learning by increasing opportunities for experiential learning. In an effort to provide creative use of technology to teachers, the foundation launched a successful partnership with Adobe to provide training to Government School teachers. The teachers responded with creativity, enthusiasm and have been using innovative techniques to engage with students. The government is formulating plans around the issue of National Qualification Framework. What is your opinion about the same? It is estimated that the projected top ten in demand jobs in 2010 did not exist in 2004, illustrating that work life as we know it is transforming at ever increas-
39 million students in India pass out from class 12, of which only one million get an opportunity to be empowered through vocational education. The framework may play a part in facilitating and shortening the process of access to the acquisition of qualifications by creating the basis for a precise description of learning requirements, learning level and learning provision and for making them reciprocal reference points. How is Learning Links Foundation unique or different from other institutions in the same field? Other than the competence dimensions, Learning Links places itself uniquely in a couple of areas which positions it distinctly. Firstly, its ability to provide effective solutions across education and development domains – including assessing needs, developing solution, building capacity, creating content, documenting impact, etc. Our services provide training, research, content curriculum, assessment, etc. Second, its
ability to scale rapidly across geographies and to apply global programmes our local expertise, which are again process driven and quality conscious. Thirdly, our ability to develop programmes and provide services that aid and support the goals of all stakeholders involved. Our partners and our beneficiaries are equally important to us, hence our focus is on not only providing a solution, but ensuring it’s the best possible and most complete solution for all stakeholders concerned. We also pick right education transformation goals bringing clear synergies and better operation support to local regions. What do you opine about the future of the education in context of ICT. There is a massive demand for education in India and the demand is expected to grow strongly over the next decade. India has the world’s largest population in the age group of 0-24 years. This large pool will represent a large demand for K-12 and higher education. The numbers of junior basic schools are higher in the country and there is a strong need to set up higher secondary schools as well as colleges with a focus on IT education. Government has advanced to a great extent in terms of promoting ICT in education, however, still more than 50% of the market is untapped which shows an opportunity for other stakeholders. In respect to the country’s population and number of student, trained teachers ratio is low which emphasises the need of training institutes. With economic growth and enhanced technology a lot more can be done in times to come to develop the structure of the Indian education sector. As I see it, the demand –supply gap will result in some very interesting ICT based innovations and solutions. Broadband deployment, advances in telephony, and advances in technology platforms will set the stage for interesting opportunities. The challenge will lie on how well the education sector responds to the possibilities, opportunities and solutions available. \\
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corporate diary
Manipal K12@ ICT and Future Perspectives Srikanth B Iyer, Director & COO, Manipal K-12 Education, shares with Yukti Pahwa, his views on futuristic infusion of ICT with education for innovative academic processes and bridging of gaps in providing quality education and access
“I
remember a time when students and teachers had to make many trips to the library and find the right books for their homework and lesson plans. Now, with various Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the classroom and the computer lab, relevant information is just a click away. Technology has radically modified the way teachers teach and students learn. There is excitement among teachers and students alike to learn computer skills and be techno savvy. ICT, when used effectively, can provide a platform for innovation in the academic process and bridge the gap caused due to various reasons. Often, its scope gets limited to setting up computer labs and providing repositories of information to schools. At Edurite, we understand that a good ICT solution is based on established learning approaches; it incorporates the perspectives of end users and is organically integrated into the school environment. Our DigiClass solution is specifically designed to encourage teachers to be mentors and facilitators and empower them with tools to nurture
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the spirit of learning in their students. Implementation of ICT requires significant financial and human resource investments, hence making it difficult to implement at schools in some of the impoverished regions of our country. A positive trend in the last decade is the emergence of many private and public initiatives that have attempted to disperse the benefits of ICT through numerous rural education initiatives. Edurite is also part of symbiotic partnerships with various state governments, multinational corporations and non-profit organisations, where we offer e-content expertise and teacher training programmes. Pan-India initiatives of this kind help build awareness and also enable rural schools to provide quality education. The future of ICT in education is filled with endless possibilities. Comprehensive education and IT policies like CBSE’s recent decision to make digital classrooms compulsory, greater focus on integrating ICT as a field of study into the curriculum, using it as a teaching aid, and entry of many private play-
ers in this sector will lead to overall improvement in the quality of education and development of the ICT industry. Companies will need to focus on customising content, and by that I do not mean only digitising textbooks and adding multimedia objects for various syllabi. We will have to move beyond; professional content development teams with inputs from teachers and faculty will play a significant role in ensuring high quality instructional material that is learner centric, relevant, interactive and synergetic. In addition to customised content, we need extensive training of personnel for effective usage. Teachers have to be taught how to integrate ICT into their day-to-day teaching approach and enhance classroom sessions. With the entry of many private players in education, progressive government policies on education, support of the schools supervisors and administrators, and involvement of the final users in the design process, parents can rest easy as their child’s education is in good hands.” \\
corporate diary
DISCOVER 3D in EDUCATION CYBER ANATOMY 3D MED VR (advance medical software) This new age 3D technology provides a realistic and immersive environment for virtual dissection and exploration of human anatomy (male and female). Cyber Anatomy Med VR is a three dimensional, virtual -reality model of the complete human (both male and female) body. More than 13000 body parts are displayed in full colour, with medically accurate details. This enables us to understand the spatial relationship between the bones, muscles, arteries, veins and nervous that one finds in actual cadaver. The 3D model allows multiple students to perform the same exercise, something that would not be possible using an actual cadaver. Doc-
tors, teachers, and other health professionals using this 3D product are able to explain the anatomy of human body, without fully relying on actual cadavers or sacrificing precious cadaver organs. Cyber-Anatomy’s real time simulation environment makes a full set of interactive functions available. Rotation, dissecting, zooming in/out, peeling away skin, muscle layers, labeling, focusing on any specific organs are just a few examples of the flexibility allowed to students on global scale. This can meet the shortage of qualified medical faculties at many places now and in near future. The three dimensional presentation and mobility of each structure create an open, freely moving, virtual dissection experience that draws students in, always providing an accurate sense
of the spatial relationships between anatomical structures. This unique programme is not a necessary substitute for cadavers, but rather a way to enhance education of medical students. Every teacher will acknowledge the importance of dissecting an actual cadaver, but this programme provides insight into the human body that goes beyond standard anatomy education. Dispro Visual Technologies Ltd proudly offers these 3D Educational products equipped with softwares/hardwares set up catering to different segments as:CYBER ANATOMY Med VR (Medical Colleges, Universities) CYBER SCIENCE 3D Interactive 3D science models for (K-12 students) EDU MAGIC 3D (pre school kids) Learning can be so much fun for kids.\\
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Higher education
ICT, Capacity Building and Globalisation@Higher Education Dr Rajeev Shorey, President, NIIT University, talks to Yukti Pahwa about the better conceptualisation of knowledge and concepts amongst students with use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
What is your opinion on digitisation of education? We are living in an age where technology has touched every aspect of our lives including how we access information, the way we communicate with each other, and how we carry out research and development. Hence, it is hardly surprising that digitisation of education is increasingly gaining importance in India. Ready availability of multimedia, computers and Internet has opened up several interesting teaching-learning possibilities hitherto considered very difficult. As a result the importance of IT-enabled education has increased many folds. Use of IT in education has enabled students to understand the concepts better and apply them in practical life. Driven by globalisation and pressures to teach and train knowledgeable, skilled and competitive professionals, universities today face a huge challenge to increase access to higher education and improve the quality of higher education. I strongly feel that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) will play a key role in making higher education accessible, effective and efficient. What should be done for capacity building in higher education? Are there any measures that NIIT University has taken to support the same? The problem in education is both of quality and quantity. In higher educa-
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tion, our gross enrolment ratio is only 11% as compared to 40% in developed countries. We also need to rapidly improve on the quality front as well. Studies show that not even one out of four graduates is employable. Some initiatives have been taken by the government in this regard. In its XIth Five Year Plan, the government has increased its spend five times compared to the Xth plan. Reforms should be done keeping ‘inclusivity’ in mind. Liberalising the education field in terms of ease of entry, exit and operations for new players is important. Privatising the badly run, underfinanced universities is another way. NIIT University, a new model in higher education, is an example of how industry and academia can work together. How does technology help in imparting quality education? Since inception, NIIT has innovatively used technology to offer quality education. Amongst its various other initiatives, NIIT offers synchronous lear-ning based Executive Management programmes from India’s top B schools through NIIT Imperia. It is an effective tool to bring together the faculty and students, otherwise separated by significant distances, using cutting-edge technology. Through the new high-tech environment, students can experience learning almost in the same way as they would if they were in a normal classroom, querying their instructor and answering questions, thus
making quality management education accessible to students across India. Do you think the assessment systems in universities today need to be revised? India needs to build an educational ecosystem starting in schools to encourage understanding rather than memorising. Critical and analytical thinking abilities of students need to be developed to enable them to take strategic decisions later in life. Unfortunately, in India not too much emphasis is laid on what is understood; there is always a pressure to remember things. Hence there is a tendency to learn by rote that, I feel, destroys true learning. Please highlight the opportunities and challenges that NIIT University faces in making Indian education in synchrony with global standards. Internationally, there is a lot of emphasis on practical training in higher education. Most colleges and universities have established affiliations with employers and researchers in different fields of study, thereby creating an avenue for students to obtain hands-on and invaluable experience even while they are studying. International universities of repute also focus on the global aspects of each subject, thereby preparing students with a worldwide view of their field. At NIIT university, we aim to shape
“we aim to shape talents to fulfil the need of tomorrow’s knowledge economy. The university has been established as a ‘centre for excellence’ with a mission to develop a new breed of professionals who have deeper industry linkages”
talents to fulfil the need of tomorrow’s knowledge economy. The university has been established as a ‘centre for excellence’ with a mission to develop a new breed of professionals who have deeper industry linkages, a research mindset, whose education is seamlessly multifaceted and enabled by the latest technology. With an emphasis on building careers, deep connect with industry is the hallmark of NIIT University. The curriculum is directly aligned to the needs of industry. Six months, or a full semester, is devoted to industry practice for undergraduates or an internship for post graduates to ensure rich hands-on experience in the workplace. The connect is also reflected through industry sponsored research and offering senior leadership in industry a visiting or adjunct faculty position at the University. What, according to you, were the highlights in the higher education in 2010 and what is your expectation for the coming year? Passage of Innovation University Bill was a significant development in higher education last year. The legislations seeks to set up 14 innovation universities across the country under public funding, besides allowing promoters to establish such universities. There was also emphasis on the need to make the existing institutions attain world class standards in teaching, research and innovation. For the immediate future, the country needs to focus on quality rather than quantity. This is exactly the path that we are following at NIIT university. There is a dire need in the country to attract good and dedicated research scholars to institutions of higher learning. There is a severe shortage of strong faculty members and this can only be resolved by ensuring that our bright and innovative young minds pursue a career in research. \\
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Interview
New Education Act in Sri Lanka by Mid-2011 Dr G B Gunawardena, Vice Chairman, National Education Commission, Sri Lanka talks to Dr Rajeshree Dutta Kumar and Juanita Kakoty about the formulation of the New Education Reforms Act in Sri Lanka and the major concerns to improve the education system in the country
Where does Sri Lanka stand in terms of its education scenario vis-à-vis standards in South Asia or the globe? Amongst the South Asian countries, Sri Lanka has done well in the education sector. Since 1948, several education reforms have been undertaken, like free education from kindergarten to the university level. Already, our country has achieved 98% enrollment at the primary level and 90% participation at the secondary level. Now, a new framework has been introduced in the Parliament. By the mid of this year, it is expected that the new Education Act will come about in Sri Lanka ensuring education for all by 2015 in the country. With appropriate measures and by implementing adequate mechanisms to include the marginalised children, we shall be able to achieve 100% education by 2015. Kindly elaborate on the new Education Act to be rolled out. What are the primary concerns? The new Education Act has been developed keeping in mind major concerns. There has been an attempt to ratify and fulfill several international conventions as well. The Act shall alter the equation of reaching out to the privileged. The new Act would respect and protect
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the right to education of every child. There are few major concerns against which the new Education Act has been designed. Teaching has always been a respected profession in our country. But during the last few decades, market economy forces have influenced the behaviour of teachers making them behave like workers not professionals. This is a big challenge. We have to bring in teacher reforms not by a code of ethics, but through sensitising them of their roles as mentors. Without this, no education reform acts would succeed. Another concern is management and leadership in the teaching profession, which was earlier taken care of by the community. But in the recent past, the schools have been managed by adopting principles of industrial management, which is not very relevant to education. Now, that the discipline of educational management has been developed, we are making use of it so that principals and teachers would once again act as professionals and not bureaucrats. Bureaucracy does not necessarily help in achieving the aims of education. Sri Lanka faces the problem of finding resources or funding for education. At the moment, the government is not in a position to spend too much in the education sector. A total of 2.8% of the GDP is scheduled for education,
which is not sufficient. We depend on donor funding for development activities. But the major problem here is that donor agencies have their own agenda. They are interested in ‘their’ needs and not in ‘our’ needs. So we need to foresee that the donor funding comes into our sector-wise programme. We have shifted from the project mode to sectorwise programmes. These concerns are looked after in the new Act. How do you see the new Act addresses the issues of digital divide? In Sri Lanka, despite a high enrollment ratio, some schools have all the facilities, while others are in poor shape. The new Act promises to arrest disparities in the school system. The Acts ensures that all the schools will come under the State. In the future, we see a number of primary schools feeding into the secondary schools. Equity will be achieved thus. As another measure, we are going to recruit teachers with teaching qualifications. The practice has been to recruit teachers without any teaching qualification; this will be done away in the future. We have four services – teacher service, teacher education service, principal service and the administrator service. A Quality Assurance Council will be established in the country to regulate
“By middle of next year, it is expected, that, a new Education Act will come about in Sri Lanka ensuring education for all by 2015 in the country. Sri Lanka has achieved 98% enrollment at the primary level and 90% participation at the secondary level� all sectors associated with education in the country. Is there scope for Open and Distance Learning (ODL) in the new Education Act? We do not require open schooling for school going children at the moment because we foresee compulsory education for children in the age group of 5-16 years. Post basic compulsory education, we have both the formal and non-formal mode of education. The National Institute of Education has opened an open schooling unit to look after the education of those who do not go for higher studies and join work. Could you elaborate on the aspect of teacher training in Sri Lanka? Different modes have been followed for professional development of teachers in the country since the 1960s. We have had three strategies for training a teacher – (a) two years institutional training with certificates in teaching; (b) three years diploma programme by colleges on education; and (c) the dis-
tance mode programme. In the distance mode of teacher training, the contents and modules are provided to the teachers, who are called upon to attend seminars and classes during weekends. This is a blended programme. We follow constructivism, hereby, making teachers apply their own knowledge and capabilities relevant to their teaching situations by making using of the modules. At one stage, when the three strategies were studied by Harvard University in the 1980s, the distance mode teachers were seen to be doing better than the institutional and diploma teachers. How do you perceive technology interventions in the field of education? This is a concern. Our attempt is not to allow technology to dehumanise the process. Human values are the essence of education. Our attempt is to humanise technology. Technology use is limited because human development processes cannot take place solely through it. Technology does have a crucial role in delivering education and education processes.
Machines can never replace teachers. What does the Act aspire to serve? What is your vision for the new Act? Our aim is to reach out to the marginalised in the immediate future. We want our Act to be pro-poor. Children from underprivileged and disadvantaged groups and areas like migrant population, plantation areas, children with disability, girlchild in rural areas, etc. can be included and integrated into the formal education sector. Our aim is to make education accessible, available and acceptable to every child. We need to ensure that social values are promoted, and not consumerism. We believe that the market should not overshadow social values. How India and Sri Lanka can learn from each other? When the Right to Education Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in India, we made a detailed study of that Bill to help us formulate our own Act. Thus, there is much scope for both countries to learn from the experiences of each other. \\
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corporate diary
ICT for Better Learning Outcomes Vivek Govil, President and CEO, Pearson Education talks about teacher being the key person in education delivery system with Dr Ravi Gupta and Yukti Pahwa What is the main focus of Pearson Education group? One of our concerns is that a large part of the ICT agenda in education is being driven by the technology companies rather than education companies. Mostly the conversations are about hardware or software without any focus on adequate quality of content or providing support to the teachers. We, on the other hand, believe that it is all about the teachers. Even in a highly technology enabled environment the teacher holds a vital role, though it might get modified according to the former. We work from perspective of enabling the teacher and otherwise. What were the initiatives taken in 2010? In higher education, we have been piloting a product called ‘My Labs’. We had the pilot run in 125 colleges across the country, for various subjects, amongst the high end institutions and fairly middle level institutions. We had professors working with ‘My Lab’ and their response to it has been quite remarkable. It is a unique combination of an e-learning tool, a homework management tool and a holistic reservoir of teacher’s resources. It also has an assessment tool, which helps not only to assess but also provide the diagnosis of the given assessment (who all are doing well, what topics are doing better than others),
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along with shortening the duration of the time spent in administrative aspects of carrying out assessment. In the school education segment we have created an e-book which is the digitised version of the book. This is the first time that someone has tried to integrate the text book and the digital aspect in a meaningful fashion. Although a rudimentary pilot, it did quite well. What are the unique features of your products? We focus on teacher’s perspectives. Mostly, the technology story in classrooms is more about marketing . Ou research shows that a lot of teachers and principals mention about their struggle when it comes to the use of technology. In an institution, technology use usually seems to be driven by the quality of the resource person’s training capabilities. But we focus on putting the control back to the teacher. Secondly, we are not trying to invent something from scratch. There are various successful models that exist. The idea is not to have thousands of things on your server but to integrate all of them for the teacher to aid learning. Is the Pearson’s e-book cost effective? The e-books we provide are ridiculously cheap and cost effective. They cost about ` 500 per child for a year. Most of the eLearn-
ing material is outrageously priced in the market. What is your opinion about Indian scenario in terms of ICT as compared to the other countries? We are at much earlier stages of the curve, if we compare ourselves to UK or US. Technology has not yet reached masses. As compared to UK all government schools have interactive whiteboards. The
usage is low but the hardware and the software do exist. There are a million players and we have a lot of issues revolving around pricing, and so on but none about learning. Again if we have whiteboards across all classrooms, it will turn into a wasteful expenditure, if it is not being utilised in a useful manner. Mostly, technology usage by schools is used for their branding. If it was
being used to provide better quality education then the existing tools would have trebled over years, which is not evident from what exists. All the growth seems to be coming from growing schools and not growth of the existing classrooms in terms of the tools available. And that is a disturbing factor. Owners love it but teachers and principals talk about lack of access to content and its use.
We have a large dissatisfied market. What kind of support do you seek from the government? The government should have a position and we hope that they pilot, learn and then implement, when it comes to applications of technology. Technology when used in a systematic manner may aid learning but not otherwise. \\
Anish Srikrishna, Chief Marketing Officer, Pearson Education, in conversation with Dr Ravi Gupta and Yukti Pahwa talks about providing for need based technology solutions for better learning outcomes
can be used with a simple computer and a projector. So we do not go through the hardcore interactive whiteboard route and yet provide a powerful solution. Annotation is possible on screen, if school has provision of certain screen technologies. The product however, is not dependent on whether the special screen is there or not. Please share with us briefly about the assessment component of the product ‘My Lab’. ‘My Lab’ product includes an assessment tools in addition to other components such as homework management tool and a resource pool for teachers. Through the same, professors can identify the part of the lessons students lag behind. It provides them with a whole lot of analytics explain-
ing the specific gaps in understanding of the students and the lessons imparted. There is a great feedback mechanism along which is furthermore action oriented. It gives an impetus to act on the problem areas. Our product in school is text book and teacher oriented, where technology helps teachers teach the textbook in a better manner. Furthermore, it is a product that
How do schools and higher education institutions respond to ICT? Technology is being adopted at faster rate in schools than in colleges. But otherwise hardly any difference and similar trends are coming out when we look at learning outcomes. There is a subtle push towards integration of technology. How is your products unique?
In K12 segment we are the only ones with combination of international resource pool, customised with local talent and technology which is based on the textbook. We provide with unrivaled quality content. In higher education, ‘My Labs’ is a very flexible product, which can help you draw required things from virtually any resource pool and is an incredibly advanced tool. What do you aim for the future? We aim for a judicious combination of localisation and technology from across the world. We are the largest company in field of education. We have authors coming from best education institutions across the world. Integrating that with technology for better learning outcomes is the focus point forward. \\
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corporate diary
Improving on the Learning Outcomes In conversation with Shameema Parveen, the Co-Founder and CEO of Edutech, Yukti Pahwa, finds out about the learning solutions and services across the learning life-cycle in schools, universities and corporations that is provided by the company.
Please share the initiatives undertaken by Edutech in 2010 and what are your plans for the future? We undertook many challenging initiatives in 2010. We built an integrated, mobile science laboratory that conforms to the CBSE and IB syllabi. Our product – iGNITE – integrates classroom theory with hands-on learning and helps students learn science better and faster. Edutech is uniquely positioned to help colleges under the TEQIP 2 scheme with their objectives of improving learning outcomes and the quantity of research, through our solutions that span all aspects of learning; from within the class room to the library to the laboratory. Additionally, Edutech’s engineering lab solutions comprise industry-standard
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vocational and technical training aids like dynamic simulation systems, demonstration kits and instrumentation equipment that help towards industrial skill building. Also, Edutech has developed a solution called TechMentor that delivers technical online courses remotely by combining the power of digital broadcasting, and syllabi- aligned, vernacularbased technical content. Edutech will continue to identify trends, needs and opportunities to evolve new generation learning solutions that will improve learning outcomes and efficiency. How is Edutech unique or different from the other companies in the same field? Edutech is a leading provider of learning
solutions and services across the learning life-cycle to schools, universities and corporations. We bring together the products, services, consulting and technical expertise that provide an answer to the customer’s problem and provide a measurable improvement at the customer’s end. Edutech has been the pioneer in bringing in educational technologies like Blackboard, that goes beyond being a learning management system. We have been the first to introduce the SmartClass family of computer classroom management systems to meet the pedagogical needs of instructors in schools, colleges, universities and defence institutions. We can say with confidence that we are the only company that touches the lives of students across their learning lifecycle
on the campus – in the classroom, in the laboratory and the library. What were some of the highlights that the year 2010 witnessed? Firstly, the Right to Education Act, came into existence in April of 2010 and paved the way for innovative and low-cost use of ICT to provide eight years of good quality education to every child. Secondly, more government and private schools were brought under the ICT ambit with changes ranging from addition of basic computer infrastructure, broadband connectivity and computer aided education in government schools to setting up of interactive classrooms and labs and use of learning management systems and e-content in private schools. Thirdly, education reforms continued with the introduction of CCE in schools with the objective of not only obtaining actionable feedback on a student’s academic abilities but also of inculcating lifelong and social skills through co-scholastic activities. Fourthly, the continued support being provided by the National Skill Development Corporation to promote skill development to fulfill the need for skilled manpower, through PPP models, will definitely go a long way in preparing a future workforce for India. And finally, ICT started impacting Higher education in a big way. Whether it is reaching lakhs more students than before through distance learning with delivery through internet, satellite and other media, providing digital content repositories on technology, engineering and humanities to students on campus as well as off campus, and so on. The achievements are many; but so are the challenges. With the right policies, adequate ICT infrastructure and funding, India can improve its educational and economic competitiveness multifold. What is the future of the education industry in context of ICT? Because of the social, economic and linguistic diversity of our country, there cannot be a uniform one-size-fits-all ICT policy for education. But India has the technology and the means to imple-
ment both small and large ICT interventions in education. Some general trends about the effective use of ICT are already emerging that are creating positive education outcomes. Individualised learning for the “iGeneration”: Children of the 90’s and 00’s belong to what Prof. Larry D Rosen, Psychology scholar calls the “iGeneration”. These children not only grow up with portable ‘i’ technologies but also expect individualised experiences both inside and outside education. Interactive learning in a connected classroom: Interactive learning will get more ubiquitous and more innovative and will include 3-D content and real-time images of the sky, oceans, mountains, forests etc. beamed into the classroom for a better understanding of science and nature. STEM education: We must provide our children with an education that includes a solid foundation of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. To obtain success in this area, the government and other stakeholders will have to ensure that schools, colleges and universities integrate STEM into their curriculum, expose students to STEM careers, provide professional development for teachers, promote research in STEM-based areas and create an ecosystem where STEM education thrives. What kind of support should government provide to education sector in future? What do you think about PPP module in education sector? The 12th Five Year plan for education will be the pivotal plan of this century as it will need to take the successes of the 11th plan forward, fill the gaps where the plan has not achieved 100% success and lay out a road map for education for 2020 and beyond. The government has to truly universalise elementary education in the country and increase access to secondary and higher secondary schools. On the higher education front, it has to continue with its quality improvement programs for technical and non-technical education, grant autonomy to institutes of higher education,
“We can say with confidence that we are the only company that touches the lives of students across their learning lifecycle on the campus – in the classroom, in the laboratory and the library” and work towards restructuring and reorienting the higher education system to impart competitive skills and capabilities of global standards. Another area that the government needs to continue giving attention to is in providing job and industry-oriented vocational training to school drop-outs. To do all this, the government needs resources, all of which it cannot generate on its own. The government can only do this by encouraging private sector participation by promoting CSR educational initiatives/ funding, inviting pure for-profit private sector funding and allowing FDI in higher education. Greater private participation with concomitant accountability is the only solution. \\
digital LEARNING
JANUARY 2011
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case study
Intel Education Initiative in India
As a global technology leader, Intel is committed to enhancing lives by accelerating access to uncompromised technology for everyone, anywhere in the world. The Intel Education Initiative aims to inspire future innovators to help drive sustainable growth and development of knowledge economies By Intel Education Initiative
T
he Intel Education Initiative aims to inspire future innovators to help drive sustainable growth and development of knowledge economies. Through this initiative, Intel gets directly involved in education programmes, advocacy, and technology access to prepare the next generation with skill requirements of the 21st Century workplace. “Our experience around the world and in India has shown that there are two key factors for helping support education transformation - a strong systemic approach, and working closely with the ecosystem partners and stakeholders,” says Anjan Ghosh, Regional Direc-
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tor Corporate Affairs- Asia Pacific. “Encouraged by the long term impact of Intel’s education programmes in India, we will continue to strengthen our collaboration with the government, social organisations and NGOs to help further support systemic improvements in the education system across areas such as education policy, teacher professional development, curriculum reforms, assessment practices as well as research and ICT infrastructure. Recently, Intel partnered with UNESCO to launch an ICT in Education Policy Toolkit at a National Forum in December 2010. The toolkit aims to help state-level policy makers, planners and implementers in
designing state specific policies to support education transformation. ” “In 2011 and beyond, catalysing education transformation with our ecosystem partners and our programmes will continue to be a focus area for us,” emphasises Ghosh. Intel has partnered with governments, local NGOs and academic institutions through a variety of programmes including Intel Teach, Intel Learn, skoool, Intel Higher Education, the Initiative for Research and Innovation in Science (IRIS), Intel Community Outreach, and Voluntary Matching Grant Programmes to make a significant difference not just to the lives of the teachers and children
national conference on ict in Public safety & security april, 2011 The Claridges, New Delhi
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The Intel Teach Programme is a worldwide initiative which helps teachers to be more effective educators by training them on how to promote problem solving, critical thinking and collaboration skills among their students as well as how to effectively integrate technology into their lessons they have touched, but also to the families and the communities they live in. The Intel Teach Programme is a worldwide initiative which helps teachers to be more effective educators by training them on how to promote problem solving, critical thinking and collaboration skills among their students as well as how to effectively integrate technology into their lessons. Intel Teach has impacted more than 14 lakh teachers, teacher educators and student teachers across all states in India. Intel also expanded to the traditionally underserved North-Eastern states of the country. The Intel Learn Programme is a community-based programme designed to help learners (8-16 years) develop 21st century skills (technological literacy, critical thinking, problem solving, and collaboration). Launched in 2004 in India , till date, the Programme has impacted 1,40,000 learners. The Initiative for Research & Innovation in Science (IRIS) promotes and nurtures science and scientific research
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amongst young Indian innovators. The IRIS programme is executed in partnership with Department of Science and Technology, Government of India and CII. IRIS has impacted lakhs of students through workshops across India. The Intel Higher Education Programme brings cutting-edge technology expertise to universities, encourages students to pursue technical degrees, and helps move technology out of university labs and into local communities. In India, over 20000 students from over 300 institutes have benefited from courses on Multicore, VLSI design and Mask Design.
Impact Study Government Upper Primary School, Meeranagar, Chittorgarh, Rajasthan At the young age of twelve, Shalini scurries from one house to another to help her mother, who works as domestic help, with mopping and washing utensils. Shalini realised that while she had learned in school that potable water was a valuable resource, many people in her community did not understand its importance. She was determined to talk to her teacher to try to find a way to make people understand its value. Shalini’s teacher, Mrs Archana Tripathi, as an Intel trained Master Trainer of the Intel Teach Programme, realised the potential of the issue as an opportunity to use project based learning methodology to teach her students and address a very important social concern. The data compiled by students after the survey gave a very alarming picture on how casually water is wasted by those who can afford it. The students decided to organise rallies to sensitise the community about the importance of conserving water. Mrs Tripathi wanted her students to get hands on experience on the project and to handle it as an important social issue. To understand the significance of wasting potable water, Mrs Tripathi organised a visit to the local water works to allow students to see and understand the purification process. The students had one unanimous response “If it takes so much effort to make water pure, why do people waste
it?” Their minds sparked as they decided to share what they had learned about wastage of water with their community. “This is the first time that a Government school teacher has taken an initiative to make students understand the process of purification of water. It was heartening to see the interest of students,” said the Executive Engineer at Water Works Department, Chittorgarh. Armed with brochures that they created, the students took out rallies in their neighborhood. They sat with mothers and grandmothers and had tea with the grandfathers on ‘charpoys’ kept outside houses, patiently explaining how water was being wasted and how it could be avoided. Mrs Archana Tripathi put her training on the Intel Teach Program to further use and decided to use technology to reach out to the masses. Along with her students, she organised a well researched case study using the Internet and approached ‘Akashwani Chiitorgarh’ to share the case study with the community. This was an entirely innovative and new experience for the whole class. Three of the girls from school, including Shalini, shared their views on water conservation and also answered questions from listeners via telephone. They provided a real picture of the wastage and gave suggestions on how it could be avoided. They had a practical experience on how to deal with a problem and had also managed to reach out to large numbers in the community. The efforts of the students of Government Upper Primary School, Meeranagar and of their teacher, Mrs. Archana Tripathi have drawn adulation from all over the state. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan officials from Jaipur and Chittorgarh district applauded the efforts of Mrs Archana Tripathi at the successful implementation of an innovative approach to education which has given a new dimension to the learning process. She has helped in the student’s scholastic as well as co-scholastic development and also imbibed in the students’ life skills which are very important for their holistic development. \\
National Institute of Open Schooling The largest open schooling system in the world (An autonomous organisation under MHRD, Government of India)
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Learner Support Centre 24x7 IVRS/Toll Free No. 1800 180 9393 e-mail: lsc@nios.ac.in
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Minimum age (as on 31 January 2011): 14 years for Secondary and vocational courses (i.e born on or before 31.01.1997) and 15 years for Senior Secondary (i.e born on or before 31.01.1996) Minimum Educational Qualification for Secondary course is Class VIII pass or Self Certificate and for Senior Secondary course is Secondary pass. NIOS offers vocational courses in the areas of Agriculture, Engineering & Technology, Paramedical, Home Science, Teacher Training, Business & Commerce & Computer IT. For more details, please log on to www.nios.ac.in NIOS also offers Open Basic Education (OBE) programme which provides elementary education at three levels i.e. Level A, B and C (equivalent to standard III, V & VIII respectively) for school dropouts, neo-literates and out of school learners through Accredited Agencies. Seperate OBE programme for learners of age group 6-14 and above.
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advertorial
EducoSoft Offers e-learning Solutions for three Segments of Education
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romising to meet increasing demand for e-learning, EducoSoft e-learning portal was launched in India on April 8, 2008 after more than 20 years of research, development, and implementation in US. It has now matured to the extent that several institutions in US, and now in India, have made this platform as the sole source for delivering instructions in different modes of teaching and learning including: 1) web-enhanced traditional teaching; 2) exclusive online teaching; 3) teaching through hybrid mode, meeting face-to-face periodically and all other instructional tasks online; and 4) self learning either for professional development or online tutoring with embedded assessment. This article highlights three main components of Educosoft that drives these e-learning modes focusing on three different segments of education sector: a) providing Learning Management System (LMS) to higher educational institutions for delivering online or distance learning education; b) proving LMS embedded with all the content for teaching/learning and assessment for Mathematics and Sciences to K6-12 segment; and c) for introducing Grade Five Assessment Test (GFAT) in fundamentals of mathematical skills. l LMS for higher education: Educosoft offers its teaching and learning portal free of cost to institutions of higher education, along with services for hosting, customization, faculty training, and user support. It offers a turn-key solution for implementing e-learning initiative, if an institution or its teachers already have their content. Content is completely protected and shared only
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if the author authorizes its use. l Focus on Mathematics and Science Education for K6-12 Segment: In this segment Educosoft is offering its portal embedded with content both to empower teachers in class and engage students to learn in school labs or at home. The LMS features are common to all three segments of education. In this segment power of pre-created content and assessment features makes this portal unique and powerful. The system has a large repository of content organized based on well defined learning sequence in mathematics and sciences, with several types of teaching/learning activities on each piece of content, created in Macromedia Flash with pedagogically sound animations and dynamic graphics. Using this content repository and the LMS, an institution can create standard courses aligned with the curriculum they use, or use Educosoft standard courses prealigned with CBSC, ICISS, or other state board curriculum. Primary intent for providing this content and LMS is to empower the teacher in what he/she is expected to do in class and automate all the routine teacher’s tasks that are expected to be done after the class like; assigning, grading, and managing home works and frequent assessments. Realizing that in India access to internet is schools and at home is limited, Educosoft offers Local Area Network option to its e-learning solution. In this option the local LAN server is loaded with the LMS and content for local class or local computer labs, and for periodic upgrades the server is connected to the Global Educosoft server. Some of the institutions in
Delhi, Bombay and Chandigarh are now implementing complete integrated webenhanced solutions in this segment. Students are completing (online) their weekly home works, embedded with all the tutoring support, and weekly quizzes with instant grading and feedback. Continuous comprehensive evaluation (CCE), recently introduced by CBSE, is integrated in its electronic grade book making it extremely easy to print CCE reports in CBSE format. l Grade Five Assessment Test (GFAT): Realizing that we, in India, have only two National 10th and 12th grade assessments through Board Examinations. Educosoft is initiating efforts at grass root level to diagnose the child through GFAT. This initiative of Educosoft will start as a community service at grass root level to organize GFAT at different levels starting with select schools, then expanding to the city, state and national level. Schools and community learning centers (being planned) will be providing pre-created skills development activities delivered in different learning and assessment modes through Educosoft e-learning portal. Demos and detailed information about access and contact for the above three segments are available on www. educosoft.com\\ About the Author
Dr Man Mohan Sharma Professor of Mathematics Clark Atlanta University (USA)
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