SHOWCASING OPEN and DISTANCE LEARNING: November 2010

Asia’s First Monthly Magazine on ICT in Education

INDIA VOLUME 6 | ISSUE 11 | NOVEMBER 2010 | ISSN 0973-4139 | ` 75 www.digitalLEARNING.in

SHOWCASING OPEN and DISTANCE LEARNING

6th Pan Commonwealth Forum

ALL IS WELL WITH INDIAN SECONDARY EDUCATION? Is the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan on track?

WAKING UP TO NEEDS OF DIFFERENTLY ABLED Assistive technologies for inclusive society

Prof P R Ramanujam, Pro-Vice Chancellor, IGNOU

Indira Gandhi National Open University www.ignou.ac.in

A SPECIAL ISSUE BROUGHT IN ASSOCIATION WITH IGNOU

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VOLUME 6 ISSUE 11 NOVEMBER 2010

digitalLEARNING

ISSN 0973-4139

RNI NO. UPENG/2008/25311

Conte COVER STORY

ALL IS WELL WITH INDIAN SECONDARY EDUCATION?

Outlook of the Indian middle school education scheme, the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyaan

REGULAR FEATURES

NEWS

INTERVIEW

National

International

Corporate

CBSE Revamping K-12 Education

TECH FOCUS

Waking up to Needs of Differently Abled

Creating a Niche in Open Learning Themes for Deliberation at the PCF6 Platform

Prof P R Ramanujam, Pro-Vice Chancellor, IGNOU

Expertsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Invite all for PCF6

Success & Access in Learning

Dev Lahiri, Principal, Welham Boys School on his philosophy of education and training

Launch of PanCommonwealth Forum on Open Learning

Technological Outreach to Values

Connecting Schools

MY JOURNEY

SCHOOL TRACK

Aligning Higher Education with World Standards

CASE STUDY

PHOTO GALLERY

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COMMENTARY

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HIGHER EDUCATION

DEVELOPMENT AGENDA

Ode to the ODL Guys

Krishnan Ganesh, Founder & CEO, TutorVista

Visit www.digitallearning.in for news, interviews, resources and articles on ICT in education in India

EDITORIAL

Technology is for Education The year 2010 saw quite a few major events and stories across school and higher education sector. Some of the precursors of one of the most awaited events near the end of the year is being unfolded in this issue. This issue brings to its readers information on the 6th PanCommonwealth Forum (PCF), a platform on ‘Open Learning’ and global development. It is to spell-out through its workshops, the importance and role of technology in furthering open learning. The event is to take place from 24-28 November 2010 at Le-Meridien, Cochin Resort and Convention Centre (Kochi, Kerala), India; and is themed around the issue of ‘Access and Success in Learning: Global Development Perspectives’. The conference will include participation from over 70 countries and is being organised by Indira Gandhi National Open University and Commonwealth of Learning. This issue, furthermore, floats the current scenario related to Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abiyan (RMSA) that aims at providing universal access and quality secondary education; and Assistive Technology for the differently-abled in education. Secondary education is gaining importance in India because it is at this stage that students prepare for higher education and also for employment. Standards IX and X constitute the secondary stage in school and the normal age group of the children in secondary classes is 14-16. The kind of education at this level decides for Indian students their success at future education or job. Therefore, the need for enhancing access and quality is imperative at the said level. RMSA also works towards ensuring that students acquire sufficient skills till they reach class VIII so that they have the vocational knowledge which is basic for employment.

Advisory Board Prof. Asha Kanwar, Vice President, Commonwealth of Learning Dr. Jyrki Pulkkinen, CEO, Global eSchools & Communities Initiative (GeSCI)

The latter is a note on adaptive technological devices that support the differently-abled population. These are a part of what is called as the Adaptive Technology (AT). Assistive technologies have come as a boon to the differently-abled population. It has enabled them to participate more widely in public life. Though still in its nascent stages in India, assistive technologies – if properly promoted and used – could bring about revolutionary changes and facilitate the creation of a truly inclusive society. In this issue we find out more about what these technologies have to offer. So, join us in this endeavour to cover the current national and technological happenings in space of education.

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)

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

President: Dr. M P Narayanan | Editor-in-Chief: Dr. Ravi Gupta | Managing Editor: Shubhendu Parth | VP - Strategy: Pravin Prashant Product Manager: Dipanjan Banerjee (Mob: +91-9968251626) Email: dipanjan@elets.in Editorial Team: Dr. Prachi Shirur, Dr. Rajeshree Dutta Kumar, Divya Chawla, Sheena Joseph, Yukti Pahwa, Sangita Ghosh De, Pratap Vikram Singh, Gayatri Maheshwary Sales & Marketing Team: Fahimul Haque (Mobile: +91-9873277808), Debabrata Ray, Arpan Dasgupta, Bharat Kumar Jaiswal, Anuj Agarwal, Priya Saxena, Vishal Kumar (sales@elets.in), Rakesh Ranjan Subscription & Circulation: Manoj Kumar, Gunjan Singh (subscription@elets.in) Graphic Design Team: Bishwajeet Kumar Singh, Om Prakash Thakur, Shyam Kishore Web Development Team: Zia Salahuddin, Amit Pal, Sandhya Giri, Anil Kumar IT Team: Mukesh Sharma | Events: Vicky Kalra Editorial & Marketing Correspondence: digitalLearning - G-4 Sector 39, NOIDA 201301, India, Phone: +91 120 2502181-85, Fax: +91 120 2500060, Email: info@digitalLearning.in digitalLEARNING is published by Elets Technomedia Pvt. Ltd. in technical collaboration with Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS). Owner, Publisher, Printer - Ravi Gupta, Printed at Vinayak Print Media D-320, Sector 10, Noida, U.P. and published from 710, Vasto Mahagun Manor, F-30, Sector - 50, Noida, UP | Editor: Ravi Gupta

digital LEARNING

NOVEMBER 2010

FOREWORD

Educate, Equip and Empower the Youth to Embrace the Global Challenges It is indeed an honour and a great privilege for Indira Gandhi National Open University to co- organise and bring the 6th Pan Commonwealth Forum (PCF6) to India this year in collaboration with the Commonwealth of Learning (COL). The Pan-Commonwealth Forum has grown to become one of the world’s leading conferences on open learning and global development. The principle theme for PCF6 is Access and Success in Learning: Global Development Perspectives. The thematic issues around which thought leaders and scholars from across the Commonwealth countries will deliberate are social justice, community development, skill development and formal education towards achieving success and access in learning. It is indeed an honour to share with you all that we are unleashing the ODL Achievers’ awards by felicitating those extraordinary individuals who have achieved benchmarked success through ODL system. Education has been an instrument of transformation. The transformation, however, cannot come about without quality, effectiveness, accountability and efficiency. In the Indian context, the challenges of higher education have been dynamic. While on the one hand, the decade is being celebrated as that of the innovation, there is a vast number of students that are still out of the gamut of any form of education pertaining to many social and economic challenges. While the youth today is forced to join the work force and also there is a strong need to combat the economic challenges, there is an equal need to educate, equip and empower them for a better tomorrow and also to prepare them at par with the global requirements. The flexible and innovative characteristics of the Open and Distance Learning (ODL) system allow for meeting the requirements of heterogeneous group of learners at low cost. Of 0.5 million students per year, 40 percent of the incremental students’ population at post secondary level, are opting for the open and distance mode. The year 2009-10 has been celebrated as that of the Silver Jubilee year at Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) with a series of lectures, consultations and seminars. The year has also witnessed IGNOU opening up opportunities for the students and professionals to adequately grow in the global context with various new initiatives, courses and Memorandum of Understanding. IGNOU has initiated an exemplary leadership by engaging the academia, industry, various government agencies and international agencies. The objective has been to enhance and build successfully the access of education for the student community through ODL System. The PCF6 is an extension towards the defined objective. I welcome all the distinguished guests and delegates from all across the globe for an invigorated conferencing and sharing at the forum. I commend and congratulate digital LEARNING magazine for bringing a special issue on PCF6 highlighting the historical contexts of the event, delineating on the various themes of PCF6 at such an opportune time. While I appreciate the efforts of the editorial team of the magazine for their pursuit in drawing a detailed account of the PCF6 Special, I also wish them good luck for their future initiatives.

PROF VN RAJASEKHARAN PILLAI Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University

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NEWS

NATIONAL

FARMERS IN CLASSROOMS AT IGNOU A new certificate programmes has been introduced by Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) for the benefit of farmers in the state of West Bengal. The programmes were launched by the Minister for Agriculture and Consumer Affairs, Government of West Bengal, Narendra Nath Dey in the EMPC studio at IGNOU. The three months long programmes are Integrated Pest Management Technology in Potato cultivation and Short Term Training programmes for farmers of Betelvine. They have been developed by the Regional Centre, Kolkata and the School of Agriculture, IGNOU. Around 8000 farmers are being sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of West Bengal for these programmes. These are training intensive programmes in which farmers will be taught practically about how to control pests through demonstrations and relevant theory classes. The programme launch was telecast live on Gyan Darshan channel.

PUNJAB PLANS TO E-LITERATE EVERY STUDENT The Punjab Government is to come up with 494 more new computer labs under the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) project in Government and Govt. Aided schools in the state. The initiative aims to digitally literate every student of Punjab state. Besides, 3,564 more computer teachers would also be recruited in the schools. Punjab ICT Education Society (PICTES) had launched this ambitious computer learning programme for 6th to 12th classes in all upper primary and secondary schools the state in a phased manner. It was reported that three phases of the ICT education programme are running in line with the plan and in the forth phase the government would be facilitating 136 computer labs in the remaining government schools and 358 labs in government aided schools to impart computer literacy to students. It is anticipated that under the ICT project, 3,564 more computer teachers would be recruited for these labs which included 494 teachers for the new labs and 3070 teachers for existing government schools.

MOBILE TO LOCATE MISPLACED ITEMS Two students from IIT Madras in their second year of education in the engineering design department have developed a technique, blutag, to locate the misplaced things using the blue-tooth technology and mobile phone. The item to be located is tagged with a Bluetooth module, each of which has unique code. The code will be embedded in a barcode sticker or a chip-like object. This will then be pasted on items that you want to tag. The students have written a code for a mobile application. When you need to locate the object, all you have to do is specify which object you are looking for and the application searches for the unique code of the object and connects with the Bluetooth module, which would then beep and glow to reveal its location. Students to execute the said idea have used Java application. Blutag is a spirit of engineering (SOE) project developed at the Centre For Innovation on the campus.

EDUCATION ADVERTISEMENTS TO BE REGULATED BY GUIDELINES Education sector topped the charts in print advertising this year. It will be required to follow certain advertising guidelines from October 2010.The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) will shortly release the guidelines approved by the ASCI board. Some of the institutes that advertise regularly over the said period include Lovely Professional University, Maharana Pratap Group of Institutions, Manav Rachna International University and Aakash Institute. The proposed guidelines bar the educational institutions from claiming that enrollment in the institution or programme will provide the student a temporary or permanent job, job promotions or salary increase, etc, unless the advertiser is able to substantiate and also assume full responsibility of the advertisement. Additionally, advertisements shall not make claims regarding extent of the batch placed, highest or average compensation of the students placed, admissions of students to renowned educational institutes, and affiliation with a foreign institution, etc, unless they are substantiated with evidence.

` 3,000 CRORE FOR UPCOMING 16

CENTRAL VARSITIES

Recently, the Union Cabinet approved the proposal for incurring an expenditure not exceeding ` 3,000 crore during the Eleventh FiveYear Plan Period for setting up of 13 new central universities. Three state universities are to be converted into central universities within this plan. 16 Central Universities were established in the various States under the Central Universities Act, 2009. While 13 of them are new Central Universities, three have been established by conversion of the erstwhile State Universities into Central Universities. This will increase access and enhance quality of higher education in the country.

digital LEARNING

NOVEMBER 2010

NEWS

INTERNATIONAL

GHANA UEW LAUNCHES DISTANCE-LEARNING CENTRE Over 10 hectre land and a four classroom block with offices and an ICT centre for its distance learning programme has been given by the Techiman Municipal Assembly to the authorities of the University of Education, Winneba, at Ghana. This brings to three, in addition to those at Bechem and Attebubu, the number of study centres in the Brong-Ahafo Region. The Techiman Municipal Chief Executive, Alex Kofi Kyeremeh, described that for a number of years the skills and competencies of the people, especially, the teachers, have been improved without leaving the classrooms through the said facility, which brought higher education closer to them. The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba, Prof Akwasi Asabere-Ameyaw, mentioned the move was an opportunity for the University to locate closer to its clients.

LONDON SCHOOLS OUTSOURCE MATHEMATICS CLASSES TO INDIA

INDIAN HEAD FOR HARVARD SCHOOL OF DESIGN

Ashmount Primary school in north London has outsourced mathematics teaching to India. Shortage of mathematics teachers in British schools has for some time presented an opportunity to Indians to teach the subject. Many of them have even immigrated to Britain to teach mathematics. A British firm, Bright Spark Education Company (BSEC), is facilitating the online mathematics classes by teachers thousands of miles away in Ludhiana. Lessons are booked 24 hours in advance; and at a stipulated students log on and converse with their tutor over the Internet. The lessons, designed for children between seven and 16, cost £12 an hour; and parents sign up for blocks of two or five hours. The students appear to be excited about the project.

IRELAND GOVT TO PUT € 20M FOR ICT EQUIPMENT FOR SCHOOLS It has been recently announced by the government that the next phase of its 150m Smart Schools = Smart Economy Strategy and a follow up on last year’s 23.3m investment in hardware, will be a further of 20.7m in grants for 698 schools to buy ICT equipment. In order to implement ICT as an integral part of the learning process, Ireland primary schools are to receive a base grant of 1,700 and a payment of 63.45 to buy equipment. Schools based in socially disadvantaged areas – designated DEBE (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) – will receive a higher basic grant of 2,550.

CHEMISTRY NOBEL PRIZE GOES TO JAPANESE, US RESEARCHERS Richard F Heck of the US and Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki of Japan have been awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry, it was announced in Stockholm recently. Development of a chemical tool used for creating advanced chemicals, ‘palladium-catalyzed cross couplings in organic synthesis’ helped the three win the prize. Among its uses are carbon-based molecules that are as complex as those created by nature. The chemistry prize is the third Nobel Prize to be announced this year.

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One of America’s most prestigious Harvard University has appointed a noted Indian urban designer and educator, Rahul Mehrotra, Professor, Urban Design and Planning, and Chair of the department of Urban Planning and Design. Additionally, he has been invited by Harvard’s South Asia Initiative to be part of their steering committee as they define new areas of engagement in the region. At the Graduate School of Design, he will teach and hold seminars on architecture and urbanisation in India, and work with students on research projects related to infrastructure, historic preservation, and questions of rapid growth and extreme urban conditions in South Asia. He has long been actively involved in civic and urban affairs in Mumbai, having served on commissions on historic conservation and environmental issues, with various neighborhood and citizens groups, and, from 1994 to 2004, as executive director of the Urban Design Research Institute. He is a well known writter in field of architecture, conservation, and urban planning in Mumbai and elsewhere in India.

NEWS

CORPORATE

EXPANSION ON CARDS FOR EDIFY EDUCATION

A section of DRS Group, Edify Education plans to have pan-India presence through launch of 50 franchised Edify Schools, 250 Franchised Edify Kids pre-schools, and 10 company owned International schools by 2015, confirmed a company official. An investment of INR 500 crore is being considered for investment in this expansion plan of its network of schools to around 300 across India. It has combined the best teaching techniques and practices CBSE and other global orientations to provide ‘international’ education at an inexpensive fee. These schools will run on the 3-C philosophy-character, competence and content. The assessment technique in these schools will target to evaluate child’s ability to conceptualise, process information and apply the same in a creative manner.

HUGES AND VENERA PARTNER TO DELIVER EASY, AFFORDABLE EDUCATION IN INDIA Venera Technologies, a service provider of digital multimedia solutions and Hughes, a global provider of broadband satellite networks announced a partnership that is to facilitate Venera to offer its Virtual Classroom platform IeraTM for delivering online education using VSAT and Internet in Tier B and C cities through HughesNet Fusion centers in the country. Hughes’s usage of IeraTM will enable aspirants from small towns in India to get an access to professional education from premium institutes without migrating to big cities, as a viable education solution.

ICAI PARTNERS WITH USE FOR KNOWLEDGE In order to disseminate comprehensive knowledge of financial markets to its members, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with United Stock Exchange (USE). Inclusive of the partnership is an understanding that members of ICAI will be educated by the USE through seminars, panel discussions and workshops on financial markets and corporate governance. ICAI would provide institutional support and facilitate interactions with its members wherein USE would impart relevant knowledge. The MoU has been signed for a term of 3 years and would be renewed subsequently on mutual consent. USE was launched recently with record volumes and has been the market leader since launch. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, functioning under the aegis of Ministry of Corporate Affairs, is a statutory body established under the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 for the regulation of the profession of Chartered Accountants in India.

MANIPAL LAUNCHES FIRST ELEARNING SOLUTION FOR ENGINEERING COLLEGES Manipal K 12 Education announced the launch of India’s first digital learning solution for engineering colleges. Recently, launched India’s first digital learning solution for engineering colleges, that targets to empower faculty with learning aids and objects and help them create the technology leaders of tomorrow. After establishing leadership in the K-12 segment with its digital learning solutions: DigiClass and DigitALly, that won many customers and awards. Manipal K-12 Education has extended its offerings to the engineering colleges segment. The solution entails rich digital content, a content repository, enhancement and delivery framework and hardware elements such as servers, multimedia computers, interactive projectors, UPS equipment etc. that are installed in the classroom.

MERITTRAC LAUNCHES AUTHENTRAC 10 million professional entrance exams, 130 million semester exams and 50 million Government/PSU recruitment exams: these are the number of exams that candidates appear for, in our country. Almost all of these exams are conducted in a traditional paper-pencil mode and the exam process relies solely on the signature of the candidate as a proof of identity, post facto. With the intense competition to get the right seat, the appropriate marks and the plum Government post, this process of authentication remains by far the weakest link of the paper-pencil exam process, providing an opportunity for thousands of impersonations to happen routinely. In the last year alone, a quick search on news articles of impersonation has thrown up over 125 cases that have been highlighted by the national media alone. The current process of authentication in the traditional paper-pencil mode today is to match the facial features of the candidate with the photograph on the hall (admission) ticket, and to match the signature of the candidate that is on the hall-ticket with the one that the candidate signs on the attendance sheet. While there are several drawbacks of the photograph verification (old photos, smudged prints, etc.), this photo verification process by the invigilator is not recorded anywhere at all and hence the signature becomes the sole artifact of authentication once the examination is conducted.

digital LEARNING

NOVEMBER 2010

NEWS

Aiding Advances in Indian Schools The CBSE is revamping K-12 education. Read on to find out how By Yukti Pahwa

ately, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has been in the limelight for all the right reasons. It has been indulging in developmental activities and revamping of school education system. The recent engagements CBSE has been involved in, include issues related to proficiency tests for tenth standard students (Students’ Global Aptitude Index (SGAI) to be held in 2011, Complete and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE), and making efforts for establishment of research and development centre in India. Introduction of the above mentioned schemes is to enable student friendly education and introducing learning centric culture in the school. The proficiency test for tenth standard students has been outsourced by CBSE and is being developed in form of pilot paper by Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE). The aim of the test is to examine the understanding of students of the five subjects rather than direct recall or memory based capabilities. The final version (two and a half hour test) papers are to be developed by January. The tests will commence in May-June 2011. The CCE is a new project under which CBSE is trying to encourage student participation in group activities during school hours and discouraging carrying work back home in form of homework. The information on CCE programme has been cited on CBSE website including details on Formative Assessment and Summative Assessment. The most interesting initiative taken up by CBSE has been its plan to set up a research and development centre on the model of public private partnership (PPP). For the purpose of the same, CBSE is to

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partner with internationally reputed notfor-profit institutions. The idea behind creating this place is to provide an educational resource pool, building teacher capacity through training, creating conducive teaching learning environment, defining assessment policies, student learning, professional development of students, and teacher recruitment and evaluation; within the framework abiding to international quality standards. This would encourage best practices amongst the schools, working within guidelines prescribed by CBSE. Additionally, the centre will act as an aid to Human Resource Development Minister, Kapil Sibal’s educational reforms.

With these reforms underway, CBSE is opening doors for students to receive quality education, with equity (with respect to examinations) and access to internationally standardised educational applications and resources. On the flip side, it is too early to comment on the success of these efforts as application of any initiative in a real life situation is not free of the challenges that accompany it. Especially, incase of our country – a developing nation – where access, quality, standardisation of education, teacher training, evaluation of both students and teachers, processes of education and so on - all are still under construction. \\

COVER STORY

All is Well with Indian Secondary Education? Outlook of the Indian middle school education scheme, the Rashtriya Madhyamik Siksha Abhiyan By Yukti Pahwa

he Union Government launched Rashtriya Madhyamik Siksha Abhiyan (RMSA), a programme for â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Universalisation of Access to and Improvement of Quality of Education at Secondary Stage (SUCCESS)â&#x20AC;&#x2122;, which is a centrally sponsored scheme that envisages to provide free secondary education to students in the age group of 14 to 18 years. The objective of the scheme is to improve the middle level school education

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in terms of quality, access, infrastructure, educational aids, quality teaching, teacher training, etc. Elaborating on certain features the government described that the scheme entails supporting high capacity in secondary schools across country through provision of infrastructure and resources; filling missing gaps in secondary education; and removing disparities through emphasis on support of education of girls, rural children and the children belonging to weaker section of

the society for supporting quality teaching-learning process in schools. This government initiative was thought of as an extension of another national level programme for elementary education, commonly known as the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). SSA was launched in 2006-07. Both the programmes have common target of providing universal access and quality education to school age children, respectively. One of the important features of RMSA is creation of a

Secondary Education Management Information System (SEMIS). A total amount of `20,120 crore (for all states) has been allocated for this scheme under 11th Five Year Plan for implementation of RMSA. As per the provision of the scheme, the Centre shall bear 75% of the project expenditure during the 11th five-year plan while states’ share will be the remaining 25%. Sharing pattern will be 50:50 for the 12th five-year plan. For both the 11th and 12th five-year plans, funding pattern will be 90:10 for North Eastern States. RMSA IN ACTION There was a huge recruitment drive under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan, under which applications were invited. For instance in Punjab, during January the RMSA authority advertised for 70 posts for experts in the fields of Mathematics, Hindi, Physical Education and so on. At Bapupara, Imphal, in Manipur, a building was made for RMSA exclusively by the State Education Minister, L Jayentakumar, which was constructed at an estimated cost of `35 lakh. One of the foremost localised challenges at this RMSA centre was to adept teachers in the region, with training, to match the global standards on teaching. RMSA’s main focus is government schools. However, due to low number of schools in West Bengal, Ministry of Human Resource and Development decided to adjust the scheme accordingly. The exception in rules was brought only for the state of Bengal it has the lowest percentage of secondary schools in the government sector. According to the change in the “abhiyan rules”, the government is to fund not only the government schools that are less than 5% in number in the state but also some selected private schools. In Tamil Nadu the first major activity that preceded the implementation of the scheme, took place in Tiruchi with an orientation on computer literacy for

The objective of the scheme is to achieve a General Enrolment Ratio (GER) of 75% for classes IX-X within five years by providing a secondary school within a reasonable distance of every habitation, to improve quality of education imparted at secondary level through making all secondary schools conform to prescribed norms, to remove gender, socio-economic and disability barriers, universal access to secondary level education by 2017 and universal retention by 2020.

65 District Educational Officers and 325 computer science teachers. In Nagaland, RMSA has been rolled out with 90:10 Central-Sate sharing pattern scheme, having an approval of `85 crores in the 2nd phase of the implementation of the initiative. Alongside with this scheme in order to make education of good quality available, accessible and affordable for all the young children of Nagaland, holistic Perspective Plans for Model Schools, Girls Hostels and Mahila Samakhya have also been formulated and accepted in principle by the MHRD. TECHNOLOGY@RMSA RMSA as a scheme is being implemented in line with other programmes such as ICT mission of the government, whereby government is facilitating quality education with inculcation of technology across aspects such as content development and management, teacher training, infrastructure and equipment, administration, and so on. The idea is to supplement teachers increase effectiveness and efficiency, and not replace them. Amit Kaushik while agreeing with the above says, “ICT can play a very important part in implementing RMSA. For instance, India is the only country in the world that

has an education satellite, EDUSAT. Use of technology like this to deliver parts of the curriculum can be a very effective tool in the classroom. However it must always be remembered that ICT is no substitute for good, trained teachers; ICT can supplement but never supplant their efforts.” THE CHALLENGES RMSA presents as many challenges, as the number of opportunities. It aims to provide a platform for mass education aiming to enhance the GER from 52% at present to 75% by 2014. It aims to facilitate improvement in secondary education through the funding that it provides to schools, from the central government. These funds are being used for expansion of infrastructure, improvement of classrooms and assisting states in publicity drives for education. The other interventions that would be supported by the RMSA scheme would be providing for infrastructure in schools such as new classrooms with furniture, library, science laboratory, computer room and disabled-friendly provisions and help in recruitment of more teacher, provision of in-service training along with teaching aids such as ICT, and special focus would

digital LEARNING

NOVEMBER 2010

Government say on RMSA and Role of Technology SHRI SC KHUNTIA JOINT SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

In order to support RMSA, we have other schemes that are to help us to support ICT in schools. Started in 2004, the scheme has been revamped 2010 to make it more ambitious. Three years from now every higher secondary and secondary school in the country must be ICT enabled, which would imply to 1,60,000 secondary and higher secondary schools in the country out of which 1,08,000 schools are with government or government aided and remaining are private/unaided schools. We are ushering a system for all schools to have certain basic ICT infrastructure and related activities…Unfortunately many people assume that ICT is only about presence of hardware, so they provide with computers but do not address issues of providing teachers and content. And that is why two year back we encouraged states to go for a good model instead of buying computers… If private entities participate and provide computers and a time is guaranteed where they facilitate ICT learning, they get paid. So within three to five years they see to it that hardware and software are available and then accordingly they get paid. It has been done in several cases, where they also provided teachers to provide ICT information to students, who acted as ICT coordinators. In CBSE we have an additional paper on IT, which is not a compulsory subject but students can appear for it and they get a certificate for that. So that minimum ICT competency certificate can help them in future. All state boards also have IT related subjects alongside the main curriculum. We are not envisaging that ICT will replace the teacher, that maybe the case in Australia or New Zealand where there is an acute shortage of manpower. We are not acutely short of manpower and I don’t think the face to face interaction between the teacher and the student should be wished away. Maybe after 100 years… So, what is required is that teachers use ICT tools to make learning more effective, more interesting and enjoyable. Besides this in educational administration process also, there is a huge scope for use of ICT. We have a system called SEMIS, i.e., Secondary Education Management Information System, whih is a web-based system where primary data can be fed in from school level itself. From this analysis we will have information where the schools lack and where improvement can be made.

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be given to girls belonging to SC,ST and minorities. Lack of liberal use of funds, opening of desired number of government schools in the country, lack of quality teaching and teachers, and so on are some of the leading challenges. Amit Kaushik, CEO, Pratham Education Foundation says, “RMSA is a natural and much needed response to the impact of the government’s flagship programme for universalising elementary education, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). After nearly ten years of the programme, about 94% children in the 6-14 year age group today are enrolled in elementary school; it is inevitable that a significant proportion of this number will wish to transition to secondary education. Today, only about one-third of all children remain in the system till the secondary stage, and RMSA will help to address issues of access and improvement of quality at the secondary level.” THE PRIVATE SECTOR ROLE Private schools and corporates are being encouraged to participate in the RMSA drive. Availability of funds, quality infrastructure, self-sufficiency and profitbased institutions are some of the factors which are mostly present in a private school set-up. If private institutions and corporates agree to aid the cause of RMSA, some factors such as disparity in education can be brought down significantly, if not completely. However, inclusion is a factor that needs attention not only at school level but also at pre-school level. Corporates can especially come forward to enhance quality and reach. According to Amit Kaushik, “I believe that it is high time we re-examine our attitude towards private investment in schools. After the Supreme Court judgment in the TMA Pai case, it has been held that profit making has no place in education; the fact however is that several private players are already in the market and they operate by bending, if not breaking, these rules. Others who could bring significant resources to this sector prefer to stay out because they do not wish to break the law. In the long term, expecting the private sector to invest in education from purely philanthropic motives is not sustainable, and unless we are prepare to legally allow a reasonable rate of return on capital invested, it will be difficult to attract capital. If we are able to amend our laws suitably, the private sector can actually support schemes like RMSA a great deal, bringing about transparency, more efficiency and improvement in quality.” \\

TECH FOCUS

Waking up to Needs of Differently Abled Diverse range of assistive technologies has the potential of bridging the gap and bringing down barrierswhich were earlier seen as inevitable for the differently abled population. We explore the world of assistive technologies and find out what it has to offer to the population with special needs Assistive technology for learners with low vision By Sheena Joseph

ith the passage of the Right to Education Act, India has taken a historic step in providing education to all its citizens. However, within this population also include Persons with Disabilities (PWDs). Increasingly, there has been a growing concern for the rights of the disabled, which has till now surpassed the attention of policy makers in India. According to the estimates of the World Health Organisation, 70% of the world’s disabled reside in developing countries. The millennium development goals have given high priority to universalisation of primary education by 2015 and also reiterates its commitment towards the provision of an inclusive society with equal opportunities for the disabled. However, major efforts still have to made in India for the promotion of education for the disabled. It is estimated that only two per cent of the 70 million

Guiding Principles of the UN Convention on the Rights for Persons with Disabilities There are eight guiding principles that underlie the Convention and each one of its specific articles: • Respect for inherent dignity, individual autonomy including the freedom to make one’s own choices, and independence of persons • Non-discrimination • Full and effective participation and inclusion in society • Respect for difference and acceptance of persons with disabilities as part of human diversity and humanity • Equality of opportunity • Accessibility • Equality between men and women • Respect for the evolving capacities of children with disabilities and respect for the right of children with disabilities to preserve their identities

disabled persons have proper access to education in India. Children with special needs are excluded from mainstream schooling because of a variety of reasons. This may include lack of proper

awareness about the needs of the disabled, absence of relevant infrastructure and dearth of training for teachers. Advancements in technology have brought in several means through which educa-

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tion of children with disabilities can be promoted. These have included assistive technologies, diverse learning platforms, ubiquitous web, digital libraries and resources. It becomes mandatory therefore that stakeholders in the education sector are fully equipped to harness the power of technologies in this field. ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIES FOR AN INCLUSIVE SOCIETY “Assistive technology solutions can range from the simple to the complex, but they all have one thing in common – they assist people with a wide range of disabilities and impairments to overcome their limitations and achieve greater independence.” Shilpi Kapoor, managing director, BarrierBreak Technologies There are 70 million people with disabilities in India and still on the rise. Technology can be the enabler in the lives of persons with disabilities. It can impact their lives in education, employment, and social life. Any aid, device, gadget or tool that helps someone with a disability or a handicap overcome the barriers caused by their disability or handicap can be called assistive technology. These are technologies that help the blind to perform activities that typically require ‘seeing’, the deaf to do things that would typically require them to ‘hear’ and the non-verbal to accomplish tasks that would typically need ‘speech’.

“Assistive technology solutions can range from the simple to the complex, but they all have one thing in common – they assist people with a wide range of disabilities and impairments to overcome their limitations and achieve greater independence”

SHILPI KAPOOR MANAGING DIRECTOR, BARRIERBREAK TECHNOLOGIES

A person with cognitive or learning impairment who has difficulties reading, writing and spelling or has Dyslexia can use literacy software solutions. It includes Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and converts scan printed pages into electronic text, the digital talking book player allows the user to read and listen to content through a combination of text, audio and images. A hearing impaired person can use the hearing aid compatible and large key phone for assistance. For Aswin Chandrasekaran, CEO, Invention Labs, assistive technologies have helped the disabled persons integrate better with society and, as a consequence, have promoted a more inclusive society. When the barriers posed by a disability are overcome and are no longer perceived as barriers or handicaps, the

The 2001 census report of India for the first time incorporated disability in its count and listed a massive 4.3 million differentlyabled children in the age group of 6-14 years in India, majority of whom are deprived of education. Assistive technologies can play an important role in addressing issues of accessibility and support an inclusive society

Several technology companies have been trying to develop products that can help the disabled use computers comfortably and effectively. They provide assistive technology for all disabilities such as mobility, visual, hearing and learning impairment. A person with mobility impairment can use technology with adaptive keyboard featuring keys that are four times bigger or mouse alternatives such as the Trackball Mouse to operate a computer.

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person with disability can and does become a meaningful contributor to her/his community and the society benefits as a whole due to their contributions. Srinivasu Chakravarthula, accessibility manager at Yahoo! Software Development (India) Pvt Ltd elaborates that people who have difficulty with their hands and can’t use a regular mouse will use something like Track ball, Switch or Head mounted mouse. “Assistive technologies allow for greater independence

by enabling people to perform tasks that they earlier couldn’t carry out or even had great difficulty completing. This is done by providing enhancements to or changed methods of interacting with the technology needed to accomplish such a task.” Assistive technologies are of immense help to people with disabilities to lead an independent life, he adds. ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIES FOR EDUCATION AMONG DISABLED CHILDREN Education can be made much more effective and accessible to persons with disability by including assistive technology products and services into the system. Text books used by students can be converted to digital talking books and be made available for the print impaired (people with learning and visual impairment). Computer aids such as screen readers, adaptive keyboards and desktop magnifiers can have a major impact in the education of persons with disability. The primary problem that needs to be addressed, says Kapoor, is the limited access to technology for people with disabilities. In education and day-today life, assistive technology is not available to the persons with disabilities. This hampers them in their education and growth.

Assistive device that allows a person to use a pen or pencil when they would otherwise be unable to grasp one

Many schools in India are not even aware of available assistive technologies, and thus the use of these technologies is minimal in schools across the country. Also, one needs to work on training the special educators so that they are aware of the technology and how it can benefit the students. Children are taught many skills, concepts and activities as part of their education, and some of these may be difficult to accomplish for disabled children. Assistive technologies can help in ensuring that the medium of instruction can be sufficiently modified to help disabled children overcome these challenges that are part of their education. These technologies will empower children to actively participate in their classrooms and ensure that they are provided a wellrounded education. Talking about the work of Inventions Lab in this regard, Chandrasekaran adds, “The experience of Inventions Lab has been limited to schools that are working with children with developmental disabilities. From what we have observed, assistive technologies can play a vital role in the education of children with special needs as well.” “Assistive technology is very useful in the education sector; may it be for visually impaired, mobility impaired or students with learning disabilities”, says Chakravarthula. A visually impaired person, who can’t read a physical book, can scan the same and read it using a computer with the help of screen reader such as Non

Visual Desktop Access (NVDA). They are able to attempt their examinations using the computer, instead of depending on a scribe to write for them and this will in fact, improve their output quality too. A mobility impaired student, who can not write using a pen can use voice recognition software on the computer. A learning disabled person, who can not read text can learn with the help of graphics, available through computer based AAC devices, like the Aavaz from Invention Labs. ICT TOOLS FOR TRACKING EDUCATION OF INTELLECTUALLY CHALLENGED CHILDREN Assistive technology offers effective solutions for independent learning to intel-

lectually challenged or learning disabled children. It can address various kinds of learning disability. Assistive technology has made considerable progress in helping intellectually challenged children become independent in classrooms and other day to day activities. “A child who finds it difficult to write words can use word prediction software to write efficiently”, says Kapoor. The clevy keyboard that features attractive playful colors for vowels, consonants, numbers and function keys can help students with learning disabilities. Specific softwares also have the power of inbuilt speech output facility which enables children using computers to write, read, view and check text alongside a human sounding voice. The use of ICT based integrated assessment tools for tracking the education and rehabilitation of intellectually challenged children also depends a lot on the disability. Explaining the diversity of assistive technologies Chakravarthula adds, “Today there are companies all across the world which are doing research on highly intuitive and advanced assistive technologies. We hear about advances like mind mapping, study skills, symbol based and touch-typing software. However, it is their adaptation and inclusion in different spheres of life that is more of a challenge.” Society in general needs to accept and implement these solutions keeping the various segments of society in mind. Like many tasks that have benefited with the right kind of ICT tool, ICT based integrated assessment tools, if they are designed well, can be very helpful in tracking the education and rehabilitation of intellectually challenged children.

Braille e-book readers transcribes text into Braille

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REVOLUTIONARY TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE DISABLED “Just like a person with a mild visual impairment can use spectacles to correct his or her vision, we envision a world where non-verbal persons have access to a portable solution like AVAZ to help them speak”, say Chandrasekaran. Each disability requires different kinds of technologies and there are many such technologies which are being developed that will revolutionize the world of persons with disabilities and create a more inclusive society. Invention Labs is working on one such technology for non-verbal persons AVAZ is the product which is India’s first portable speech synthesizer and enables non-verbal persons to convey virtually any thought in their mind by providing them an ‘artificial voice’. The principles of universal design is being followed by Inventions Labs so as to enable non-verbal persons with different kinds of disabilities to use the device. For example, the lack of motor control skills prevents persons with Cerebral Palsy, many of whom are non-verbal, from using traditional means of communication like writing or typing. AVAZ can easily be adapted for use by such persons with the help of commercially available access switches, many of which are compatible with the device. BarrierBreak Technologies has

“India is still a sleeping giant and is slowly waking up to concepts like assistive technologies and creating a truly inclusive society. If you look around, many of our government offices are not disabled friendly. The same is the case for public utility services like transport”

SRINIVASU CHAKRAVARTHULA ACCESSIBILITY MANAGER, YAHOO! SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT (INDIA) PVT LTD

bridge to connect the hearing impaired with the hearing world. Literacy software solutions are also useful for those who have difficulties reading, writing and spelling or have Dyslexia. By harnessing the power of the inbuilt speech output facility, computer users can write, read, view and check text alongside a human sounding voice. High tech readers can be used by a visually impaired person to read any kind of printed material. ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IN PROMOTING USE OF ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIES Acording to Chakravarthula, “India is still a sleeping giant and is slowly waking up to concepts like assistive technologies and creating a truly inclusive society. If

Technology for the special educational needs of children

launched the Signntalk website (www. signntalk.org) in India, the first of its kind, to enable the hearing impaired community to communicate with the hearing world using sign language. Signntalk acts as a

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you look around, many of our government offices are not disabled friendly. The same is the case for public utility services like transport.” Overall, the use of assistive technologies for the promo-

tion of the rights of the disabled requires greater support and encouragement from the government. As Kapoor puts it, “There has not been much initiative from the government in promoting the use of assistive technologies among persons with disabilities. Provisions have been made under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan stating that the needs of children with disabilities should be fully addressed in the mainstream education and that all children must get the opportunity to go to their neighbourhood schools. However, not much has been done in making these products available to the students or the educational institutes.” Building awareness in is one of the areas which requires special attention. The government, NGOs, and corporates had not even heard of web accessibility. It is only through advocacy and awareness building initiatives that the Government of India released the ‘Guidelines for Indian Government Websites’. The impact of this has been felt by every disabled citizen of India, since every person can access government resources. The requirement for provision of aids and appliances to the disabled came into focus after the enactment of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, which came into force in 1996. There are some initiatives which have just started like distribution of assistive devices by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. Additionally, Delhi University is going to set up the Disability Cell. Chandrasekaran highlights some of the positive initiatives of the government in this field. “The Government of India has implemented many innovative schemes to help persons with disabilities to have access to relevant assistive technologies. For example, the ADIP scheme provides these products at subsidized rates to persons with disabilities who may not be able to afford it.” \\

DEVELOPMENT AGENDA

Creating a Niche in Open Learning The Commonwealth of Learning’s biennial Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning has grown to become the leading international conference on learning and development. It is co-hosted with partners in different regions of the Commonwealth By Yukti Pahwa

unique platform showcasing over 70 countries for deliberating and exploring potential of Open and Distance Learning is what Pan Commonwealth Forum(PCF) represents in today’s world. It is an international event that aims to bridge digital divide and advancing the social and economic development of communities and nations at large. The event is organised by the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), that has already hosted five of such events in past. These events were hosted in countries including Brunei, Darussalam (PCF1); Durban, South Africa, (PCF2); Dunedin, New Zealand (PCF3); Ocho Rios, Jamaica (PCF4), and London, U K (PCF5). This year PCF 6 is being hosted in Kochi, bringing the forum for the first time in India. Following is a peek-view of the PCF events that have taken place in the past.

PCF 1 PCF 1 took place in year 1999, from 1st to 5th March. It was organised amidst the celebration of ten years of the Commonwealth of Learning. The conference was themed ‘Empowerment through Knowledge and Technology’ and was co-hosted by the Brunei Darussalam Ministry of Education and Universiti Brunei Darussalam. The forum came into being as a result of the 13th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers held in Botswana, which took place in the year before PCF 1. PCF 1 was attended by eminent dignitaries including his Excellency Chief

Emeka Anyaoku, Commonwealth Secretary-General; Mia Amor Mottley, Minister of Education, Youth Affairs and Culture, Barbados; Clare Short, Secretary of State for International Development, Britain; Maurice Strong, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General Chairman, Earth Council; Noah A. Samara, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer WorldSpace Corporation; Sir John Daniel, Vice-Chancellor, The Open University, UK; Armoogum Parsuramen, Director, Division for the Renovation of Secondary & Vocational Education, UNESCO; and so on. The forum furthermore displayed case studies, workshops, poster displays and examples of work

following five sub-themes including nonformal adult and community education; corporate/industrial training; primary and secondary (open) schooling; technical and vocational education and training; and university and college education. In order to honour excellence COL also recognised contribution of outstanding achievements and established ‘a Commonwealth-wide Excellence in Distance Education Programme (EDEP)’. The EDEP further had four categories of awards - COL Anniversary Honours: recognising institutional achievements; COL President’s Awards: recognising excellent distance education materials; honorary fellows of COL: recog-

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nising individual achievements; and COL Learning Experience Award: recognising learners’ experiences. PCF 2 It took place from 29 July 2002 to 2 August 2002, at International Convention Centre (ICC), Durban, in the Kwa Zulu-Natal Province of South Africa. The event was themed as ‘Open Learning: Transforming Education for Development’. The second forum was to further examine the broad range of applications within the theme of open and distance learning. It showcased what is achievable with vision, concern for the learner, effective learning and learning facilitation and utilising and increasing appropriate use of technology. There were simultaneously organised the electronic conferences will be open to registered participants and others unable to attend the Forum. On-line, ‘virtual’ conferences were a great success at the inaugural forum and were again being organised to help the conference planners and delegates prepare for the Forum. The virtual conference was conducted via the dedicated Forum website and will take place in the first half of 2002. The established Commonwealth-wide Excellence in Distance Education Awards (EDEA) were again presented following the previous years categories. PCF 3 A successful Third Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning (PCF3) was held in Dunedin, New Zealand, from 4 - 8 July 2004, hosted by the Distance Education Association of New Zealand (DEANZ), the Government of New Zealand and the Commonwealth of Learning (COL). The theme for PCF3 was ‘Building Learning Communities for Our Millennium: Reaching Wider Audiences through Innovative Approaches’. The sub-themes include: Education, Health and Local Government. There were 412 registered participants. These included several governmental ministers, dignitaries and educationalists from 43 Commonwealth nations. Also, a series of four e-mail-based virtual conferences were held in May and June 2004 as a lead-up to the Third Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning. COL, this year announced award winners on 6 July 2004. Additionally, since the Distance Education Association of New Zealand (DEANZ) wished to promote and reward excellence in e-learning, distance, open and flexible learning, a category of award was introduced known to COL awards known as the ‘DEANZ Award’,

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open to individuals or groups in New Zealand, or New Zealand citizens living overseas, who have completed a project that meets the criteria of the Award. The conference saw the presence of Sir Shridath Ramphal, former Commonwealth Secretary-General (1975-1990) and former Foreign Minister of Guyana; Shona Butterfield, TEC Commissioner; Walter Erdelen, Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences, UNESCO; Ann Therese Ndong-Jatta, Secretary of State for Education, the Gambia; and so on. PCF 4 Presented by the Commonwealth of Learning and the Caribbean Consortium, the Fourth Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning (PCF4) was themed ‘Achieving Development Goals: Innovation, Learning, Collaboration and Foundations’ and took place at Sunset Jamaica Grande Resort, Ocho Rios, Jamaica, from 30 October - 3 November, 2006. The conference was chaired by Sir John Daniel, President and CEO, Commonwealth of Learning (COL) and Professor Stewart Marshall, Director, the University of the West Indies Distance Education Centre (UWIDEC). Prime Minister of Jamaica, the honourable Portia Simpson-Miller gave the opening address at the conference, while keynote speech was delivered by Sir John Daniel. Other eminent speakers at the conference included Winston Cox, Professor Penina Mlama and Dr Sugata Mitra. The sub-themes of the conference included innovation, learning, collaboration and foundations; in relation to ODL and technology-mediated learning and were chosen as a means to interrogate the development potential of our practice. Keeping up with the tradition COL’s ‘Excellence in Distance Education’ awards were presented at the forum on 2 November, 2006.

PCF 5 PCF5 was an international conference that deliberated and explored the contribution of open and distance learning to international development goals, by opening up access to learning at every level. The conference was co-hosted by COL and University of London, from 13-17 July 2008, at University of London. The forum, in 2008, was themed ‘Access to Learning for Development’, with focus on children and young people, health, livelihoods, governance, conflict and social justice. PCF 5 for the first time brought the event to Europe. The event sought to address open and distance learning through widening educational access, bridging the digital divide and by advancing the social and economic development of communities and nations at large. PCF5 brought together over 700 delegates from 70 countries.The conference took place at the Institute of Education, University of London. One of the objectives of PCF5 was to facilitate a dialogue that went beyond the conference in London and to support this objective, an online discussion forum on Googlegroups was launched. Additionally, Googlegroup discussions on each of the Forum’s four themes: Provision for Children and Young People, Governance, Health, and Livelihoods were also facilitated. Some of the key people present at the conference included Carol Bellamy, President and CEO of World Learning; Nicholas Burnett, Assistant Director-General for Education at UNESCO; Zamal Uddin Biswas, Grameen Bank, Bangladesh; Professor Lídia Brito, Assistant Professor of Wood Science and Technology, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Mozambique and former Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Mozambique; Dr Astrid Dufborg, GeSCI (global e-schools and communities initiative) and so on. \\

INTERVIEW

Envisioning Equity in Global Development Agenda The Pan Commonwealth Forum (PCF) brings together more than 70 countries to deliberate over issues relating to access and equity in educationthrough application of open and distance learning. Sheena Joseph, in conversation with Prof P R Ramanujam, finds out more about the 6th PCF event and its significance for IGNOU

How would you define the vision and mission of the 6th Pan Commonwealth Forum (PCF6)? PFC6 envisions an immediate possibility of combining the experiences of the developed and the developing worlds in providing equal opportunities with the global agenda of development implying equitable distribution of benefits through innovative open distance learning methods and programmes.The mission is to give an opportunity for practitioners, researchers, planners and policy makers in the field of open education and development to share their experiences in shaping the future policies of open learning with a view to achieving Millennium Development Goals by 2015 as committed by the UN. PCF6 has four main themes focussing on access and success in learning and global development perspectives. What is the significance of these themes in the current global scenario? In the current global scenario, we see a highly complex and contradictory picture of tremendous prosperity on one side, contrasted with extreme poverty on the other. In such a situation social justice should be seen as a real empowerment of people at the local, national and global context. Formal education with proper focus on skills development in the individual as well as community development alone can empower people. However, it is easier said than done. Unless we democratise education and

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develop appropriate skills for community development, empowerment will remain only a slogan. Without empowerment, equality, liberty and fraternity in a democratic society, and mutual respect, dignity and social justice cannot be expected. Hence, the four themes were set as the focus for PCF6. Could you elaborate on the how the PCF forum has evolved and matured over the years? PCF has been growing in stature and scope involving more than 70 countries. Around 700 participants took part in PCF5 held in London last year. This year, we expect over 1000 participants to take part in PCF6. We envision this trend to continue. Also, the variety of themes and the formats of the conference have been continuously evolving to include greater participation of countries and institutions, besides individuals. What are the key functions of the Pan-Commonwealth Forum Committees? The programme committee consists of several international personalities and experts who provide their guidance, support and advice on how to plan and implement the various events during the conference. The diverse local committees take care of the integration of the minutest details of the process, evaluate and select abstracts and full papers. They handle numerous correspondences, and meet from time to time to review the progress of the conference.

They provide expert advice to the PCF6 secretariat consisting of a handful of people who have to attend to a variety of complex tasks on a day to day basis. All these processes help in carrying forward and coordinating the pre-conference events being conducted at many different places simultaneously and culminating as a grand finale in Cochin. PCF6 is being jointly organised by the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) and Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). What is the special significance of this event for IGNOU? PCF6 coincides with the Silver Jubilee Celebrations of IGNOU that concludes on November 19, 2010. Several pre-conference workshops to be conducted by Commonwealth of Learning, IGNOU and many other institutions actually start on November 18, 2010. PCF6 is being conducted rather quietly and with little media glitter, although it deserves more media focus and support from various organisations. India as a emerging super power should pay more attention to education. The PCF6 platform will assume much more significance in wake of three major bills that will be passed by the Indian Parliament on National Council for Higher Education and Research, Educational Tribunal Bill, and the Foreign Universities Bill. PCF6 may offer significant insights to the shaping of a reform agenda of education at all levels in India today, after passing the Right to Education Act. \\

PROF P R RAMANUJAM PROGRAMME CHAIR AND PRO-VICE CHANCELLOR, INDIRA GANDHI NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY (IGNOU)

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COMMENTARY

Experts’ Invite All for PCF 6 Invitation to one and all, for PCF6 by the leaders of the forum

“I have great pleasure and privilege for welcoming delegates all over the world for 6th Pan Commonwealth Forum on open learning. Today distance education has revolutionised methods of education, leading to a learning revolution all over the world and Indira Gandhi National Open University has millions of students all over the country, the remotest distant areas learning about the latest science and technology and all aspects of human Endeavour. This forum is going to be exceedingly important because it talks about successful examples, as well as access. How do we replicate successes, how do we convert unique into universal, how do we connect people in the remotest places. Numerous methods are available today for providing access to people at the remotest places. Therefore, the sharing of global experiences, sharing of knowledge at this platform will be fruitful for the area which is of vital concern to all the humankind, especially towards realisation of MDG.” — Professor MS Swaminathan, Honorary Chair, PCF6

“On behalf of the Commonwealth Of Learning, which is organizing 6th Pan Commonwealth Forum with Indira Gandhi National Open University, I would like to welcome you warmly to attend this forum, in India. We are not so much interested in the technicalities of open and distance learning and technology mediated learning but at the impact of the use of those technologies in enhancing education training and learning generally. We are interested in their impact on four themes of the conference – expanding and enhancing formal education; attacking the vital area of skill development for millions of people who need to improve their skills in order to improve their livelihoods; development of communities because we live in communities and learning can make communities powerful; and finally, social justice which is a very important aspect of open learning, because by providing learning to general people one improves and increases justice in society.” — Sir John Daniel, Co-Chair, President & CEO of The Commonwealth of Learning

“Indira Gandhi National Open University is happy to announce the 6th Pan Commonwealth Forum, in collaboration with Commonwealth of Learning. The theme of the conference is ‘Access and Success Learning: Global Development Perspectives’. Experts and delegates from all Commonwealth countries are participating in this conference. Inclusive growth through inclusive education and educational agenda for growth and development are the main areas of dialogue and discussions in the conference. All the open universities and distance education providing institutes from India and the major world open universities from UK, Europe, China and South Asian countries are participating in this conference. As the Vice Chancellor of the host university IGNOU, I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to this very important international conference.” —Prof VN Rajasekharan Pillai, Co-Chair, Vice Chancellor IGNOU

“This is an invitation and welcome to all of you for 6th Pan Commonwealth Forum. The PCF event takes place every two years and this is the first time that event is taking place at Kochi in Kerela, the southern most state of India. The 6th Pan Commonwealth Forum is themed ‘Access and Success Learning: Global Development Perspectives’. It has four main themes including social justice, community development, skills development and formal education. Normally we talk about access and opportunity but focus of this forum is success. Success of any learning including open and distance learning is only possible if we go for social justice through community development, which is possible only through skills development. When all the above factors are conducive one can go for formal education, reaching the highest levels. Therefore, the conference is important for all of you to attend, participate and exchange your views and benefit mutually.” —Prof PR Ramanujam, Programme Chair, Pro Vice-Chancellor IGNOU

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COMMENTARY

Success & Access in Learning Excerpts from the speech by Sir John Daniel at the launch ceremony of the 6th Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning, Chennai, India, on 10th October, 2009

“It is a pleasure to be back in Chennai and to announce the launch of preparations for the 6th Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning in the presence of the Chair of our Honorary Academic Advisory Committee, Professor M S Swaminathan. As the number implies this will be the sixth in a series of increasingly impactful panCommonwealth forums on open learning. We are most grateful to IGNOU, the world’s largest open university with a full range of academic programmes, for agreeing to partner with us. We hope that PCF6 will showcase IGNOU to the world and not only IGNOU, but Indian expertise and experience in distance education more widely. No country has made a bigger commitment to the use of technology of open and distance learning in education than India. In higher education, as well as IGNOU, you have a dozen state open universities, represented here by the Vice-Chancellor of the Tamil Nadu Open University – a longstanding partner of the Commonwealth of Learning. The title we have chosen for PCF6 is Access and Success in Learning: Global Development Perspectives. We want to stress the importance of successful learning. We know now that with technology we can take learning to scale. We also know from examples that it is possible to take learning to scale with high quality. What we must do is achieve quality at scale consis-

tently in the most cost-effective manner. That is where the global exchange of experience is invaluable. The programme of PCF6, which will be developed under the able leadership of Dr Ramanujam, will aim for an integrated blend of themes and sessions, some originating in COL’s own programme of work, some in the papers submitted for presentation. This blend should not be difficult to achieve because COL’s programme of work for 2009-2012 was developed in the light of Commonwealth needs, contemporary trends, and government priorities – all in a perspective of global development... ...Access to success in learning does not only mean formal education. Global development depends on the informal and self-directed learning of billions of people. Skills development is the bridge between the formal and the non-formal. Technical and vocational education in institutions is fine, but we also need more informal learning that leads directly to improved livelihoods.... ...Open Educational Resources are sure to be a lively topic of debate. These are just some of the themes that will generate passionate discussions at PCF6. Over the years the PCFs have gained a reputation as the most interesting and vital conferences addressing the intersection of development, learning and technology. I am sure that the 6th Pan-Commonwealth Forum

SIR JOHN DANIEL

President and CEO, The Commonwealth of Learning (COL)

on Open Learning will take that reputation to even greater heights and it is a pleasure to be here to announce it in India today and to announce the selection of the logo for PCF6 after a competition that attracted 120 entries. It is very appropriate that the winner is an MBA student of IGNOU...” \\

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DEVELOPMENT AGENDA

Themes for Deliberation Access to education has been an issue which has been largely talked about, although go. The proceedings of PCF6 are governed by several themes which form the ground for discussing contemporary themes including social justice, education been seen as key elements in promoting social justice. The sub-themes of PCF6 the agenda in a more pragmatic and unbiased parameters so as to empower the confidence to achieve their goals By Sheena Joseph

SOCIAL JUSTICE A nations growth process should necessarily reflects all inclusive growth and this requires that all social groups have identical access to the services rendered by the state and equal prospects for growing through financial and social mobility. It is also essential to make sure that there is no prejudice against any section of the society. Social justice becomes imperative in this context. Access to education typically stands for a prospect to get access for a variety of courses and programmes that can lead to degree or authentic certification of a degree. In areas of non-formal education it may signify creation of consciousness among the members on a large scale in

THEME LEADERS Common Wealth of Learning (COL) Social Justice Prof Asha S Kanwar Dr K Balasubramanian Trudivan Wyk IGNOU Social Justice Dr Malati Mathur Dr Shubhangi Vaidya Prof K Elumalai Sub Themes • Access to Justice: Life, Liberty & Livelihood • Scaling up Quality Education for All • Education & Employment of Persons with Disabilities • Assistive and Affordable Technologies

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matters pertaining to livelihood, physical wellbeing, officially permitted rights, which includes basic human rights and partaking in various spheres of a self-governing society that lays emphasis on inclusive development and advancement. Nevertheless, time and again it can be observed that access to education for a large number of population residing below the poverty line is still a distant dream. Several mechanisms which might have been instituted by the state are also full of inadequacies and shortcomings. These could include weak policies, poor implementation, corruption and fragile governance structure. As a result, even the existing structures fail to adequately deliver key educational targets for its citizens.

The final outcome of this kind of a society is that the certificate conferred to the youth is hardly of any worth and in spite of having invested in education, relevant job opportunities tend to be out of reach for them. Open and distance learning can play a crucial role in addressing numerous aspects of social justice and empowerment. In several nations, there have been certain social groups and minorities who have historically been at disadvantageous and vulnerable situations. There are also certain additional groups which may have been discriminated against and which suffer from handicaps. This group may include persons with disabilities, the elderly, street children, vagabonds

at the PCF6 Platform equitable access and success in developmental efforts still have a long way to basis of discussions and deliberations. The PCF6 platform provides a common and empowerment. The use of technology and open and distance learning have have been recommended to draw the attention of stakeholders to take forward millions of distance learners with many limitations to pursue their learning with

and victims of substance misuse. The World Day for Social Justice observed every year draws international attention towards efforts being made to wipe out poverty and endorse community welfare, egalitarianism and access to equal employment opportunities. Open and distance learning has provided several avenues for the scaling up of education. It has opened up opportunities to teeming millions in India and the developing world. Technology has further accelerated the process. Newer innovations have helped expand the cause further. ODL has given a new life to education for children and youth in the hinterlands. It has enabled children and adults alike to reach out to the many who crave for education. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT Traditionally, higher education institutes have assumed a societal role of creating, preserving and extending knowledge to the society. Students have been trained to assume greater social responsibilities and inculcate values of a civic society. However, gradually with globalisation it has also been observed that universities are becoming ivory towers which are out of sync with the realities of modern living. Although the significance of research and innovation of fresh knowledge cannot be underestimated, finding of novel information and application of it in specific situations of research require specialization. With the increasing demand for democratisation of education in all stages, universities cannot manage to continue as islands of excellence. The necessity of a linkage between the universities and the communities has become all the more relevant with issues such as global

warming, industrial pollution, violence and climate change cropping up. Numerous education programmes have put the community as a vital contributor in determining issues of magnitude and quality. Democracy requires that a positive role be taken up by people, rather than imposing a top-down approach, where the ‘target audience’ is an essential part of planning and execution. Education is one of the quarters that, by definition, has to take on a democratic ethos in its functioning. Strategy documents are replete with references to ‘community participation’, which becomes the most essential form of sharing information and building consciousness. Much more powerful forms include participation in decision-making regarding school and teacher administration, and the performance and content of education. Community involvement is observed to make schools and teachers

more responsible, thus leading to a more competent school system. Advocates of community involvement also argue that it

THEME LEADERS COL Community Development Sir John Daniel Ian Pringle IGNOU Social Justice Prof T U Fulzele Prof Annu J Thomas Dr Jaswant Sokhi

Sub Themes • Community based Learning and Outreach • Open Education Resources: Models to Choose, Adopt and Adapt • Innovative Pathways to Knowledge Society

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cio-economic or cultural lines. Secondly, disputes also relate to the capacity of the parents and the society in promoting participation, so as not to exclude any social group. Thus, the emphasis should be on the necessity of maintaining an equilibrium so that children are able to accomplish certain fundamental learning and skill standards, with the basic conviction that the state is eventually accountable for education, even as the society may involve themselves in that process.

Open and distance learning has provided several avenues for the scaling up of education. It has opened up opportunities to teeming millions in India and the developing world. ODL has given a new life to education for children and youth in the hinterlands

assists in the course of making schools more receptive to local situations, and allows the use of community-level information, creativity and enterprise. Numerous programmes at the community level have emphasized on participation of the community in matters relating to primary education and community affairs. Several research studies on the impact of community based education programmes have shown that a wider number of students have been brought into the education process, including the disabled, the marginalized and has increased teacher accountability. Studies have also emphasized that community involvement have led to addressing issues relating to the management of para-teachers, who are observed to be a better substitute to the poorly performing government school teachers. Para-teachers who are managed by the community are additionally answerable to them and are more open to training and are competent in matters relating to the children’s education, in comparison to regular teachers.

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Another approach is where the people’s involvement has also been explored in creation of course and pedagogy, connecting the child’s societal, intellectual and ecological contexts with the teaching-learning process, thereby making education more relevant and interesting. Traditionally, syllabus formulation has been a procedure of instituting and executing minimum standards across distinct groups. The teaching methods that are adopted have a huge bearing on the relevance of the course content, and therefore it becomes all the more essential to tailor the curriculum to suit to local requirements. The stipulation in this background is that no neighborhood community is selfsustained; it forms an integral element of the larger society, a community that differentiates according to the social order and gender. On the flip side, these can inevitably lead to creation of a curriculum that reinforces these patterns. Accepting local curriculum may also exacerbate inter-regional differences, resulting in rifts in the quality of education alongside so-

SKILLS DEVELOPMENT For any population to benefit from the fruits of a growing economy, they necessarily have to be vocationally skilled to partake in the economic process. Much more needs to be done in the developing countries to create employment opportunities for the large number of population and to equip them to meet the labour market requirements. Skill development plays a crucial role in national development and advancement of economic growth. Several efforts have been made in the developing countries to initiate skills which are relevant to employability. One of the important elements in the creation of the skilled personnel is the vocational education and training system. In several countries, however, the system itself has not appropriately responded to the demands of the labour market. A critical issue is to deliberate on the necessary reforms and interventions that are required to advance the effectiveness of the system. Change from a traditional to modern economy mandates the creation of a new generation of educated

THEME LEADERS COL Skill Development Alison Mead Richardson John Lesperance Angela Kwan Guilherme Vaz IGNOU Skill Development Dr Vijayasekhara Reddy Dr Babu P Remesh Venkata Subrahmanyam Vampugani G Mythili

Sub Themes • Skills Development for National Development • Global Development Discourses; North-South Dialogues • Regional Cooperation: Who can benefit from whom?

and skilled workforce. Its aggressive edge will be established by the peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s capacity to generate, distribute, and utilize knowledge effectively. On the one hand developing nations have to face the potential opportunities accompanying the rapidly transforming realities and on the other hand it has to deal with the flaws of its established customs and structures A growing economy needs to expand its workersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; base to include knowledge workers and knowledge technologists who are adaptable and logical and can be the key elements driving innovation and development. To attain this objective, a flexible education system is required that will expend primary education which lays the foundation for learning; secondary and tertiary education that helps to develop integral capabilities and key technical skills; and additionally prepares the individual for lifelong learning. The education system must be accustomed to the new-fangled global environment by inculcating creativity and improving the quality of education and training at each and every level. Nations that have had speedy increase in learning achievement, as well as continued economic growth, have improved education drastically to suit changing requirements. In a globalized economy, a large group of skilled workers are essential for drawing foreign direct investment. Developing skilled workers augments the effectiveness and flexibility of the labour market and decreases bottlenecks. Skilled workers are efficiently and easily accommodated into the economy, and their job mobility is enhanced. It is critical to devote in quality secondary and tertiary education and in vocational education and training (VET) if the economy is to expand and stay viable in world markets. Demographic strains and monetary restrictions have often played an important role in the lack of proper dissemination of vocational training. Many developing countries are faced with situations

It is critical to devote in quality secondary and tertiary education and in vocational education and training (VET) if the economy is to expand and stay viable in world markets. Skilled workers are efficiently and easily accommodated into the economy, and their job mobility is enhanced

where a great deal of the economy and population are still engaged in traditional activities and systems. Even though there has been a major movement away from traditional farming activities, it has still left the majority of the work force toiling in the informal sector, that too at low levels of productivity. Access to education and vocational training for this group is essential and will form the final stage of their completion of formal education. An effective school to work evolution for these adolescent populace can be achieved by superior quality secondary and tertiary education and training, and will advance their employment prospects and earnings.

FORMAL EDUCATION Modern days challenges in global education and sustainability require urgent attention. Education in the current century is in want of thoughtful innovations because our civilization is increasingly becoming multifaceted, integrated, mobile and driven by knowledge. In this background, it is critical to support a vital and constant discourse on the purposes of education, what people learn, why and how. The intention of education is and should be to empower individuals, and give them skills, information and values that can enable them to lead a fulfilled life. It should be the key stone in promot-

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If we notice that students are not learning, then the education systems have not been put properly in place. Knowledge is wealth, and lack of it keeps people bound in poverty. Quality cannot be delivered unless teachers are trained in relevant opportunities and ideas

THEME LEADERS COL Formal Education Dr A Umar Frances J Ferreira Dr Willie Clarke-Okah IGNOU Formal Education Dr R Sudarsan Prof M K Salooja Dr Hema Pant P V Suresh

Sub Themes • Revamping Teacher Education • Open Schooling • Technologies for Scaling up ODL programmes • Quality Issues ing peace, better understanding and give impetus to sustainable society. All of us share a planet where we are interdependent on each other for diverse needs. Therefore, it becomes an accepted collective consciousness to actively take care and look out for fellow human beings. From this standpoint, education is about private and shared enhancement and the endorsement of societal justice.

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It concerns smashing down communal and cultural barricades and bequeathing every person with the knowledge, reverence and self-assurance to be occupied in their families, societies and countries as conscientious citizens. Education is a pursuit and an investment of a life span and therefore there has to be a coordinated effort for a movement in universal global education for all. Innovative education is the need of the hour. This will hold true for several reasons. The first is that the right to education is yet to be a reality for millions of people around the world in spite of the remarkable strides made in this century. With political resolve and innovation, there is a momentous chance to enroll all children in school. The primary indicator of an innovation’s value is the degree to which it opens the doors of education to the the most susceptible and marginalized. It is common knowledge that segregation has numerous aspects. Children may not be attending schools because their families make less than one dollar a day. They might be trapped in distressful circumstances of conflict that wipe out their whole social network and surround-

ings. They may also be kept out purely because their gender, or that they articulate in a minority language, belong to a religious minority, an aboriginal group, or live with a disability. Education cannot stand such intolerance – it infringes all essential principles of basic human rights – from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Secondly, innovations are required to radically develop the quality of education at every level. Countries of the developing world face mammoth pressures to appoint teachers, construct classrooms and schools to house increasing numbers of learners. But evaluations from all sections point to grave inadequacies in learning attainment, which have a tendency to be magnified by social drawbacks. If we notice that students are not learning, then the education systems have not been put properly in place. Knowledge is wealth, and lack of it keeps people bound in poverty. Quality cannot be delivered unless teachers are trained in relevant opportunities and ideas. The more varied the student populace becomes, the more expertise the teachers require to create an engaging and inclusive learning environment. Innovations are therefore required to train teachers in techniques that support involvement, team work, original and critical thinking, and problem-solving.Thirdly, innovations must be accompanied with ethical values, which include reverence for one’s own culture, respect for others and consciousness of our interdependence. In this context open and distance learning has made a significant role in bridging barriers and bringing quality education to the unreached through low cost technologies and innovations. Teacher training at all levels is essential to guarantee quality. Scaling up of teacher education provision is feasible only through Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). However, we need to consider quality issues and new ways of addressing teacher education. Open schooling is one way of assuring quality education for the under privileged whereas ODL is the methodology to scale up. Without an adequate number of trained teachers, the Millennium Development Goals will remain a distant dream. In this context, revamping teacher education becomes a priority. It will not be long before educational technologies will bring every under pribileged child under its ambit. \\

February 5, 2011 The Claridges, New Delhi

exploring frontiers of

technology in higher education.. Discussion Topics Technology road map for higher education Institutions Role of technology in improving academic quality Smart class rooms and smart campuses Online assessment tools and associated technologies Virtual learning environments Distance education and remote learning

Organisers |

Target Audience Chancellors and Vice-Chancellors of leading universities Principals, Directors, and Deans of colleges and higher education institutions Academicians and Education experts Policy makers from central and state education departments Education technology vendors and solution providers

Presenting Publication |

For sponsorship enquiries: Fahim Haq, Email: fahim@elets.in, Mob: +91-9873277808

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DEVELOPMENT AGENDA

Ode to the ODL Guys Indira Gandhi National Open University has instituted an award to celebrate the success of 100 achievers who owe it to the open and distance learning system

By Dr K D Prasad

GNOU jointly with Commonwealth of Learning (COL), Vancouver, Canada is organising the Sixth Pan Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning (PCF6) at Kochi during November, 2010. The theme of this year’s conference is “Access and Success in Learning: Global Development Perspective”. Befitting with the Silver Jubilee Year, IGNOU is hosting the PCF6. It is organised biannually by the Commonwealth of Learning to help developing nations improve access to quality education and training. PCF6 brings together 71-countries to explore applications of Open and Distance Learning in widening educational access, bridging the digital divide and advancing the social and economical development of communities and nation at large. The Conference will mainly showcase the experience of IGNOU and other Indian and international universities including distance education and open schooling to the world. It will also be an opportunity for the organisers to demonstrate its stake in expanding the human resource base in the country and abroad by producing the best pass outs in building the nation. The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) in its Silver Jubilee year has created and achieved significant milestone in the field of education. The University has set new standards in democratising higher education and further reaching to those, who still have no access to formal conventional education. The University is known by its outreach and its role in reducing disparities in education by extending educational opportu-

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nities to the people at remote areas and marginalised sections of the society. The Open and Distance Learning (ODL) System has shown a tremendous growth during the past few decades due to its unique feature of being a userfriendly system. In this system, learners are free to learn at their own pace and convenience while being placed away from their institutions. This uniqueness and ease of gaining knowledge have a pivotal role to play in facilitating today’s emerging knowledge society. Today, almost half of the students enrolled in higher education are receiving education through the distance mode. In the wake of the millennium developmental

goals, which emphasise on education for sustainable development, there is a need and demand for assigning the need based quality knowledge and skills to the large and diverse communities in the country for their overall development. The Programme Chair of PCF6 on the recommendations of Honourable Vice Chancellor of IGNOU had constituted a sub-committee for identifying 100 ODL Achievers. The terms of reference for the

sub-committee lies in the mandate of identifying ODL Achievers all across the open and distance learning institutes and universities in India and abroad. Accordingly, the sub-committee has requested the State Open Universities (SOUs), Directorate of Distance Education (DDE), Partner Institutes (PIs) across the globe to identify and forward their names to the sub-committee based on the identified categories. ODL Achievers have been identified from among the following categories: • People who have had little or no formal qualification and took advantage of ODL to enhance their qualification and achieved success in terms of better job opportunities/social status/higher self esteem/sense of fulfilment; • Geographically disadvantaged people who did not have access to higher education but took advantage of ODL and achieved in life in terms of better job opportunities/social status/higher selfesteem/sense of fulfilment; • Women who achieved success through ODL; • Differently-able persons who achieved success through ODL; • People have already been successful in life and chose ODL to enhance their qualification/knowledge; • Old/aged people who fulfilled their desire of intellectual enrichment/acquiring higher qualification through ODL. The sub-committee has got more than 250 names of ODL Achievers from different parts of the country and globe. The Committee has finally identified 100 names as ODL Achievers. The identified ODL Achievers were from diverse social backgrounds and of varied academic interests. It is interesting to mention few of the names of the ODL Achievers, starting from T.N. Ramanathan, who is an IAS and presently working as Secretary, Backward Classes, Government of Tamil Nadu, Chennai. He had his formal education qualification only up to PUC. He has risen to his current position after doing his Bachelors of Commerce and Masters of Commerce through distance mode. He had earlier been Commissioner of Chennai Corporation, Chairman of Tamil Nadu Housing Board and several other important positions in the state. Charles J Kithu has obtained his Management Degree from IGNOU and this qualification has further helped him to rise to a position of Director, Finance, Spice Board, Cochin. Hari Singh and Vikas Ahuja, who are associated with Delhi

The Programme Chair of PCF6, on the recommendations of Honourable Vice Chancellor of IGNOU, had constituted a subcommittee for identifying 100 ODL Achievers. The terms of reference for the sub-committee lies in the mandate of identifying ODL Achievers all across the open and distance learning institutes and universities in India and abroad

Network of Positive People and has been living with HIV for more than one decade, has done Diploma in AIDS and Family Education (DAFE) from IGNOU. DAFE has given them better understanding about basics of HIV/AIDS. The skills they got from this programme are becoming extremely helpful to them in touching the lives of thousands of HIV positive people. Gandkota Laya has obtained Masters in Computers Applications (MCA) from Open and Distance Learning and she is a leading popular Telegu Heroine. Ravula Chandra Sekhar Reddy has done Masters of Arts in Rural Development (MARD) and is a former Member of Parliament (MP) from Andhra Pradesh. Rohini Sharma hailing from a very remote village of Punjab has successfully completed Masters of Computer Applications (MCA) from IGNOU and presently, she is pursuing her Masters of Technoloy (M.Tech.) from one of the reputed Govt. Engineer College in Punjab. Rupa Rai Chowdhuri is completely on chair with severe disability and despite her odds, she has successfully completed B.Sc. through Open and Distance mode and presently, pursuing Masters of Science in Mathematics with Applications in Computer Sciences M.Sc. (MACS). These kinds of ODL Achievers are examples for many such differently-abled persons having no options but to be within the four walls of their homes. Kumar Ravikant Singh and Keshvendra Kumar had obtained Graduation through Open and Distance mode and both of them are in very coveted administrative positions and both of

them are young officers with the Indian Administrative Services. Rajeev Ekka has also done Bachelors Degree Programme (BDP) from IGNOU and presently, he is an IAS and is Deputy Commissioner in one of the Districts in Jharkhand. Gunnesh Shivaji has achieved steep rise in his position soon after successfully completing Master of Business Administration (MBA) from IGNOU and now, he is Head of Audit in AIR, Mauritius. The list is incomplete without the mention of the name of Heera Lal Saini, who has joined IGNOU without any formal education as a daily wage attendant, and, with his hard work, he has obtained Bachelors Preparatory Programme (BPP), Bachelors of Arts (BA), Post Graduate Diploma in Rural Development (PGDRD) and Certificate in Computers (CIC) from Open and Distance Learning mode and now, he is working as a permanent staff member of the University and assisting admission process at one of the Regional Centres of IGNOU. The Open and Distance Learning (ODL) has not only touched his life but also given him a sense of fulfilment. There are many more examples about the contributions to the Human Resource Index (HRI) in the society. The ODL Achievers are really putting their interventions in different economic activities within the country and abroad and are becoming live examples for the others to emulate. The students of the ODL system are being preferred for gainful employment contributing to an economically vibrant and knowledge based society for the country. \\

Dr K D Prasad

Dr K D Prasad is presently working as Regional Director, IGNOU City Centre at Nerw Delhi.Joined IGNOU in 1994 he has worked at different regional centres. Dr Prasad is the Convener for the Sub-Committee for identifying ODL Achievers for PCF6

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PHOTO GALLERY

Launch of Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning(PCF6) The Sixth Pan Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning (PCF6) is to take place from 24-28 November 2010 at Le-Meridien, Cochin Resort & Convention Centre (Kochi, Kerala), India. The theme of PCF6 is ‘Access and Success in Learning: Global Development Perspectives’. PCF6 as an international conference will explore the contribution of open and distance learning to international development goals by opening up access to learning at every level. The Forum brings together practitioners, researchers, planners and policy makers in the fields of open and distance learning and development from over 70 countries. It provides opportunities to share experience and expertise and to contribute to future policy and provision. Participants will represent the main Commonwealth, Asia and international institutions and agencies active in the field, including funding bodies and technology providers

Programme Chair - Prof PR Ramanujam, Pro Vice Chancellor, IGNOU; Co-Chair Programme - Prof VN Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor, IGNOU; Co-Chair Programme - Sir John Daniel, President & CEO of The Commonwealth of Learning; Honorary Chair Professor MS Swaminathan; Dr Kalyani Anbuchelvan, Vice Chancellor, Tamil Nadu Open University; and Advisor – Dr Latha Pillai, Pro Vice-Chancellor IGNOU.

Honorary Chair - Professor MS Swaminathan

Dr Latha Pillai, Pro Vice-Chancellor IGNOU

Dr R Sreedher, Director, Commonwealth Education Media Centre for Asia

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Prof PR Ramanujam

Prof VN Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor, IGNOU

Sir John Daniel, President & CEO of The Commonwealth of Learning

Sir John Daniel presenting a bouquet to Dr Kalyani Anbuchelvan

Professor MS Swaminathan; Prof PR Ramanujam, Pro Vice Chancellor, IGNOU; Prof VN Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor, IGNOU; Sir John Daniel, President & CEO of The Commonwealth of Learning; and Dr R Sreedher, Director, CEMCA digital LEARNING

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SCHOOL TRACK

Technological Outreach to Values Welham Boys School, a CBSE affiliated school, was established in 1937. It combines the best of traditions with a modern approach to learning. In a congenial environment boys are encouraged to nurture the qualities of the head, heart and hand. A strong pastoral system ensures that each child grows up with a sense of ownership and a feeling of belonging

he School has well set up Science Laboratories, a Design technology lab, a language lab and three Computer Laboratories with the latest computers. The Learning Resource Centre (LRC) houses a spacious library, a well equipped audiovisual room, activity rooms and an exhibition gallery to provide an atmosphere conducive to the boys to reflect on, and seek answers to the many questions that puzzle them. A conscious effort is made to encourage students to learn through research and reference by way of regular audiovisual presentations produced by the students themselves on academic and related issues. The School is equipped with a state-of-the-art IT department; most classrooms are outfitted with networking facilities. There is provision for sending emails from hostels as well. An effective firewall keeps out undesirable influences.

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Schooling for Returns A Rhodes Scholar, Dev Lahiri, Principal, Welham Boy’s School, Dehradun, is currently leading one of the finest schools in India. In conversation with Dr Ravi Gupta and Yukti Pahwa, Dev Lahiri talks about the latest technological trends that are transforming school education ers are not tech savvy and father doesn’t have time to access mails. So, we find it safer to back up the IT communication with hard copies.

DEV LAHIRI PRINCIPAL, WELHAM BOYS SCHOOL, DEHRADUN

Many say this era is the beginning of the era of technology. What do you opine about the same? People are going to use common sense and hopefully will use technology wisely. Its like whenever you get a new thing in hand, people get excited, go over board and them settle down. They then think of not letting the new thing dominate their life and weigh the pros and cons of that particular thing, and how it is effecting their lives. It is not only being noticed in the West but also in India, as to how it is affecting the quality family time. Children are getting alienated and losing their social skills, such as interaction with one another, because of constantly sitting on the box (computer) and fiddling around with it. In our times, when there was no IT, we went out to play, to climb trees, going out, entertaining love for nature and so on. Now, I have to teach environment through text book. Whereas we grew up with the environment and with the environment, because that is where we spent our time. So mankind is paying a heavy price. Nobody can deny the good features of technol-

ogy, but I also tell my students that cyber space also a huge junkyard and you got to be careful of what you access. At the same time the positive side of technology cannot be ignored. We are trying to have an arrangement with ONGC, whereby they take our students and and show them the technology that they are using for betterment of mankind. We are launching a very ambitious project called “Vidya ONGC” with support from ONGC. In the age of IT, how do you engage parents of the students with IT? Our experience of using IT, as a medium, with parents has not been so useful, because majority of the parents we address are not very IT friendly. We have, otherwise, a very good website which is updated regularly. And ideally in an ideal world, parents would be accessing the website to get the latest updates. But it doesn’t happen and I find myself writing to them, in case any communication is required. Many parents are from rural areas or semi urban towns, where moth-

What are the efforts being taken up by the school to upgrade teachers’ skills, in context of technology? That is being done on regular basis. We conduct in-house workshops for teachers. We have an efficient IT department which is to keep a check and constantly address to teachers’ concerns. Some teachers who are old, are a little reluctant with use of technology. For instance, putting scores from examination digitally, again with backup in registers. So, technology is being used to make things efficient and effective. We have central server and everything but as far as the classroom intervention is concerned, I am very careful with that, as there is a danger of confusing education with entertainment. There is a whole debate on access of internet and use by students. What is your opinion about the same? You can’t get away with internet. We try to safegaurd students from unhealthy access, but students these days are so computer savvy. We have spent lakhs of rupees on firewall on all systems. But when students operate systems at home, they access all kinds of sites. We can only teach them the values. If you try to compete with students technologically, its not possible. The kids are very fast and they can hack into anything. You can keep on trying to introduce firewalls and all but beyond a point it is just like fooling yourself. So, that is where role of teachers becomes more effective. You can teach them but not fight them on a technological platform. The fact is you have to teach them moral values and if they know the difference between right and wrong, they can choose for themselves what is good for them. \\

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HIGHER EDUCATION

Aligning Higher Education with World Standards Global collaborations in higher education is increasingly being seen by education providers in India as a necessary requirement to meet the growing demands of a globalised economy. The Foreign Educational Institutions Bill would facilitate foreign collaborations and help align Indian higher education sector with global standards By Sheena Joseph

f late there has been an increase in the number of foreign universities and institutions that have been willing to enter into academic partnerships with educational institutions in India. This development can be traced to the increasing demand for foreign academic degree by Indian students. The desire for foreign degrees seems inevitably due to the higher employability options accompanying the

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same. Further, the Foreign Educational Institutions (Regulation of Entry and Operation) Bill, 2010 has encouraged educational institutes in India to provide economical and flexible options for students to gain international recognition to their academic programmes. The 1990â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s saw the opening up of the efforts of delivering education though collaborative ventures. These ventures however have been largely limited to private educational providers. In order

to ensure that the process remains sustainable, there is also a need to encourage educational institutes falling under the public system to promote international collaborations. QUEST FOR QUALITY EDUCATION The bill will be hailed by many as a remedy to the brain drain phenomenon in India. By bringing foreign education to the doorstep of aspiring students, it en-

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Institute Focus International Exposure for Law Students: The Jindal Experience

Naveen Jindal Chairman, Jindal Education

“History has shown that excellence in education always leads to economic growth and development” visages to be a win-win situation for all. A few years ago when India had just started to envision the idea of throwing open its gates to foreign universities, institutes like Yale, Oxford and Harvard had queued up for their forays in India. Now, however, fewer names like Imperial College, Duke College, Georgia Tech and Schulich School of Business (York University) are seriously considering setting shop. Many of the big wigs had expressed initial interest, but financial and other constrains have forced them to put a cap to their expansion plans. On the brighter side, some institutes like Schulich School of Business have already put their plans into action and have obtained several tracts of land to set up campuses. PARTNERSHIP MODELS Franchising is one of the means through which international degree programmes are offered in India. Others have included twinning programmes, distance learning

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Jindal Global Law School (JGLS) at Sonepat, the flagship school of O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU), has been established with the objective of imparting globalized education and for producing world-class professionals, scholars, and academics in law. The Sonepat-based institution was recognised as a full-fledged university under the Haryana Private Universities (Second Amendment) Act, 2009. JGLS is India’s first global law school situated on a 54-acre residential JGU campus. JGLS is committed to providing global legal education to its students. To fulfil this objective, the curriculum and teaching pedagogy is designed to give extensive exposure to students to domestic, international and comparative law courses. Naveen Jindal, Chairman, Jindal Education, explains,“Jindal Steel and Power’s (JSPL) educational initiatives (of which Jindal Global Law School is an integral part) aim at imparting education with a view to produce world-class professionals, scholars and academicians in various disciplines to aid India, which is emerging as an economic super power, to compete globally.” JGU has a broad range of international collaborations with universities around the

world. These collaborations are in the nature of faculty exchanges programmes, student exchange programmes, joint teaching initiatives, joint research projects, joint publications, joint conferences, and collaborations in curriculum development. In the past, JGU has organised such conferences with Harvard, Oxford, Indiana, Cardozo, and other such institutions. In the current academic year alone, JGU is hosting conferences with Yale, Michigan, Cornell, Osgoode Hall, and the Australian National University. These institutions represent some of the leading educational institutions worldwide. JGU is also in the process of collaborative agreements with institutions in Japan, Brazil, and South Africa. At the school of International Affairs, JGU has established partnerships with the United Nations University (UNU) Institute of Sustainability and Peace based in Tokyo. The collaboration is of high significance since the UNU traditionally has not been offering degree programmes. However, from last year onwards they had started the same, and it coincided with the setting of the JGU. It has turned out to be a win-win situation for both the universities.

through deployment of technology, link programmes and study centres. Academic progranmes of the foreign institutes, in all these methods, move partly or fully to host institutions. Twinning arrangement seem to be the most preferred method of study as it provides the institutions with an uncomplicated way of delivering transnational study programmes and a foreign degree to its students. It means that the students are simply transferred to the foreign institution. There may be a joint agreement between two or more institutions to recognise a degree programme, so as to enable the student pursuing studies in one institution to have his or her credits accepted by others. The arrangement may also result in joint or dual foreign degrees. Both the institutions jointly give the final award. The prerequisite for the transfer of credit may be jointly made suitable through a twoway process, wherein foreign students

who have attained specific credits in a foreign university are moved to an Indian institute for completion of their credits and gaining an Indian or foreign degree. Academic partnerships with foreign institutes are also witnessed in the form of course curriculum and syllabi designing, course validation, course monitoring and faculty training. In this it can be noted that foreign academic institutes are taking the lead in subjects pertaining to course designing and course validation, while in matters related to course delivery, inspection of applications and examination arrangements, it is the Indian academic institute that takes the primary responsibility. CHARACTERISTICS OF TRANSNATIONAL PROGRAMMES Regular full time classroom courses are seen as the most preferred medium of delivering academic courses, although

Prof C Rajkumar, Vice Chancellor, Jindal Global University (JGU) and Dean, JGLS, provides us his views on why foreign collaborations are gaining popularity in India. What is the importance of foreign collaborations for Indian universities? International collaborations are critical for promoting global education. O.P. Jindal Global University is committed to promoting global education through global curriculum, global courses, global programmes, global research and global faculty. This means that our law school, business school and the school of international affairs have to engage with universities and research institutions worldwide with a view of advancing the research agenda as well as work towards creating knowledge that addresses problems of society, business and nations. Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s policy decisions are increasingly global in nature, and through our research and collaborations, JGU hopes to serve as a resource to policy makers, both in India and abroad. JGU admits students on the basis of the Indian version of the Law School Admission Test (L-SAT). Any specific reason for adopting LSAT? Pearson VUE has drafted the Indian version of the LSAT for admission to domestic colleges offering course on Law. LSAT is an examination that has a global orientation, as it does not seek knowledge

relating to a single jurisdiction. The nature of LSAT as an exam is to assess a studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s abilities in relation to analytical and logical reasoning as well as English language proficiency. This I believe makes LSAT a unique test as opposed to tests conducted in many countries, which may have country specific questions. All law schools in the USA and a number of law schools around the world use LSAT as the exam for admission to their law schools. The Government of India approved a bill to allow foreign education providers to set up campuses in India and offer degrees. What impact will it have on education in India? The bill on foreign education providers is a good initiative. It has the potential to raise the quality of higher education in India. However, it needs to be noted that this bill, if passed, will become effective only if it is accompanied by large scale reforms in the Indian higher education sector focusing on the quality of faculty and research. As long as Indian universities are not able to attract research oriented faculty from India and around the world, it will become difficult, if not impossible for Indian higher education to compete with the best universities around the world, including China and East Asia. Academic freedom and institutional autonomy is critical for universities to function effectively. It is essential that government

Prof C Rajkumar Vice Chancellor, Jindal Global University (JGU) and Dean, JGLS bodies recognise this while considering the bill relating to foreign educational institutions.

THE FOREIGN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS (REGULATION OF ENTRY AND OPERATION) BILL, 2010 In a bid to allow foreign universities to set campuses in India, the Union Cabinet in March 2010 ratified the entrance of foreign universities thereby ushering an era of competitiveness and achieving distinction in higher education. Skeptics though express concerns and believe that foreign institutions may not necessarily be the panacea for addressing problems of quality in higher education. Nevertheless, the Bill is a historic step in India. The Foreign Educational Institutions (Regulation of Entry and Operation) Bill, 2010 allows foreign universities to decide their structure for fees, admission criterion, and related activities. They will also be exempted from the quota system in educational institutes. Additionally, they need to furnish a corpus amount of 54 crore deposit to the UGC that is the registering body. Several educational institutes including Georgia Tech, USA, and Imperial College and Duke College of United Kingdom are eagerly waiting to open branches in India.

with the advancement of technology and virtual classroom provisions, distance education mode is increasingly gaining ground. Flying tutor provision also exists in several institutions. Some leading universities from the US and UK have entered into collaborative alliance with Indian universities in the field of higher education and research through the use of e-

learning and EDUSAT. A large number of foreign academic programmes are highly focused on developing relevant industry related skills, and therefore, arrangements to facilitate regular interface with the industry by conducting collaborative workshops and integrating industrial training modules are promoted as a part of their programmes. International leadership programmes are offered by sev-

eral institutes, as well as training in soft skills to match global requirements. The method adopted for transaction of delivering foreign education programmes is participatory, inculcates skills of articulation, and provides larger fields of exposure than classroom teaching. The aim is to develop diverse range of skills thereby enabling students to compete in the global market. \\

digital LEARNING

NOVEMBER 2010

CASE STUDY

Connecting Schools Face to Faith Programme aims to offer an authentic and meaningful environment in which students can develop key 21st century skills such as collaboration, communication, critical thinking and problem-solving.

By Simmi Kher

cross the seas, in a conference room students of Bal Bharti Public School, Dwarka and students of Westhoughton School, Bolton, UK sat talking to each other as if they were in the same room. This was made possible by the Face to Faith Programme of Tony Blair Faith Foundation which aims to offer an authentic and meaningful environment in which students can develop key 21st century skills such as collaboration, communication, critical thinking and problemsolving. It also aims to improve young people’s cultural/religious literacy, which is a vital skill in an increasingly complex, global society. Eyes glued to the plasma screen television and speaking to their peers at Westhought students were eloquent, honest and curious - which is a great starting point for any successful Video Conference. They had obviously really taken in the messages about communicating honestly in a respectful way. Today one of the greatest challenges that the world faces is to allow people of different faiths, creeds, religions, beliefs to live together by celebrating the differences, which makes each individual unique. Collaboration, communication skills, information and media literacy are all to be regularly found on the syllabus, acknowledged as vital tools for the 21st century. We can already see how new technologies are stimulating radically new approaches to teaching and learning. Launched last June a global education programme ‘Face to Faith’ from the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, is designed

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to support this initative. By means of video-conferencing and an online community, students of different faiths work together to investigate specific global issues; discuss a range of opinions, values and beliefs; and explore the reasons for similar and different views. By learning about those of differing social, cultural and religious perspectives, young people build their awareness of the role of faith in their life and in the lives of others. As the name of the project suggests, it is based

upon direct encounters between groups of young people from around the world, and is focused upon ideas of identity and belief. In India, 40 schools are enrolled as part of the programme. These schools have been connected to schools internationally as well as nationally. These students of different faiths work together to investigate specific global issues, discuss a range of opinions, values and beliefs and explore the reasons for similar and different views. By learning about those

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from differing social, cultural and religious perspectives, young people build their awareness on the role of faith in today’s world. All schools participating in Face to Faith undertake an introduction module focusing as it does upon developing the skills to enable meaningful dialogue. This is key which guides them through the principles and approaches of the programme and prepares students to engage in dialogue with those of different faiths. Thereafter, the programme is entirely flexible, offering subsequent modules focused upon major world issues approached through the perspectives of faith. Each of these issues modules also encourages students to get involved, in a very practical way, in meeting the challenges of those issues. Currently offering three distinct yet complementary modules on the topics of charity, poverty and wealth; environment; and the Art of Expression.

Face to Faith is a global educational programme comprising of: • A series of facilitated video conferences, enabling direct encounter and structured exchange between students • An online community providing sustained engagement between schools as well as opportunities to link with a wide range of schools • Teacher training and support • A set of optional programme resources and modules • A team of facilitators who are on hand to moderate discussions and ensure that schools can find appropriate linking partners. • Face to Faith is designed to enhance your existing curriculum not to replace it. The suggested teaching modules address a range of • Different curricula subjects including humanities, religious and cultural studies and social sciences. Face to Faith has been developed by a team of international educational experts including leading academics and teachers, drawing on the latest pedagogical thinking and practice. Schools in India, Pakistan, Lebanon, Jordan, the Palestinian Territories, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Australia, UK, US and Canada are already engaged in the programme.

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Within ‘Face to Faith’ we are operating within a wide range of educational cultures, from those that are student-centered to those that are extremely traditional and didactic. We use a threestage model to help empower students (and teachers) with the skills of dialogue

Each module is offered as a full course, which requires an average of seven hours’ class time, or as a short course, requiring approximately three hours’ teaching time. There are also five short projects available for those schools which simply would like to try a one-hour taster session. Schools are also encouraged to design their own modules/projects and share these with the Face to Faith community. The video conferences between partner schools are a vital element of the Face to Faith programme. These vary in format in terms of certain dimensions. First is the structure. The students prepare their thoughts and ideas on a common issue, for example, the environment and present these to one another. Next is presence of Guest speakers. The students can pose questions to guests from a particular faith background – discussing how their faith informs what they think and how they act. And finally, semi-structured nature. In an open yet facilitated conversation, students discuss any current issue or latest news story and how it relates to religion. Within ‘Face to Faith’ we are operating within a wide range of educational cultures, from those that are studentcentered to those that are extremely traditional and didactic. We use a threestage model to help empower students (and teachers) with the skills of dialogue. The foundation is the use of Cooperative Learning techniques which encourage students to get involved in discussion in a safe and supportive manner (and give them practice at sharing ideas, as well as building their confidence). Upon this foundation, the second layer is built of some quite explicit work concentrating upon building dialogue (much of which is taken, not from an educational setting, but from the methodologies of inter-faith dialogue). Through on-going practice of these techniques, eventually students will be able to reach the third stage of participating in dialogue naturally. As one

might expect from a programme that is rooted so heavily in a student-centred approach, there are regular opportunities for self- and peer-assessment built into the teaching materials, along with guidance on successful methodologies to support this, but this is not merely for students. We are constantly striving to improve the materials that we offer, responding to the varied challenges of, and feedback from, different countries. In addition, Professor Robert Jackson and a team of researchers from the Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit at Warwick University are carrying out an independent evaluation of Face to Faith. In India we have been able to take the programme to different sectors of the society. There non-formal schools for the underprivileged like The Anugrah Foundation and The Kutumb Foundation involved in the programme. There are Kendriya Vidyalayas, Private schools from different parts of India engaged in communicating with students of different faiths across the world in learning directly with, from and about each other. We intend over the next year to widen the number of schools in our existing countries, as well as increasing our geographical reach. It is common knowledge that religious faith can be used to cause problems in the world, but there is also a desire to see examples of the ways that faith can be used to bring the world together, and to move towards addressing those problems. Face to Faith is one step towards that goal. \\

ABOUT AUTHOR

Simmi Kher

Simmi Kher is Serving as Coordinator India and Advisor to Face to Faith Programme, Tony Blair Faith Foundation.

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MY JOURNEY

Making a Mark in the Tutoring Space “Tutor Vista started with providing tutoring services to students in the US. K Ganesh established the company after observing the immense potential of outsourcing tutoring service to students in the US, since most parents there could not afford personalised tutoring for their children. Today, the online tutoring firm and school management venture TutorVista Global is raising Series D funding to the tune of $50 million from existing investors as well as global funds. How the journey began K Ganesh went to a Tamil government school in Delhi and pursued Mechanical Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering. “I initially started working with Tata Motors, but it soon dawned on me that engineering was not my forte’. I pursued MBA from IIM Calcutta.”

Krishnan Ganesh, Founder and CEO, TutorVista

As a student, Ganesh claims to have been average in studies. Rote learning and boring lectures were not the most interesting aspects of his academic life. Intelligence, according to him, does not come from mugging books, but by observing, analysing and self learning.

HCL was the first company that he joined after completing MBA. He had the opportunity of assisting Shiv Nadar in several fields and it gave him immense experience in corporate functioning. But Ganesh could not find himself settled into a corporate life. His entrepreneurial journey found wings here. The most important quality in him was his capacity and the vision to foresee the rapid pace with which the outsourcing industry would grow. “I started in 1990 with IT & T Company, an IT and network services company. The venture was not without doubts from family and friends. The hardest aspect of starting an independent venture was to convince the family about my decisions. Leaving a comfortable corporate job for an entrepreneurial stint was not very comforting for my family, and so was the problem of generating money for the company, since venture capitalism was still new to India.” Despite odds, Ganesh along with a group of five friends pitched in their savings and carried forward the initiative. It turned out to be a successful business enterprise. Following years, he got involved in several more business initiatives. “I was the co-founder and CEO of IT&T till 1998, after which I decided to move out, though still retaining the directorship and being the largest shareholder of the company.” By this time the company had more than 400 employees, over 16 braches and a turnover of $4.8 million. Moving from Delhi to Bangalore was his next move, where he joined Bharti British Telecom as a chief executive. The job was a conformist one and it was not too long after that the entrepreneurial bug bit him again. Along with his wife, Ganesh began his next venture in the form of a company called Customer Asset which offered technical support to the clients of dotcom start-ups. In 2002, the company was acquired by ICICI Bank for $22 million. The following undertaking was with three youthful entrepreneurs from IIT and IIM. They had started a company named Marketics which provided statistical analysis for clients in the US. “I was invited by the entrepreneurs to

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mentor them in scaling business and to invest in their venture. I became their non-executive chairman.” The company flourished and was later sold for $65 million. Meanwhile, Ganesh was also dabbling with diverse ideas for his next venture. Having gained enough knowledge about BPOs, Ganesh then turned his attention towards starting Tutor Vista. Inspired by a sartorial cartoon on outsourcing of homework to the US, he started a company which would make use of technology, advanced pedagogy and academic content to provide tutoring services to students in developed countries. The real test however was to build a workable business model that would be both profitable and capable of scaling up. The big leap was taken in 2005, and through sheer courage and faith in the idea, `72 crore was raised through venture capital. Tutor Vista soon created a resource pool of highly qualified teachers with expert subject knowledge who cater to the requirements of students. Today, the online tutoring-to-formal school enterprise TutorVista Global has drawn interest from a series of marquee global and domestic funds such as Temasek, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), ICICI Ventures and Barings Asia among others, and looks to see through a $50-million fund-raising exercise. TutorVista is already backed by British publishing major Pearson, Manipal Education & Medical Group besides private equity funds Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed Ventures. Gyan from the Guru In his journey as an entrepreneur, Ganesh says that his lessons have better been learnt through practical experience than through management and classroom teachings. One of the crucial points that has to be remembered by any startup company is that a core set of team forms the nucleus in any business looking towards scaling up. Secondly, having strong faith in the business idea is essential. Learning from failures and enjoying successes are the very essence of any entrepreneurial venture. “Being passionate about the work you have undertaken is of utmost importance because if the journey does not seem to fit your temperament, the entire exercise is futile.” It is also important is to ensure that the business proposition is well covered in terms of sustainability and capital. “Once you start working on a business, everything takes longer time. Plans have to be made based on the three year principle. You will need three times the capital and three times the effort of what you have already planned. Running a business is not easy and all involved should prepare to slug it out.” “Support from family and friends is imperative because their strength will help you get through tough and trying times”, he adds. While running a business, it is always good to have a positive attitude, and stay away from people who may have a negative influence on you. Taking responsibility for your own actions is a vital factor in any individual as it demonstrates optimistic outlook. People who tend to play the blame game are not the best sport in the work environment. The inspiration “Stalwarts like Shiv Nadar and Sunil Mittal have had tremendous impact on me and I consider it my sheer luck to have got the opportunity to work with them. Their feedback has been valuable in my life.” “The other inspiration in my life has been my mother. I lost my father when I was nine years old. As a single mom, she brought up me and my two younger sisters singlehandedly. Sometimes when I feel that I am struggling to achieve something, I draw inspiration from my mother on how to wade through struggles and adversities.”

digital LEARNING

NOVEMBER 2010

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