Digital Learning September 2015

ISSN 0973-4139

VOLUME 11 ISSUE 04 APRIL 2015

P16

September 2015 / digital digitalLEARNING LEARNING

ASIA’S PREMIER MONTHLY MAGAZINE ON ICT IN EDUCATION Volume 11

Issue 9

September 2015

PRESIDENT: Dr M P Narayanan EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Dr Ravi Gupta EDITORIAL TEAM EDUCATION Senior Assistant Editor: Garima Pant Assistant Editor: Bhawna Satsangi GOVERNANCE Senior Assistant Editor: Nirmal Anshu Ranjan Assistant Editor: Kartik Sharma, Rachita Jha, Souvik Goswami Senior Correspondent: Gautam Debroy Correspondent: Poulami Chakraborty Junior Correspondent: Sneha Mejari Trainee Sub-Editor: Akanki Sharma HEALTH Senior Assistant Editor: Garima Pant Senior Correspondent: Anshuman Ojha Correspondent: Romiya Das SALES & MARKETING TEAM: digitalLearning Deputy General Manager: Siddharth Varma Project Manager: Seema Gupta, Mobile: +91-8860651643 Assistant General Manager: Ragini Shrivastava, Mobile: +91-8860651650 National Sales Manager: Fahim Haq, Mobile: +91-8860651632 Sr. Manager: Arup Kumar Maiti, Mobile: +91-8860651645 Gaurav Srivastava, Mobile: +91-8527697685 SUBSCRIPTION & CIRCULATION TEAM Manager Subscriptions: +91-8860635832; subscription@elets.in DESIGN TEAM Creative Head: Pramod Gupta Deputy Art Director: Om Prakash Thakur, Gopal Thakur Senior Web Designer: Shyam Kishore WEB DEVELOPMENT & IT INFRASTRUCTURE Team Lead-Web Development: Ishvinder Singh Senior Executive – IT: Zuber Ahmed Executive – Information Management: Khabirul Islam

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2015

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September 2015 / digitalLEARNING

EDITORIAL

Transforming the Education Landscape As we at Elets get together to witness the 5th annual edition of the World Education Summit (WES), I am taken back into time to the year 2011 when the first edition of the summit was graced by none other than late Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. A true patron of education, the presence of Dr Kalam had indeed been an enlightening, showing us the way to continue our efforts in the field of education. Acknowledging the work Elets is doing in the field of education, Dr Kalam had lauded our efforts and platform. WES has grown in stature in the last few years with growing participation not only from within the country but across the globe too. This year, the 5th edition of WES is seeing participation from Australia, Oman, Canada, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Dubai along with 170 leading school Principals, 60 Vice Chancellors of Universities, 50 Directors of Engineering Colleges and more than 25 Government Functionaries. The journey in the last four years has seen the education sector undergo a paradigm shift. As we discuss and deliberate on the growing trends and technologies shaping the education sector, Elets and digitalLearning magazine has been doing its bit in bridging the divide between the key stakeholders and also providing an elaborate platform for the industry and the academia to connect and converge. WES 2015 aims to make the summit more than an event by building a strong community around it and providing various business and networking opportunities for the government, education leaders, private sector & civil society organisations. Knowledge sharing collaboration within the country and beyond the Indian soil is integral for the growth of the education sector. And taking forward the objective of knowledge sharing of the digitalLearning magazine, WES will be making its international foray in November 2015. WES Dubai will bring together education stakeholders from across the globe, transcending education barriers. I hope this two-day summit and deliberations at Delhi will culminate into concrete suggestions that will further transform the education gamut in the country.

Dr Ravi Gupta Editor-in-Chief Ravi.Gupta@elets.in

digitalLEARNING / September 2015

NEWS

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Punjab decides to review primary sections

The Punjab Government has decided to conduct special review of class V and class VIII students to identify strengths and weaknesses of each student so as to guide him/her on future career path according to his/her strength. Dr. Daljit Singh Cheema, Education Minister, Punjab, while chairing the meeting of the department, felt that initial career review of each student was imperative and asked SCERT to work out a programme to review each student so that academically weaker students could be provided specialised attention and coaching. Focusing on scientific review, the Education Minister said that all famous educationists should be involved in this exercise in this review process so that a comprehensive learning outcome review of each student could be conducted in an objective manner. Underlining the need for retraining the teachers who have been consistently showing poor results, Dr. Cheema asked Education Secretary to issue instructions to all teachers in the State to upload their results of last five years on the portal of education department within 1 month. He said that he would personally evaluate the result of each teacher and those teachers providing poor results consistently would be sent on specialised training course to improve their teaching skills. He said that ACR of each teacher would be as per his performance in the results. Those present in the meeting included C. Roul, Principal Secretary; Pardeep Aggarwal, DGSE and Gurdeep Singh, Special Secretary.

Educomp Conclave showed new way to school education The Educomp Solution Limited organised its education development school conclave recently. Educomp also organised massive road shows in 55 cities across India. The conclave which is a part of these road shows was held under the theme of #thereisanotherway, and it focused on key issues and challenges which the educational institutes face while imparting quality education. A plethora of school teachers, principals and other academicians participated in this event. A special Educomp kit was released during the event and more than 40 principals of different schools participated. A spokesperson of the Educomp said that technology should play an integral role in changing the school infrastructure of India. 40 thousand schools across the country participated in the event.

September 2015 / digitalLEARNING

Swedish edu-giant spread wings in India Kunskapsskolan is all set to unveil their second campus in India. This Swedish group started their journey in India in the year 2013. After foraying into the Indian market, the group soon achieved success and is now ready to carry forward the legacy of this premier organisation with its second establishment in India. The Swedish counterpart of the group is happy with the overwhelming response which they received from the market. All the schools under the Kunskapsskolan teach its students under the KED programme, which is extremely modern and apt, is highly appreciated in India. The group is currently running 50 schools around the globe and they are extremely positive about the Indian market. The management believes that they will successfully showcase their skills and will change the landscape of the emerging Indian education market. The Gurgaon centre of the school is registered under CBSE board and they offer K-12 education under the KED programme. Some of the best faculties from the industry are on board to impart best global education to the students of the school. The group has already tailor made a special Indian version of the KED programme, already adopted by CBSE and IGCSE. The KED programme can be adapted by any curriculum, this unique feature makes it more popular amongst the Indian market. The lush green campus of the school spread across seven acres and is laden with all modern facilities. The KIS (Kunskapsskolan International School) has aimed to prepare their students for the challenges of tomorrow through a properly amalgamated course with strong academic and skill programmes.

NEWS

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‘Khelo India Khelo’: new mantra of Indian Universities ‘Khelo India Khelo’ is soon to be the new mantra of Indian colleges. The significance of sports has been recognised globally. Countries like China and Russia has attached sports studies with the curriculum of higher as well as the school education. Now, India is also all set to follow its predecessors. According to experts, the inclusion of the sports education will not only open new avenues in front of the students, it will also help them set their footprint in the international job market, currently which has a massive demand of good sports experts. The new NDA Government has been promoting sports education amongst the schools and colleges over the past few years. The Sports Authority of India is also shouldering the responsibilities of promoting the sports and physical education amongst the youth of the country for the last few years. A plethora of career options makes this stream more lucrative for the students who are searching for a better career. So, now several universities in India will offer courses related to Physical education, which will help many to take up their hobby into a full time career option.

Paucity of students shuts down TN colleges Five Tamil Nadu colleges stood away from the line of affiliation this year due to the massive scarcity of students in the engineering courses. All the colleges are affiliated under the Anna University and they step aside from the recently concluded engineering admissions single window counselling. All these colleges are spread across Tamil Nadu. As per DOTE (Department of Technical Education), these colleges suffered a loss due to poor enrolment of students in the engineering courses which forced them to take this drastic step. But according to experts, these colleges should take a proper NOC (No Objection Certificate) before jumping into a conclusive measure like this. A proper AICTE approval is required before taking a step like this. As per DOTE, the colleges should take proper NOC and roll the closure procedure once the last batch of students pass out or may be transferred to another institution with the approval of AICTE. Former faculties of the college supported this move, as they think that poor financial condition and lack of proper infrastructure for engineering courses has led to debacle. The job market is dry and the supply is huge, engineering students are migrating to different courses for survival and government has failed to maintain the balance which shook the harmony and jeopardised the career of many students of the State. Another Coimbatore based college, enlisted under Anna University has announced the suspension of admission in the MBA as well as in the MCA courses.

September 2015 / digitalLEARNING

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NIIT new training centre offers advanced training programmes NIIT has launched its Flagship Training Centre in Central Delhi which will offer advanced training programmes in executive management, banking, digital marketing, big data, IT and other multiple sectors. These programmes will be backed by Cloud technology to ensure anytime anywhere accessibility. The new centre is the first step in a series of changes that the company will now witness owing to Business Transformation Programme that was initiated in the last financial year. Focused on upskilling, the centre will offer programmes in Executive Management, Banking and Finance, Digital Marketing and Social Media, Cloud & Mobile Software Engineering, Big Data and Business Analytics, e-Commerce & Business Administration and Cloud Computing & IT Management. Young professionals and students will have the flexibility to choose options from a range of multiple new-age career programmes, aligned to the evolving needs of the knowledge economy.

Japan says ‘Yokoso’ to Indian students

Haryana soon to have new colleges

Attacking the congress regime for not opening up new schools and colleges in Haryana, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has informed that now mapping was being done to establish new colleges as per the need of the region. He said, “Eleven new colleges were opened in a single assembly constituency, while in the other constituency, not even a single college was opened in last 15 years.” He announced to open a new National Cadet Corps (NCC) academy in Karnal district. He also emphasised on upgrading the Sainik School of the State to Sainik college so as to provide opportunities to the youth to get into defence services. Present on the occasion of 55th foundation day celebrations of Sainik School, CM said that preference will be given to backward, poor and downtrodden. He further added that the jobs will be given on merit basis to the eligible candidates. For this, concrete efforts were to be made to improve the quality of education to make the youth employable.

A plethora of Japanese universities opened their stalls in education fair in Taj Coromandel, Chennai, to woo Indian students. Representatives of several schools and universities attended the anxious lot of students who formed a beeline at the booths. Yoshino Hiroshi, Director of University of Tokyo India Office, unraveled the prospects of education in Japan, he asserted on the facts that Japan is a beautiful and safe city with rich culture and heritage. He also highlighted the issue of generation of smart manpower is the need of the hour. Japan is in urgent need of good manpower in the field of engineering. He also raised his concern over the decrease in the number of Indian students in Japanese universities. The Tokyo University ranked amongst the 20 best universities of the world, but it failed to woo maximum number of Indian students even after fetching a good rank. Only 727 students enrolled in different Japanese universities last year. Currently, Japanese Universities offer a gamut of courses to students which include Engineering, Sustainable Development of Language, Economics, Commerce and Humanities.

digitalLEARNING / September 2015

NEWS

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Government schools to have separate toilets for girls & boys

The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, has launched Swachh Vidyalaya Programme with an objective to provide separate toilets for girls and boys in all government schools within a year. Department of School Education and Literacy under Ministry of HRD has took this initiative to help government schools to provide clean environment to children. States and Union Territories have reported construction of 3.17 lakh toilets till 27th July, 2015. Around 300 central observers are deputed to review the progress of the Swachh Vidyalaya Initiative.

Education bounties lined up for Minorities of Maharashtra The Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, announced slew of plans, targeting the minorities of the state. He announced plethora of new projects which will completely rehash the entire minority education infrastructure. The Maharashtra Government is mulling on the idea of starting a polytechnic college and a senior college in Urdu medium and putting Urdu as an optional language in schools. The State government will transform these plans into reality with an objective of corking the soaring dropout rates of the students in the state. In a milieu of several eminent personalities, Fadnavis asked for new ideas which will develop the minority education scenario of the state and assured of financial backup to turn the idea into a reality. He also stressed on the fact of building good human resource, as India will be the major factory of human resource in the 21st century. English, Science will soon be a part of the madrasas curriculum, Fadnavis assured. Other speakers also tabled the idea of skill development for minority students and have also asked for apt career counselling, to help the students to navigate their career in a proper way.

Learning indicators by NCERT to gauge student’s growth The NCERT (National Council of Education Research and Training) is revamping the education modules for students of class I to VIII. The entire rehash is done to give a new dimension to the present primary education infrastructure. The indicators will also try to level the parameters which are used to monitor the learning curve of the students. The NCERT has already pin pointed a plethora of subjects, which includes, English, Hindi, Urdu, EVS (Environmental Science), Science, Social Science and Art Education. The learning indicators is a well-known practice amongst the global education fraternity and now this is foraying into the Indian education system. Several tailor made parameters are set to measure a child’s development. For example, a student of standard one should have possessed the knowledge to write proper words and letters with proper spacing. A fellow student of class II should be comfortable in writing rhyming words and he or she must contribute in the school magazine. In a similar way, a class VIII student should have the acumen to understand new concepts and should have an eye to explore unknown areas of the knowledge domain. The regimen of a subject will also change under this plan. The EVM subject will not only deal with environmental issues, but it will create a bridge between natural and social environment. It will also help the child to understand the diversity of the environment and it will also help them to increase their interest on the subject. The entire system will not only help the students to bloom but also help the teachers to gauge the student’s growth level.

September 2015 / digitalLEARNING

NEWS

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NSDC signs MoU with CRISP

Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Rajiv Pratap Rudy has said that National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) has entered into Memorandum of Understanding with Center for Research & Industrial Staff Performance (CRISP). Following are the areas and scope of collaboration: ❑ To finalise assignments and programmes in the area of skills training, research and consultancy for upgrading skills development interventions of NSDC ❑ To develop demand driven interventions of technical skills development for industries, partnering institutions and policy makers for systematising the skills development approach in India ❑ To develop training interventions for capacity building of partnering institutions and state-level bodies ❑ Develop plan and activities for strengthening National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) ❑ Jointly plan and develop strategic interventions for capacity building of Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Rudy said, Center for Research & Industrial Staff Performance (CRISP) is set up as an autonomous institution established under Indo-German Technical Co-operation bilateral agreement with the support of Department of Technical Education & Training Government of Madhya Pradesh and GTZ Germany. Under the MoU, NSDC and CRISP have a functional understanding and can work towards accessing facilities of CRISP. The Minister said, the MoU covers the way to jointly work and share facilities for developing national level support system for effective implementation of skills development initiatives and develop trainer’s training programme in skills development for bridging the identified competence gaps of trainers at NSDC partner institutions. CRISP offers Tool Room Services, which includes support for production & tooling job works for precision machining works as Prototype development, Product Design & analysis which can be leveraged to help those aspiring to upgrade their skills in tool room and shop floor practices.

MHRD

Government of India

Ministry of Human Resource Development

MHRD conducts survey on dropout rate of school children To ensure quality education in government schools, the Central Government through Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has supported State and Union Territories on early grade reading, writing and comprehension and early mathematics programmes through a sub-programme ‘Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat’. The SSA will also support states and UTs on sharing an exemplar on continuous comprehensive evaluation in elementary education developed by the NCERT, notifying learning outcomes by class and stage of education brought out by the NCERT, conducting the 3rd round of National Achievement Surveys for Class III, V and VIII to track student learning outcomes, provide funds and technical guidance to states for annual refresher

September 2015 / digitalLEARNING

training of teachers and lastly to provide academic support to teachers and schools through Block and Cluster Resource Centres. The identification of Special Focus Districts (SFDs) is an important step in the direction of providing universal and quality education to SCs & STs student at elementary level. These districts are identified based on indicators like concentration of out of school children, high gender gap, low retention rate and infrastructure gap as well as concentration of SC, ST, Minority population. During 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15 & 2015-16, 48 per cent, 48 per cent, 42.8 per cent & 49 per cent respectively of the funds under SSA were targeted to SFDs. As a result, the annual average dropout rate of boys has reduced from 5.89 per cent in 2012-13 to 4.68 per cent in 2013-14 and of girls from 5.34 per cent to 4.66 per cent during the same period. A survey was commissioned by the Ministry of Human Resource Development and was conducted by Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB) on “National Survey of Estimation of out-of-school children in the age group of 6-13 in India” and completed in 2014. It was pointed out in the study report that children within the rural areas drop out of school earlier than those in the urban areas. Most of the drop-outs in the said age group from the rural areas have completed education up to Class-II, while those from the urban areas have completed class V.

“The best service to society is not only by imparting quality education but by adding value to our society through strengthening families” Mr. M. M. Sheriff, MD, DIS “Focus of education must be in instilling the knowledge of values” - Mr. S. Raju, Director, DIS

6:00 A.M. (A cooker whistle starts blowing along with lot of rattling noise of vessels.) “Wake up Shonu” The mother shouts. “Have you done your homework” asks the eager father and what happens next is up to your imagination. The same scene though can be seen in a different way post noons, when the mother attends the child’s homework. In some other household, we see children carrying huge bags going to tuitions. This has been a regular scene in our country, and we are used to such shows. If these problems at a glance can make you think over a while, then imagine the destruction which they are causing to our family system. This aforementioned perennial drama due to age long existing life style grows distance among family members (as they daily keep busy ﬁnishing their quotidian) and curtails them from spending quality time together, which penultimately catapults to weaken family bonding.

must milk most beneﬁts in terms of spending quality time with parents when at home.

Dream India Schools is as well providing solutions for two of the biggest challenges concerning India and Indians in providing quality education (to India’s future) i.e. Accessibility and Affordability. DIS is one of the largest Schools chain trusted by 4 lakh wise parents, catering to 2,00,000 students, 8500+ Academic & Non-Academic staff spread across 9 states with 370+ Schools. The journey of DIS connects to the roots of Krishnaveni Talent School (KTS) established in 2003-04 by veterans in education Mr. M. M. Sheriff & Mr. S. Raju. With all this DIS is changing the educational landscape of India. Dream India School is a dream to see an Educated and Empowered India. www.dreamindia.com

• What if a child can do his homework all by himself ? • What if a child can go to school without a school bag and only with his lunchbox ? • What if a child’s academic progress can be tracked completely by a school with specialized classes ? • What if all can be taken care within affordable fee structure ? • What if a parent can happily spend quality time with child/ren without worrying much about academics ? Children must be free from burden of home work, load of school bags, trouble of tuitions and parents must be free from the tension of academic burden on their child. Then only there is leeway to strengthen child-parent bonding. Dream India Schools (DIS) are modelled to address these alarming issues with its value offerings by taking the “complete academic responsibility of the child.” Our focus is to make sure that the child

Strengthening

Child-Parent Bonding

SKILL EDUCATION WES

Scaling the

Skill Gamut

Realising the fact that Skill education is the need of the hour, the Government is running several initiatives that empowers the youth of the country to be skilled to earn their livelihood, even after completing the senior secondary level. Elets News Network (ENN) brings together government initiatives in the sector to help the country scale the skill map.

ith 430 million people in the age group of 1534 years, India is a young nation, constituting 35 per cent of the population as per Census 2011. In fact this age group is projected to increase to 464 million by 2021. Global economists, industry analysts and policy-framers are convinced that India needs to optimise the opportunity of this ‘demographic dividend’. India’s demographic dividend has the power to drive the growth of the country and also be the key engine to fuel global growth. However the vast talent pool of the country suffers from either not having the skills to be employable or having an inefficient marketplace for jobs. There is a need for speedy reorganisation of the ecosystem of skill development and entrepreneurship promotion in the country to suit the needs of the industry and enable decent quality of life to its population. In line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s belief that if we have to promote the development of our country then our

September 2015 / digitalLEARNING

mission has to be Skill Development and Skilled India, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship is aiming at developing skill at fast pace, while also maintaining a certain standard. Taking the vision forward, the Ministry is also striving to develop skills on the national level with an eye on removal of disconnect between demand and supply of skilled manpower, building the vocational and technical training framework, skill up-gradation, building of new skills, and innovative thinking not only for existing jobs but also jobs that are to be created. The Ministry has engaged actively with several countries with the purpose of technology transfer in skill training, training of trainers, setting up of model and centres of excellence. The MoUs have been signed with United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Canada, France, USA, European Union, Iran and Bahrain, etc with a focus to implement and adapt the best practices in skill development of respective countries systems

in India. Dr Haresh Tank, Director, Station-e Language Lab concerned about the growing competition and the quality of education becoming a question. “Students memorise books full of data, but basic skills and subjects that village schools used to impart well such as Mathematics and Language Skills are worrying the educationists today. The education debate over the quality has led to the advent of a whole new jargon, but how much of that has made things clear to us is yet to be discovered,” he opines.

is partnering with the state governments to introduce training partners and set up labs and get people skill trained. Two very recent examples are in Haryana and Himachal Pradesh where school children who passed out of 12th and not wanting to continue higher education have got jobs up to Rs. 50,000 a month based on their skill certificate. In many cases where they have not even passed 12th but passed their skill certificate, they have got jobs in the market, say for example in the retail sector, where they are earning an average of `12,000`13,000 per month.”

Government focus

Skilling at School

Prime Minister has stressed on producing skilled manpower and pushing ahead the Skill India mission with the government launching a number of initiatives aimed at developing skills and promoting youth in every field. The new National Policy for Skill Development Mission and Entrepreneurship was released in July this year and the Prime Minister had also rolled out India flagship scheme, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), with an outlay of Rs.1,500 crore, and a first year target of covering 2.4 million individuals. The government has set the target to skill 40.2 crore people by 2022 under the National Policy for Skill Development. The other initiatives yet to be launched are the model skill loan scheme, skill card for persons certified under PMKVY. Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Minister of State, Ministry for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (Independent Charge) & Parliamentary Affairs feels, “Skills and knowledge are the driving forces of economic growth and social development for any country. We are in cognizance of the huge demographic dividend that our country stands to reap, at this point in time.” The Skill Development Minister had also stated that, “12 years of education may not make you employable but 12 weeks of skill training will and also bring about a paradigm shift from input-based to outcome-based skill training in the country.” Talking about the initiatives of NSDC in empowering the youngsters, Dilip Chenoy, Managing Director and CEO of the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) says, “NSDC

There are about 1.3 million schools operating in India in which 227 million children are enrolled. The figure indicates the state of regular enrolment in primary and secondary levels. Besides, vocational education courses are also operated under the Na-

“12 years of education may not make you employable but 12 weeks of skill training will and also bring about a paradigm shift from input-based to outcome-based skill training in the country tional Institute for Open Schooling (NIOS). Secondary education has expanded rapidly in recent years. The major skill gaps are cognitive (especially numeracy and critical thinking), non-cognitive (especially communication, leadership, and decision making), and technical (depends upon industry). The BJP Government has worked on vocationalisation of

digitalLEARNING / September 2015

WES

five vocational courses under NSQF at senior secondary level. These courses were launched in 2012, targeting IT, Automobile, Retail, Security and Introduction to Travel and Tourism in classes IX and X. There are other 40 vocational courses offered at the senior secondary level in classes IX and XII in seven different sectors. “CBSE develops curriculum and content for these courses and prepares student’s manual and teachers’ handbook for their benefit. Also, training programmes for teachers are organised to upgrade teaching techniques and skills in respective subjects,” informs MVV Prasada Rao, Director, Vocational Education and EDUSAT, CBSE.

Skills at Higher Education In order to bridge the gap between industry and academia, NSDC has developed a unique model to integrate skill based trainings into the academic cycles of Universities. These are based on national occupational standards set by industry through sector skill councils. The job roles offered are designed to be progressive in nature from level 5 to level 7 on NSQF. NSDC is working with 21 Universities, UGC and AICTE, catering to more than 2100 colleges and 400 community colleges across the country.

NSDC is currently working with the State Governments of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Nagaland, Maharashatra, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan for implementation of the scheme in their states through its approved and funded The key highlights: Sector Skill Councils w Based on state skill gap report – identification of Sectors and school education. The centrally sponsored scheme of Ministry of HRD, Government of India lists out the crucial role for NSDC and it’s Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) in implementation of NSQF. The training conducted in the scheme is based on National Occupational Standards set by NSDC through SSCs. Under the scheme SSCs conducts assessments and certifications jointly with the State Board. NSDC is currently working with the State Governments of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Nagaland, Maharashatra, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan for implementation of the scheme in their states through its approved and funded Sector Skill Councils. Sector Skill Councils support the States in Identification of Trades/ Occupations, Accrediting curriculum with PSSCIVE, Recommendation for Appointment of Vocational (Industry) Coordinator, Quality Control of Training, Training of Trainers, Student Assessment and Certification and Industry Interface. Need not to mention, skill education is the need of the hour and to make students learn the trait, CBSE has also introduced

September 2015 / digitalLEARNING

job roles w Development of implementation model and Integration into time table as per university norms w Training of Trainers by Sector Skill Council w Curriculum Alignment and Capacity Building workshops w Student orientation sessions to take an informed choice of sector/job role based on career aspiration w Standardised Training Delivery by NSDC Training Partners w Internships and On- the – job Training w Assessment and certification by Sector Skill Council w Last Mile Employability and Entrepreneurship Opportunities for the students Madan Mohan Mittal, Technical Education Minister, Government of Punjab, says, “Education, creation and adaptation of information, knowledge, skills and values are a key lever of sustainable development. The vision of ‘Skilled India’, ‘Skill youth’ will give equitable opportunities to all to access effective and relevant learning throughout life delivered through multiple formal, non-formal and informal settings. Skill education is important to individuals’ development as it is to the develop-

ment of the nation and to the world at large.”

Defining skillsets Agreeing to the fact that there is a need to provide skill training even to the engineering students, Dr. G. R. C Reddy, Director, National Institute of Technology, Goa says, “India today produces 1.5 million engineering graduates a year, most of them in what we call ‘circuit branches’- computer Science, IT, Electronics’ and Electrical Engineering. It is however, agreed by all that 75 per cent of these graduates are unemployed. The reasons are that both government and private colleges lack teachers of appropriate scholastic standard. Again, this is so because bright students are not joining postgraduate programmes nor are taking up research and teaching as a profession.” Due to the fact that organisations operate in an increasingly competitive environment, it results in a need for continuous employee skill development. The rapid pace of technological change requires everyone to continue learning throughout life. Although there are a number of broad skills that employers look for in candidates, such as strong communication and organisational skills or technical knowledge, each individual field of engineering and job role will have their own specific skills set. Current concerns over reforming engineering education have focused attention on helping students develop skills and an adaptive expertise. In this backdrop, Ashiv Shah, Head of TIFAC Centre of Relevance and Excellence at Ajay Kumar Garg Engineering College (AKGEC) feels, “It goes without saying that the fundamentals in Engineering are core to creating a good engineer. However, in the present backdrop, we are looking at the global picture, skill development is indispensable.” He further adds, “Engineering colleges need to upgrade labs and tools, in addition to their curriculum in respect to the material available worldwide. Unfortunately engineering curriculums have not been revamped for the last many years. Today, skill development needs to majorly and urgently focus on manufacturing practices. Till now, skill development was concentrated on the servicing sector and this has to change.”

Facilitating Change There are about 20,769 government higher educational institutes in India which includes Universities, research institutes, colleges of Arts, Science and Commerce, Engineering and Architecture and Medical Institutes, Polytechnic institutes and Teacher’s Training Institutes. The government has to put massive effort to form better

India today produces 1.5 million engineering graduates a year, most of them in what we call ‘circuit branches’computer Science, IT, Electronics’ and Electrical Engineering. It is however, agreed by all that 75 per cent of these graduates are unemployed. The reasons are that both government and private colleges lack teachers of appropriate scholastic standard educational structure especially for skill development sector comprising of industry-oriented training. The National Skill Policy, among others, devised in 2009 set a target to impart skill development training to 500 million by 2022. An apex institution for devising policy and review Skill development sector is the Prime Minister’s National Council on Skill Development. Initiatives were also taken to coordinate both private and public sector to impart skill development. In a dire need to educate youngsters by providing a continuous skilling curriculum along with mainstream education, Higher Education Department in the Ministry of Human Resource and Development with MHRD had launched a scheme on Skill Assessment Matrix for Vocational Advancement of Youth (SAMVAY) to support students’ mobility under NSQF. SAMVAY was created to support mobility of students between various levels of general education, community colleges and Bachelor of Vocational Courses (B.Voc) courses run by polytechnics and colleges approved by UGC and AICTE. n

digitalLEARNING / September 2015

WES KIRAN

Empowering YOUNG MINDS KIRAN, the project of Kolkata Police has claimed to be the ray of hope for youth open up doors of opportunities for them. The project aims to empower students from impoverished background and minority communities, finds out Subhajit Bhattacharya of Elets News Network (ENN)

estiny took a new turn for Intekab, Khalisa Shamim, Nishat, Kaushik and Sunny. Today, they are not lost faces who are struggling to fetch their own identity. They are professionals and well placed in different multi nationals across the city. They are empowered youth with a focused mindset and eager to achieve their own dreams. They do not live under the hollow of despair instead their mind is free of fear and their heart is filled with hope. But, how did they create their own identity and achieved their financial prowess. KIRAN, the project of Kolkata Police opened the window of opportunities for these youth from different minority oriented areas of Kolkata. The KIRAN project started its journey in the year 2008 by targeting the students from impoverished background and from the minority community. Beniapukur Police station was the first to roll out this project and instantly got overwhelming response from the locality. Intekhab Alam (20), a student of KIRAN is now well placed in a multinational, says, “KIRAN has helped me to achieve my goal and opened a plethora of opportunities in front of me.” According to experts, India will very soon be counted amongst the biggest and apt producers of human resource for the global market. The demand of the able and skilled human resource will increase in manifold over the coming few years. By keeping this in mind, the Kolkata Police started this tailor made project to enhance the skills of the students who belong to the large minority community of Kolkata. Aiming to bridge the gap between cops and the community and to hone the skills of the lesser privileged children, the project KIRAN was dolled out by the Kolkata Police in association with the West Bengal Minority and Finance Corporation. The project enrolls 40 students in every batch and makes

September 2015 / digitalLEARNING

them computer enabled by enhancing their computer skills which later open doors of the job market in front of them. “In the last few years, the project has earned accolades from different sections of the society and we successfully imparted computer education to more than 4,000 minority students of Kolkata,” says Shoven Banerjee, Officer-in Charge, Community Policing Wing. Presently, the Men in White are running these KIRAN centers in more than 20 minority populated zones of Kolkata. Khalisa Parveen (18), completed her course and managed a job offer few days back. She says,“I got a job after I completed my computer course from KIRAN. My perspective on cops has completely changed, I believe they are not only people in uniform who brandish their lathis and guns, but they have a humane face behind the white uniform.” Till date KIRAN has successfully trained more than 3,500 girl students. This project is not only enhancing the skills of several youths, but is also eradicating the gulf of mistrust between cops and community. The course is offered to those who have completed their plus two and is completely free for students. Presently, the knowledge centers are spread across 20 minority populated areas, which are Beniapukur, Gardenreach, Karaya, Jorasankho,Ultadanga, Entally, Tangra,Taltola,Topsia, Ekbalpur, Cossipore, West Port, Narkeldanga, Phoolbagan, Bhowanipore, Ballygaunge, Watgaunge, Park Street, Nadial and Tiljala have started functioning. Via KIRAN, computer education is not only extended to minority community, but it is also extended to underprivileged youth. The faculties of the KIRAN center thinks that the growing job market is in massive demand of employable workforce and Kolkata Police is creating that workforce through KIRAN and a gamut of students are getting good job offers from the market.

093200 63100

ROSHNI SEN

‘Catch them Young’ The need for skill development is the national clarion call, which is being earnestly taken up by various states too. Roshni Sen, IAS, Department of Women and Child Development and Social Welfare, Government of West Bengal, shares about the skill development initiative of her department with Elets News Network (ENN)

How is the Government of West Bengal trying to develop the status of the women and children of the State via skill development? Since the new government came to power, the overall status of the women of the State has improved considerably. The State Government rolled out a plethora of projects targeting the all round development of the women of the State. The State Child and Women Welfare department targets the women as well as the children. We equip them with proper technical as well as vocational training, which later helps them in gaining ground in the job market. We believe in the philosophy

September 2015 / digitalLEARNING

We focus on women and children who are in conflict with law, who are destitute and in difficult situations. We offer well-designed skill development courses for the girls and boys who are living in the juvenile homes of ‘catch them young’ as young adults are an excellent learners and that is the best time to enhance their skills through systematic learning. How does the department focus different segments and create specific courses by keeping the targeted need in mind? We focus on women and children who are in conflict with the law, are

destitute and in difficult situations. We offer well-designed skill development courses for the girls and boys who are living in the juvenile homes. As these women and children cannot be placed into mainstream education, we prefer technical education for them, which gives them financial independence, after being free from legal complications. We train women in making different jute products and also help them market

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those products. We are also zeroing in on short-term computer training courses and also on different financially viable courses such as retail, which has huge potential in the state. We are also training them in ‘Zari’ art work which is also in high demand in the market. These courses will not only empower the women in the State, but also create a ground for them, who are left in the lurch by society. We are empowering these girls who are living in destitute homes, with these courses. Different corporate and NGOs are joining hands with us in building the future of these girls. What special steps is the State Government undertaking to rehabilitate girls rescued from the clutches of trafficking? Everyday several girls are rescued by the anti-trafficking authorities and rehabilitation becomes a major jolt for them. By keeping this as a priority, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee conceived a project “Muktir Alo”. The project is at the nascent stage and will be announced by the end of this month. Under this project, the rescued girls will be trained in different skill sets such as masala grinding and block printing. Both the existing sex workers and girls who have been rescued from different states of India will be enrolled under this training camp. We are doing this in association with the Nijoloy Home, as they already have an existing set up that runs under the Price Andrew Charitable Trust. These girls will be getting training in making kimonos and jute bags and specific handicrafts, and these products will be

Today, every girl needs to be self-reliant and financially independent because through micro-level research, it has proved that if a state is investing on the growth of a girl child, then that financially empowered girl adds up to the GDP of the country further adding to its 360 degree development sold in boutique shops in London and their money will be credited directly into their accounts. Initially, the project has handpicked 50 girls from different parts of Bengal and later, we had plans of expansion by gauging the viability and utility of the project. We have also trained several girls under the Shukanya project. How does financial empowerment of women benefit the overall growth of the State? Today, every girl needs to be self-reliant and financially independent because through micro-level research, it has proved that if a state is investing on the growth of a girl child, then that financially empowered girl adds up to the GDP of the country further adding to its 360 degree development. What is the outcome of the coveted State project, ‘Kanyashree’? Kanyashree, till date has benefited several girls of the State and it has also created a buzz among the girls against early marriage. This project has also increased the literacy level of the girls in the State and included lesser privileged girls into the education process though financial inclusion. It has also helped in mending the health parameters of

Skill development helps girls being independent and self-reliant

the girls of the State, which is again linked to the child mortality rates. I believe Kanyashree project is a true symbol of women empowerment. In Nadia district, several girls under this project got training in voice modulation and are currently working in BPOs. In Bankura, many girls are trained in organic farming under the umbrella of Kanyashree. In Coochbehar also, we got splendid results under the Kanyashree project. The project has developed confidence within the girls and also made them aware about education and other social nuances. What were the roadblocks the project faced in its nascent days and how were these overcomed? There were several hurdles but we managed to overcome all of them. We convinced the banks and also motivated the teachers and did a smart publicity campaign which motivated many girls to join back schools. We handled trafficked girls in a separate way and motivated them to join Kanyashree. We made schools the epicenter of all activities related to project, which ushered more students in the schools. How are the Self Help Groups (SHGs) working with the government? The SHGs are playing quite a crucial role in different state projects. They are preparing and supplying food to different state-governed projects, also helping us in convincing girls in joining the Kanyashree project. We are also using different folk artistes such as Chhau and Baul in publicising the Kanyashree project in different parts of Bengal. This is helping in reviving the dying folk arts and also giving Kanyashree a unique platform.

digitalLEARNING / September 2015

WES S ANFORT

Nurturing

Young Minds Having created a niche for herself in education sector, Kavita Rathor started her journey 15 years back with her first preschool, launched her school brand SANFORT in December 2009 and has expended its presence to 87 locations in such a short span. The founder director talks to Elets News Network (ENN) about her journey

he activities and curriculum of SANFORT is based on the U. K. concept of preschool education that bids unique and quality preschool education and help the children grow in harmonious environment. We started our first preschool almost 15 years back with no great idea, experience or understanding, but lots of passion & fascination towards early childhood education. Even the parents that time were not very much aware about the importance of preschool education. As a result even after putting our best effort, we had only 18 admissions in the first year, but we never lost courage and patience. We kept on working hard, hired more experienced staff, adopted innovative marketing strategy and gave our best services to

those 18 students. Each one of those 18 students became our brand ambassador and gradually we started getting good admissions. After running our first Pre-school successfully for almost seven years, we started our 2nd school and then 3rd.

Awards and Accolades Sanfort’s contribution in the preschool industry is well acknowledged by leading print and electronic media. Kavita Rathor’s contribution in the education sector is recognised several times. She was recently awarded as ‘The Women Entrepreneur of the Year’ for her commendable contribution in the field of education. The success story of Sanfort is covered by plethora of leading newspapers of the country. After winning several awards, Sanfort is now listed among the top 100 franchise opportunities.

We stand apart

Kavita Rathor & SK Rathor

September 2015 / digitalLEARNING

S. K. Rathor, Co-founder & Managing Director – SANFORT group said, we have never thought of franchise business but some of the parents and friends approached us and forced to think about it. That is how after more than 10 years of rich experience, we launched our preschool brand SANFORT based on the U. K. Concept of preschool education in December 2009. Our curriculum and activities are designed by a team of highly experienced educationists from India & U. K. with collective experience of more than 200 years under the expert guidance of our chairman Dr. Anil Kumar & his wife Mrs. Sandhya Kumar who worked on British Education for more than 35 years. The innovative curriculum and successfully running branches made SANFORT so popular that in a short span of five and a half years we reached out to 41 branches in DelhiNCR and 87 branches in the country. Recently we entered to Primary & K-12 school business too. We kept working on support mechanism to help our business partners to increase their profitability. I strongly believe that only best support mechanism can run and make the business sustainable. We never run behind the numbers and always believe in creating a network of successfully running branches.

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Making education more interesting and effective

A true World School Sanfort instilled a niche and global concept in their curriculum, which is accredited to the “British Association of Early Childhood Education-U. K.” Sanfort has also earned the membership of Preschool Learning Alliance-U.K. The faculties are well trained and are getting regular updates and training from both of these organisations. The group is equipped with proper technical expertise and this is the only brand in the country, which is laden with modern technical prowess, which includes True Smart Learning System with ‘Touch N Learn’ technology, which makes learning more effective and interesting for the children.

Paving The Way The company though never believed in taking part in the rat race but definitely believes in spreading its network across the country and is targeting to reach about 125 preschools and 5 K-12 schools by the end of FY 2015-16. The company’s business model is very clear & transparent and they give lifetime business opportunity to their franchisees, where unlike other brands franchisee don’t need to pay the franchise renewal fees after every certain interval. The franchisees are backed by 360 degree support system which includes, selection of site, planning of interiors and exteriors of the branch, planning of the pre-launch, and post launch marketing activities, recruitment and training of the staff, etc. The company closely monitors the functioning of the

branches and ensures the success of the branches with high returns. Apart from this, they also provide a fully detailed & structured curriculum, specially designed books, activity sheets and other teaching material. To maintain the brand value, system and standard of the group, they conduct regular quality assessments of the branches. Skill up-gradation programs & teacher’s trainings are done regularly and the teachers are provided with various teaching tools like flash cards, smart-Kit and monthly planner, etc. The group pioneered the concept of play school in NCR and started their journey with 18 odd students. With sheer hard work and focused viewpoint they soon started front-runner of this business

Be our partner According to S. K. Rathor Preschool is the best business today because it needs low investment, gives high returns and one can generate extra revenue by adding after school activities like day care, hobby classes and tuition classes. It’s recession free and is not impacted by business cycle. On the side K-12 school business needs heavy investments, running expenses are high, one need to wait for break-even and profits to come but its K-12 is a big business with big investment, which gives big returns for generations. Although the words franchisee and franchisors are very popular these days but we never believe in this concept and looked for business partners who can join and help us to expand our network, says Rathore.

digitalLEARNING / September 2015

INTERVIEW M INDBOX

Creativity in Education With a vision to evolve creative education system in India, ARK Infosolutions in 2012 launched an initiative called MindBox that aims to empower students with the 21st century skills for improving creativity and imagination

Game Jam Titans provides opportunity to school students to be creative

hat comes to your mind when you hear or read the word ‘Creativity’? What do you associate Creativity with? If you are like the most people, your mind immediately leaps to artistic fields of drawing, painting, sculpture, drama, dance, or music etc. We usually associate the word creativity only with art. Creativity is much broader and universal than what we all consider it to be. It is actually about using imagination to create something original and new in the space you are working in. It comes into the play wherever you have the opportunity to generate new ideas, solve problems, or find approaches to make things better than before. If someone asks you ‘are you a creative person?’ If your answer to this question is negative, or if you are confused, then it is most probably because you think you are not an Artist! Art cannot be a litmus test to determine creativity of a person. Drawing or painting are not arts. These are actually languages used for expressing an idea, making an invisible thought become visible in front of the world. Art is a specialised form of a language, just like how English is a language, but poetry is an art. And

September 2015 / digitalLEARNING

we don’t stop learning English because we do not want to be a poet. So, why do we stop teaching drawing or painting or such ‘visual languages’ after a certain age? Most of us would have felt very creative in our childhood, but as we grew up into adulthood we feel we have left the creativity behind. As quoted by Sir Ken Robinson in his book Creative Schools, “Creativity is now as important in Education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status.” In these dynamic times, creativity and imagination is more important than knowledge. Education reformers around the world have time and again expressed the need to transform the rote methods of education into ways that can nurture creativity & imagination. As we realise the importance of the 21st century skills, more and more digital tools of creativity are being adapted inside the range of experiences that schools provide to their students. Sighting this change, and with a vision to evolve creative education system in India, ARK Infosolutions in 2012 launched an initiative called MindBox. MindBox aims to empower students with 21st century skills for improving creativity and imagination. With a strong presence as a technology solu-

tions provider in the animation, gaming, product design, manufacturing, robotics, architectural, and engineering and construction industries, ARK Infosolutions is all geared up to provide quality learning experience to students on these areas to make them future ready. Speaking on the initiative, ARK Infosolutions CEO & Director Rishi Khemka says, “MindBox believes in developing creativity and life skills of students by an output method of expression using visual communication as language, creative design thinking and STEAM as a subject. The delivery happens using technology as a tool inside the school’s campus through design and projectbased learning methodology for class 1st to 12th students. We also provide kits, industry expert sessions, worksheet, and software along with qualified faculty to conduct these sessions and a four way assessment system for school and students.” MindBox also provides national and international level competition platforms for students to demonstrate and showcase their skills. With their partnership with industry leaders like Autodesk, Corel, Unity, Foundry, and VEX Robotics, they bring in the reliable expertise on latest technology in education.

DALJEET SINGH CHEEMA

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Filling the Gap Primary education in Punjab is at a critical but poised stage to meet the challenges of the new millennium. The education department of the Punjab Government is busy equipping the students and the teachers with the skills required to meet the set goals. Dr Daljeet Singh Cheema, Education Minister, Punjab, lays out the road map to Priya Yadav of Elets News Network (ENN) What are the challenges that primary education is facing in Punjab? Primary education plays a major role in future development of a state. We have a huge task with us as even though private schools have come up all over the place, yet government schools are at the preferred places of study, especially in the rural areas. In Punjab, there are 19,500 government schools, catering to 26.7 lakh school students. The number of teachers working in these schools is over 1.09 lakh. Streamlining this huge infrastructure and human resources is a challenging task and one that we are working on diligently. For this, we are first trying to ascertain which are the problem areas and then work out solutions for the same. Though there are so many teachers with the government, yet teacher student ratio remains a challenge. What is the government doing about it? I have worked out a strategy to solve this problem. I sought approval of the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to create a separate directorate dedicated solely to the recruitment of teachers in government schools. There are as many as 5000 posts of teachers in primary

equip the teachers with necessary skills. Some of our trainers, nearly 50, have been trained in Canada and they will impart skills to master trainers, who in turn, will train the teachers. 10 schools have been identified in each district with the lowest pass percentage in English. Teachers will be given a reorientation course. The SCERT has been given a special fund of `1 crore to organise training sessions for these teachers. Dr Daljeet Singh Cheema shows concern on the poor state of education in schools

schools that need to be filled on priority basis. Once a directorate is created, this will be taken up and the teachers would be selected on merit. The system is set to be overhauled. There were concerns about the quality of teachers in government schools. How are you dealing withthis? After the poor performance of students in school examinations, especially in matric, we assessed the quality of teachers in schools and found, to our dismay, that the teachers too lacked basic skills. We have initiated training workshops to

What new courses are being planned for the children to make them more skilled? An MoU has been signed with the National Skill Development Corporation to launch new courses. As its part, new courses like beauty and wellness, healthcare, automobile repair, retail would be launched in 100 schools for 5,000 students. Such courses would run simultaneously with classes starting from 9th to 12th standard. These courses will empower students and enable them to get a job as some of these would be at par with industrial training courses. We have made special provisions for science students and free coaching classes are being given to them. n

digitalLEARNING / September 2015

WES SANDHYA RANI

Progressing Towards Girl Education

To reduce the drop-out ratio at the primary and secondary level, Andhra Pradesh State Government has been making all efforts to improve basic amenities in public schools. Sandhya Rani, State Project Director, Andhra Pradesh, talks to Sudheer Goutham of Elets News Network (ENN) about the online monitoring system to be put up by the AP Government for the Education Mangers across the State to monitor all key education indicators How is the compliance of private schools to RTE Act in Andhra Pradesh. What is the progress in the implementation of RTE Act. Can you give numbers? With regard to the provision of allocating 25 per cent seats in private schools to students from poor and economically weaker sections, Govt.Order.Ms.No.42, School Education, dated 30.07.2010 indicates the fee reimbursable and other conditions. This G.O is challenged in legal courts and further implementation is constrained by the same. Meanwhile, Government of Andhra Pradesh constituted a Committee for recommending fee reimbursable to private schools with regard to 25 per cent seats. The recommendations of the Committee are under examination by the Government. What are the trends of school dropouts ever since the RTE Act was introduced in 2009? Drop-out rates at elementary and secondary stages of education have been declining. However, there is a need for greater progress. The low Net Enrolment Ratio (NER) at the upper primary level and the increasing enrolment gap from elementary to secondary level suggests that although a larger number of children are entering the educational system, a significant

September 2015 / digitalLEARNING

proportion of them are not progressing through the system to complete elementary/secondary cycle of education. Drop-out rates among disadvantaged groups, especially for girls from these groups, remain higher than the national average. AP State Government is in the process of putting in place an online monitoring system for the Education Mangers across the State and monitor all key education indicators â&#x20AC;&#x201C; enrolment, dropout, transition, etc. As part of the focused measures to improve retention in schools of girl children from socially and economically disadvantaged communities, 352 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) are set up in the Educationally Backward Mandals/ Blocks (low female literacy Mandals) to provide residential schools for drop out girls from VI to X Class. About 68,000 girl students are currently pursuing their education in the KGBVs. During the current year, the Government has introduced the English medium education for the KGBV Girl students for their continuity/ retention in the schools. Keeping in line with the objective of RTE Act, 2009, AP Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) ensures access to all the out of school children, i.e., children never enrolled, children dropped out and for urban deprived children like street children, orphans, rag pickers, children of

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Drop-out Rates From 2009-10 To 2014-15- ALL (Recognised Schools) Sl No Year

Primary Level(I-V)

Elementary Level (I-VII/VIII)

Secondary Level (1-X)

Boys

Girls

Total

Boys

Girls

Total

Boys

Girls

Total

2009-10

9.27

8.58

8.93

20.69

21.38

21.03

49.31

51.08

50.18

2010-11

10.56

9.33

9.95

15.35

15.99

15.66

42.95

45.44

44.19

2011-12

7.51

7.40

7.45

14.94

14.96

14.95

41.23

42.75

41.98

2012-13

5.83

6.34

6.08

20.33

20.42

20.38

32.84

34.00

33.41

2013-14

3.16

3.25

3.20

19.37

18.95

19.16

26.20

27.48

26.83

2014-15

4.88

4.30

4.60

14.91

16.59

15.74

24.54

25.93

25.23

Note: Dropout Rate at Elementary level for the years 2012-13 and 2013-14 is calculated for classes I- VIII

broken family and children of Sex workers, etc. Quality education is provided through special training centers run under the supervision of regular schools and to track the children enrolled in special training till mainstreaming and thereafter in the school. Lack of basic amenities in public schools including toilets, running water and other infrastructure, many girl students avoid coming to schools or miss classes. The situation continuous to be poor. The Government of Andhra Pradesh has been making all out effort to improve basic amenities in public schools including toilets, running water and fur-

niture, etc. Under the Swatcch Vidyalaya programme in all schools, one girls toilet and one boys toilet are provided. During the current year, in partnership with Government of India, Public Sector undertaking and Corporates, over 18,000 toilets were constructed/repaired in the State. Of the 47,000 schools, in 3000 (15.67 per cent) schools there is no running water. Alternative arrangements by way of supply through tankers are made by the District Collectors, through local Panchayat & Rural Water & Sanitation Department. What initiatives are being taken by the State Government to improve

literacy in the State? Various initiatives are taken up for improving literacy in the State, especially of the school age going children –“Badi Piluthondi”(School is calling) campaigns to ensure 100 per cent enrolment of school age going children, provision of infrastructure, school uniforms, text books, Mid-Day meals, etc. Prathibha Awards (Merit Awards) awarded to the meritorious students who excel in the SSC Public Examination with a merit certificate, Memento and a scholarship amount of `20,000 for pursuing Higher Education. The School Management Committees (SMCs) are in place in all the schools. SMCs provide a platform for parental motivation, participation in the school developmental activities, and directly or indirectly help in sustaining the enrolment and improvement of literacy. Andhra Pradesh State has achieved significant progress in the last decade with regard to improving the levels of adult literacy among its population. Literacy levels have gone up from 60.47 per cent to 67.41 per cent during this period. However, this is still lower than the National average of 72.98 per cent. Under the Sakshara Bharat programme, Adult Education Centers (AECs) are set up at the Gram Panchayat level to provide institutional, managerial and resource support to literacy and lifelong education at grass root level. The AECs hold literacy classes for non-literates and semi-literate persons, conduct Skill Development Programmes, run libraries and reading rooms, etc.

digitalLEARNING / September 2015

BOSCH WES INDIA

Automotive Learning for Gen Y Concerned over bridging the gap of skilled labour in the automotive industry, Varun Suri, Expert-ICT enabled Automotive learning concepts, Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions Pvt Ltd laid stress on imparting training to the masses and feels that there is an urgent need to bring in innovative systems into the educational gamut that accelerate learning

he automotive industry is one of the key drivers of India’s economy, accounting for around seven per cent of India’s GDP and employing over 19 million people, both directly and indirectly. Demographically and economically, India’s automotive industry is well-positioned for growth, servicing both domestic demand, and the export market. Also, the auto components engineering and manufacturing industry compliments the entire ecosystem to further accelerate growth. Due to the above business situation, it is expected that there will be a need of 48 million auto professionals by 2022 to meet the growing demands of the auto industry. Despite the emphatic stress laid on education and training in India, a shortage of auto industry-ready students still exists. This gap has grown manifold due to the technological advancements in the industry, and persistence of conventional learning tools and methods, therefore failing to bridge this gap. Although there is a great focus on professional higher education across basic subjects that are needed for conceptual understanding, the application of learning in the real world scenario is still weak. Moreover, the learning content for topics linked to subjects such as automotive electronics is not always updated due to the fast changing technology landscape. There is an urgent need to bring in innovative systems into the educational gamut that accelerate learning, and enable the automotive learner to be more industry ready. This can only be enabled through a strong industry connect. As a large automotive industry powerhouse, Bosch in India has already been working with engineering institutions to enable them to accelerate learning. This is done through setting up state of the art automotive labs, offering internships within Bosch, and other such effective mechanisms. Within Bosch also, traditional learning mechanisms are giving way to a more immersive and collaborative learning environment using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Particularly through AR/VR powered learning, the focus is on providing tools which decreases the cognitive load of the students while learning complex systems. This is done by providing modern methods like gamification, interactive virtual

September 2015 / digitalLEARNING

AR/VR enabled next generation automotive learning

3D models and animations. To democratise and enable mass consumption –Bosch provides developed solutions on mobile platforms (smartphones). The automotive domain competence combined with the power of immersive learning technologies (AR/VR) has given birth to the next generation learning programme at Bosch, named as Autocurious. This could be the perfect ingredient to solve the current learning gap in educational institutes. We believe that this programme has the right content and mechanisms to enable accelerated learning because of the following features: y Latest automotive content from Bosch y Simplified learning of highly complex topics y Tailored to bridge gap between curriculum and industry requirements y Powered via immersive learning technologies such as AR/ VR y Cross-platform compatibility (can be used on a PC, tablet, smartphone) Connect with us to know more about the Autocurious programme and how it can be enabled in your educational institute.

Source: makeinindia knowledge paper on skill development in India: For more queries, send a mail to: Varun.Suri@in.bosch.com

RP SISODIA

Digitising Andhra Schools In sync with the flagship campaign of the country - ‘Digital India’, the Andhra Pradesh State Government has taken up the challenge to make government schools smarter at par with private technology schools. RP Sisodia, Secretary to Government of Andhra Pradesh (School Education), in conversation with Sudheer Goutham of Elets News Network (ENN) shares the Government’s various initiatives that are set to give fillip in quality of education in the rural areas Can you throw some light on the latest endeavours of the state government in school education? We are set to introduce the audio-visual, interactive teaching in government schools through multimedia computeraided smart classes. The smart classroom is a proven mechanism which helps in quality enrichment through technological intervention. This technology driven method would not only make teaching more effective but also make it interesting for the students. How will the infrastructure and installation for the capacity building system be brought in place? A Geographic Information System (GIS) has been in the making already, with a central data base centre to be maintained by AP Online administration. AP Online, which maintains the government portals, is a joint venture of the government under PPP mode. Both software and hardware solutions will be provided by AP Online. What is the status of the initiative and how is it going to be implemented to all the public schools of the State? Currently, all the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidhyalayas in the State have complete online solutions in place. Starting from real time monitoring of

attendance of students and teachers, this system will also help in tracking learning level achievements of the students. Soon, this system will be rolled out in all the government schools. To begin with, smart-class and online education system has been taken up as a pilot project. In the next six months, this will cover 9,000 schools reaching over two lakh students in the rural areas including those in Educationally Backward Blocks (EBB) of the State. What are the skill development programmes associated with the introduction of this technology intervention system? Teachers are being provided training to carry their teaching through virtual classes. Among the trained, the best

teachers will be chosen to deliver classes online. Such training programmes will help build an e-environment as the teachers being trained will be acting as master trainers, thus helping in producing a larger number of e-learned teaching professionals in the State. AP Government is keen to multiply the number of smart classrooms in the schools. Can you explain how the issues of school dropouts and decreasing performance level with increasing class standard be addressed? Besides having a biometric-based attendance system, the online system will provide a broader system to monitor physical presence of students and teachers in state-run schools with the help of ‘live web streaming’ of video or photographs of classrooms. This way by sitting at one place, we can see that the teacher, who has marked his/her attendance with biometric device anywhere in the State, is present in his assigned classroom at a particular time. This feature will allow us to cross check the attendance reports generated by a biometric device. Keeping an eye on the teachers will help to improve the quality of teaching as well as a classroom environment. Live monitoring will encourage teachers and students to maintain self-discipline and also act as a parameter for attendance.

digitalLEARNING / September 2015

WES FLASHBACK

Through the Lens

World Education Summit (WES) has had an illustrious journey over the last four years. This annual event has witnessed the presence of the whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s who of the education sector, including the man who ignited millions of minds â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, who graced the inaugural edition of WES. Providing various business and networking opportunities for the government, education leaders, private sector & civil society organisations, WES has been instrumental in creating the perfect knowledge sharing platform yearafter-year. We bring you a glimpse of the journey of WES through last four years.

September 2015 / digitalLEARNING

digitallearning.eletsonline.com

digitalLEARNING / September 2015

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ERP saves efforts, time and cost Our current education management system and administration needs to be streamlined, which is possible with absolute implementation of IT-based solutions. With a view to business with purpose, NYSA has developed a complete Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system that caters to the needs of the students, teachers, institutions and ministries at various levels. Niladri Das, Senior Vice President, NYSA Communications Pvt. Ltd. shares the vision and mission of the company with Elets News Network (ENN) NYSA is a leading Enterprise Resource Planning service provider. What all its innovations may attract a client to choose the company? We provide technology-based solutions to various governing bodies, i.e. the Department of Technical Education and private sector, including manufacturing, healthcare, real estate as well as other real time services. Our focus is ‘business with purpose’ for the welfare of society in our country. Keeping in mind the requirements of education sector, we have designed our solutions in a way that it helps ease the process through ERP solutions and Internet. We strive with full potential to offer our customers hasslefree services in the best possible way. This saves one’s efforts, time and cost. What strategy have you developed and how does it help the education fraternity in a big way? ERP is the utmost requirement of any educational institute or university to make its work simpler, advanced, error free and efficient. Our process is very transparent. Therefore, we have drastically reduced the burden of RTIs in the departments we are working with. Our solution helps in the overall administration from enrollment of a student to declaration of results of that student. Nowadays, a set of question paper, along with the carbon copy of answer sheet is given to the applicants almost in every examination. Further, to help students

evaluate their score, we upload the answer sheets online. This system c an be followed at every government institution. Which all states have you worked with and received a positive response? We are working with progressive states like Gujarat, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand, etc. The Southern and Western parts of India have acceptance of ERP, but there is a lack of awareness in the Central and Eastern regions. Of late, mindset of people has been changing in the country. As of now, we are providing education solution to more than 500 large and medium-sized clients in the Asian region. In

Business with purpose

addition, we are all set to expand our foothold in the Middle East and African region as well. So far, we have successfully provided our services to Jawaharlal Nehru University, AIIMS, Maharishi Dayanand University, Punjab Technical University and Al-Falah, etc. While implementing the ERP solution, how do you cope up with the challenges? We have an expert team of IT professionals with years of rich experience in the software and education sector to deal with the challenges. The government and people are apprehensive about using technology or adopting new ideas in some of the regions. But, we are committed to make people’s life easier through our solutions at cheaper rates. We work on build-operate-transfer (BOT) model. First, we get into the system, study it in detail and then design easier solutions. We handhold the system and our expert sits onsite to educate the end-user on the usage of the solution. The project is for a long duration of minimum two years. We help to streamline the workflow till the time the user feels comfortable to work on the solution. So far, our target was implementing Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in higher education, but now we are about to cater to school education as well. We are working on a model to connect every higher education institution via the common server.

digitalLEARNING / September 2015

WES DET

Skilling the

GAP

Directorate of Employment & Training (DET), Government of Gujarat, has embarked on a transformation journey to transform the skill sets in the state, shares Dr Sandhya Bhullar, IAS and Director, Employment & Training, Government of Gujarat

ujarat has a population of more than six crores and 65 per cent of this population comprises of employable youth. The dropout rate from schools was touching 63 per cent, rendering the drop outs unemployable due to lack of basic skills. The Directorate of Employment and Training (DET), under the department of Labour and Employment, is responsible for boosting employability of the youth of Gujarat and for supporting vocational training needs, which are essential to create a favourable employment climate for the poor, socially backward, residents of remote areas, drop outs and young students.This is achieved through a series of skill-building programmes that are aimed at providing training based on latest industry requirements. Training on various skills is provided through Kaushalya Vardhan Kendras (KVK) and Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs). Despite the efforts, it was observed that (a) While training was provided on a constant basis, there was no way to keep the training in sync with the changing trends in the industry as it remained disconnected with the department efforts. This made it difficult for the department to

September 2015 / digitalLEARNING

keep up with the latest industrial trends. (b) An easier way to manage training modalities of approximately 4.7 lac yearly ITI applications and the services provided through almost 500 KVKs was required. (c) Prospective trainees required an interface through which interaction with DET could be made smoother with minimal effort investment by the trainees and DET. (d) Once training was provided, projecting the employability to the right industry vertical was a make or break point of the entire purpose of the department. Until then, this was being done in an unsystematic manner. Moreover, with no common platform for all stakeholders to come together and participate with a single focus, it was difficult to meet the objectives of the department.

Corrective Measures Realising the need for enhanced measures to achieve the department’s objective, DET embarked on a comprehensive modernisation strategy of the entire department. The department proposed the creation of an “Industrial Interface Cell” – a platform to enable real time collection and sharing of information

digitallearning.eletsonline.com

of vocational training institutes, courses, skilled labour between skill seekers, job seekers and job providers– and “Admissions Management, Exam Assessment and Control System” – to make admissions and examinations easier, transparent, faster and time bound. The project actually comprises of three key systems which have helped DET meet its objectives in an efficient and transparent fashion: Online Admission Management – This system manages admissions processes for all admissions into Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs). Approximately 4.7 lac ITI applications are received on a yearly basis by the department and until this system, the admissions processes was being managed in a decentralised and manual manner at the respective ITIs. Prospective trainees can now apply online from any place in the State irrespective of the ITI they wish to enrol in. Applications are received online by DET and managed centrally until result declaration. Online Exam Assessment and Control System – This system manages all examination activities such as applications, hall-ticket generation, Question Bank management, Exam Management, Packet Distribution and Collection and Assessment Management. As a result of this, the management of examination is decentralised but the controls over the entire system remains with DET. Exams are managed efficiently and results are also declared faster.

Industry Interface Cell – The Industry Interface Cell, a brainchild of DET, was implemented in the form of an online portal where the industry, the youth seeking skill training and certification, the trainers and the department could come together. According to Dr Sandhya Bhullar, IAS and Director, Employment & Training, Government of Gujarat, “It is difficult to quantify the return on investment but the returns are clearly visible in terms of the ease with which DET is able to constantly meet its objectives of boosting employment in the state. A visible rise has been observed in the employability ratio because of the sync that exists between the training imparted and the skills required. A better platform now exists between job seek-

digitalLEARNING / September 2015

WES DET

Training skilled workforce to match the requirements of the industry

ers and providers which have led to more fruitful recruitment for the industry and more opportunities for young job seekers. The efficiency obtained due to these e-governance measures has also left more time to DET employees to focus beyond operations and maintenance.” The database of trained youth is made available to job providers and industries could put forth their skill requirements thus making it possible to provide training in sync with the latest industry requirements – something which wasn’t possible earlier. The entire solution is web-enabled and the solution has been deployed in shortest span of 90 days and is being constantly updated with feedback from industries and other stakeholders of this system. Hosted at the data-centre, the entire system is following the work-flow and system management architecture providing check-points and vivid level of the organisation. Sanjay Prasad, Principal Secretary, Department of Labour and Employment, Government of Gujarat shares, “The improvement in employability led to a better standard of living for people who had little means of livelihood earlier but could now lead their own lives. Their skill levels improved considerably and the employment further motivated them to add value to their skills and consistently improve. The trainees were provided a joint certificate by the industry and DET, which in a way, helped vouch for their skills and further enhanced their employability. Apart from the key outcomes, familiarisation with the industry made trainees more outgoing and helped them build interpersonal skills, which have added another dimension to this initiative.” He further adds that, “Government of Gujarat has gone a step ahead in directly connecting the youth to the industries enabling them to seek jobs more actively. Further, we have managed to constantly train skilled workforce which closely matches the requirements of the industry thus boosting employability. While training is provided everywhere, the connection developed between the job seekers and the re-

September 2015 / digitalLEARNING

cruiters is what makes the initiative a huge success. This has also strengthened our bond with the industry and thus created another factor which attracts industrial investments into Gujarat. DET also realises the role of technology in achieving operational excellence, and continues to venture on initiatives that can continue to add value to youth from socially backward and poor background. Recently, DET has started providing weekly training through SATCOM to various areas of Gujarat with the help of Bhaskaracharya Institute of Space Applications and Geo-informatics (BISAG) and companies like Maruti Suzuki.” With such innovative e-Governance initiatives, DET is trying to involve more industries in partnership for starting iKVKs in the future. The online admission system is a tested and stabilised system. Further, the online examination and control system is going to be expanded to online skill related learning courses with practical training in ITIs and online examination system. Preparation of eLearning material for ITIs and other vocational training courses is being undertaken. For skill certification and vocational training, spreading awareness to end users will be a key part of the project and DET intend to do that through their own TV channel for e-Learning which will be broadcasted through BISAG. The online job portal with two way free communications and matching between job seekers and job providers is being prepared and tested for two districts. This job portal is expected to be launched this year. “Before the implementation of the system, approximately 2.8 lakh candidates applied for admissions yearly. Post the implementation of the system, in 2013, the number increased to 4.7 lakhs and further went up to 5.4 lakhs in 2014. The State witnessed a clear improvement in the employability ratio for the target audience i.e. the rural masses. It was successfully able to train the unemployed masses and further connect them directly to the industry to seek jobs. Gujarat being the hub of industrial development in India, industries were always on the lookout for semi skilled labour for their workforce”, adds Pankaj Mistry and Manish Dave, Dy. Director, Employment & Training, Government of Gujarat.

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SKILLS IN WES SCHOOL

Crafting Children for

SUCCESS There is never a paucity of jobs, it is of skilled workers to do it. Empowering children with skills before they leave the school is now being touted as a solution to assure skilled work force in future besides being called the new building blocks for learning, finds Priya Yadav of Elets News Network (ENN)

will eventually enhance their professional value. There have n a world where one of the critical criterion of mapping been stories recently how professionals are not being able to success in life is landing a good job, and the ability to excel carry out their jobs so well because of their incompetency in in it, the significance of becoming the right candidate can English.” only be overvalued. It takes a skilled employee, to fit into The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is followthe mould of a desirable job, one needs to possess leadership ing an international curriculum to make children proficient qualities, be a great team member, a learner and a mentor, one in English. “For this, students take Preliminary English test with great emotional intelligence.... the list is endless. and Key English Test (KET) exams that are reviewed by interWith these and many more demands made of an ideal job national faculty and KET being Cambridge Key English Test, candidate, getting a headstart in acquiring skills is now bestudents get to learn from the best authority on the language,” ing acknowledged to be of prime importance. Skill education informs Krit Serai. is garnering popularity due to awareness and understanding Clearly now, the school curriculum is broader in its apabout the need to develop skills for suitable employment. proach to make a child not just academically strong but also Schools are warmly adopting methods that enhance their empowered to adapt in a professional environment. “It is students’ personality and enable them to become a ‘global imperative now that the children are imparted 21st century citizen’. Krit Serai, Principal, Satluj Public School, Panchskills. Communication skills kula, says, “The attempt now are most important, so are is to mould the child’s overall The Central Board of Secondary emotional skills, creative personality. Hundred per cent Education (CBSE) is following an skills – all these are basically smart classes, use of laptops, life skills. These are embedtabs ensures that the child is international curriculum to make digitally smart but now the fochildren proﬁcient in English. For this, ded into the curriculum from VI onwards and are cus is to equip children with students take Preliminary English test Class aimed at making a wholeskills that help them in later and Key English Test (KET) exams that some personality of the life. Our emphasis is especially child,” feels Jaya Bhardwaj, on proficiency in English that are reviewed by international faculty

September 2015 / digitalLEARNING

digitallearning.eletsonline.com

Principal of Hansraj Public School, Panchkula. “Even the structure of question papers, students’ assessment is all oriented towards enhancing their personality that would help them in future life,” she adds. With this early beginning being made to empower the students and ready them for future challenging professional roles, there is an increasing demand for trained teachers who are

Empowering children with skills e Learning and Innovation Skills e Creativity

e Critical thinking and problem solving skills e Communication and collaboration skills e Information literacy

e Flexibility and adaptability

e Initiative and self-direction

e Productivity and accountability e Leadership and responsibility

specialised in dealing with all aspects of child’s personality. Education, especially at the school level, when children are at the stage of learning basics in life, is now increasingly getting more oriented towards employing experiential learning methods and impart business skills that help them understand the world of work. It is also the best way to ensure that there are skilled workers available tomorrow to grab the opportunities. “Not every child is brilliant in academics. His personality might have other capacities that a studious child might lack. Identifying these strengths and weaknesses, giving an environment for every personality to prosper and brighten, is all that school education is about now. Skill education gives children a direction in life. Organising a range of events, involving children in a wide range of activities brings out their other talents and strengths that can be worked on to help prepare them for later life. The idea is to give an impetus and opportunities to explore and better themselves,” says Archana Jain, Principal of DPS, Panipat. Empowering students with skills enables them to turn their creative ideas into innovations. Orienting school curriculum more and more towards teaching students, life skills is the best investment for preparing a workforce for the future that will fuel the economy. It is little wonder that these skills are now being referred to as the new building blocks for learning.

digitalLEARNING / September 2015

INTERVIEW KHDA

Positive Leap

In a bid to provide positivity in the education system, the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) believes that positivity have the power to transform lives and education in Dubai.

stablished in 2007, the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) is responsible for the growth and quality of private education in Dubai. KHDA support schools, universities, parents, students, educators, investors and government partners to create a high quality education sector focused on happiness and wellbeing. The Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) is responsible for the growth and quality of private education in Dubai. We support schools, universities, parents,

students, educators, investors and government partners to create a high quality education sector focused on happiness and wellbeing.The Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) is responsible for the growth and quality of private education in Dubai. We support schools, universities, parents, students, educators, investors and government partners to create a high quality education sector focused on happiness and wellbeing. KHDA co-ordinates with many different partners- students, parents, teachers, the private sector and other

Government bodies who all play a role in Dubai’s education community. KHDA’s work is guided by the Government’s strategy and carried out in a transparent manner to make sure everything they do benefits their highest priority – their students. KHDA’s research ranges from early childhood to adult learning and their findings drive initiatives to ensure that Dubai has an educated and flexible workforce to meet the needs of their fast-changing and globalised world. KHDA’s publications, along with their detailed school inspection reports,

HOW FULL ARE SCHOOLS? CAPACITY OF SCHOOLS

A PLACE IN THE SUN

292,301

More Seats for Students, More Choice for Parents

total number of seats available in schools

Private Education in Dubai

87%

2014/15

Capacity Utilisation Rate -> Percentage of seats with students

BY QUALITY

98.5%

95.3%

90.9%

79.5%

42.3%

Outstanding

Good

Acceptable

Unsatisfactory

Not Inspected

4.7% enrolments since 2013/14

schools

255,208 students in private schools

BY PHASE

BY CURRICULUM

NEW SCHOOLS

11 New schools opened in 2014-2015

new schools have opened in the last 3 years with11,789 enrolled students

New curricula added:

Canadian

2014

37,093 Total available places at schools

PRIMARY

88%

British 87.5% Indian 88.6%

American 86.1% MOE 84.2%

2013 2012

MIDDLE

HIGH

90%

July 2015 / digitalLEARNING

91%

85%

PROFIT VS NON PROFIT

IB 93.3%

Other 84.8%

Not For Profit Schools 93.5%

Growth in

169

For Profit Schools 86.2%

SCHOOLS

digitallearning.eletsonline.com

provide evidence-based information for everyone involved in education. In November 2014, the World Bank launched a report that investigates the approaches taken by the Government of Dubai to foster improvements in the quality of education at private schools. The report identified that KHDA’s unique approach focuses on regulatory oversight of the sector with an emphasis on the enhancement of student outcomes and making information available to the public. By promoting a culture of open evaluation, where the data on the quality of education systems, schools and student learning outcomes is made publicly available to all interested stakeholders, KHDA has effectively ‘turned the lights on.’ The report notes that steady improvement in education has occurred overall and that part of the reason for this improvement has to do with incentive arrangements. While

DUBAI SCHOOLS IN NUMBERS

HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

STUDENTS Number of students by phase: 46,726 KG (18%)

64,347 Middle (25%)

107,528 Primary (42%)

36,607 High (15%)

Pakistan

Egypt Philippines Jordan 5

Syria

USA

Iran

FEES & REVENUES

Vocational

Fee range: AED 1,725 to AED 98,649 per year

AED

5.35BIL

Annual Revenue in fees

39%

of students pay less than AED 10,000 in fees per year

Number of schools by curriculum British Indian

American

Pakistani

British 33%

IB Iranian Filipino

% of student enrolment by curriculum

MOE

French

Indian 31%

2 1

German

Russian

Japanese

Canadian

American 18% MOE 6% IB 3% SABIS 2% French 2%

Others 5%

13.7% increase since 2013/14

Local

Federal

Bachelor's

54% 69%

Master's

15% 9%

Doctorate

Foundation 4% 0%

7% 6%

graduates

Business

Engineering

Information Technology

Media & Design 8% 7% 6% 2%

Architecture & Construction

Foundation Enrolments at international institutions Graduates at international institutions

4,637

BY FIELD OF STUDY

60% 48%

36% 52%

International

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AT INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

2013/14

0.5% 0.2%

2 2

SABIS IAT

STUDENT 24,312 ENROLMENT AT enrolled students INTERNATIONAL 19% INSTITUTIONS growth since BY DEGREE

CURRICULUM

59,801

total enrolment

Breakdown of students by nationality (top 10) UAE

26 25

institutions

186 Nationalities in Schools India

to transform our lives, and transform education in Dubai. The2015 World Happiness Report, published in April this year, cites a study of 200 schoolbased programmes that promoted the social and emotional skills of children. This study found that children taking these programmes gained about 10 percentile points in emotional well-being and behaviour as well as in academic achievement. Unsurprisingly, it also found that low well-being was linked with worse academic performance. We are ultimately attracted to positive education, though, because of its simplicity, and because it just makes sense. We engage in conversation about happiness and positivity whenever we can, in the hope that this approach will spread to all schools, universities, parents, teachers and students in Dubai. n

competition between schools does exist in some segments of the market, increased collaboration within and between schools through peer reviews and the ‘What Works series’ of events was observed - a positive trend that deserves further encouragement. The report provides some options for moving forward particularly in relation to improving weaker schools through more post-inspection follow up or through expanded collaborations between schools. We live in a country and community which places innovation at the heart of its long-term strategy, and we know that happiness and positivity are central to true innovative practice. And we are fortunate that happiness already forms a strong part of the shared culture of Dubai – our role is simply to concentrate on that positivity, spread its messages, and make more of it. We know that happiness, wellbeing and positivity have the power

3% 0%

8% 8%

Other

digitalLEARNING / July 2015

WES i-KVK

Know your SKILLS i-KVK scheme was launched in 2014-15 with a mission statement of skilling the industry, by the industry, for the industry and beyond on specific courses with certification from the Government. The certificate courses will indeed aid the workers to upgrade their skills and be competent

t the time of Panel Discussion on Young Talent - Industry responsive Skill Development (Vibrant Gujarat 2013), addressing the panelists and audience, the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, said that “dignity”, which needs to be given to any worker, along with equality and respect must be given to all the people of working class. Also, the panelists expressed that hand on touch training in the industry is the best practice, besides classroom approach and customise the training curriculum to suit the technological changes. Based on the above, the Directorate of Employment & Training (DET), Government of Gujarat, has planned to launch schemes to address the need of the following target group with a minimum age limit of 18 years: ◗ Workforce seeking certification of their skills acquired informally ◗ Workforce seeking skill upgradation ◗ Fresh workforce for any industry, industries association, SEZ or Industrial Park Developer ◗ The Schemes that were launched were Skill Certification - On-Site Assessment Scheme and Industrial-Kaushalya Vardhan Kendra (i-KVK) Scheme. ◗ Understanding Prime Minister’s Award winning Project iKVK The State of Gujarat is considered the growth engine of India due to the presence of fast-paced industrial development. This has given way to large scale capital investment in the industrial sectors of the State. The State already houses 262 GIDC estates, 57 approved SEZs, 21 registered Industrial Parks and 83 Industrial Clusters, along with various other new businesses, which are exploring their options for the availability of technical manpower. At present, mismatch prevails between industry demands and training provided by existing skill building institutions. Therefore, empowering people with industry relevant skill becomes an important area. Also, the pace of technology is very rapid and requirement

September 2015 / digitalLEARNING

of individual industries changes with time. It is very difficult for any institute to create infrastructure according to technology used by the individual industry. Moreover, many a times it is not feasible to provide hi-end capital equipment because of time, cost and space constrains. After deliberate discussion with various stakeholders, the most feasible solution was brought in by the Government of Gujarat, after active involvement of the industries in imparting training and providing enabling platform both to the industry and to the candidate. Deputy Director (Training) P A Mistry says, “This scheme is the most cost-effective skilling scheme as no separate infrastructure is created specifically for this training. The existing facilities at the industry are optimally utilised. On the job training facilitates training on the latest equipment which is already available in the industry is provided. Trainers are mostly from the industry. Moreover, the government only pays at the rate of `25 per trainee per hour for engineering courses & `20 per trainee per hour for non-engineering courses to the industry partner. Some of the industry partners don’t even take this amount from government. They just require recognition and affiliation of the courses from the government.” The Curriculum of the specific course developed by the concerned industry is approved by the GCVT (Gujarat Council of Vocational Training). The admission of candidate is done by the industry with the help of the principal of the associated ITI. Assessment norms are designed for the particular course by the relevant industry expert. The GCVT conducts assessment of skills and provides certificate jointly with the industry partner for which Internet based portal –www.gcvt.org is developed. According to Dr. Sandhya Bhullar, Director, Employment & Training, “As on 20th July 2015, 80 i-KVKs are functioning in the State which are covering 13 sectors of the economy. It is envisaged to cover high growth sectors, like hospitality, nursing, para-medical and personal care, fisheries, logistics, etc. in the near future. We also plan to engage state and central PSUs as well as major industrial houses having their own training centres or capabilities. This year, our target is to start 70-100 new i-KVKs.”

WES T ECH SMART

Making Educational Infrastructure Smart

Securing children from any mishap is the topmost concern of every parent. Keeping in mind the challenges of parents, Tech Smart has developed innovative solutions that help them track the real time activities of their children and to time updates from school

ith an aim to make complete educational infrastructure smart, Tech Smart, a solution division of Secureye, has developed innovative modules that make schools, colleges, institutes technologically smart, secure and fully automated. Pioneer in providing hardware, software and automated solutions for institutions, Tech Smart has created a niche in the market by just providing simple and innovative solutions to cut the operational hazards of the business. The integrated solutions developed by the team of experts by all means makes infrastructure smart. The experts at Tech Smart have developed comprehensive solutions for Student’s Safety, Digital ID Cards for students, Indoor Tracking of Students & Teachers, Access Control in restricted areas, RFID Cards & Lockers, Smart Bus tracking, Cashless Canteen, Geo Fencing, Energy Management, CCTV’s & Wi-Fi in Premises, Interactive Smart White Boards, Projectors & Visualisers, Wi-Fi PA system integrated with detailed ERP solution having all the required Modules like Admission, Timetable, Library, Transport, Examination, Inventory, Hostel, HR, Inquiry, Visitor Management etc for any institution having presence in multiple locations. All these modules are controlled by a single control panel.

Teacher-Student – Parents: Smart Mobile App The status of user’s child location to their performance at their finger tips: The application is installed on each stakeholder’s Mobile device. From this device, a teacher can check the student’s absence. This device shows real-time attendance of students. The application sends a text to the parents after the teacher approves absence of the students. Parents can track the location of their children, which boosts their confidence. In case of misbehaviour by the driver or conductor or by the other students, the parents can help their child deal with it. The similar problems can be avoided

September 2015 / digitalLEARNING

in the school premises. Notifications on class cancellation, changes in timings, and class attendance can be shared with the teachers, students and parents in a very dynamic manner through this application.

School Bus Tracking The status of user’s child location at their finger tips: As the challenges of children going missing/abduction/road accidents and the other mishaps are increasing day by day, the solution which can keep an eye on the students going to school from starting point to the doorstep are in high demand. Moreover, it is not only the security that is important for the parents and the school management; it is a sense of discipline in the students that matters as well. The solution, like school bus tracking, makes sure that every student and one’s guardian are well informed ahead of time about the schedule of the bus.

Biometric Attendance Solution for attendance management: Employee attendance management and students attendance management is directly linked with their commitment to the work in any workplace. The solution focuses on the students and the teacher attendance as a strategic part of school management with the accuracy rate of more than 99 per cent. It completely eliminates the data entry errors and calculation by replacing manual preparation of attendance sheets and mechanical time cards.

RFID Access Control The anti-barcode system: RFID Lockers requires double authentication. No locker opens until one more person concerned punches in additionally. The RFID reader communicates with tags and transacts the information stored in the tag-now-activated. This technology is based on transmission of radio frequency waves. It is a contactless identification technology as opposed to barcode system. Standalone access con-

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trol works through a keypad or an RFID card.

Digital ID Card Introducing Digital ID Card which takes complete care of the child safety: Unique features like SOS-button that can be pressed by the student in case of bullying or any other emergency and the help is extended to him immediately. A student can talk to his near and dear ones on three pre-defined numbers. Through the Digital Smart I-card-facility, his indoor tracking can be done and additionally, he can view his attendance, timetable, grades, library-records, canteen-records, notifications, assignments, chatting with teachers and parents, etc.

Hostel Management System Introducing efficient, low cost, hostel management software to best run a hostel: The hostel management software is designed to keep all the records of the students, and the building owners etc. The solution caters to the various departments of the hostel and provides with an opportunity to interact in a better way.

Smart Fitness Band

across the globe: Nowadays, students expect Wi-Fi access in a college as a basic facility. Having a Wi-Fi-enabled school helps your students in many ways. No matter what subject it is, everything will be available on the internet. From the first grade to the highest grade possible, the students benefit from this amenity. From checking e-mails to studying a case study online, Wi-Fi deployment makes it all possible.

Indoor Tracking Of Student/Teacher Keep the learning process going: Locating teachers and students in campus has not been easier ever before. It is important to track students and teachers in real time. The students keep studying various subjects all the time; what if they need a maths teacher to consult with all of a sudden. To keep the learning process going without any blockage, the students and the teachers should be able to find them as quickly as possible. The feature includes real time tracking of entry and exit of the students from the school and SMS alert of the same would go to the parents, class teachers. Indoor Tracking of the students in real time whether in the classroom, library, canteen, sport ground, corridor, etc. is done.

The status of health, fitness and communication of your child at your finger tips: Smart fitness band suits the children for its multipurpose usability. These bands are waterproof. The device lives on wrist without getting affected by water, sweat and dirt. The band comes with an always-on, watch-looking display which is easy to view in low-light conditions as well. The device is a wrist-mounted band which is very battery-efficient.

Cashless Canteen

CCTV in School

Enquiry management becomes more efficient than ever: The students can register online or offline for various courses in the school making enquiry process, segregation and sorting of thousands of application forms smoother. It is a tedious task for any admission department. The benefits include 24*7 availability of the services, one can apply from anywhere anytime and parents need not visit school every time. This feature makes the solution completely user friendly.

Sense of security in the air: Anywhere anytime CCTV viewing gives worried parents peace of mind and infallible safety of their children. Nowadays, CCTV surveillance in schools has become a mandate in safety and security of children. Everybody is under a constant surveillance in the schools. The confidence of the students improved as no bullying is possible. A sense of security is in the air. From staff to teachers to students, everybody feels safer than ever. Over the time, public morals and order have improved as a result of video policing.

WiFi in School Benefit your tech-savvy students with computer-based learning as digital learning is gathering momentum

Gaurav Singh, Country Head, Solution Division, Fortune Marketing

Smart canteens all around: Tech Smart canteen management application assists administrators from placing an order to selecting food to making a payment. The automated process eliminates human error completely, and this improvement reduces wastage of food and at the same time covers a larger section of members.

Enquiry Management

Energy Management Reduce energy consumption, operational cost and carbon emissions of your estate by introducing Securityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s energy manager: Energy management is very important for every home, school, hotel and office. Secure eye provides you with contactless light switches and sockets. An app designed by the software professionals of Secureye enables you to control your lighting system at home, at office or at hotels. Through the app, one can vary the brightness of the bulbs, tube lights, and can switch those on and off. Time can be set on the app to on/off the lights. The other type of energy management system is based on RFID card tags and readers. The energy saving switch is mounted in the building rooms, where an RFID card is inserted to gain the power. This is an advanced way to reduce energy consumption or to reduce the operating cost.

digitalLEARNING / September 2015

CISCE

Embarking on Road to ICT

For availing the benefits of modern technology, Coucil for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) has embarked on the usage of ICT for smooth flow of administration working and overall efficacy. Gerry Arathoon, CEO, CISCE talks to Elets News Network (ENN) on how the adoption of technology has helped emphasise the overall development of the student

What are the new pedagogical changes adopted by CISCE in education? The curriculum prescribed by the Council emphasises all round development of students. In order to provide them with an opportunity to not only acquire knowledge but also learn other essential life skills, such as thinking and analytical skills, team work, communication, public speaking, time management and critical thinking, project work has been made an essential part of all subjects at the ICSE (Classes IX and X) level. Certain skill-based subjects have also been introduced at the ICSE level which have a

Enhancing studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; careers through ICT

September 2015 / digitalLEARNING

50 per cent component of project work. Project work also forms an essential component of a number of subjects at the ISC (Classes XI and XII) level. In order to integrate learning with abilities and skills, the curriculum provides for flexibility in the choice of subjects. At the ISC level, students do not have to take predetermined subject streams. The Council makes available a basket of subjects from which the students can select subjects of their choice, across the boundaries of Humanities, Commerce and Science, in keeping with their aptitude and ability. At the ICSE level, students who are extremely weak

in Mathematics and Science are given the choice of opting for other subjects so as to reduce stress of failure at the examination. What is the extent of use of ICT in CISCE? With passage of time, it was felt that, many of the procedures that were being followed by the Council for the conduct of examinations and other related activities were time consuming and cumbersome and not availing the benefits of what modern technology could offer. A re-look at them was hence required. In the year 2013, the Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations embarked upon a process of comprehensive and systematic modernisation of its processes and procedures. In order to translate its vision into reality, the Council decided to collaborate with an IT service provider. As a part of the modernisation exercise, the existing processes of the Council were reviewed so as to identify how best ICT could be used to achieve overall efficacy. A comprehensive modernisation plan christened, and CAREERS was developed. CAREERS, i.e. Councilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Affiliation, Registration, Examination and ERP System is an in-

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tegrated suite of software applications aimed at bringing about a significant enhancement of operational efficiency. The CAREERS portal provides an online gateway which facilitates a two way exchange of data and information between the office of the Council and the schools affiliated to it. All the major examination related processes of the Council, such as, Registration of candidates for the ICSE and ISC examinations, arrangements related to examination centres and appointment of conveners, supervising examiners, visiting examiners and inspectors, requests for recheck of results are now being carried out through specially designed modules on the CAREERS portal. The CAREERS portal has also simplified the process of affiliation by providing a facility for online submission and processing of affiliation related requests. The process of receipt of answer scripts from schools, their onward dispatch to examiners for marking as well as receipt of marked answer scripts has all been automated through use of specially designed barcoded answer script envelopes and a state-of-the-art Bundle Management System (BMS). The BMS machine reads the barcode on the answer script envelope and automatically pastes a label on it, which indicates the details of the examiner who will be marking that packet, the City where it will be marked, as well as the location in which it will be stored in the office of the Council. Besides extensive use of ICT in its transactions with its stakeholders, the Council is also using ICT to modernise its internal processes. An ERP software has been developed which has helped automate many back office functions of the Council such as Accounts, HR, Administration and Stores. ICT has also been used in digitising important documents of the Council. The Council had in store, records of result tabulations of ICSE and ISC Examinations of more than 50 years. Storage and retrieval of these documents was a cumbersome process. However, this problem has been taken care of by digi-

CAREERS, i.e. Council’s Affiliation, Registration, Examination and ERP System is an integrated suite of software applications aimed at bringing about a significant enhancement of operational efficiency. tising all important documents. Extensive use of ICT in the various processes of the Council has resulted in significant reduction in manual labour and enhanced operational efficiency. It has helped reduce the to and fro hardcopy communication with schools, thus reducing the number of man hours spent on various tasks. It has provided for fast retrieval of documents which are now available in electronic form, while also ensuring data security. What is the future vision of CISCE for the next two years? As part of its modernisation endeavours, the Council had embarked upon a new initiative to capture marks from the answer booklets directly at the evaluation centres, with effect from the ICSE/ ISC Year 2016 examinations. This initiative introduces a new technology called ‘Orion LICR Solution”. The acronym LICR stands for Live Ink Character Recognition. This technology incorporates a specially designed digital pen and a tablet device to be used by examiners while evaluating answer booklets. Use of the LICR technology will reduce the time taken for marks to reach the Council after examiners have completed their evaluation to zero seconds. This technology is easy to use and will help in reducing the errors. How is technology playing a vital role in the deliverance of education in CISCE? In order to facilitate the teaching-learning process, the Council has consistently been bringing out a set of documents called the Analysis of Pupil Performance, since 1994. These ICSE and ISC documents provide a detailed qualitative and quantitative analysis of the performance of candidates for various papers, including the kind of mistakes made by candidates, topics found difficult or confusing, marking scheme for each answer

and suggestions for teachers and students. This enables the teachers to understand the assessment process better and helps them in guiding their students more effectively. In order to ensure that the information contained in the documents is available to all concerned, from the year 2013 onwards, these documents have been uploaded on the Council website from where they can be easily accessed. In addition to the above, all other documents such as, year-wise ICSE and ISC specimen question papers, syllabuses, and other resource material are made available on the Council website. Besides the public website, the Council also uses the CAREERS Helpdesk to convey specific information to its affiliated schools. CAREERS Helpdesk is a platform through which important documents and resource materials are made available to Heads of schools, along with various examination-related tutorials. The Council record which is a quarterly document providing details of the forthcoming activities of the Council, is put up on the CAREERS Helpdesk so that Heads of schools may be apprised of the examination related and other activities in the coming quarter. What are the teacher training programmes undertaken by CISCE? The Council conducts subject-specific teacher training programmes both at the ICSE as well as the ISC level, at its offices. The content of the training programmes is designed according to the requirements of the participants. Participants are asked to suggest areas or topics that they would like to be discussed during the programme and the content of the programme is designed accordingly. Training programmes for teachers are also organised on demand, for Council affiliated schools in specific cities.

digitalLEARNING / September 2015

WES CBSE

Heralding

SKILLS

In an attempt to make students equipped with skill knowledge, CBSE has introduced a number of skill courses that will help them become a competent learner. Elets News Network (ENN) finds out the vocational courses that the Board is currently focusing

n the light of National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF), CBSE has initiated a process of reframing its existing vocational courses to ensure across mobility of students and their absorption in the industry. The Board has introduced new vocational courses in Financial Market Management, Hospitality and Tourism, Mass Media Studies, Medical Diagnostics and Geospatial Technology in collaboration with National Stock Exchange, Mumbai, National Council for Hotel Management & Catering Technology (NCHMCT), Noida, Whistling Wood International Ltd., Mumbai, Apollo Medvarsity, Hyderabad & Rolta India Ltd. Mumbai, respectively.

September 2015 / digitalLEARNING

Further, the Board has signed an MoU with Central Institute of Technology, Perth, Australia to introduce skill based courses on Music Production, Business Administration, Beauty Therapy and Design. Currently, CBSE is offering 40 courses in seven sectors, and most of the courses are formulated based on the industry requirements. Some of the courses are offered in collaboration with the professional organisations and joint certificates are issued, which enhance the job prospects of the students. With inputs from PSSCIVE, SSC, NSDC and School teachers, CBSE has formulated the curriculum and study material for level I to IV (Class IX-XII) of IT, Automobile and Retail sec-

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Courses at Secondary Level Retail Information Technology

Security

Name of Course Introduction to Tourism

Financial Market Management Automobile

CBSE is offering 40 courses in seven sectors, and most of the courses are formulated based on the industry requirements. Some of the courses are offered in collaboration with the professional organisations and joint certiďŹ cates are issued, which enhance the job prospects of the students Vocational courses help students get appropriate internship and employment

Total 11th

137348

26217

1367

TOTAL NO. OF STUDENTS

36078

12th

10th

73586

CLASS

9th

tor under National Vocational Education Qualification Framework (now NSQF). In addition, Board also framed the qualification required for the teachers/instructors for said courses. To cope with growing needs of manpower in Retail, IT, Travel & Tourism and Security Industry, the CBSE has introduced vocational courses in these areas from the session 2012-13 at secondary and senior secondary level under NSQF. A difficult task has been carried out by the cell to rationalise the existing secondary level curriculum for introducing new vocational subjects without hampering elementary knowledge requirement at this level. Further, the Board in association with the National Stock Exchange, has introduced a course on Financial Market Management at secondary level in class IX from the current academic session to equip the students with knowledge in financial literacy. The Board is also working for the industry linkages, specially meant for the schools, and would prepare student da-

digitalLEARNING / September 2015

WES CBSE

Courses at Senior Secondary Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Office Secretaryship Stenography and Computer Applications Accountancy and Taxation Marketing and Salesmanship Banking & Insurance Retail Financial Market Management Business Operation & Administration Electrical Technology Automobile Technology Civil Engineering Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Technology Electronics Technology Geo Spatial Technology Foundry Technology Transportation System & Logistic Management Ophthalmic Techniques Medical Laboratory Techniques Auxiliary Nursing & Midwifery X-Ray Technician

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Healthcare Sciences Health and Beauty Studies Medical Diagnostics Fashion Design & Garment Technology Textile Design Design & Innovation Music Technical Production Beauty Services IT Application Security Library and Information Sciences Poultry Farming Horticulture Dairying Science and Technology Food Production Food and Beverage Services Mass Media Studies and Media Production Bakery and Confectionery Front office Travel and Tourism

course with vocational course, this will allow free movement between vocational to conventional and vice-versa. For effective delivery, the following materials are being prepared for each of the vocational courses: Teacherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Manual Student material Assignment Internship Project

Skill knowledge provider offering the skill-based courses to students tabase for appropriate internship training and employment. The Board has also successfully conducted a number of sensitisation and awareness programmes for the principals and teachers of affiliated schools, along with the Teacher Training Programmes (TTP) for concerned vocational subjects and also planned to organise many more similar training programmes or workshops at regular intervals to ensure quality of delivery and consistency. The Board has further proposed a workable scheme of studies for vocational subjects by way of integrating academic

September 2015 / digitalLEARNING

To tune the vocational courses meeting the present needs of the society, multiple subject committees have been constituted to prepare the materials for students and teachers. Further, the Digital and Multimedia content were also developed for some of the focused courses (Retail, IT, Automobile). The Board has also identified some skill knowledge providers for effectively offering the skill-based courses in the schools. It is primarily focusing to increase the stake in post secondary as well as secondary level vocational courses in the areas of Agriculture, Commerce, Engineering & Technology, Medicine, Hospitality & Tourism and other service sectors in collaboration with professional organisations. In addition, the cell is also planning to introduce various skill based modular courses for short duration to cover the large workforce in informal sector. Having committed to provide quality education to promote intellectual, social and cultural vivacity among its learners, the Board envisions a robust, vibrant and holistic school education that will engender excellence in every sphere of human endeavour. The Board advocates Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation with an emphasis on holistic development of learners.

WES NIOS

Tales of INSPIRATION With an aim to provide education to the doorsteps of deprived, National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) has made it flexible for students to complete their education in the comfort of their home

cation. This was actually affecting the country’s economy. he National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) was So, these people had to be educated and there was no other started as a project on ‘Open Schooling’ under the way for them to attend the school and schools were just not Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in able to take them in. The Boards had their own limitations. 1978. It had two objectives and one of them was They had the bylaws which did not permit children beyond 14 that the school education in India was too straight jacketing. years to enter the education system. So, NIOS was the alterSo, there has to be flexibilities for those who didn’t want to native created for the other side of the population to complete study mathematics or science because they found it going their education. tough as they did not have the aptitude for it. However, they For 10 years it went on as a project, and was very successwere forced to study and had no option. So, the first objective ful. Going for the numbers which enrolled, NIOS was conof NIOS was to give them options. As it would be chaotic if it is verted into an autonomous body by an active Parliament and done in regular board, so project was set up for NIOS. became autonomous in 1989. That time it was the National The second concern of the Ministry of Human and ReOpen School and it took immense hard work to consolidate the source Development at that time was that there’s a huge represence all over the country. source in our population which has never completed its education due to various reasons. The crux of it all was that people had to engage in economic activities and they had no time to Working Model go to school. Girls were kept away from school because of famThe basic model on which NIOS worked on is the resource ily responsibilities. Since there were so many children to look sharing model. What NIOS believe is that there are many after, parents were schools on the engaged into a ground which are NIOS has entered into an MoU with 6000 schools, manual labour and being set up with all over the country calling these as their study there had to be the physical infrasomeone at home structure, which is centres. NIOS also has its presence in the and it ware only further determined Middle East where a number of NRIs are going the girls who had by some by laws of for Indian education to forego their eduState Board educa-

September 2015 / digitalLEARNING

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tion or the Central Board of education. All schools are affiliated to Board of education. They laid out the norms for school infrastructure, appointment of staff, qualification of the staff for secondary and senior secondary level, and only then the school is affiliated to the Board. Since these Boards are doing so much of work and have their criteria in place, after 4 o’Clock this infrastructure is used by NIOS to fulfill the educational needs of other people who cannot attend regular schools. NIOS is motivating the teachers to do some voluntary works with very little remuneration to help out that class of learners who cannot go to regular schools but are willing to learn. NIOS has entered into an MoU with certain schools and call these as their study centres. These are about 6,000 in number all over the country. NIOS also has its presence in the Middle East where lot of NRIs are going for Indian education. NIOS operates through these study centres. The entire admission process is online. Anyone sitting anywhere can take admission. If someone doesn’t have access to internet, there are study centres with easy access and one can take an offline form and the study centre will put in the information of the candidate online. Admission is given for five years to the students. The students who enrolled with us can give the examination in every six months in any subject the student is learning. At the end of the five years the students have to clear five subjects and the certificate is issued thereafter.

ate the competencies of the children. The NGOs evaluate the answer sheets and send the marks to NIOS, on the basis of which it then gives certificates to these children. The certification is done at three levels namely A, B and C level, which is actually equivalent to class III, V and VIII level. Open Basic Education is for 6-14 age group of children. MHRD is going cautious about it because the government has already made a provision through Right to Education Act by which they say that every child of school going age must be in school, irrespective of the class for which the age is suited. The OBE programme envisages schooling by providing a learning consortium based on graded curriculum ensuring quality of education for children, neo-literates, school dropouts, left-outs and NFE completers. For implementation of the OBE programme, NIOS has forged a partnership with about 690 agencies providing facilities to them as study centres. The NIOS provides resource support (such as adaptation of NIOS model, curricula, study materials, joint certification, orientation of resource persons and popularisation of OBE to the voluntary agencies and Zila Saksharta Samities for implementation of its OBE programme. Enrichment is also provided to the learners through the half yearly magazine ‘Open Learning’. The On-Demand Examination System (ODES) is in operation at Secondary and Senior Secondary stage. There is also a provision where learners can take 1 out of 10 vocational subjects at Secondary stage and 1

Languages and Mediums NIOS offers 17 Indian languages at the secondary level, eight languages at the senior secondary level and they have eight mediums at secondary level and six at senior secondary level. Currently, NIOS is focusing on Gujarati medium as there is a huge demand for it at the senior secondary level. There are a lot of students who want to study in vernacular languages and NIOS is facilitating education projects in whatever way they can, to make these youth industry ready.

Open Basic Education The students can write the exam in any language. NIOS is working significantly in the area of Open Basic Education (OBE). It has tied up with NGOs of enrolling the children, educating them and NIOS will also give the course outline to these NGOs. It further gives the guidelines for preparing the question paper to evalu- NIOS celebrates Independence Day

digitalLEARNING / September 2015

WES NIOS

out of 20 vocational courses at Sr. Secondary stage in combination with academic subjects. Vocational Educational Courses are imparted through a network of Accredited Vocational Institutes for imparting skill - based training to its learners. The existing institutions like, Jan Shikshan Sansthans, Krishi Vigyan Kendras, Schools, Colleges, District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs), Universities, Paramedical Training Centres, NGOs and several other Voluntary agencies are partnering with NIOS in imparting Vocational education.

Adolescence Education Programme (AEP) AEP is a collaborative programme of NIOS under the MHRDUNFPA supported initiative. National Curriculum Framework (NCF)- 2005, outlines that education should instill ‘independence of thought and action, sensitivity to others’ well-being and feelings, learning to respond to new situations in a flexible and creative manner, predisposition towards participation in democratic processes, and the ability to work towards and contribute to economic processes and social change.’ AEP works in the following areas: Curricular Intervention Capacity Building Workshops Mitra: The Adolescent Friendly Centre Seminar Summer Internship Programme Curricular Interventions: One of the major challenges for open and distance education system is to bring the benefit of hidden curricula and the nurturing environment of a school to the learners. The innovative pilot to integrate life skills in selected lessons from Home Science, Social Science, Science and Technology and Languages (Hindi and English) at Secondary level logically concluded in the year 2009. After the overwhelming results of the pilot, the task of integration was extended to the entire curriculum of these subjects. The endeavours of last three years culminated in the publishing of life skills enriched study materials which were made available to the 7,88,347 learners of academic year 2012-13 who will be benefitted through this material. Consistence efforts were made to address the apprehension of the various stakeholders and to enhance capacities of subject coordinators and lesson writers. These initiatives have resulted in a rich resource pool of professionals trained in curricular intervention to further extend this kind of initiatives to other levels. AEP unit also ensured that the Question Banks and Tutor Marked Assignments developed in these five subjects include items that are of higher

One of the major challenges for open and distance education system is to bring the benefit of hidden curricula and the nurturing environment of a school to the learners 58

September 2015 / digitalLEARNING

order thinking skills and test life skills. Capacity Building Workshops: It is a conceptual approach to development that focuses simultaneously on understanding the obstacles that inhibit people and organisations from realising their development goals while enhancing the abilities that will allow them to achieve measurable and sustainable results. Three workshops were organised during year 2012-13, one each in Bhubaneswar, Jaipur and Korapur. 125 tutors/co-ordinators were oriented in these workshops. Mitra - The Adolescent Friendly Centre: Set up as a pilot intervention in the year 2010 to provide adolescent - friendly space within the NIOS regional centre in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, Mitra addresses the issues and concerns of adolescents with an objective of developing learners’ potential through various strategies of Life Skills Education. Twelve programmes were organised during the year for engaging learners and 744 learners participated in all.

Seminar on Life Skills Integration in Open Schooling: Towards Holistic Education A two-day seminar Life Skills Integration in open Schooling: Towards Holistic Education, was organised on December 26 and 27, 2012, at the India Habitat Centre. The seminar Chairperson was Dr S.S. Jena (Chairman, NIOS) and the seminar Director was Dr. Kuldeep Agarwal (Director, Academic, NIOS).

Summer Internship Programme Adolescence Education Programme (AEP) at NIOS has been organising the one month Certificate Internship Programme once in a year for last two years. Interns are selected from the people who are nominated by their institutions and colleges and they are also provided with the stipend.

NIOS on Web Internet and Web Technology have proved effective in the teaching and learning process, especially in the field of Open and Distance Education. Information about NIOS is available on its website www.nios.ac.in The learning process in NIOS is based on the needs of individual learner and the characteristics of a learning community. Open learning gives the learner control over what, where, when and how they learn. The focus of attention is the learner and the learning process. Elimination of fixed time (daily classes) and a fixed space go in favour of disabled learners and has been proved to be most suitable learning strategies for them. Being an institution in Open and Distance Learning, ICT is being used as a major strategy towards reaching the unreached and providing the quality support to NIOS learners, especially to persons with disability. The NIOS has its own web portal www.nios.ac.in for dissemination of information and for providing online citizen - centric services as a major initiative of e-Governance. The NIOS online project has brought

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Making learning friendly, simple and accessible convenience to its learners, client group, and transparency in the basic operations of NIOS in the area of admission, examination and accreditation and enhanced the quality of the support services to its learners. The admission process in NIOS is 100 per cent online due to which the content of the NIOS website has to be learner friendly, simple and accessible to learners. The website provides complete information about NIOS with rich content and designed by following the GIGW including guidelines of WCAG.

National Consortium for Open Schooling (NCOS) The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), which has emerged as the largest Open Schooling system in the world, has a pivotal role to play in the promotion and development of Open Schooling in the country. However, it is not possible for NIOS alone to cater to the needs of all regions of our multilingual and multi-cultural country (India). The Open Schooling system is required to be promoted and strengthened in all the States of the country to â&#x20AC;&#x153;reach the unreachedâ&#x20AC;?. NIOS has, therefore, been pursuing the State Education Departments to set up State Open Schools (SOSs).The NIOS has been providing professional and technical support services to States to set up State Open Schools to cater to the educational requirements of the clientele/students. With a view to systematise interaction and mutual consultation among the Open Schools at national level (NIOS) and at State level (SOSs), it was considered appropriate to establish a Consortium of Open Schools. The National Consortium for Open Schooling (NCOS) was

launched in September 1997, with a view to facilitate better cooperation, coordination, collaboration and determining standards in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) system at school education level in the country. The Secretariat of NCOS is located in NIOS. In order to meet the educational challenges, the Framework of NCOS has been modified.

COMOSA The COMOSA is a non-profit, democratic, collaborative and futuristic organisation based on mutual respect and committed to support the efforts of open schooling institutions. The basic objective of the association is to cooperate and collaborate in development, promotion and introduction of innovative, high quality, relevant, equitable, gender-sensitive and costeffective programmes of school education for sustainable development in commonwealth countries through Open and Distance Learning Mode, and thereby targeting to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) of the United Nations. The Chairman, National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), India (Dr. S. S. Jena) has been elected as the first Chairperson of the COMOSA in its general Body Meeting held on November 25, 2009. It was also resolved by the members of COMOSA to have its first Secretariat located at NIOS Campus. Prof. D. B. Gupta from the State Open School, Jammu and Kashmir (India) has been elected as the Treasurer of COMOSA. As resolved by the COMOSA members, a joint account for COMOSA is to be opened in Jammu and Kashmir to be operated by the Chairperson and the Treasurer of the Association. The COMOSA Secretariat is taking necessary action for registration of COMOSA in India as per the law of the country.

digitalLEARNING / September 2015

GLOBUS WES INFOCOM

Digital HD Classroom

for Digital Learning!

“Does your child say he or she hates to go to school? This is because Children are natural learners and do not like to do repeated things, a phenomenon that is related to the academic textbooks. The page number remains same and content never changes, same pictures and illustration for them to see throughout the academic year … quite boring indeed!”

lobus Infocom Limited distinguishes itself as a leading manufacturer of innovative products that helps in changing the education system as a whole. After years of research in observing the teaching trends and learning behaviour in education system, Globus has developed a solution that revives the pedagogy and brings back students to school with their complete interest in learning through technologically advanced gadgets. High definition technology significantly refines the picture quality to produce crisp and clear visuals. With introduction of HD content of a topic, students get mesmerised and become eager to study more about a particular subject. Globus HD Classroom solution includes an interactive whiteboard with ceramic steel surface, multimedia projector, digital podium, interactive pad, visualizer, information kiosk and touch LED display. Interactive whiteboard with ceramic steel surface gives teacher a pleasure for smooth writing and exceptional erasing capability that even erases ink of white board marker pens with ease. Infrared multi touch technology allows multiple students to collaborate and learn with fun. Multimedia projector shares content from small screen of a laptop or digital podium to a maximum of 300-inch projection size giving each and every student a high resolution view of the content. With digital podium, teachers can organise presentations and deliver lectures using wireless microphone and speakers. A must have for large classrooms. Interactive pad gives freedom to teachers, making them mobile and not to be restricted to the board while teaching. They can walk towards any corner of the room or hall and annotate on the interactive whiteboard keeping attention on every child in the classroom.

September 2015 / digitalLEARNING

With the help of a visualiser, teacher can display even the smallest thing magnified in high resolution to the classroom at once, saving lot of time to discuss about the object in detail and not waiting for all the students to see it one by one and making the object prone to get damaged, lost or tampered. Information kiosk is also used as an option to get details and availability about the library books, school newsletters, time tables, events update, etc.

Touch LED comes in 55 inch to 80 inch of display size to suite accordingly, the area of classroom. It allows multiple users to annotate or collaborate together. It can also display videos and pictures from smart phone or pad wirelessly. Products constituting HD Classroom solution is designed in a way that matches international quality and have been tested durable to bear the rigors of Indian classroom and climate too. HD classroom solution by Globus Infocom is an Ideal package of latest technology, durability, aesthetics and above all cost effective solutions for schools who aspires to step into the modern era of Hi-Tech digital Learning.

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WES OMAN

OMAN Initiatives to Enhance Learning Aiming to create a balanced scientific process that combines both success and uniqueness as the important components of the educational process, the Colleges of Applied Sciences in Oman are working under the supervision of the Ministry of Higher Education. To bring quality education in the State, the colleges are striving to offer specialised courses to the students

The Colleges of Applied Sciences The colleges of Applied Sciences are working continuously and steadily under the supervision of the Ministry of Higher Education and in accordance with the strategic plan of the colleges of Applied Sciences to assure optimal investment of skills and abilities and to enhance teaching and learning experience in the colleges. The colleges strive to achieve the quality of education by utilising all possible potentials. These colleges aim at creating a balanced scientific process that combines both success and uniqueness as the important components of the educational process.

The specialisations offered at the Colleges of Applied Sciences are y y y y y y y

Design Programme Information Technology Programme International Business Administration Programme Biotechnology Programme Communication Programme Engineering Programme English Programme

Academic Programmes Review The programmes of Information Technology, Communication

September 2015 / digitalLEARNING

Studies, and Design have been enriched in the practical side by increasing the practical experience in all courses. The graduation projects will also be a principal component in the specialisations plans of the previously mentioned programmes with the necessity of linking these projects with the industrial sector. The new programmes involve training as a fundamental requirement for all students, in addition to adding the course (Entrepreneurship, Creativity and Innovation), in response to the resolution of the Education Council. All these issues aim at providing the graduates of the Colleges of Applied Sciences with the skills required by the job market in order to fulfill the needs of the sustainable development.

The Strategic Plan of the Colleges of Applied Sciences (2015-2020) The Strategic Plan of the colleges of Applied Sciences aims at developing the colleges and improving their performance in a scientific and systematic way. Setting the strategic plan of the colleges of Applied Sciences (2015-2020) has come as a result of series of scientific stages consistent with those applied in other higher education institutions when setting strategic plans. The strategic plan of the colleges involves in its development of all the stockholders. It includes the vision and mission of the colleges besides six strategic goals with six sub-mechanisms for

each strategic goal. The strategic plan also includes performance indicators to measure to what extent the strategy is applied.

The Policies of the Colleges of Applied Sciences (2015-2020) The policies of the colleges of Applied Sciences are clearly set including their definitions, importance and objectives. Twenty-seven policies were set to cover all fields of work in the colleges. In order to set these policies, an academic methodology was adopted starting with analysing the needs of the colleges and involving participation of teams from all different work scope in the colleges. Training was provided to people who work on the strategy enabling them to understand the fundamentals, methodology and skills of setting and implementing these policies in order to fulfill the criteria of form and content and to be consistent with the bylaw of the colleges and the basic law of the Sultanate. A comprehensive methodology was adopted in preparing these policies to ensure their effectiveness. However, some important dimensions should be emphasised when evaluating the effectiveness of these policies. For example, the projects should be under trial for two years besides depending on the local recources and expanding the participation base by organising team works, sessions and workshops. Actual needs of the colleges should be also studied. There will be a systematic evaluation of the colleges interaction with the new policies according to the policy guide prepared for this aim. Guide books containing policies and regulations will be set for every category in the college community like student guide. These guide books will be available on the colleges website to be accessed by all users to ensure communication and transparency. The colleges of Applied Sciences annually host visiting professors to pass on their experience to students. Students also have training opportunity for a year during their study in order to hone their skills. The colleges also offer programmes for continuous learning for the community.

Consultancy Services The colleges of Applied Sciences are currently working to develop consultations regulations in order to offer consultancy and services to the industry and business sectors. The colleges will serve the community in a practical and more organised way. The colleges will also be connected with the industrial sector to enrich the applied side of the learning experience, which is an essential part of its strategic plan. The Directorate General of the Colleges is planning to establish a unit in a forthcoming plan to provide the services of student support and guidance for the colleges of applied sciences in order to achieve its strategic goals and strengthen the students identity.

Creating Incubators for Entrepreneurship The colleges of Applied Sciences are intending to create in-

cubators for entrepreneurship. These incubators aim at enriching the educational community and providing a suitable atmosphere to embrace students graduation projects that are considered to be the real starting point of their career path. The colleges of Applied Sciences are working at establishing integrated building systems and regulations for six colleges. New projects will be launched in future like the Engineering workshop in Sohar College of Applied Sciences. A MultiplePurposes Hall will be opened in Salalah and Ibri Colleges of Applied Sciences along with new specialisations in entrepreneurship. The Ministry of Higher Education represented by the Directorate General of the Colleges of Applied Sciences strives to develop the applied sciences colleges in accordance with the needs of education and labour market.

Students Council An electronic election system for the student’s councils will be activated in the colleges in the next academic year. There is also an idea to create a club for graduates as a way to communicate with the graduates of the colleges. The colleges have already launched a Graduates Forum in Sohar College of Applied Sciences to connect the graduates with their institutions in order to enrich these institutions. The Graduates Forum also aims at establishing good connections and relationships between the graduates and their colleges to support cooperation between them. It is also a chance to show the community and companies the graduates of the colleges along with their achievements in the workplace and introduce the different specialisations offered in the colleges.

Community Service and Exchange Programmes Developing students’ skills and potentials are highly considered in the colleges. The ‘Obligatory Training’ within a specific system is a very important factor to enhance students` abilities to help them continue their academic journey and their own path later on. The programme of the cultural student exchange is highly valued in the colleges. The colleges have received international students to study in different majors. The Directorate has also sent students to Germany, France, China, Britain, the United States of America, Finland, Morocco, India and Australia to study the languages of these countries. These students are now teaching the languages they learnt in Al-Rustaq College of Applied Sciences. There is a plan for a cooperative training project, which is a regulated academic process to merge the educational process in classes with practical learning through providing students with productive careers close to the academic and professional trend with preference of paid jobs in most cases. The project will be first experimentally applied in the information technology department at Sohar College of Applied Sciences starting from the next academic year.

digitalLEARNING / September 2015

TSWREIS

Raising the Bar Amidst growing concerns over quality of education in the state run schools in rural India, the Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TSWREIS) has emerged as the lone bright spot by producing thousands of outstanding students despite many challenges. Sudheer Goutham of Elets News Network (ENN) digs into the details of initiatives by Telangana SWREIS that set an example to all other state-run institutions

Sigiri Srija, who got adespite challenges mission into Azim’s is a wonlike social der kid. She studied in TSWR e x c l u s i o n , School /Jr. Colleges, Mallapur e c o n o m i c and Madikonda. She hails insecurity, illiteracy of from Dharmaram village of parents and the burden of Karimnagar. Her parents abject poverty, in last three come from a economically years alone, Telangana poor background. Her father Social Welfare Residential Lachaiah is a mason. Srija’s Educational Institutions brother, Suryanarayana is Society (TSWREIS) has sent physically challenged. He is approximately 200 students to bed-ridden and frequently sufpremier Indian institutes like fers from convulsion. Srija’s IITs and NITs and hundreds mother, Madanamma stays to medical and engineering home taking care of her ailing colleges in the State, which is Students of Telangana SWREIS who scaled the Mount Everest son. Srija says gripping her exceptional for a government fists, “My only ambition is to institution. Most of the reach pinnacle in my studies and get rid of the problems bebeneficiary students are those from BPL families. cause poverty and health problems of my brother always work Students of Telangana SWREIS schools have been consison my mind.” tently showing extraordinary performance in the board examiAcademics and non academic go hand in hand in Telanganations vis-a-vis other State-run educational institutions. na SWREIS and this was proven when students of Telangana One of the biggest achievements in the history of the sociSWREIS hit the national headlines with their unique world ety has been the entry of its 22 students into the prestigious record of scaling the non-friendly Mt. Everest at such a tender undergraduate courses in Azim Premji University, Bangalore age creating sensation that made them juvenile celebrities. for the year 2015-18 without any reservation. It was for the first time that two poor tribal students from While thirty positions eligible for full financial aid for entire the remote areas of Telangana braved one of the world’s most country, Swaeroes could achieve a big haul of 22 seats. Girls unfriendly terrains. Malvath Poorna, from Nizamabad district dominated the boys with 12 seats. broke the record as the youngest girl (13+) ever to conquer In this regard Dr. R.S. Praveen Kumar, Secretary, Telangana Mt. Everest and Sadhnapalli Anand, 16, from Khammam SWREIS says, “It is a true game changer in the journey of these district is the first Dalit boy to scale the Mt. Everest, which is students towards higher education. Of Course, Azim Premji another record. University extends full financial aid to the students from chalDespite extreme weather conditions- a bitter chill of -45 delenging economic background.” grees of temperature that freezes bones and blood, and dead Sreenivasa Rao of Azim Premji Foundation says, “We have bodies on their way to the top, there was something distinct in been associated with the education department in the State the two young minds that drove them to success. for a pretty long time to improve the quality of education in Meanwhile, Anand recalling the experience tells, “On our rural government schools and Anganwadis. We interviewed way we came across many dead bodies. Ridge was risky. A sinhundreds of students all over India for admission into 100 gle faltering step here would mean death. There is no hope of seats but the confidence displayed by the students of Telangetting even the dead body. But, they did not deter out spirits. I gana SWREIS is remarkable. As a man from village and havremembered two of our Society’s Ten Commandments- ‘Never ing studied in government institutions, I feel proud of this Give Up and Never Fear the Unknown.” amazing achievement.”

digitalLEARNING / September 2015

PRAVEEN KUMAR WES

The Game Changer Dr. R S Praveen Kumar, IPS, Secretary, Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TSWREIS) with thorough understanding of the subject, level-headedness and an able team, kick started several new initiatives when he took the charge in July 2012. He chose to be the secretary of the society by choice, throws light on his initiative that can be a game changer for other state run educational institutions Tell us about your initiatives in Telangana SWREIS that became the trend setter for the governmentrun educational institutions? It is the methodical and intense training to teachers, science projects which allow students to explore the improbable, interactive learning programmes with experts on Mana TV (a government channel), digital learning in the classrooms, E-PLUS CLUB conducting different activities for the students to enhance their soft skills, or CCE (Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation) customised to the State syllabus, all these innovative measures brought about a fresh lease of life to education. How often the staff and teaching faculty of Telangana SWREIS undergo training? It is the excellent mind mapping training to staff and teachers by Victor and Sarah of Reading Wise. Thanks to MANA TV (a government channel) which operates in 198 institutions today, students are exposed to daily lessons as per the schedule given on SAPNET Website (www.sapnet. gov.in). Further, the academic section of the Society is conducting MANA TV lessons from our own faculty of various cadres depending on their competence, confidence and contribution. Apart from this, our other initiatives like Digital Learning, Boot Camps and P5

September 2015 / digitalLEARNING

programmes empower students with soft skills, communication skills, confidence, IT literacy, etc. Can you tell us about your popular programme V4G or Voice for Girls in Telangana SWREIS? Our senior students started succumbing to peer and social pressures and slipped off into depression. Unable to handle the psychological stress, they even started taking extreme steps like suicide. We sought the help of an international NGO called Voice for Girls, which conducted motivational workshops for adolescent girls and opened up a whole new meaning of life for them. This became extremely popular and caught on like wild fire as it changed the perspective of students in a big way. They started seeing a new and meaningful dimension in their lives. These girls called Sakhis turned into volunteers and started propagating the message of goodwill in all 290 schools. We now have a battalion of 1200 sakhis. All your 291 schools begin from grade 5 only, why isn’t Pre-Primary and Primary included? Especially it is said that those are the formative years, why is it excluded? It is believed that till the age of nine, the child needs parent so he or she is advised against a residential school. Hence, it is only after nine years that we start tak-

ing enrolments from grade V upwards. However, we do plan to include the Primary very soon. In fact by the time the students enter grade V they are already coming from a vernacular background to English medium school and find it difficult to cope. One of our pre-requisites is that the class should be very noisy. If it is not so, we assume children are troubled and not comfortable in the class. Hence, we have to ‘undo’ and start refilling the cups again. What is the mode of coaching or training that has led students from Telangana SWREIS bag seats in premier Indian Institutes like IIT and NIT? We have special trained teachers who coach the students for these competitive exams. In fact, we have Sri Chukka Ramiah garu’s expert guidance and he also happens to be the member of our Management Board. He actively helps us in selecting the bright students through an entrance test for admission into IIT coaching.

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