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VOLUME 7 | ISSUE 06 | June 2011 | ISSN 0973-4139 | `75 www.digitalLEARNING.in
Cover Story Developing Professionals from Grassroot Level pg. 8
Today’s
Corporate diary
Out-of-the-Dabba Feed is
Tomorrow’s Need
in education pg. 24
Hemant Sethi President, School Learning Solutions NIIT Limited pg. 34
interview Son Kuswadi Education Attache, Indonesian Embassy pg. 46
THE PREMIER GLOBAL PLATFORM FOR E-DEVELOPMENT
1-3 August 2011, The Ashok, New Delhi, India eWorld Forum 2011, launched by Shree Kapil Sibal, Union Minister of Human Resource Development and Communications and IT, Government of India, is being organised by Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS) and Elets Technomedia Private Limited in association with Department of Information Technology (DIT), Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, on 1-3 August 2011 at The Ashok, New Delhi, India.
Event Highlights
Delegate Profile
l Power packed thematic sessions on governance and health l Exposition on e-Governance and e-Health technologies l Platform for exploring new business avenues in government and health sectors l Awards for excellence in governance and health standards across the globe l Opportunities for networking with key international government influencers
l Ministers of different countries from world over l Secretary/Chief Secretary level officials from various departments from India and abroad l Key decision- makers from governance and health institutions l Officials from bilateral and multilateral agencies l Representatives from NGOs and civil society organisations l ICT entrepreneurs, Industry representatives and experts
our Speakers
Kapil Sibal Jyotiraditya Scindia Union Minister of Communication Minister of State for Commerce and Information Technology, and Industry, Government of India Government of India
Hon. Tassarajen Pillay Chedumbrum Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Mauritius
Walter Fust President of Globethics.net Geneva
Ranjith Siyambalapitiya Minister of Telecommunication and Information Technology, Sri Lanka
For Programme Enquiry Contact: Ankita Verma, Mobile: +91 8860651646, ankita@elets.in For Business Enquiry Contact: Ragini Srivastava, Mobile: +91 8860651650, Jyoti Lekhi, Mobile: +91 88860651634 Email: sales@elets.in
Contents
digitalLEARNING
cover story
Volume 7 > issue 06 > june 2011 issn 0973-4139
rni no. upeng/2008/25311
20
Vasudha Kamat Former Joint Director, CIET
34
08 cover story
Developing Professionals from Grassroot Level
deal
18 Educomp to invest ` 150Cr in Great Lakes b-School
policy matter
19 Lab in Box interview
20 Vasudha Kamat 22 Sunil Dutt
Former Joint Director, CIET
Vice President, HP PSG
24 Amole Gupte
Writer, Creative Director and Actor of Bollywood
34 Prof Vinod K. Gupta Officiating Director, MDI
Dr Ranjana Mukhopadhyaya
4
www.digitalLEARNING.in
President, School Learning Solutions, NIIT Limited
school track Joins in the Area of 30 NIOS Hospitality Management
corporate diary
31 Hemant Sethi
President, School Learning Solutions NIIT Limited
46
higher education
40 Professionalism Grasps Higher Education
Son Kuswadi Education Attache, Indonesian Embassy
regular features
16 National News 46 Son Kuswadi 23 International News opinion 28 Business News Inno-lutions with ICT, Multimedia 50 Technology News in Education Education Attache, Indonesian Embassy
Hemant Sethi
Visit www.digitallearning.in for news, interviews, resources and articles on ICT in education in India
editorial
“Hide not your talents, they for use were made. What’s a Sun-dial in the shade?”
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) Prof S S Mantha, Chairman (Acting), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) President: Dr. M P Narayanan Editor-in-Chief: Dr. Ravi Gupta Editorial Team: Dr. Rajeshree Dutta Kumar, Divya Chawla, Sheena Joseph, Dhirendra Pratap Singh Sales & Marketing Team: Bharat Kumar Jaiswal, Fahimul Haque (Mobile: +91-8860651632), 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, Anil Kumar IT Team: Mukesh Sharma Events: Vicky Kalra Editorial & Marketing Correspondence
Indian education sector has made huge progress since independence. The number of out of school children decreased from 25 million in 2003 to an estimated 8.1 million in 2009, says the World Bank report. We have made progress in terms of increasing primary education attendance rate and expanding literacy to approximately two thirds of the population. India’s improved higher education system is often cited as one of the main contributors to the economic rise of India. Despite this progress in higher education, employability remains a key issue and an area of deep concern. This is largely because of skills mismatch, which is due to difference in curriculum and industry’s demand. India has the largest population of young people, which gives us the scope to address the global needs but first we have to cater to our own needs and demands to produce qualified and skilled professionals for, which vocationalisation is the way. Vocationalisation of education is one of the essential constituents to make the education reachable and acceptable among masses. We have created many bodies and taken many initiatives like NSDC, NIOS and through CBSE to bridge this gap but still we are lagging behind. This is because acceptance of informal education is not up to the mark, which is required to improve the status. I was talking to some school principals where they stressed on the fact that urban parents demand vocational education at higher level whereas for rural student secondary education is meaningful with vocational curriculum. In this issue we tried to highlight the vocationalisation of secondary education and policy journey and various initiatives taken by the governments to make it reachable to the students along with concerns and challenges. National Vocational Qualification Framework has been announced by the Honorable Minister of HRD Shri Kapil Sibal last year and expected to be ready by this year. Bollywood too has been supportive in creating awareness and acceptance, through impactful movies like ‘Taare Zameen Par’, ‘3 idiots’ and ‘Stanley ka Dabba’. Our social stratum differentiates between formal and informal education, which needs to be addressed first along with making our education robust through effective policy implementation. Amole Gupte, creative director, actor and writer, through his movies has tried to explain and showed the reality of society’s mindset in India. In an interview with us, he highlighted the need of vocational studies in the education system so that children can take up the career of their own interest and convert work to play. Like Benjamin Franklin says, “Hide not your talents, they for use were made. What’s a Sun-dial in the shade?”
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). 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
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digitalLEARNING / june 2011
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cover cover story story
Developing
Professionals from
GrassRoot Level In order to cater to the drop out and unemployment issues, value of vocationalistion of secondary education has been realised. Tapping its potential to transform the economics of India, National Vocational Qualification framework has been announced by MHRD and soon will be introduced By Pragya Gupta, digitalLEARNING Bureau
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cover story
I
n burgeoning economies like India, a prerequisite of skills and training for the workforce is obligatory. With the advantage of population, India does not have a dearth of manpower but of skilful workforce and employment. These two major challenges are interrelated and addressing one, the creation of skilled workforce, can resolve the both. To address this challenge, need for apt quality education is mandatory. It is rightly said that foundation of education starts from the primary level and higher education is just to foster that talent. While in the economic sphere, we have professional in the ‘so called’ mainstream professions; we also need workforce to attend to the shop floors and to suit the local industry requirements. According to census 2001 figures, more than two million graduates are
unemployed, and current census would be much higher than that, indicating a need for a mature education system. To control the situation, there is a requirement to amend the existing curriculum and give students liberty and right environment to take their favourite career path. Higher education in India is not visibly accessible to most of the rural youth, therefore, villager restrain their children from availing secondary school. This is because education does not seem meaningful to them as they are forced to follow their family occupation of agriculture, which does not necessarily require formal education. But if agriculture would have been there in the curriculum then it could make them interested in learning and taking the family legacy forward in better way with enhanced skills. According to Technopark, Management Consultancy company report, education market in India is emerging as one of the world’s largest consumers of education services with a target population of close to 450 million (in the age band of 5-24 years). This number is expected to increase to 486 million by 2025, exceeding the combined target population in China (354 million) and US (91 million). In India, public and private spending aggregates to approximately US$ 100 billion per annum and private spends on education have grown at a CAGR of 10 per cent since 1994. In fact, compared to other developed countries, private spends in India are relatively higher (4 per cent of GDP). India’s economy has witnessed continuous positive growth, which has led to a huge demand for a workforce in
India. Recent economic surveys show that employment growth has been the largest in the Services sector, and this trend is in all likelihood going to grow in the future. Also, technological product and service innovations have fuelled the demand for more skilled workers. This demand has not been met, due to unavailability and poor quality of skilled workers. There is a lack of training facilities and skill development in as many as 20 high-growth industries such as logistics, healthcare, construction, hospitality and automobiles. India’s present education systems have been focusing on giving maximum input without taking real output into consideration. Children, today, still memorise their lessons and not able to comprehend the basic concept. There is a need to integrate skills into the curriculum. Vocationalisation of education at the secondary level does not allow students to remain unemployed. This falls true in the rural context where majority of the population resides. There is a strong need to identify creativity and convert it into innovation, enhancing the logical and interpretational skills and providing better career opportunities. Country demands reservoir of knowledge and to create these knowledge pool we need to start from the grassroots. India is at the crossroads as 20 million children go to schools but only 12.4 per cent out of them go to colleges whereas in the US the percentage of students joining college after secondary schools is 40. To fill this gap, India has to focus not only on science and maths education but also on the other practical subjects leading to the lifelong learn-
(Source: National Data Bank) digitalLEARNING / june 2011
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ing skills too. Introduction of Vocational Education in school will help in creating interest among and students and hence minimise the drop out by making education meaningful for them. However, Vocational Education has been offered through different channels like ITI (Industrial Training Institute), Polytechnics and PPPs (Public Private Partnership) but now, recognising its importance, it has been introduced at
“There was a need to build a framework which provided a system of certification for the selected choices and provided options for vertical mobility from school to university” Shri Kapil Sibal
Union Human Resource Development Minister, Government of India
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the level of secondary education. The key objective of vocational education is to help develop individuals’ skills in very specific field by giving them applied or concrete experience in certain vocations or trades. This not only makes them employable but also helps create opportunities for entrepreneurship. With the idea of encompassing vocational education in schools, in the last quarter of 2010, Union Human Resource Development Minister, Shri Kapil Sibal announced a proposal to have National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) Framework for schools under which the Centre is introducing 5001,000 vocations in schools all over the country so that the students passing out from schools are equipped with necessary skills for employment. The minister also highlighted that the country needs a policy framework for vocational studies as every student does not aspire to be a doctor or an engineer. He suggested that the Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) also provides degrees in vocational studies. Each State should decide on the issue as per its local needs and situations. Students passing out in vocational studies should get collateral entry into colleges for further studies. Sharda Prasad, Director General,
Directorate General Employment and Training (DGE&T), Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India, “Our Ministry aims to skill the youth, including drop-outs from schools and colleges. They, therefore, form our target groups. Furthermore, to elaborate the NVQ 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.” Speaking on the need of vocational education, Sonia Nagpal, MD, i360 Staffing & Training Solutions Pvt Ltd, “The time has come that the nation should accept this fact that along with primary-secondary education, we need vocational training also as everyone cannot become an engineer, doctor, accountant or a lawyer. Vocational training plays an essential role in an individual’s growth which in turn results in the growth of a nation and its economy”.
Challenges Though there is a growing demand for vocationally trained workers, the segment per se has not really picked up in India because of various reasons. Social stigma has been attached to vocational education and training as manual or industrial jobs were perceived as low paying and meant for low-caste communities. Largely because of this, students who completed their higher secondary education are more inclined towards academic or professional courses. Due to this attitude, the vocational education and training segment is suffering from poor enrolment. Some school principals in Delhi and NCR have aptly
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“The NVQ Framework provides a mechanism and pathways to move from academic education to vocational training to a career and backwards. There is vertical mobility” Sharda Prasad
Director General, Employment and Training, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India
stated, on the reason for low adoption, that parents have not taken introduction of vocational education very positively and are apprehensive about these courses in school and feel that it will divert student’s attention from core subjects. Agreeing to this concern, Preeti D’mello, Regional Director-Indian Subcontinent, Edexcel says, “To enhance the quality of education India, Vocational education is mandatory and overall we have received an overwhelming response for vocational education from students and teachers. I think that you need to show the value of this education to the society. It has to do with Issue pertaining to the strata of society we live in. Furniture designer is considered to be in top level thing and carpenter is not. This has to be changed with mind shift.” More recent information suggests that the enrolment figure is less than 3 per cent of the students attending Grades 11-12. The weighted average capacity utilisation of the schools receiving grants is less than 50 per cent. This implies that the 350,000400,000 students enrolled in vocational education comprise 3 per cent of the 15 million students or more in Grades 11 and 12. Thus, what it eventually means is that less than 1 per cent of students who had entered Grade 1 over the last decade or so would have eventually participated in vocational education. It is also widely recognised that the existing student capacity in ITIs/ITCs largely goes unutilised. Due to societal pressure, adoption of vocational course is low therefore system is failed to attract good teachers in
this field. Revision of existing curricula and introduction of new courses is also one of the reasons. It has seen that in some states, the course curriculum has not been updated for 20 or more years, so even if students have completed VET qualifications, they may not be employable in modern industry. Due to the transition of the Indian economy from being agriculture-based to knowledge-based, it is all the more imperative to have new and revised courses which fulfil the requirement of modern industries. Of the trained candidates, the labour market outcomes as seen from placement/ absorption rates are reportedly very low. Good trainers have always been an issue with vocational education in India. Because of societal pressures, the segment has failed to attract good mentors. Teachers in general are poorly paid in India and
the salaries of teachers in VET have been at the lower end of the spectrum. In many cases, in rural polytechnics or technical institutes, the teachers themselves have had only basic education. There exists a provision for the participation of industry representatives/ experts in the setting of curriculum and hiring of apprentices, there is still a significant mismatch between industry skill requirements and the talent pool emerging from ITIs/ITCs. This has contributed to low success in the labour market for VET graduates. The private sector largely undertakes in-house training programmes but training to outsiders is very limited, restricted to catering to their own felt needs in the nature of captive skill development. This is largely because of the fear of losing trained skilled workers to competition which has resulted in constant shortages in private investment in this area.
Opportunities in Vocational Education Job Opportunities There are certain service or job sectors that Vocationalistion of education has certainly given an impetus to certain service sectors giving rural youth economic opportunities to contribute to the country’s growth. RIS (Research and Information System for Developing Countries) report released by Shri Kamal Nath, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, revealed that exports
“To enhance the quality of education in India, Vocational education is mandatory and overall we have received an overwhelming response for vocational education from students and teachers” Preeti D’mello
Regional Director-Indian Subcontinent, Edexcel
digitalLEARNING / june 2011
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The RIS report identifies the following 12 export sectors as employment intensive: • • • • • • • • • • • •
Textiles & garments Leather goods Gems & jewellery Cereal exports Horticulture exports Flowers, fruits and vegetables Dairy products Processed foods Toys and sports goods Pharmaceutical industry Automobiles and auto components Consumer electronics and electronic hardware
lakh indirect) in the economy in the next five years”. The report further says that If India is able to exploit export opportunities in labour intensive goods and follow labour intensive modes of production, India’s merchandise exports in 2009-10 could reach US $ 165 billion which would generate 21 million (i.e. 210 lakh) new jobs (directly and indirectly). “The toy industry represents a classic case of a highly employment intensive industry with a sizeable international market of US $ 80 billion where India has failed to make a mark. The international market of toys is dominated by China which has a 75 per cent market share whereas India’s share is an appalling 0.4 per cent. This is an industry where India needs to make a determined effort to enter the world market”, the report says.
The private sector largely undertakes in-house training programmes but training to outsiders is very limited, restricted to catering to their own felt needs in the nature of captive skill development emerged as a major source of job creation in India 1.4 million incremental jobs created through exports in 200405 – exports to directly generate 8 million new jobs by 2009. In 2004-05, the export sector is reported to have generated incremental direct employment of 1.4 million over the previous year, bringing the total employment generated by the export sector in India to 9 million (i.e., 90.06 lakh) jobs, corresponding to exports amounting to nearly US $ 80 billion achieved during the year. This is besides the exportrelated indirect jobs created through backward linkages and in logistics and related sectors which are estimated to add up to another 6.9 million (i.e. 69.66 lakh) jobs. In all, merchandise export activity seems to sustain nearly sixteen million jobs currently. Referring to the target of doubling exports to US $ 150 billion by 2009-10, the report says that “achievement of this target of exports is likely to generate 136 lakh new jobs (81.57 lakh direct and 54.61
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Key Policy Initiatives in Vocational Education and Training in India In accordance with the priority accorded to Vocational Education in the National Policy on Education, a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Vocationalisation of Secondary Education was launched in February, 1988. The main objectives of the Scheme of Vocationalisation of Secondary education, as spelt out in the NPE are to provide diversification of educational opportunities so as to enhance individual employability, reduce the mismatch between demand and supply of skilled manpower and to provide an alternative for those pursuing higher education. Basic Components of the Scheme was creation of separate administrative structure at the State, District, school level to manage vocational education programmes, strengthening of SCERTs to provide technical support for research, development, training and evaluation, conducting district vocational surveys in all the districts for assessment of labour market demand.
A complete Central assistance is given for district Vocational surveys, workshops for development of curriculum, instructional material, a text book, training of teachers, equipment, construction of work sheds, monitoring, evaluation and field visits. The Central Government bears 75 percent of expenditure on salary of management staff at the State Directorates, SCERTs and district levels and for raw material. The State Government have to bear 100 percent expenditure on contingencies, examination, certification and vocational guidance. Management Structure A Joint Council of Vocational Education has been set up at the National level under the Chairmanship of the Minister for Human Resource Development for coordination, policy planning and review. State Governments were also requested to set up State Council of Vocational Education as the overall co-ordinating and implementing body at the State level. The Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Pre-Vocational Education at Lower Secondary Stage was launched in 1993-94 with the objective imparting training in simple marketable skills to the students of class IX and X. Assistance has been provided so far to 10 States/UTs for introduction of pre-vocational courses in 652 schools. State Initiatives A Central Institution of Vocational Education named “Pandit Sunderlal Sharma Central Institute of Vocational Education (PSSCIVE)” was set up at Bhopal in 1993 under the overall umbrella of NCERT. The Institute acts as an apex level research and development organisation in the field of vocational education and provides directs and academic support to the programmes National Vocational Qualification Framework Recognising the high demand for skill in the country, in 2009, CABE (Central Advisory Board of Education) emphasised the need for a National Vocational Qualification Framework to provide a common reference framework for link-
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Though open schooling has limited functions in the context of supporting Right to Education (RTE), the general body resolved the following in the context of RTE and RMSA (Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan) as supplementary support to the school education system in terms of vocational training: •
•
•
Establishing linkages between vocational training and academic courses for value addition to the qualifications earned by youth to enhance their employability; Developing programmes on basic education and equivalency programmes with integrating vocational training for the neo-literates to support Sakshar Bharat programme of the government of India. The general body also discussed the road map developed by NIOS for Vocational Education and Training and strategy for integration of same with academic courses. The GB resolved the following: • Launching of vocational stream courses at senior secondary level for developing a career path for the youth, who otherwise cannot have access to higher education system; • Developing a need based vocational courses for skill development on the priority sectors through Public Private Partnership (PPP) strategy; • Developing competency based modular courses for skill training with the provision of credit accumulation and transfer; • Up-scaling specially designed skill development programmes like “Hunar” for the disadvantaged groups in the states for meeting the livelihood requirement of the youths; • Developing a frame work for Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) to certify the skills acquired by the in-formal means of training; • Developing web based training modules with e-content and Open Educational Resources (OER) in the courses to priority service sector colleges. • Augmenting the use of infrastructure available in the formal education system in a collaborative and network model for meeting the skill training requirement in the country; • Undertaking training of vocational teachers and developing courses on life skill.
ing various vocational qualifications and setting common principles and guidelines for a nationally recognised qualification system and standards in the 75th Meeting of the CABE was held in June, 2010 under the Chairmanship of Shri Kapil Sibal, Minister of Human Resource Development. In 2010, Shri Kapil Sibal announced that MHRD will be ready with National Vocational Qualification Framework by 2011. The National Vocational Qualification Framework would benefit the students to take up a job and especially those who are not able to do higher studies. The curriculum framework is in progress with consultations with the industries like telecom, infrastructure and automobile. The training is proposed to begin at school level and will be divided
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in ten levels. From class VII onwards students would be provided with courses like carpentry and Para-medical simultaneously with their regular subjects. “We are in the process of bringing vocational education into the school system. Vocational courses like music, automobile engineering, tourism, hospitality and paramedical will be available for students,” said Shri Sibal A group of State Education Ministers were set up to find out ways in order to strengthen vocational education at all levels and develop a wide consensus on the outline of the proposed National Vocational Qualifications Framework. The aim of India’s national skill development policy is to give training to 50 crore people by 2022. The main purpose of such a frame-
work is setting up common principles and guidelines for a nationally recognised qualification system, covering schools, vocational education institutes and institutes of higher education with qualifications ranging from secondary to doctorate level, leading to international recognition of national standards. CBSE’s Initiative Shri Kapil Sibal has set up a core group, headed by Ashok Leyland Limited Managing Director R Seshasayee, to develop a curriculum for vocational courses in the automotive sector. The other members of the group are S S Mantha, Chairman, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Ashok Thakur and N K Sinha, Additional Secretaries in the Human Resource Development Ministry, and Subhash Khuntia, Former Joint Secretary, Bureau of Secondary Education, Union Ministry of Human Resource Development. Similar meeting has been organised for with representatives of other sectors such as IT and Telecom, Entertainment, Hospitality, Construction, and Financial Services and Insurance. Shri Sibal said that there was a need to build a framework which provided a system of certification for the selected choices and provided options for vertical mobility from school to university. He further underlined the need to develop a curriculum which is needbased and caters to the different aspects of the automobile industry. He called for active collaboration with the automobile industry to develop the curriculum for this qualification framework, as also for the support system for handson training, virtual training and software training. He pointed out that 39 million students pass out from class 12, of which only one million get an opportunity to be empowered through vocational education. Students had no motivation to opt for the vocational stream, and trainers as well as students needed to be incentivised for attracting them for the vocational stream. According to them, the manpower produced at the vocational, polytechnic or at degree level lacks required core competence needed for the
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industry. The so-called skilled manpower is further required to be trained for 2-3 years to shape them as per industry requirement. “It is anticipated that by 2020, about 220 million students will pass out from school, out of which about 150 million will not enroll for college education. This young talent needs to be motivated for vocational education,” members said. In addition to the core skills of the automobile industry, there is a felt need of skilled drivers, mechanics and other skilled manpower for proper servicing of latest automobiles. There is a huge shortage of skilled manpower and no suitable framework available to cater to the needs of the services and sales sector in the automotive industry, the delegates pointed out. They said the industry would come forward and collaborate with the institutions by providing the required hardware and suitable trainers to teach the aspirants of vocational stream. Time has come when vocational education should be treated equally as mainstream education. “It’s time we
“It’s time we present vocational education as an alternative to engineering and medical streams. It will not only create numerous jobs, but also boost the industrial sector as a whole” Subhash Khuntia
Former Joint Secretary, Bureau of Secondary Education, Union Ministry of Human Resource Development vocational courses at secondary school level,” stated the resolution issued by assistant secretary Seema Dhamdhere. Swati Mujumdar pointed that there was a need to introduce vocational courses at Class VIII level. To do away with the dropout rate, it is necessary to give vocational training to the students that will provide them employment opportunities.
The World Bank Report indicates that employers prefer students with general education skills in addition to vocational skills present vocational education as an alternative to engineering and medical streams. It will not only create numerous jobs, but also boost the industrial sector as a whole. “said Shri Khuntia. The state has taken the initiative to introduce vocational education at the secondary school level from Class VIII. The move is a part of the national drive to provide vocational training to 550 million students by 2022. “The committee has been assigned the responsibilities such as setting up vocational university where under and postgraduate vocational courses could be taught, reviewing the present syllabus of vocational courses at Class XI and XII level, providing lateral and vertical mobility to students of vocational courses, recommending ways of accreditation for vocational courses and introducing
The World Bank Report 2006 (Skill Development in India) indicates that employers prefer students with general education skills in addition to vocational skills. Therefore, to make students more market worthy, curriculum in schools or institutions providing vocational education and training must emphasise on equipping students with general academic skills which may include problem solving, analysing, business development and marketing skills.” “An independent vocational university with industry participation is also the need of the hour. With an independent university, students will be able do undergraduate courses that are required and designed by the industry. The present vocational courses can be affiliated to the new varsity,” said Mujumdar.
NIOS’ initiative In December 2010, Shri Kapil Sibal urged the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) to provide vocational training to students while chairing the 19th general body meeting of the NIOS Society. He also asked them to look at starting a vocational degree in addition to their class XII degree. Shri Sibal said that skills education with an element of formal education can be the basis for this vocational degree in Class XII. The architecture of the programme could be such that a student can move back from vocational educational to the normal schooling degree if he wants to. He also asked NIOS to devise a special strategy for states that need the maximum support. The NIOS is an autonomous institution formed by the HRD ministry providing formal education through open schooling system. In the general body meeting was presided over by Union Minister for Human Resource Development (HRD) Kapil Sibal as president of the Society and cochaired by Minister of State for HRD D. Purandeswari, Shri Sibal, while endorsing the road map of NIOS expressed his desire that the NIOS should emerge as a model distance learning institution with emphasis on catering to the contemporary needs of the country which has targeted to achieve 500 million skilled people by 2020. D. Purandeswari suggested that NIOS needs to rise from its ivory tower and emerge as a credible institution in the field of open learning.\\ digitalLEARNING / june 2011
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news
national
Govt panel moots one test for all engineering institutes A committee appointed by the government has recommended a single entrance examination for all engineering institutes after Class 12, replacing the multiple tests given currently, including the IIT Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE). Scores of this test, along with marks of the Class 12 Board exam, should be used to
develop an index of scholastic level, the committee, headed by T Ramasami, secretary, Department of Science and Technology (DST), has recommended. Public opinion will be built over the next few months, and the proposal will be taken forward after a consensus is reached on feasibility and methodology. The exercise is likely to be complete by September.
IGNOU launches UG, PG programmes with FDDI
The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has launched five undergraduate and three post graduate programmes in collaboration with the Footwear Design and Development Institute (FDDI). The eight new programmes have been launched keeping in mind an urgent need to orient footwear industries and their R and D laboratories to initiate new educational programmes to upgrade the knowledge of practicing workers, semi-skilled and skilled personnel in footwear industries keeping in view
the demands of technological revolution at work place. “These programmes will open new avenues for students and will help in producing trained man power for Export oriented industries working in field of Footwear, Leather and other allied products,” said Prof. V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai, VC, IGNOU. The eight new programmes are M. Sc. (Fashion Merchandising and Retail Management), M. Sc. (Footwear Technology), M. Sc. (Creative Designing CAD/ CAM), M. Sc. (Leather Goods and Accessories Design), M. Sc. (Visual Merchandising and Communication Design), B. Sc. (Fashion Merchandising and Retail Management), B. Sc. (Footwear Technology) and B. Sc. (Leather Goods and Accessories Design).
IT@School Project to impart animation skills to school students IT@School Project is all set to empower the student populace in Kerala with animation movie making skills entirely based on free and open source software, through massive state-wide training programmes. The innovative training session would take the students to walk through the entire animation movie making process comprising of phases such as identification of a story line, development of script and storyboard, drawing the cartoon characters, animating them, giving sounds to characters as well as providing background music, creating titles for the films and so on.
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PMP Certification @SCIT, Pune Project Management Certification (PMP) exam is a globally recognised and a most respected certification offered by the Project Management Institute (PMI), which addresses all the major requirements of project managers in communication management, integration, quality, cost, human resources, risk and time. Symbiosis International University, Pune has a reputation for being a premier private university with its domain spread over the entire gamut of higher studies. MBA in
Symbiosis is a coveted feature in the management arena and is perhaps a hot spot for MBA in Pune. Symbiosis’ IT – B school, SCIT (Symbiosis Center for Information Technology), specifically focuses on the combination of MBA and IT education along with providing a four day training program for PMP Certification.
130 Chandigarh schools participate in IGNOU quiz contest given to enhance with winners from Defying the teacher training in Bhavan Vidyalaya scorching heat, a (Surya Karan Sam- schools.” record 130 teams The idea of such byal and Kushaan representing events is to ignite various city schools Dosajh) while Pranav Kumar and students’ interest from Chandigarh, in higher educaMohali and Panch- Amanat Kang of tion and make DPS-Chandigarh kula came all them aware of the were the runnerssmiling at IGNITE Open and Distance up in the event. 2011, a mutli-city, Addressing the stu- Learning System. inter-school quiz IGNOU has a plethdents, Chief Guest contest organised ora of vocational Dr. Asha Sharma, by the Indira Ganand job-oriented Regional Director dhi National Open programmes University (IGNOU) of IGNOU, said that cater to the that, “IGNOU is at the Chandigarh students ready to promoting school City Museum and join the college, she education where Art Gallery. The added. the stress is being contest ended
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deal
Educomp to invest ` 150Cr in Great Lakes b-School
Dr. Bala Balachandran, Founder and Dean, Great Lakes (Left), Shantanu Prakash, MD & CEO Educomp (Right)
By Jaydeep Saha, digital LEARNING Bureau
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ducomp through its affiliate company, Beacon, recently announced a strategic partnership with Great Lakes Institute of Management (Great Lakes), one of India’s premier management institutes. The partnership will help Great Lakes expand its presence across India with an investment of about ` 150 crores over the next five years and is expected to substantially expand the reach of the world class management education it has been offering at its magnificent platinum LEED-rated campus in Chennai. Commenting on this occasion, Shantanu Prakash, CEO of Educomp said, “The partnership with Great Lakes is a natural corollary of Educomp’s growth trajectory towards specialised and world class higher education and found a good fit with our future plans. Our breadth of experience in the education sector and our expertise in
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various verticals will help in enlarging the reach and scope of Great Lakes”. With this partnership with Educomp, Great Lakes will have campuses in the leading metros including Chennai, Delhi NCR and Mumbai. As part of this expansion, Great Lakes is launching its Delhi NCR campus in Gurgaon in collaboration with the Institute of Energy Management of Research (IEMR). IEMR is a management institute exclusively focused on the Energy sector driven by academics and professionals with exceptional credentials in Energy and offers India’s most comprehensive Energy management program. Great Lakes has a tie-up with the Bauer School of Business at the University of Houston to offer its globally top-ranked Executive Energy Management program in India. IEMR and Great Lakes would work to extend the scope of this tie-up to
other Energy programs also and create a world class Center of Excellence in Energy Management at Gurgaon. Dr. Bala Balachandran, founder and Dean of Great Lakes and the J L Kellogg Distinguished Professor at the Kellogg Business School, USA said, “This synergistic partnership of two giants, one a thought leader and content provider in Great Lakes and the other in communicating and delivering value through technology and e-learning gives an immense opportunity to provide eternal and perpetual value to the World at large”. Great Lakes has pioneered several innovations in management education such as having the best management gurus from around the world teach their areas of expertise, new and flexible program formats that meet students’ needs such as one year full-time program and two-year weekend programs, offering both functional specialisation and industry orientation. Each of the new campuses of Great Lakes will have their unique functional and sector specialisations offering students the opportunity to pursue their specific interests and passions. Educomp has been a pioneer in using technology to improve the quality of education. Educomp, directly and through its affiliates, will provide management expertise, technology and infrastructure support to help Great Lakes in its expansion. Dr. B. S. K. Naidu, FNAE, Chairman of IEMR commented that “IEMR’s vision has always been to become the leading energy sector focused academic and research institute in Asia. This collaboration takes us one step closer to achieving our vision and enables us to expand it beyond Asia to the entire world. We look forward to the endless possibilities this combination of forces represents”. \\
policy matter
Lab in Box
The Lab-in-Box was inaugurated by Shri Kapil Sibal, Hon’ble Minister HRD on February 2, 2011 By Pragya Gupta, digital LEARNING Bureau
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CERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training) has initiated Lab-in-box project for creating ready to roll out computer labs in shipping containers to cut down the time to roll out ICT infrastructure in remote schools in India. As part of the national project on Universal Primary Education (Sarva Siksha Abhiyan) as well as under the ICT@school scheme, government has been rolling out computers to government aided and rural schools. However, the schools are normally not ready with a computer lab room and usually have classrooms that are not suitable to be used as a computer lab. By the time the school is able to get the funds for the civil works for the computer lab, the computers become outdated or get spoilt. Also, in the process, a
few students finish their schools without being able to get access to the computers. Hence CIET and HP jointly explored the novel concept of setting up computer labs in a shipping container and sending out the entire lab at one go. This provides the schools with a quick, water-proof, ready to use ICT infrastructure that can be used from day one. Also, schools face many other problems such as lack of electricity and connectivity. The Lab-inbox concept has a diesel generator set for electricity and has VSAT connectivity for Internet through ISRO’s Edusat satellite. Moreover, remote schools find it difficult to get the latest textbooks. The Lab-inbox will come with a printer. It is a compact self sustained, readymade structure equipped with all the resources required by a school for an ICT enabled classroom
without any infrastructural constraint. The Lab-in-Box was inaugurated by Shri Kapil Sibal, Hon’ble Minister Human Resource Development (HRD) on February 2, 2011. Kapil Sibal, Honorable Minister of HRD and Communications and Information Technology, said, “What we have here is an excellent example of aligning technology innovation to meet the social and educational challenges we face in the country, using a very unique and modular approach that is sustainable and cost-effective. It’s a commendable venture by HP. This is a powerful collaboration between NCERT, a national council that has been focused on advancing the quality of school education in India for the last 50 years, and HP, a world leading technology innovator.” digitalLEARNING / june 2011
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policy matter
academia’s perspective Vasudha Kamat, Former Joint Director, CIET and current Vice Chancellor, SNDT Womens University speaks about NCERT’s ‘Lab in Box’ initiative. Excerpts
What does NCERT want to achieve through the Lab in Box initiative? ICT integration in schools is a major challenge. How do teachers integrate the ICTs in their day-to-day teaching is one of the important things to address. By creating this facility, CIET, NCERT plans to explore the way teachers shall use ICTs, (to create and share knowledge resources) and use them in classroom interaction. We plan to invite teachers from state governments and municipal schools in Delhi (in the vicinity of NCERT) to use this facility. Secondly, we wish to explore how students use these facilities. The lab-in-box has five servers and 15 clients along with five touch screens. We plan to invite school students to use this facility created in the lab-in-box and study their use by the students. The systems have free and open source software (FOSS) only and it will also be a good opportunity to observe how students use them. Another area of study will be how students like to work in this Lab-in-box environment. How will this initiative facilitate school education in the country? What is the target segment and target area of the concept? NCERT is planning to extend this experiment to our Regional Institutes of Education (RIEs) where a school is attached
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to RIE on the campus. School students from these schools will enrich our understanding about student use of ICT labs which are well equipped with FOSS, with thin client system and also with broadband connectivity. The learning from this experiment will help support Government initiative of creating ICT infrastructure in schools under ICT@ School scheme. We wish to work closely with three groups of stakeholders in school sector: One is students, second is teachers and third is principals/planners/decision makers in school sector. Purpose of involving each of these groups is specific. How HP Lab in a Box solution will help NCERT in universalising education and help implement more creative, sustainable and inclusive model of education? It is a novel solution to the problem of introducing students to ICT tools to get global. Students love to explore the new technology and the lab in box just provides them that opportunity. Imagine an elementary school in a rural area where students drop out due to noninteresting learning environment. This box will open up a new world before them through which they can get connected to the whole world outside. We need to involve teachers in this novel experiment who could help students in proper way. The process of learning will become more innovative, explorative and access to internet will bring in many answers to students questions, but will also enthuse them to ask many more questions to solve the riddles of life around them like why does the tree sheds all leaves in summer, why the chameleon changes its colour, how energy gets transformed and so on. They can learn to paint, to create new models, to identify stars in the sky with
the help of interactive sky atlas, trace the satellites, prepare a map of their village and get involved in many other interesting activities and projects. Girls, boys, special needs children all could be involved in using this facility. Lot of relevant resources (Audio books for visually impaired children, visually sound films for deaf students, and so on). When would the prototype be implemented? How accessible and cost effective the “Lab-inbox” concept will be? We have invited students and teachers from nearby schools to this lab. Meanwhile CIET is also working on the plans for implementation. NCERT (various departments and Institutions) conducts many programmes involving experts (teachers, teacher educators, SCERT/XIE functionaries) and as such they visit NCERT. CIET invites them to visit the lab-in-box facility which is a novel concept for them. Discussions with these experts, visitors help in shaping the plan further. I think this can work out to be a cost effective solution to computer lab in the school. This has enough space for 15 computers and also a table, board for teacher. It can also be fitted with Projector which can be used for presentation both by students and teachers. It also has small magazine stands where NCERT publications, magazine for children can be made available. What are some other initiatives that NCERT is planning for school education? NCERT is celebrating its Golden Jubilee year (1961-2011) and as a part of the Golden Jubilee Celebrations, each constituent Institution/Department of NCERT has planned several programmes. CIET has planned three programmes:
policy matter
First is reaching 1 Million students with CIET films: CIET is reaching about 1,000 schools with 1,000 student strength in the country. We have selected two themes: Environment and Water. Under each theme, 8-10 films are identified suitable for various age groups (6 to 18 yrs) and schools are requested to show these films to their students. As a token of appreciation, CIET will send an album of 20 more programmes to schools. This will initiate/motivate students and teachers to use these resources. Educational Technology Lecture Series: During CIET’s Silver Jubilee Year celebrations (1984-2009), CIET had conducted Educational Technology Lecture series, under which eminent Educationists, Educational Technologists, were invited to deliver lectures in 12 cities. The last lecture was delivered by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, past President of India. This year Sam Pitroda, Chairman, National Knowledge Commission has kindly consented to deliver his lecture on Open Educational Resources in School Education (to mark the inauguration of ET Lecture Series) on 29th March in CIET, NCERT. Prof. Ashok Kolaskar, Member, NKC and Vice Chancellor KIIT, Bhubaneswar (and Ex VC, Pune University) has kindly consented to deliver lecture in Kolkata in April. International Conference on Web 2.0 Tools. Other initiative of CIET: Online Courses: CIET offered Online Course in Action Research in Educational Technology for Teacher educators from DIETs (District Institutes of Education and training). There was a very good response. Now we have planned to offer four more online courses during the year 2011-12. One in Action Research in Educational Technology, in Educational Audio Script Writing, Educational Video Script Writing and in Educational Gaming. To motivate students and teachers CIET has planned three Contests: Photography Contest for students (This will be third in series), Poster Contest for teachers in RTE, and third video contest for teachers.
Lab-in-Box Open New Vistas for Education By Dheeraj Jandial, PRO, NCERT
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ew innovations have the potential towards societal transformation although these may not touch the ordinary lives and chores of the common man. These innovations therefore miss the opportunity to be in the list of exemplary ones or the one which could be described as path-breaking. God forbids, I earnestly wish that the Lab-in-Box, a research laboratory housed in a shipping container, does not figure in the list of such innovations. Lab-in-Box may not appear to be something very extraordinary but the potential it contains for dissemination of knowledge is really enormous. Verily, it is in this context one cannot but just conform to the thought that it is an idea that can change the world you live in. Lab-in-Box, as the terminology specifies is a research laboratory housed in a shipping container (Box). The idea was conjointly developed by National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and Hewlett Packard (HP). The meeting of minds of two giants i.e. CIET, NCERT and HP was bound to result in a productive outcome, but the productive outcome of this potential was never envisioned of. Using a simple shipping container of the dimension 40 X 8 feet for housing 15 computers along with a multi-functional printer, an electrical generator set, wireless connectivity and built-in furniture to accommodate 15 students and one teacher is an idea, which may have never struck to our faculties, strangely. The Lab is fully equipped, self-powered, mobile computing centre that overcomes the constraints of power, space, infrastructure and equipment challenges currently faced by schools in India. To suit it to varying climatic conditions right from the chilly weather of Ladakh region in Jammu and Kashmir to the
high temperatures of Rajasthan, and hot and moist Andaman and Nicobar Islands in Indian Ocean the iron walls of the shipping container are insulated, which helps in maintaining uniform temperature inside the container. Moreover, the flexibility of the laboratory is being extended, either by bridging two or more container together or in a more aesthetic manner placing one above another, of course with an iron staircase for access is just a matter of common sense application. CIET, NCERT on its part intends to use the Lab-in-Box to demonstrate the power of interactive learning via its online syllabi and online tutorials to students and teachers through Internet. Future features of the Lab could also include technology to electronically track school drop-outs and more effectively with a simple fingerprint reader that connects to a PC in the Lab and is able to send the attendance information to a government server. Lab-in-Box has all the scope to extend beyond the education sector. The prototype module could be tried for the health sector especially, in the emerging arena of tele-medicine for boosting research in medicine as also in saving precious lives. As the shipping containers are spacious, robust and water-proof, they can be easily customized for variety of scenarios. The same infrastructure can be leveraged for social requirements, such as service centres and security needs. The demonstration of Lab-in-Box reveals that it is a great opportunity and a viable alternative for the access and reach of such facilities which the rural India has dreamt of till to date. In fact, NCERT and HP were right in placing the placard atop the container as it being a tool for bridging the so called digital divide that is evidently witnessed in digitalLEARNING / june 2011
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policy matter
industry’s Perspective Sunil Dutt, Vice President, HP PSG talks about HP’s perspective on Lab in box project
increase the percentage to 30 by 2020. If we are to achieve the percentage of college going students to 30, we will need more educational infrastructure. Access to technology using Lab-in-Box solution will play a vital role in enabling the additional need for classroom space and intelligent infrastructure, created by Government’s agenda of Vision 2020. Please throw some light on HP’s tie-up with NCERT for ‘Lab in Box’ project? HP announced the Lab-in-Box, commonly known as Tatkal Kaksha initiative with the NCERT to bring mobile computing resources to remote and urban schools in India. NCERT, which reaches 201 million students each year through its television, radio programs and textbooks, finds it a very potent tool to demonstrate interactive learning via its online syllabi and tutorials for students and teachers and master trainers across India. How will it help the government to accomplish the mission by 2020? The Government of India has announced 2010-20 as the decade of innovation, thus creating a demand for affordable ICT tools and techniques that need to be integrated into classroom instructions right from the primary stage so as to enable students to develop their requisite skills. Currently only 12.4 per cent of the total 220 million school going children reach college and government aims to
the polarities of rural and urban India. Another, positive outcome of the Labin-Box is blend of partnership among the NCERT, though autonomous with a private player Hewlett Packard (HP). However, this should not in any way create a misconception since the fruits yielded by dissemination of education would be relished by one and all. More
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Centres, Instant Primary Health Centres, Connected Public Distribution systems, Connected Police Check posts, Instantly Deployable Army Outposts. Through this pioneering initiative HP is aiming to address the issues of the underserved community.
What other challenges does the solution address? The Lab-in-Box does not just address the educational challenges. Since this concept eases the cumbersome process of setting up an infrastructure which otherwise involves very high costs in terms of building materials, municipality permits, electricity, phased approvals and connectivity issues, it is being considered as a “Cloud connected Tatkal Social Infrastructure” to meet the instant-on smart infrastructural requirement for Rural Service Delivery
What are your plans to further penetrate Lab-in- Box solution in the education vertical? Making quality education available to all is the key governing idea of this innovation. The solution will help in expanding educational opportunities to far-flung populations, with more and more Indian children getting access to truly immersive learning via the power of technology by printing of latest textbooks, tracking of school drop-out rate, basic IT education to the students; by providing a ready to use computer lab. With Multi-seat technology, processing power of one computer can be shared to give computing experience to five students. Thus, it is most economical solution for spreading ICT education in India. This is an excellent example of aligning technology innovation to meet the social and educational challenges we face in the country, using a very unique and modular approach that is sustainable and cost-effective and hence can be extended as a solution for distance learning education, infrastructure for vocational training programs and training the ex-servicemen on entrepreneur skills.
so, education is not the only onerous responsibility of the government. It is an area in which each one of us has our own self-interest for the dividend knowledge yields, which amply gets reflected in the prosperity and progress education ensures to society at large. Many of us could be critical of the potential that Lab-in-Box holds in fulfilling
the agenda of inclusive education. But then one must always remember that the goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done. Education should strive to build men who are creative, inventive and imaginative and not the stuff that accepts gladly whatever is offered on a platter. \\
What are the constraints in the adoption of these education technologies? Fear of unknown, complexity of the technology and its availability, are amongst the few major barriers in the adoption of technology. The simplicity and rapid deployment of “Tatkal Kaksha” solution, through interactive and easy access to learning, overcomes the constraints generally associated with adoption of any new education technology.
international
VentureStudio to upgrade skills with Centre
VentureStudio , an Ahmedabad University initiative, has been launched for Innovative Business Design in the state in collaboration with Centre for Design Research (CDR) at Stanford University. VentureStudio will bring glocal resources to develop an ecosystem for innovative startup ventures. The Centre will work with multidisciplinary teams to create products that meet community needs.
news
India, Afghanistan collaborate for education, HRD Joint Declaration between India and Afghanistan on the Occasion of the visit of Prime Minister of India At the invitation of Mr. Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Dr. Manmohan Singh paid an official visit to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. During the visit, Dr.
Manmohan Singh held detailed discussions with Mr Karzai on a wide range of bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest, including education. The two sides agreed to impart a long term commitment to their multifaceted bilateral relations and to actively develop them in the years ahead.
The two leaders shared their vision of Afghanistan as an
independent, democratic, stable and prosperous country.
Many UK schools spend less than £10 per child on ICT
Stanford joins hands with Jaslok Hospital
Many primary school pupils are going without up-to-date Information and Communication Technology (ICT) learning tools as 1804 schools across England and Wales spend less than £10 per pupil on ICT equipment. Altogether 12 per cent of primary schools are spending £10 per primary school pupil is especially worrying as this data covers a period before the real tightening of education budgets began and between April 1 2009 to March 31 2010, 377 of the 14,495 primary schools in England and Wales spent nothing at all. ICT resources have a very short shelf life especially in a school environment. Low levels of ICT investment means that schools will soon be running old, slow and very unreliable equipment which will impair the effectiveness of learning through ICT use. When one consider the pace of change in ICT equipment and the increasing importance of ICT to the competitiveness of the UK economy such a small per pupil expenditure seems anachronistic. Arguably then one can choose to put off investing in other parts of the school’s infrastructure for a while such, as buildings, but deferring investing in technology can have a very quick and detrimental impact on the effectiveness and relevance of their ICT assets. Even the national average spend annual spend on ICT of £50 per primary school pupil is seen by many commentators as too low.
To study possibilities of cooperation in medical services and training Stanford Medical Centre, an Ivy League institution in San Francisco, and Jaslok Hospital and Research Centre in Mumbai have signed an MoU. Stanford will provide the initial phase Teleconferencing Programmes to Jaslok doctors with top class education on “hot topics” to in turn offer best therapeutic options to Indian patients. There would also be opportunities to participate interactively with Stanford presenting and attending faculties. This could be expanded in later phases with visitations by Jaslok doctors to hospitals and clinics at Stanford and its affiliate hospitals in the US. “I firmly believe that Jaslok Hospital’s multispeciality doctors will benefit greatly by educational engagement with world renowned faculty from one of US top Ivy league institutions like Stanford Medical Centre,” Dr Mukesh Hariawala, Boston said.
IGNOU inks pact with SACON bird conservatory
The Indira Gandhi National Open University’s (IGNOU) Chair for Sustainable Development (CSD) has entered into a pact with the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) to offer programmes in the area of Environmental Impact Assessment and Ornithology. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed by the Registrar of the university U.S. Tolia and Dr. P.A. Azeez on behalf of SACON in the presence of Prof. Latha Pillai and Prof. P.R. Ramanujam, Pro VCs of IGNOU, offers a six month programme called PG Certificate in Environmental Management System and a year-long programme called PG Diploma in Environmental Impact Assessment and Management for students through online mode. The courses are expected to be launched in April 2012.
digitalLEARNING / june 2011
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interview
Amole Gupte, writer, creative director and actor of Bollywood, whose Taare Zameen Par has changed the camaraderie of parents, teachers and students, is back with yet another children delineation ‘Stanley Ka Dabba’. Made with a shoestring budget, this creation is different as it has been shot with hundreds of school children over theatre and cinema sessions on weekends and holidays
Today’s Out-of-the-Dabba Feed is Tomorrow’s Need Pragya Gupta, digitalLEARNING Bureau, finds out his real life experience on education system in India and ‘Stanley ka Dabba’
How do you see education system in India? School Education is lacking; even college education system till graduation is lacking foresight. I do not know where it all begun but it has all began wrong. It could have began with lord Mqualis stable where he wanted strong horses for moving his machinery to India but that
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is 220 years ago. There is no need to continue that system and we should be relying on 5000 years of wisdom rather 200 years of English wisdom. So traditionally, the entire wisdom of our nation has been towards self sufficiency where we required to be independent of any other nation and for a long time sustained with ambassador and Padmini cars. But
1991 changed it and then everybody wanted something which was not made here. What is not made here is just an assembly unit. If you want worker for that assembly unit then that vocational guidance is rubbish. Vocation in a true sense is artful and it should be independent, thought provoking and stimulating. So if you are trying to do a course in cin-
interview
‘Stanley ka Dabba’. The movie was shot as only as theatre and cinema sessions in one school on Saturdays for a period of year and a half with two recesses. It is about imparting and sharing education-cinema, theatre, art and dance education. So the result is there to taste in that ‘dabba’. How do you see the acceptance level among parents in India for vocational studies? It is low. You have to learn from your children. You don’t need to teach your children because you will be teaching old stuff. First of all parents should free their mind from unnecessary responsibilities which is putting shackles on their own children’s feet, and is not fair. You are imprisoning your child’s imagination and her or his energy and that is really depriving them from self created opportunities, which can be easily followed in independent child system.
ematography, then I feel that it is a lovely vocation too as it opens vistas of cinema or documentary to capture extreme important footage that is something I would subscribe to definitely not for someone just plays with nuts and bolts all his life and calls it a vocation because that is technical.
How can this issue be addressed? Mindset has to be changed as there is no result from the old system. There are two million unemployed graduates and I think that is very conservative estimate and is an old figure of 2001. The truth at the ground level is dismaying. There are many more because they went on the wrong path. There are millions of the same kinds. The education is so general that it is not providing the specificity to the learning young adult then how that young adult will find a job. It is going to be a national of unemployed people at the end of the day which it is actually.
Please share your experience with students while doing ‘Stanley ka Dabba’? I did not teach them, i shared my knowledge. I shared my knowledge with the children in the school as my friends where outdoor activities were given a priority over a classroom teaching learning. It is done in good faith and friendship, with high absorption level. In theatre workshop, cinematography workshops, there is 100 per cent love to learn new art which shows that they are absorbing through the making of
Do you think vocational studies will help coming from this state? Of course! The idea of opening it out in more than one stream, not just vocational studies say Art, will teach and train them the a-to-z of vocational studies. Do not just limit child, painting and drawing sunset with river, one boat and two mountains. That will be shortening your child’s imagination. You don’t pick your own child’s pocket; you have to fill that pocket with new ideas and better imagination. In order he or she can create job from himself or herself.
Policy makers need to understand if they do not address the issue of employing one billion plus population then they have a problem at hand Please throw some light on your new movie ‘Stanley ka Dabba’. ‘Taree Zameen Par’ has left great impact on the parents mind. What magic would this flick do this time? It has message of bonding and friendship. It has messages of honesty in children, it has message of hunger and thrust because it is about tiffin box and recesses. It is an invitation of your own childhood, to your own school days, your own recesses, which is a wonderful time of life perhaps apart from mugging up system we have gone through. Rest of those is very interesting. ‘Stanley Ka Dabba’ is a simple film for the universal audience, and will be enjoyed by anyone from age 6 to 160 who has been to school in some part of their lives, This time it will impact the parents mind more because, they want their children to see this film. Parents would like their children to get an impact. It is the other way around this time. Any idea or advice for the policy makers you would like to share through our magazine? When your system is not accepting its faults and putting blinkers as if it is never existed then without correcting this malady of unemployment and mismatching requirement where the job provider has something in this hand and job seeker has something else in this hand they will never marry and therefore it will not be fruitful. \\ digitalLEARNING / june 2011
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INDIRA GANDHI NATI Maidan Garhi, New Delhi
Information on IGNOU • In just four years, IGNOU has, in the face of stiff competition from both public and private institutions almost trebled the number of students on its rolls from 1.1 million to about 3.5 million. • Has contributed over 11 lakh professionals to the country’s talent pool so far since its inception in 1985 – thus working towards its twin goals in the Decade of Innovation – providing Inclusive Growth and enhancing Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER). • Reached out to the unreached and the marginalised by offering a slew of programmes for jail inmates sex workers, differently-abled • Provided an alternative educational system by setting up 517 Community Colleges across the country • Reached out to the Armed Forces with initiatives like Gyan Deep with the Indian Army and Akashdeep with the Indian Air Force • Ushered in a new era of multimedia and ICT-enabled education through initiatives like Edusat, FlexiLearn and the newly launched website on IT Mass Literacy Programme of the Department of Information Technology (DIT), Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Govt. of India • Producing industry-ready managers for several sectors by partnering with public and private sector institutions • Establishing a global educational footprint with over 42,000 students enrolled at its 67 Overseas Study Centres in over 40 countries • Diversifying educational delivery through oncampus, online and distance learning modes
New Paradigms And Initiatives
The University continues to make path-breaking advances in challenging existing modes of delivery and ushering in innovative combinations. Major achievements include:
IGNOU out to boost IT literacy The Department of Information Technology (DIT) of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has constituted a Working Group on Information Technology (IT) Mass Literacy Programme. The group has commenced its work by launching a website on the IT Mass Literacy Programme. This website is envisaged to come out as a complete portal on the programme for certification and feedback, and even to ascertain if a person is an e-literate. IGNOU’s 3000 Study Centers and telecenters, ITIs / ITC, district and block level centers of MHRD, ‘Sarva Sikshaya Abiyaan’, rural development programme could be used for IT Mass Literacy. MHRD could take lead in involving State Resource Centers for spreading the mass e-literacy programme. Good infrastructure is available in high schools under ICT@school Scheme could be utilized for this programme.
IGNOU’s certificate programme in Telecentre Management The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and the Telecentre.org Foundation have entered into a unique collaboration to design and deliver a Certificate programme in Telecentre/ Village Knowledge Centre Management (CTVM) aiming to build the capacity of rural youths in the country to manage their telecentres effectively. As per the government of India’s plans it aims to set up around 2,50,000 telecentres at every village panchayat in the country by 2012, there are also many NGOs and social enterprises that are setting up these to bring a change in rural villages in the country. The certificate
ONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY – 110068, India, www.ignou.ac.in
petence and Advancement of Teachers (IIPCAT), Guwahati, organised an orientation programme for madrassa teachers of Nagaon and Morigaon district of Assam at Kampur college in Nagaon recently.
Empowering Women through Distance Education programme is of six months duration and can be extended till two years.
and UK for a UK India Educational Research Initiative Scheme (UKIERI).
IGNOU for jail inmates
PG Diploma in Disability Management for Medical Practitioner (PGDMD)
IGNOU’s Free Education for Prisoners initiative took education to a new level. Forty-six inmates were chosen by prison authorities for the placement drive as they fulfilled three criteria. First, they had impeccable conduct inside the jail where they utilised their time to gain education and vocational skills. Secondly, they all expect to be released within a year or so, and finally, they were keen to rehabilitate themselves and lead a new life.
Sign language institute BA (Hons) Applied Sign Language Studies and Bachelors Preparatory Programme (Deaf Students) programme is the outcome of a collaboration between Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), India and The University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), UK following an agreement signed by the Prime Ministers of India
This programme is specifically meant for those medical professionals who posses MBBS and similar qualification in Ayurvedic, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy. Since the doctor is the first professional to come across with the disabled people so it was thought by Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) to train all the medical professionals so that they could provide better counseling and guidance for the rehabilitation of person with disabilities. This is the only programme which consist the information and therapeutic process for all seven disability areas as recognized under PD Act, 1995.
Orientation programme for madrassa teachers IGNOU Institute of Professional Com-
• Strengthen ongoing efforts to train facilitators/master trainers of SHGs • Evolve an effective and sustainable in country training network and resource pool of such trainers • Empower the change agents to function more effectively as trainers and community organizers in helping set up SHGs and to address gender issues. • Provide guidelines for the establishment of micro-enterprises. • Provide basic legal literacy
MPhil in Gender and Development Studies Research programmes in Gender and Development Studies will help in encouraging indigenous research, provide an impetus to collection of gender-disaggregated data and use of gender analysis tools. They will contribute to the major initiatives undertaken by governmental and non-governmental agencies in gender mainstreaming and gender budgeting/gender auditing.
news
business
TCS launches iON in West Bengal
iON, an integrated information technology solution for small and medium businesses (SMBs), by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is planning to have 1,000 clients in
India by the end of this year and expects about 20-30 per cent of them to come from Eastern part of the country. “When we started in February, we had just
Samsung signs MoU with DTU
above 100 clients and now it has crossed 235. By the end of this year, our client base would be above 1,000 in India and about 20-30 per cent of them would be in Eastern India,” said V Ramaswamy, Global Head of iON. Though TCS had started this business in 2008 under TCS SMB Solutions, it was branded as iON in February.
In a breakthrough step towards strengthening the academia-industry interface, Delhi Technological University (DTU), has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Samsung India Electronics Ltd (SIEL). The MoU was exchanged between Prof. P.B. Sharma, Vice Chancellor, DTU and Dr. Jason D. Kwak, Managing Director, Samsung Software Engineering Lab-India in the presence of Chief Guest for the occasion, Mr. P.K. Tripathi, IAS, Chief Secretary, Govt. of NCT of Delhi today at the Delhi Secretariat. The MoU broadly covers four areas of Collaboration-Cooperation in Knowledge Sharing through in-house tutorials, workshops conducted by DTU for employees of SIEL, sponsored doctoral and post graduate programmes at DTU for employees of SIEL, Internship opportunities for the students of DTU in SIEL and Joint Research projects.
BSETIL, IIM Indore launch PG Certificate Program in Capital Markets BSE Training Institute Ltd. signed MOU with Indian Institute of Management Indore (IIM Indore) on 18th April 2011 for launching PG Certificate Program in Capital Markets and other certificate programs in Mumbai. Ambarish Datta, MD, BSETIL said, “This program has been
designed for decision makers in the industry who are charged with setting and implementing capital market strategies. In this program, participants will have the opportunity to explore the inner workings of the fast evolving world of capital markets. In addition to honing their analytical and
decision-making skills, the program will
Plan Panel sets up 4 working group on higher education With the objective of raising the gross enrolment ratio (GER) in higher education to 20 per cent by 2017 and 25 per cent by 2022, the Planning Commission has constituted four working groups and steering committees that will focus on skill development and technical education for the 12th plan period from 2012-17. The two steering committees are on higher and technical education, and science and technology hu-
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man resource development while two working groups have been formed for public private partnership (PPP) in higher education and skill development. Officials say that the committees and working groups will meet on May 23 to finalise the objectives like faculty development and teachers’ training and research and innovation in higher education with crosslinkages between institutions and industry.
provide them with a channel to acquire a
formal specialisation in capital markets. The combined strengths will help the participants expand their capabilities, challenge their thinking, and ultimately drive company success.” The classes will be held at BTI’s premises in BSE and the program shall commence in June 2011.
Sequoia Capital Invests ` 25 Crore in K12 Techno Services
Sequoia Capital today announced an investment of ` 25 crore in K12 Techno Services Pvt. Ltd. in their second round of funding. K12 manages over 70 affordable English-medium schools run by 15 different trusts under the Gowtham Model School brand. K12 will utilise the funds for growth as well as
modernisation of classrooms to allow teachers and students to leverage superior technology infrastructure for improving learning outcomes. K12 has also partnered with best-inclass and global specialists, CfBT UK and Brilliant Tutorials for spoken English and IIT training. The investment will also be used for expansion of the network by an additional 25 new schools across Andhra Pradesh.
opinion
Inno-lutions with ICT, Multimedia in Education Multimedia usage can help in standardisation of education across India by reducing the gap in the quality of education in English, Hindi medium schools and regional language schools By Dr Ranjana Mukhopadhyaya, Associate Professor, Japanese Studies, Department of East Asian Studies, University of Delhi
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ith the ever-increasing popularity and accessibility of the Internet, it is only natural that the educational community should want to make use of this tremendous resource. Use of ICT is leading to significant changes in educational models. Effective exploitation of these changes requires adequate attention to understanding the technology, the educational processes and issues, and student’s characteristics. One of the major uses of ICT and multimedia in education is to find innovative solutions to critical problems related to ‘quality of education’ and ‘access to education for all’ - the two major problems in the education system of India. A fundamental difference between multimedia based and the conventional style of learning is that in the conventional style, the only tools available to a teacher are blackboard, chalk and textbooks where the contents are structured and have limited audio-visual usage. On the other hand, in case of a multimedia classroom, for instance, a science teacher can explain the replication of DNA or a geography teacher can teach about stone formation–all with 3D animations, sound, graphics and voice. The teacher gets complete attention of the class. Every child gets visual input on how it happens and the concepts are well understood and internalised. The conventional classroom style process of teaching and learning has limitation of space and time. A student is expected to attend classes for a specified period of time in a day at a particular location. This system has proved to be disadvantages to students from the economically weaker sections of the society where children are expected to work to support their families, take care of younger siblings, do house-
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hold chores, etc. This is the main cause of dropouts and failure or poor academic performance among economically disadvantaged students. If the schools, vocational training institutes etc. are equipped with computer terminals and Internet, the self-guided, self-explanatory and interactive tutorials made possible by using multimedia based databases gives these students access to quality education at their own time and pace.
room, a virtual classroom is a scheduled, online, teacher-led training session where teachers and learners interact together using computers linked via the Internet network. There are professor and fellow learners present with the student who can talk with each other as in the traditional classroom via chat. Similarly presenter uses whiteboard, gives notes/resources, give presentation as given in traditional one. A virtual classroom can be used as a
A virtual classroom makes it possible to bring learners from around the world together online in highly interactive virtual classes while greatly reducing the travel, time, and expense of on-site teaching/training programs The use of multimedia can help in standardisation of education across India by reducing the gap in the quality of education in English and Hindi medium schools or at the sate-level schools where the medium of instruction is in regional languages. This difference in quality of education stems from the fact that the textbooks written in English or Hindi have relatively superior course content than those written in regional languages. As the use of Internet is increasing, traditional classrooms are shifting to elearning. The use of ICT in education has created the possibility of e-classrooms or virtual classrooms where students in different parts of India or world can participate interact and learn from same classrooms without being physically present there. Yet a virtual classroom can provide a learning experience that is similar to a real classroom. As in traditional class-
solution for live delivery and interaction that addresses the entire process of creating and managing the teaching-learning process. It facilitates instructor and student in teaching-learning events, such as a seminar, online discussion or a live training for employees in company. e-Learning in the form of virtual classrooms or e-classrooms can complement the efforts of governments and educators around the world to integrate technology into their classrooms and curricula and to link their schools to the internet in educationally productive ways. It can provide the students with a stimulating, positive and enjoyable environment along with the opportunity to develop skills that are essential in the 21st century: cross-cultural communication, collaboration through teamwork, information technology and website design. \\
SCHOOL TRACK
NIOS Joins in the Area of Hospitality Management
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he Ashok Institute of Hospitality and Tourism Management (AIH and TM), a division of India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) and a PSU under Ministry of Tourism, Government of India and the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), the largest open schooling system in the world signed an MoU on 20th May, 2011 to deliver job oriented Certificate/ Diploma Courses in the area of Hospitality Management through infrastructure created/ provided by ITDC. Speaking on the occasion, Dr S S Jena, Chairman, NIOS hoped that this meaningful initiative would go a long way in fulfilling the aspirations of youngsters, who wish to join the hospitality industry. The Chairman and Managing Director, ITDC referred to this initiative as a milestone in the history of ITDC, reprioritising and diversifying to take up the cause of skill development and becoming a state- of the -art player in the hospitality industry. The NIOS, which is authorised to issue Diploma/ Certificates has agreed to ac-
credit sixteen hotels of AIH and TM, which will function as study centres to offer one year courses in Certificate/Diploma Course in Food Production and Management, Certificate/ Diploma Course in Food and Beverage Operation, Certificate/Diploma Course in House Keeping and Maintenance, Certificate/Diploma Course in Front Office Operations for 10th pass students and Certificate/Diploma Course in Bakery and Confectionery for 8th pass students. All these course are to be offered as a joint venture by the NIOS and AIH and TM. This joint initiative of these organisations will give a substantial boost to the skill development processes in the hospitality sector in India. It has been envisaged that all the trainees pursuing the course will be given placement opportunity on completion of their courses. Efforts are also being made to tie-up with the government to get scholarship for the learners to facilitate them for timely completion of the courses. The delivery of the courses will be both through face to face and open distance learning methodologies. \\ digitalLEARNING / june 2011
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13-15 JULY 2011 | the ashok, New Delhi, INDIA
THE PREMIER GLOBAL PLATFORM PROVIDING THOUGHT LEADERSHIP IN EDUCATION Conference The education leaders platform
Awards Recognising global innovation and excellence in education
Exhibition A global showcase of education technologies and teaching learning practices
meet the leaders at the summit
Dr A P J Abdul Kalam Former President of India
Shri Kapil Sibal Hon’ble Minister of Human Resource Development and Communications and IT, Government of India
Dr Narendra Jadhav Member Planning Commission
Organisers
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Shri Thakur Singh Powdyel Hon’ble Minister of Education Bhutan
co-organisers
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k-12 partner
school solution partner
ASSOCIATE SPONSORS
Speakers Vibha Puri Das Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India
Dr Veera Gupta Secretary, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)
Prof Yashpal Former Chairman, University Grants Commission (UGC)
Prof V S Ramamurthy Director, National Institute of Advanced Studies
Dr Sunil Jayantha Nawaratne Secretary, Higher Education Ministry of Higher Education, Sri Lanka
Dr Latha Pillai Pro Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU)
Prof R Govinda Vice Chancellor, National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA)
Amit Khare Joint Secretary Bureau of BP & CR Education Policy UNESCO, INC & ICC Department of Higher Education, Government of India
workshop Sessions from • Distance Education Council (DEC) of IGNOU • Education Development of the North East Unit (EDNERU) of IGNOU • Community Colleges Unit of IGNOU • The IGNOU International Partners’ Meet
Highlights l l l l
Power tracks on > School Education > Higher Education > Skills Development and Vocational Education > Distance Learning Ministers’ Conclave Secretaries’ Conclave Industry Leaders’ Conclave
For Programme Enquiries, Contact: Rajeshree Dutta Kumar, Mobile: +918860651641, rajeshree@csdms.in For Exhibition and Sponsorship, Contact: Jyoti Lekhi, Mobile: +91-8860651634, jyoti@elets.in
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Education Leaders’ Conclave Global School Leadership Conclave
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Education Ministers and Secretaries Vice Chancellors, Pro–Vice Chancellors Senior Administrators, Educationists, Chief Executives, Directors & Deans School Principals, Teachers and Trainers Foreign University and School Representatives Education Technology Providers and Edupreneurs Education and IT Policy Makers Institutional Investors and Entrepreneurs
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For Award Enquiries, Contact: Sheena Joseph, Mobile: +91-8860651644, awards@worldeducationsummit.net
programme chair
Dr S S Jena Chairman, National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS)
Prof Ramanujam Pro Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU)
Manfred Habig Director Private Sector Development GIZ
Prof V N Rajasekharan Pillai Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU)
Dr Thomas Christie Director, Aga Khan University Examination Board
Prof S S Mantha Chairman (Acting), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)
Goeffrey Conaghan Commissioner to India State Government of Victoria, Australia
Prof K R Srivathsan Pro Vice Chancellor, Indira Ganhi National Open University (IGNOU)
Prof Fong Soon Fook School of Educational Studies, Universiti Sains, Malaysia
H E Mr Prasad Kariyawasam High Commissioner of Sri Lanka
Pureza Valdehueza Veloso President, Cebu International Distance Education College
Sharda Prasad Director General, Directorate General, Employment and Training, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India
Dilip Chenoy CEO National Skill Development Corporation
www.worldeducationsummit.net
corporate diary
Hemant Sethi President, School Learning Solutions, NIIT Limited
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corporate diary
Tomorrow Demands an NGuru Solution in Education Hemant Sethi, President, School Learning Solutions, NIIT Limited in an exclusive tête-à- tête’ with Dr Ravi Gupta, reveals the infrastructural strength, standout point and plans ahead for the various sectors of institutes Please throw light on the portfolio of the solutions, which NIIT is offering under brand NGuru. NIIT is the only company, which offers comprehensive end-to-end solutions. There is lot of competition into the market, but they are into piecemeal solutions. Somebody is very active on lets say classroom solution. There are some which are active in content per se. There are some people, who are into teacher training; few others are for Education and Resource Planning (ERP) solution for schools, etc. We offer total comprehensive education delivery solutions, which cover the entire spectrum for education delivery, which is essential for the schools, teachers, students, and also for parents. Interactive Classrooms-Interactive Classroom is a complete technology enabled classroom solution that revolutionises the teaching and learning of subjects like Math, Science, Social Sciences and English. Mobile Science Lab - Mobile Science Lab is the first-of-its-kind portable computerised Science Laboratory, which enables students to correlate scientific concepts taught in the class to real life. Math Lab - It is state-of-the-art Mathematics Laboratory for schools, which comes with Geometer’s Sketchpad Software, Multiple Teaching and Learning Aids like Technology Applications, Videos, Manipulative, Measuring Instruments, Tables, Charts and Theme Based Ambience IT Wizard-IT Wizard Next is a holistic IT education solution which enables
students to be better equipped to handle IT revolution. It redefines the learning experience through a combination of the audio-visual medium, demos and interactive hands-on practice sessions. Quick School-Quick School is an integrated and comprehensive ERP software developed for schools to manage information spanning all functional requirements, including Fees Collection, Report Card Generation, Payroll, Admissions, Inventory Management and Transportation. Accreditation Standards for Quality Governance in Education - Consultation is offered to educational institutions to help them attain accreditation. EPICT-Teacher professional development course, with international certification, aimed at training and up-skilling teachers for the digital age. CCE Training - Comprehensive course in CCE teaching methods to help teachers to successfully administer CCE in schools. Mind Champions Academy (MCA) - Joint initiative between Grand
Master Viswanathan Anand and NIIT Limited, that promotes the game of Chess in schools across India. The academy offers a chess certification program in association with IGNOU. How do your interactive classrooms and labs enhance teaching and learning experiences? Benefits of Content Based Solution: TLM: Innovative Teaching Learning Material (iTLM) allows teachers to prepare their lessons in advance and share interesting, relevant data and facts. Visualisation: The core concepts are covered using multimedia. This helps learners visualise abstract concept and enhances retention. Interaction: This feature allows teachers and students to interact with the content and hence makes the learning process livelier with active learner participation. Automate: The automate feature provides alternate animations for a concept and hence provides different approach to the same concept.
Who all are your partners for technology and software? Partners Products Key Curriculum Press, USA- Geometers Sketchpad, Math Software and Math Manipulative Fourier Systems, USA- Data Loggers and Data Sensors Infospectrum India Limited- School Management Solutions Ncomputing - Shared Computing Technology Interactive Whiteboard Technology Genee World- Regional Institute of Education (RIM), Academic Alliance and Co-design and Mysore- evaluation and research
digitalLEARNING / june 2011
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corporate diary
Apply: It allows teachers to customise the content as per their requirements. Benefits of Lab Based Solution: Research shows carefully designed experiences with real or simulated investigations can substantially improve long-term understanding of concepts. Students rely on the evidence at hand instead of upon pre-determined data. Students are encouraged to think by interpreting observed events rather than memorising concepts. They verify Math concepts and properties using models, measurement and activities. They construct geometrical figures and explore the mathematical properties using Geometer’s Sketchpad Software Learning by doing promotes cause and effect thinking. How do your solutions keep you on in the run? Strong Content - Performance-based and learner-centered design methodology aligns the outcomes of learning to key customer objectives. Wide Range of Solutions - School solutions address the needs of all stakeholders, including teachers, students and management. Mature Quality Processes - 30 Years of experience in Content Development for a variety of Customers across the world ranging from Individuals, Corporate, Universities to Schools. Consultancy Approach - Consultative selling by which schools can adopt NGuru solutions are based on their need, affordability and overall technology roadmap and vision. Continuous Support - Each of our solution is intertwined with the appropriate support Intervention which helps the teachers and schools adopt these solutions easily and meaningfully. Please share your plans to establish NGuru as a holistic solution provider for K-12 education. We plan to extend our solutions to homes through association with schools, thereby extending our coverage of the learning ecosystem and involving parents. Moreover, we also plan to continue to build and extend learning platforms and communities. That way we build a
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• Lack of model for shared investments and operating expenses and time frame for contract • Authentication or security of Private Partner transactions not clear • Non – standard policies and practices across states • Political uncertainties or risks
very close learning ecosystem involving schools, teachers, industry, parents and students. We also have in pipeline the concept of model school with holistic and integral development of students touching upon physical, emotional and aesthetic development in addition to academics. On the other hand, adequate ICT infrastructure, internet connectivity and full time computer teacher are our basic focus. The ratio we look to is Teacher: Student – 1:25; Classroom: Student – 1:40. The implementation status depicts 2,500 of 6,000 are in educationally backward districts and 2,500 under PPP and modalities of remaining 1,000 are yet to be finalised. On the other hand the funding pattern says the 11th plan had 75 percent from Centre and 25 percent from states whereas the 12th Plan equalises it in 50:50ratio; however, in case of the special category states, 90 percent are from Centre and 10 percent from states. Please tell us the major challenges your have faced and still do in the PPP model? • Few states showing interest • Few takers from private sector • Huge Investment
What are the key challenges you face while helping schools adopt these technologies? To point out the main problems, we often find Teachers not Tech-savvy - Teachers and staff members are not tech savvy and are adverse at using technology. This poses a challenge while selling and installing NGuru solutions. Price Competition - The school education market is dominated by local players which sell off the shelf solutions and hence poses tough price competition. Poor Infrastructure - Tier II and III cities still do not have good power infrastructure. Also broadband connectivity is limited in these cities that make it difficult to run the NGuru solutions smoothly. Are there any training solutions that you provide to the school teachers? Each solution comes bundled with training programs for teachers. It varies from three days to one week depending on the complexity of solution and also the adaptability of the person being taught. For few solutions training is given every year till a teacher becomes comfortable using the technology. We also provide computer literacy program for teachers. What are your future plans in expanding your reach in schools? We are increasing our reach to tier three and four towns by expanding the sales team as well as using channel partners to sell in locations where direct reach may not be feasible. Thus we are using references from customer schools for reaching out to more schools. Offering new products and solutions to existing customer schools so as to fulfill their ongoing requirements. \\
india’s Largest ICT Event 28-30 november, 2011 Ahmedabad, india
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Steering
e-inclusive economy Highlights of the Conference • Meet key decision makers, experts, leaders and stakeholders in ICT arena at one platform • Meet Professional service providers, IT vendors, Telecom vendors, Consulting firms, Government agencies and National and International development organisations in the domain of ICT • Great networking opportunity with high profile speakers, researchers and ICT entreprenuers from India, Asia and beyond • Get updated on the latest developments in ICT initiatives from the industry’s leading ICT infrastructure providers
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interview
Government Policy Should Encourage Autonomy in Managing Institutes Prof Vinod K. Gupta, Officiating Director of Management Development Institute (MDI), one of India’s premier B-School, is a wellknown professor of Human Resource and Management (HRM). Prof Gupta shared his opinion on the incipient management issues and transformation in the management education in India with Pragya Gupta, digital LEARNING bureau. Please throw some light on latest development at MDI? What initiatives MDI is planning to take in near future for bettering the management education? MDI’s growth on all fronts - research, teaching, training, and consulting has been a key factor in development. In 2006 Association of MBAs (AMBA, UK and Europe) had awarded its accreditation to MDI’s PGPM, PGP-HR and NMP. Now in February 2011, in recognition of MDI’s rising profile as a B-school with global standards, all our six programmes have been awarded accreditation by AMBA, UK and Europe, making it the first Bschool in India to have received this coveted stamp of approval. MDI has the vision to be a global business centre for thought leaders and change masters for academic excellence and Continuous Innovations. MDI would also like to create thorough expansion of current activities in the areas of new product development, geographical expansion, and internationalisation. MDI’s Board of Governors has set up another campus at Murshidabad, West Bengal. We propose to start our activities in the new campus by 2012. We plan to expand our reach both in India and abroad. We are also strengthening our international linkages with some of the best institutions of the world. This is to enhance the global footprint of MDI. MDI has partnered with about 50 business schools in the world for student and faculty exchange further fostering this opportunity. Being located in the NCR, the institute is situated in the hub of corporate. Most of the Fortune 500 companies are present in Gurgaon giving us the opportunity to interact and collaborate with the industry.
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interview
What are your opinions on Foreign Education institution bill? Do you think inviting universities will solve the problems pertaining to education in India? We welcome the Government’s decision to allow foreign universities to set their campus in India. However, strict parameters should be set for selecting the foreign educational institutes to ensure that only the best would be allowed. Clear rules, process and policies should be laid for these universities for setting up campus and functioning. These institutes should offer the same course curricula and degree here, which they offer abroad. This will encourage Indian educational institutes to gear up for enhancing the quality of delivery, quality of content sand academic rigour so as to be at par with the best foreign institutions. The Government should also ensure level playing field for the students who are coming from abroad to study in India. Accreditation should be in place for these universities. Accreditation puts systems in place. Process for allowing these universities need to be absolutely transparent and objective oriented without any biases. However, it would be preferred if instead of setting their campus independently, these must be set up in collaboration with the existing Indian schools of repute. These would not only hasten the process but the students will get the best of both. What are the key issues and challenges that need to be addressed to produce more skilled workforce? Applied and practical knowledge is highly required for making people skilled to perform jobs but too much focus on theoretical knowledge still prevails in the country, which is a hindrance in producing a more skilled workforce. The courses should be designed in such a way that the students are encouraged to apply the knowledge and see the practicality of the same at the organisational level. We are increasingly seeing that the traditional rote learning method is getting replaced by learning based on comprehension. What are the
Please comment on transformation of Indian Industry and Management Education? In the last three years we found that Indian business schools are more concerned about improving the quality of education and engaging themselves in carrying out researches and publications. Indian B-Schools are seriously considering national and international accreditation to improve their quality. MDI is the first B-School to get national accreditation from the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) and internation-
it would be preferred if instead of setting their campus independently, these must be set up in collaboration with the existing Indian schools of repute new emerging methods in teaching in management? MDI uses the case method of learning – a pedagogy used extensively by MDI faculty and some of the best B-Schools worldwide. Many effective and pragmatic management development and MBA programmes use the case method of learning in a manner similar to that used in law and medical schools. The great strength of the case method in developing managerial skills stems from the fact that it forces one to take an active role in analysing real organisational situations. Apart from this, we use experiential learning, simulation exercises and role plays as our teaching and learning tools. The classroom sessions are interactive where there is active involvement and participation from the students. The out bound method of learning is an interesting way to learn beyond class room experience. Rote learning is a learning technique that focuses on memorisation. The major practice involved in rote learning is learning by repetition. By definition, rote learning eschews comprehension, so by itself it is an ineffective tool in mastering any complex subject at an advanced level. It should strongly be discouraged and replaced with concept oriented understanding.
ally accredited by SAQS and AMBA. India is witnessing industrial and business growth. As business grows, requirement for professionally efficient managers also grows. I can see that happening in India and therefore there is ample scope for business schools to offer business education to aspiring students. How do you train the next generation of managers in the midst of unprecedented challenges with global economic meltdown? Leadership development is an important aspect of any B-School curriculum. We should present the students an understanding of what and how the great leaders have been doing so that the students learn from their actions. Should the government policy, rankings, and accrediting systems, that inevitably will emerge, reflect and support this approach? The government policy should encourage autonomy in managing the institutes. The rankings should have the credibility at the international levels and the accrediting systems should not only be foolproof but also bring out the areas that need to be improved by the institutes. \\ digitalLEARNING / june 2011
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higher education
Professionalism Grasps Higher Education India, with a critical mass of skilled English-speaking knowledge workers, a functioning democracy and a massive domestic market, has many of the key ingredients for seizing the opportunity for making a transition to a knowledge economy By Jaydeep Saha, digital LEARNING Bureau
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he trend towards a knowledgebased economy has emphasised the importance of universities as repositories of valuable human capital to help secure shares in the global market. The accelerating shift to high-technology and information technology economy requires sustained human resource development and training. Driven by globalisation and pressures to teach and train knowledgeable, skilled and competitive professionals, universities face a huge challenge to increase access to higher education and improve the quality of higher education against the stark reality of decreasing resources. Fundamental to the creation of qualified human resources is an accessible, effective and efficient higher education system, particularly when governments are counting on university graduates to be competitive in creating wealth for their respective countries. Universities are compelled to be innovative and lead by example in using cutting edge technology to meet these expectations. One activity of the ICT for accessible, effective and efficient higher education project, with the support of the Japanese Funds-in-Trust, is to document case studies of innovative ICT practices in higher education in open and distance learning, blended learning, research and administration and management. There are over 221 universities, 39 deemed universities plus seven open universities in India. Out of 9,703 colleges, 550 are engineering and technical
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colleges, 655 medical and 600 management institutions. The revolution in ICT has been the main stay of globalisation of markets and knowledge systems. Availability of internet based services and communications has allowed distances and barriers to be breached in real time and that too at lower costs than ever imaginable. Choosing the right technological tools
for school or country’s needs is a vital step in ensuring the effective use of ICT in education. This section gives information about technologies that can be used in education and about challenges in using ICT in education. Realising educational objectives of the “information age� requires integrating modern forms of information and communication technologies (ICT) into
Ranjana Mukhopadhyaya, PhD. (Tokyo University), Associate Professor, Japanese Studies, Department of East Asian Studies, University of Delhi One of the major challenges for the higher education sector in India is the problem of innovation. There is a need to keep its curriculum / course content and pedagogy updated with the changing educational needs of the students, technological innovations, demographic and socio-economic changes and the consequent market transformations. The curriculum revisions run into bureaucratic bottlenecks; there is very limited use of ICT or multimedia, especially in public schools, although most children do personally use/access to internet related technologies in their daily lives. With rapid urbanisation, rural to urban demographic shift and increasing number of people from the rural sectors aspiring for higher education for their children and rise in employment in the secondary and tertiary sectors, the greatest challenge for the higher education sector in India will be to accommodate the increasing volumes of people aspiring for higher education. This can be achieved only through major infrastructural overhaul of the higher education sector in India.
higher education
leader’s say Ashok Mittal, Chancellor, Lovely Professional University, talks about the modern day needs, challenges and solutions in higher education
What are new-age challenges in the higher education sector? The challenges in the Higher Education Sector vary from country to country. The problems being faced by the Indian Universities are different from the ones faced
education. To do this effectively, education planners, principals, teachers, and technology specialists must make many decisions in the following areas: technical, training, financial, pedagogical and infrastructure requirements. This section looks at the tools themselves, from the satellites that link nations, to the machines that students work on in the classroom. It is intended to help educators, policy makers, planners, curriculum developers and others find their way through the often confusing maze of ICT tools, terms and systems. India’s emergence as one of the fastest growing economies on the globe, with the possibility of a double digit growth rate, poses a critical challenge of its preparedness to capitalise on opportunities on the horizon for its massive and growing work-force. More importantly, is the country looking towards creating new ways to
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by that in US and UK. The expectations from the Higher Education Sector are immense due to its role in producing Human Resource for the industry depending on their requirements. India being predominantly an agricultural and service sector based economies, their needs and requirements change very fast. The biggest challenge faced by the higher education sector in India is to keep pace with the same. Therefore the Universities are expected to update the curriculum as per the latest changes and also adopt a futuristic approach for the same. The other challenge which the Higher Education Sector is facing is that of availability of quality faculty members. Education was not looked as a very lucrative career and hence very few entered into it. With the setting up of the sixth pay commission, there has been a considerable change in the thought process and people are adopting this career but there is still a
big gap between the demand and supply. With 100s of colleges opening every year, we need to look at the supply to meet the growing demand. The youth too is not very seriously considering the subjects as per their interest for higher education. They are usually selected due to the peer pressure or herd mentality only for the sake of obtaining a degree. There is gap between theory and practice, combined with fragmentation of ideas of knowledge, leads to confusion that our system of higher education is suffering from. How universities can overcome with this situation? Traditionally the Universities focused more on the teaching aspect and less on the practical learning. With the industries raising concern on the product coming out of the Universities, they started
Economic growth, productivity improvement, innovations, job creation, poverty alleviation and social opportunities are interlinked and can be achieved only through entrepreneurship harvest this promise of growth through appropriate educational and training infrastructure. In this overview we will look at the emerging prospects, the current status of India’s higher education system, growing role of private institutions and challenges to emerging as a knowledge economy. One of the drivers of India’s growth, going forward is how well the professional class adapts to emerging opportunities in the new India. Historically, In-
dians have been reasonably risk-averse, preferring salaried jobs rather than take the plunge into doing something on their own. These days, the IIM graduate taking the entrepreneurial road is still the exception than the rule. The reasons why so few of our qualified people take the plunge are manifold. First, there is the issue of financial safety. Most of us who come from middle class backgrounds simply do not have sufficient funds to take risk, particularly
higher education
changing their approach from theoretical to a combination of theoretical and practical. With the abundant information now available online, professors are using practical case studies to teach the students. The Universities are also using simulation techniques on how machines would behave in the factory scenario. The students are also encouraged to visit industry to experience the practical way of doing things. Though it is a challenge but the New Age Universities are slowly aligning to the needs and trying to overcome the problem. So that a quick solution to this problem be obtained it is very important that not just the handful of Universities but all of them should work together towards the objective. How can universities adopt a curricular approach which treats knowledge in a holistic manner and creates opportunities for different kinds of interfaces between disciplines? Unlike the education system in US, which is considered the best, Indian Education system is based on closed syllabus i.e., the
when there is no financial back up. Family commitments can also intervene and diminish risk-taking capabilities, including children’s education, parents’ medical and retirement worries. Surprisingly, education can often become a handicap. You have more to lose when you can get a job in a good investment bank or consulting firm or a leading corporate. And, therefore, the safer path often seems more attractive. Secondly, many communities and societies do not have a risk-taking culture; it’s simply not built into their cultural DNA. Plus there is no family or community knowledge or network of how to go about starting a new business or the issues involved in doing so. Equally, there are other communities where risktaking and starting new businesses are in fact the norm and the expected thing to do. But these communities are fewer than we need.
option to design the course or learn about various other areas is not there. It is time now that we move out of the fixed curriculum pedagogy system and enter the flexible and independent system. Since the last two years, LPU has initiated the COP programmes in its campus. Under this, the students have an option to choose subjects as per their interest and liking under the guidance of a mentor. After successful experimentation, LPU is now using flexi credit system where the students can design 100% of the programme. An Engineering student can take up music or journalism, along with a minimum of subjects in the core areas required to attain the degree. LPU is the only University to have adopted this system in India and is sure that many universities would like to do the same ad make learning more holistic rather than focused towards producing degree holders. What importance entrepreneurship plays in higher education? Indians are famous for their entrepreneurial skills. With complete understanding of this capability, LPU trains the stu-
India’s culture of promoters is also unique. Banks require personal guarantees, private equity investors need there to be a strong promoter/manager and investors need a prominent face. All this militates against a professional set-up and reinforces the need to put you as the entrepreneur even more on the line. A number of people could be, and are, uncomfortable taking on this added burden. This is a shame. To broadbase our growth, India needs an army of entrepreneurs. New businesses create new jobs and increase the value added in the economy. Profitable businesses contribute to enhanced tax collections and make the economy more efficient and streamlined while creating new and unique opportunities for growth. Over time, some of these firms could globalise and become world leaders in their respective areas. Loss of primacy of universities in the higher education sector, erosion of au-
dents to become entrepreneurs so that they can become an asset to the economy. It is also true that Entrepreneurship cannot be learnt but is acquired through experience therefore to create skills among the students by giving them live projects. LPU also supports feasible ideas presented by the students in terms of listing of the company, legal requirements etc through their special department. How far does government help in creating a better future? What partnerships are in your agenda? No one can replace the role of the Government in the education sector. But looking at the stats only 11% of the population has access to higher education compared to the global average of 25% therefore a lot number of seats and institutes need to be added without diluting the quality of education. This can happen only through government and private partnership. The government has already started its bit by asking the private players to open universities and inviting them for the PPP model but still there is a long way to go before the model can prove beneficial to the society..
tonomy, undermining of undergraduate education, growing distance between knowledge areas and isolation of universities from real world outside are some of the problems that characterise growth of Indian higher education. Entrepreneurship has become an integral part of higher education as it primarily aims at imparting entrepreneurial qualities to enable the products of higher education to be job providers rather than job seekers. An entrepreneurship development programme has to be conducted on a regular basis. India has been one of the best performers in the world economy during the past few years. India is uniquely positioned to reap the benefits of its economic gains by forging policies and strategies for effective use of knowledge to increase the overall productivity of the economy and benefit its own population.\\ digitalLEARNING / june 2011
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Signalling a new era in teaching
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The deaf and mute students of the B.D. Tatti School in Karnataka have learned a new sign language to bring alive the world of computers.
Make multimedia presentations.
Now they browse the internet.
And share their learnings.
This new sign language was developed by computer teacher Shweta Walishettar with the help of the trainers at the Microsoft Shiksha IT Academy in Dharwad, Karnataka. Shweta is one of the 6,47,000 teachers that have been trained by Microsoft’s Project Shiksha in IT skills. The program has impacted over 30 million students so far.
To know more about Microsoft's initiatives, visit www.microsoft.com/india/msindia
interview
Indonesia Signs MoU with India In an exclusive tet-à -tetè with Son Kuswadi, Education Attache, Indonesian Embassy, talks about education state of affairs in Indonesia and how Indian government has been lending a helping hand to improve the situation with Pragya Gupta, digitalLEARNING Bureau
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interview
Kindly throw some light on education scenario in Indonesia? We have already achieved 90 per cent of the net enrolment ratio in elementary school but if you talk about higher education our gross enrolment ratio is still 23 per cent in comparison to 17 per cent of India. The basic requirement to improvise education in all sectors is the implementation of ICT. In January, the Indonesian education ministry and the HRD ministry of India have signed a MoU to bring forth the educational system of both the countries in collaboration. As India is way ahead in engineering studies so this collaboration took place as we, being a neighbour, have just 509 students here in India. How the country is trying to overcome geographical barriers? Indonesia being an island, lacks all such benefits, internet facilities at all places, for the wide-spread islets whereas in India we are sure to get the required elements to spread our wings. The western part of our country is already upgraded but the eastern part lacks certain geographical disadvantages, including installation of fibre optic cables. Through Universal Service Obligation (USO) we develop many infrastructures, including telephone and internet, and we have planned to develop the entire system by the end of this year but challenges such as electricity, is a big concern as many villages and remote areas are yet to be facilitated with it. So the basic concern is how to develop ICT even without electricity. Solar energy is something we are focusing on but it’s very expensive. What are you working to progress higher education in Indonesia? We have only 15 per cent of our lecturers in higher education who hold a PhD degree. Till 2003, we have considered a bachelor degree to be enough for all our lecturers to teach but after that we have made it mandatory that at least a master degree is must in teaching profession. Although we have certain programmes in our country, but still we are sending over 3,000 teachers for a higher education degree of PhD each across the world. Mostly 50 per cent of our budget to el-
South KoreaN online education is INSPIRING and we look forward to develop such technology, methodology to enhance our engineering AND tourism students tion this can develop some long standing relationships with each other as both need something or the other from each other. But the problem is that no such airways directly come to India; a six-hour wastage takes place on the way. Recently when our president visited India, Dr Manmohan Singh confirmed that “visa on arrival” for people from Indonesia.
ementary and junior high schools to make education free for all in these levels but the problem is with the expenses associated to schooling. Transportation, uniforms and food take a heavy amount but we have decided to give free meals in schools and also transportation at some places. In the global competitiveness report 2009-10, Indonesia’s Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) rise from rank 54 for 133 countries in 2009, to rank 44 for 139 countries in 2010. How Indonesia has been addressing the employability issues and how Indian government has been helping your students? Employability being a major concern, the Indonesian President has decided to look into the human resource part of a student after school and also 13 more such programmes are in the pipeline to benefit students of the country. Our main focus these days is what the industry needs as many graduates of various fields go jobless for the inadequate demand in the market for those types of profiles. Thus we have partnered many industries to train students according to their relevant needs. Our main focus for sending students to India is because of the quality of education that India caters and also besides educa-
How do you see the role of ICT in universalising education? In China we see gadgets are sold off at very cheap prices as the number of experts making these items is high. We want to develop such numbers so that the basic infrastructure of education and employability through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) goes high. The present ICT market in our country has the potent to do big but the number is something that bothers us. That’s why we conduct workshops frequently for students and also workers by experts across the world. ICT has transformed us to interact socisialise and ICT change the way of students/teachers to access the information. Education cannot escape from ICT changes, but education takes the active role to leverage the ICT for educational improvement. Reform of education is the key for adapting the changes, and ICT is the vein that facilitate these. How do you see open and distance learning mode of learning? We are very skeptical about the open and distance learning as although we are doing it in a very conventional way but as there is no direct involvement of teacher or student it becomes very difficult to maintain the quality. Recently I went to South Korea where the online education system is way ahead of us and we look forward to develop such technology and methodology to enhance our students in engineering, tourism and other fields. \\ digitalLEARNING / june 2011
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ing those with special needs. SMART has developed a comprehensive range of easy-to-use, intuitive touch- and gestureenabled solutions that facilitate effective learning and collaboration. SMART’s product offering has expanded beyond interactive whiteboards to include student response systems, wireless slates, audio enhancement systems, collaboration software and an interactive table. At the core of the company’s education solutions is the SMART platform, which includes three fundamental products – the touch-sensitive SMART Board interactive whiteboard, SMART Notebook™ collaborative learning software and the SMART Exchange™ online community. “These easy-to-use products are recognized by educators around the world as having the power to transform teaching and learning, adds Pande. “To help educators achieve this transformation, we also ensure they have the content they need to create extraordinary lessons. Through the SMART Exchange online community, teachers are connected to each other and to high-quality SMART Notebook lesson activities.” Today, the company’s extensive line of interactive whiteboards is assembled in Canada, Hungary and Mexico and includes the SMART Board 400, 600 and 800 series interactive whiteboards and the SMART Board 6052i and 8070i interactive displays. According to Futuresource Consulting, SMART continued to lead the global interactive whiteboard product category in 2010 with a 46.9 percent share globally. Of the two million SMART Board interactive whiteboards currently installed globally, approxi-
mately 1.6 million are used by educators to support teaching and learning for an estimated 40 million students worldwide. “When you’re ready to further enrich your schools with products that complement the SMART Board interactive whiteboard, you can look to the SMART classroom,” says Pande. “It’s an extensive selection of easy-to-use, modular products that give teachers more ways to engage students. The SMART classroom helps teachers shift easily between whole-class, small-group and individual learning environments, addressing all learning styles.” SMART provides industry-leading services, including professional development, customer support, consulting services and access to the best of digital content. Pande adds that SMART has considered every aspect of technology rollout, so educators can implement SMART products quickly and on a large scale, with rapid adoption and student success as a result. “When you purchase SMART products, you become part of a community that spans all continents, bringing together people who use SMART products to transform teaching and learning,” says Pande. “Dozens of independent companies are creating hardware, software and content to round out the SMART solution, and when we make it easy to succeed at implementing our products, educators make our products part of their lives. Our commitment to SMART education solutions has resulted in profound and lasting changes in schools around the globe.”\\ For more information visit http://smarttech.com/in
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Sibal focuses on IIT Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal has said faculty of any academic institution is not responsible for a vacuum in research. Talking to reporters, Sibal highlighted the need for giving more attention to the post-graduate courses in Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and cited how the lack of opportunity for re-
search among post graduate students has prompted them to go overseas to pursue research and further studies. “To say this that research
$900,000 for iPads at schools
has not been done because of the faculty, we need to think about this. Secondly, we always gave the importance to undergraduate courses in IITs not in postgraduate courses and what the outcome of that was that the good student in IIT from B.Tech background didn’t find the proper research facility available in India so they shift to America. Then
he used to pursue his post graduation from America only, since he got more opportunism there,” he said. Questioning India’s funding credibility to spend on research, Sibal said that the US spends 250 billion dollar on research whereas China spends approximate 50 billion as compared to India where the figure is in the range of 8 billion.
Software uses auditory methods to boost language acquisition Computer programs are playing a more active role in language acquisition, and many include features that let English as a Second Language (ESL) students and those learning a foreign language have conversations with their computers or hear a computer read aloud sentences that the students struggle to write. The program spans grades 1-12, and it focuses on terms that will let users better grasp English for use in all subjects. English in a Flash also covers what is known as cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP), which moves beyond basic conversational fluency.
The Hillsborough County School Board approved spending US $900,000 to put an iPad in the hand of every student and teacher at the district’s two new singlegender schools. The board also voted, despite
requests from parents opposing the move, to renew a contract with Collier Enterprises for placing cell phone towers on school grounds. The hefty expenditure comes as school districts across the state, including Hill-
sborough, are grappling with budget shortfalls. And at least one member of the audience questioned why there weren’t more details about the proposal on the school board’s published agenda.
Students learn lawmaking with e-congress
For the first time, Emily Nole felt that she was more than just a
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middle school student. Thanks to a government class at South Warren Middle School, the 14-year-old now feels like she has a voice. The class was the only group of students
in the Warren County district—and one of few in Kentucky—that recently participated in e-Congress, an online legislative session for students that mimics the national lawmaking process. It’s one
way local teachers are trying to help students understand the legislative process. The program, which is hosted by the University of Virginia Centre for Politics, prompts students to become
legislators for a few weeks. In addition to reviewing and approving other students’ bills, they write their own bills, submit them and, hopefully, see them become law—albeit a fake law.
rni no. upeng/2008/25311
up/gbd - 70/2009-2011
Recognizing Global Innovation & Excellence in Education
SCHOOL EDUCATION :: SKILLS AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION HIGHER EDUCATION :: PRIVATE sector INITIATIVES
13-15 JULY 2011 | the ashok, New Delhi, INDIA join the education platform of the year!
Voice your choice...VOTE for your favourite project! To view award nominations, log on to www.worldeducationsummit.net/awards World Education Public Choice Award Nominated projects will be screened and put online for the public to vote. Projects receiving the maximum number of votes under each category will receive the World Education Public Choice Award.
Award Categories School Education • Best Innovative Practices in Schools • Best Innovation in Maths Education • Best Initiative for Enabling ICTs in Schools • Best Innovation in Science Education • Best Innovation in Special Needs Education • Best Global Collaborative Learning Award Higher Education • Best Higher Education Institute to Provide Global Student Exposure • Best Green Campus Award • Best ICT Enabled Higher Education Institute of the Year • Best Interface Between Academia and Industry in Higher Education • Best Open and Distance Learning Practices in Higher Education Skills and Vocational Education • Best Innovation in Vocational Education and Skills Training
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• Best Public Private Partnership in Vocational Education and Skills Training • Best Training Providers to Working Professionals • Best Assessment Tool for Measuring Skills Private Sector Initiative • Best mLearning Initiative of the Year • Best Innovative Practices in Schools • Best Innovation in Science Education • Best Interface Between Academia and Industry • Best Innovation in Teaching Pedagogy • Best Multi Media Content for K12 Education • Best Technology Solutions for Higher Education Institutes • Best Use of Social Media in Education • Best Test Preparation Services for Entrance Examinations • Best Innovation in Open and Distance Learning • Best Tools for Innovative Teaching and Learning
now World Education Award entries are now open to the public for voting For further information contact: Sheena Joseph awards@worldeducationsummit.net Mobile +91 – 8860651644 Awards to be announced at the World Education Summit venue between 13-15 July, 2011 at the Ashok, New Delhi Visit www.worldeducationsummit.net/awards
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