ScooNews-October 2017-Digital Edition by ScooNews

Children must be taught how to think, not what to think

Volume 2 Issue 3 October 2017 CHANGING TEACHERS’ LIVES EVERYDAY, EVERY WAY!

Margaret Mead

STRAIGHT TALK

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED by Ravi Santlani on behalf of EduPulse Media Pvt. Ltd

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EDITORIAL OFFICE EduPulse Media Pvt Ltd, J-3, Jhalana Institutional Area, Second Floor, Jaipur 302004 India Email: editor@scoonews.com FOR ALL SALES QUERIES Virendra Kashyap +91-9953219439 Abhishek Tomar +91-9811756705 sales@scoonews.com FOR SUBSCRIPTION +91-9784447860 subscribe@scoonews.com PRINTED AND PUBLISHED by Ravi Santlani on behalf of EduPulse Media Pvt Ltd PRINTED AT Jaipur Printers Pvt Ltd, MI Road, Jaipur 302001, Rajasthan, India and PUBLISHED AT EduPulse Media Pvt Ltd, J-3, Jhalana Institutional Area, Second Floor, Jaipur 302004 India Published for the month of October 2017 Total number of pages 56, including Covers

Nichola Pais

If heaven protects children, it needs help now

here is a time for hurt, anger and helplessness. And that time has passed. It’s time now for action, plain and simple. No more excuses, no more buck-passing. The safety and security of our children in schools demands a holistic effort, each prong playing its own significant part. The government, the law enforcement authorities, the school, the parents and the children themselves – it’s our combined duty to ensure that violence and abuse, in any of its foul forms, does not snake in through the school gates and slash at innocents any more. Reacting to the spate of ghastly attacks on school children, the Centre has already come up with a series of safety measures. Schools have been directed to sensitise students about gender sensitive issues, appoint female staff for operating school buses, screen films about good touch and bad touch, and popularise the child helpline (1098). Directives alone could never ensure safety. Proper implementation will. This is where schools will have to rise to the challenge of ensuring that student safety measures are being scrupulously followed. Intensifying security measures, carrying out regular audits and maintenance checks of existing security systems, maintaining strict vigilance in the school premises, and monitoring of the CCTV footage collected, is mandatory. Police verification and psychometric assessment of staff members, physical presence of security guards at various points, and even meditation activities for non-teaching and teaching staff to maintain positivity, would further help. Increased involvement by the police would ensure regular checks on security arrangements, comprehensive CCTV coverage, and help identification verification for non-regular, non-permanent employees. A parent’s responsibility does not end with waving bye to the child. A more proactive approach is necessary, whether it is increased involvement in the PTA, or advocating an open-door policy where parents can directly approach the principal to address serious grievances. And finally our children… We need to empower them to be smart, strong, and safe. Children who are aware of their rights over their minds and bodies, who have been given hands-on training in dealing with emergency situations, and who are made stake-holders in their safety, will be the biggest deterrent to violence. ‘Heaven protects children,’ may have rung true in an older, gentler time. Time now to give heaven a hand.

FIND US ON

October 2017

CONTENTS

14 COVER

EVENTS : “Bett Asia 2017 is celebrating the power of partnership”

The 21st century guide to safer schools The 21st century safe school addresses school safety from a holistic perspective of mental, emotional, physical and social safety.

Did You Know…? : 10 Famous People Who Used to be Teachers

Nichola Pais in conversation with Eve Harper, Event Director – Bett Asia

28 FEATURE STORY

DIFFERENT STROKES : OUT OF THE DUSTY BOX! From field trips and films, to making events relatable, learning history deserves to be stimulating

Striking A Chord It’s time music therapy was given a listening ear for its use of music to achieve non-musical goals

October 2017

INNOVATION : 5 Indian education initiatives feature in the hundrED list of global innovations

OP-ED

The Essential Ingredient in School Success

COMMUNICATION

n today’s social media obsessed world, it has become even more important for schools to tell their story to keep parents, staff and the larger community engaged. Schools are high-profile and impact organizations under constant public scrutiny. Schools are often portrayed adversely in media to spotlight the worst-case scenarios in K-12 education. It would not be an overstatement to say private education is under attack, and unfair or not, public perception is important. Therefore, schools have to tell the story about how they make a positive difference in the lives of students and parents every day, and how schools are succeeding overall in spite of dwindling resources and increasing regulations. Otherwise, people will form their opinions from limited news coverage, biased films, gossip and rumors. It is important for schools to communicate with and engage all of their stakeholders including students, parents, administrators, legislators and the community-at-large. Every school leader knows communication is important, but these days, when new ways to spread your message seem to grow faster than you can master them, how to do so effectively? A dedicated communications officer will help improve community relations and overall stakeholder management. Besides dealing with the stakeholders on a one to one basis, local press and others; it is the job of the communications officer to use electronic communications with parents and the community as they are cheaper, timelier, and easier than ever to use. Used correctly,

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social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook are the simplest way many stakeholders already receive their information. For instance, on the Facebook group ‘Gurgaon Parents For Better Education’, 17700-plus parents discuss various issues about the schools on a daily basis. Schools can identify the common problems of the parents by reading the posts on this group, as many parents are not comfortable raising issues to the school authorities directly. There are several such city specific groups and schools should actively take part in such groups. If timely and immaculately performed, this can be a good communications and branding strategy. A communications officer must have strong written and oral abilities. Communication planning, including in-school and community communications, should be used by the communications officer to: Inform – to keep you in touch with stakeholders and provide details of upcoming events, news, and information. Celebrate – Schools must take every opportunity to share with their stakeholders the wonderful learning experiences and the good work being done by the teachers, leadership and students on a periodic basis. Results show that trust built slowly but securely will pay off for school leaders. It will help in improving the public's perception of the school. Addressing problems head-on and listening to concerns, even though the topics don't deal with the larger community, obviously gives residents the confidence to support the school’s activities and initiatives.

Ravi Santlani on why every school should have a communications officerâ&#x20AC;Ś

Benefits of the Use of Social Media in Education A study conducted by Fewkes and McCabe (2012) revealed that 73% of the students surveyed stated that they use Facebook for educational purposes. In addition, social media provides a variety of outlets for educators to enhance the learning environment and to engage students. According to Huffman (2013), one of the biggest benefits of using social media in education is the ease, convenience, and speed of the access and distribution of information. With the technology devices available to both teachers and students, information can be communicated almost instantly with the use of social media. That is, social media provides individuals with the capability to receive information instantly in the palm of their hand. Other benefits of the use of social media in education include collaboration, participation, and communication not only with students but with all stakeholders

October 2017

YOURS TRULY SPORTING SPIRIT Kids who play are less likely to be obese and develop obesity-related health problems such as diabetes and heart disease. However, I have noticed that the current generation is less inclined to play outdoors. Also contributing to this fact is a rapid decline in the availability of playgrounds and play areas for kids. I would request you to provide more coverage to sports education in your magazine to raise awareness on this aspect. Rama Krishna, Muzaffarpur

ual and social change, and that one must do all they can to facilitate it. Thanks for a great issue! Phila DeSouza, Mumbai

HUGE HONOUR As if listening to, and interacting with, all the wonderful speakers and teachers from around the world was not reward enough, a huge honour for a person of very humble abilities like me to receive the ScooNews Teacher Warrior Award. Many thanks to ScooNews.

would suggest that you do an indepth presentation of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals and the importance of education in them. These Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a new, universal set of goals, targets and indicators that UN member states will be expected to use to frame their agendas and political policies over the next 15 years. I would very much appreciate your effort to build awareness and engage global educators in their realization. Ijaz Ahmed, Bhubaneshwar

PLAY ON!

Navin Gulia, Gurgaon

SHARING IDEAS THANK YOU!

As a parent and teacher, I am deeply concerned that fewer kids are regularly spending time at a park or playground. Play is an old-fashioned solution to many modern problems. The disturbing rise in childhood obesity, youth violence, and problems with school performance can all be addressed through play. Kids who play are healthier, do better in school, and become higher-functioning adults by developing social and problem-solving skills. In short, play is a crucial factor in the overall well-being of children.

Congratulations! I just loved your anniversary issue. It had the right mix of information, fun, and learning. The article by Juhi Chawla was enlightening.

A brainstorm like the ScooNews Global Educators Fest was a muchneeded one in the education sector because we can strive to change and better our system only when there is free-flowing exchange of ideas and methods. Kudos to ScooNews for organising the event and bringing in important people like Prof Sugata Mitra, Sonam Wangchuk and Dan Lejerskar who inspire educators everywhere. We hope to see more such endeavours in future that will help improve education in our country.

Alka Yerlagada, Hyderabad

Ramesh Kumar, Meerut

Divya Shetty, Bangalore

Thanks ScooNews for the Teacher Warriors felicitation. The actual credit goes to government teachers, parents and children, collector and Telangana CMO. Sudheer Jalagam

GOOD READ

INSPIRATION UNLIMITED

COVER APPEAL

SAFETY CONCERNS

There was so much to be inspired by in the Anniversary issue… Optimum Parenting by Dr. Jawahar Surisetti, Education of Head, Heart & Hands by Capt. S N Pawar, the poem on What Teachers Make – ‘You want to know what I make? I make a difference’… Fantastic answer! I also loved the article on Maggie MacDonnell, truly admirable lady. I am most impressed by the article on Education’s Biggest Benefactors, especially by what Shiv Nadar says about being propelled by the belief that education is and will be the most powerful tool for individ-

Congratulations on your anniversary issue. My comment on the cover in three words, it is astonishing, beautiful and inviting. In my 10+ years in the education field, ScooNews is the first magazine I have found to be working for educators' improvement and knowledge enrichment. Kapil Joshi, Bengaluru

Thank you, ScooNews for highlighting the importance of fire safety in schools. Sometimes, safety is something that is taken for granted and, as a parent, it helps to know that my child is safe in whatever environment he is in. It is only when a mishap happens somewhere that we open our eyes and wonder how safe our own schools are. There should be government audits in schools around the year to ensure that schools are well-prepared to fight a major fire. It is absolutely important considering how many young lives are at stake. Aditya Singh, Mumbai

BUILD AWARENESS Thank you for the amazing insights from ScooNews Global Educators Fest which you shared in the September 2017 issue. I

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October 2017

Please recycle this magazine and remove inserts and samples before recycling

TRENDING Shiksha raises $2.5 million from Dell Foundation Founded by V.L. Ramakrishnan and Jacob Abraham in 2014, Shiksha Finance is a non-banking financial company that provide loans to schools to improve its infrastructure, and loans to students from families of lower income-groups to help finance their education. Shiksha has raised $2.5 million (Rs.16 crore) through a mix of debt and equity from Michael and Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF). It has funded close to 600 schools and around 2.5 lakh students studying in these schools. The companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s objective is to reduce school dropouts and provide finance for children from kindergarten to class 12. They currently have their presence in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry and are looking to expand in the states of Telangana and Maharashtra. The loans are generally used for development of the education institute, working capital requirements, acquisition of land for expansion, setting up computer labs or smart classes or even construction of a basketball court. Student loans are disbursed to the schools directly so that the end use is clearly established. The average size of student loans is around Rs. 16,000 with a tenure of 10-12 months. MSDF has invested close to $1.4 billion towards education and in India the foundation has committed close to $120 million across grants and equity investments since setting up their presence here in 2006.

NYSE closing bell rung by teachers

Sparking interest in STEM The Toyota USA Foundation has awarded $485,000 grant to ASCD, a non-profit dedicated to excellence in learning, teaching and leading in collaboration with the 114th Partnership, a national non-profit that helps young people navigate education and career pathways, to create videos connecting coursework to STEM careers. Teachers across the USA will have new resources to pique the interests of students in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). The 114th Partnershipâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s STEM video program will have educators include real world professional challenges into their curriculum, allowing students to have a unique insight into the career opportunities in fields such as advanced manufacturing through SPARK 101 STEM Skills Videos. ASCD, known for their high quality professional learning resources, will help co-design content that integrates Spark 101 STEM Skills Videos with problem-solving coursework. They, along with practising STEM educators, will develop learning modules for middle and high school teachers complementing SPARK 101 Skills Videos. This will form another resource that will help teachers connect coursework to work place helping the next generation be ready for high demanding careers.

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The New York Stock Exchange welcomed executives and guests of the Varkey Foundation to celebrate the 3rd Annual Global Teachers Prize and honour teachers everywhere. Seen in attendance was Varkey Foundation Board member, Jay Varkey and all the finalists of the Global Teachers Prize who rang the closing bell.

New Act to reassure school safety A new education Act that focuses on safety, infrastructure, curriculum etc in schools is being formulated in collaboration with FICCI and a Karnataka-based firm. The Act will issue penalties to schools that violate safety rules. The government has already issued instructions to schools across Gurugram for the safety of children, following the murder of seven-year-old Pradhyumn Thakur at Ryan International School in Bhondsi. Officials said that the Bill will be introduced in the next monsoon session of the Haryana assembly. They also confirmed that a separate wing will be introduced by the state government to deal with all private school-related issues. The new Act being framed for the safety

of children will cover all government, private, aided and unaided schools in Haryana. The Act promises a three-level safety committee at the district, sub-division and school level and it will be headed by the deputy commissioner, sub-divisional magistrate and school head respectively.

Global Goals Awards honour five worthy champions Five exemplary activists were honoured at the 2017 Goalkeepers Global Goals Awards, curated by UNICEF, for their efforts in creating a positive impact in people’s lives, while accelerating progress towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs have been adopted by every country to make the world more peaceful, equitable and healthy. Winner of the Leadership Award was Ria Sharma, 26, from New Delhi. Moved by the experience of making a documentary on acid attack survivors, she founded Make Love Not Scars (MLNS), an organisation that supports survivors of acid attacks, while raising awareness about the issue. Marieme Jamme, Senegal/ UK, winner of the Innovation Award, survived a horrific childhood and now inspires youth through SpotOne Global Solutions.

Founder of the iamthecode movement, she works to teach 1 million women to code by 2030. Winner of the Young Goalkeeper Award, Laura Ulloa, 27, Colombia was a victim of kidnapping and hijacking. She works to change lives with the Colombian Agency for Reintegration, for the Security Council of the United Nations and as coordinator for Social Projects at the Corona Foundation in Colombia. Social entrepreneur and medical student, Felix Manyogote, 26, Tanzania was winner of the Leave No One Behind Award, providing free maternal and newborn health services, and 1,200 birth kits via his project, Mama Afya. Winner of the Healthy Not Hungry Award, Bernard Coulibally, 45, Mali, is Deputy Prefect of Yorosso in the South of Mali, where he works on reducing child malnutrition rates in his community.

CBSE schools re-introduce detainment, class X boards

Big changes ahead for CBSE schools… According to the rules for CBSE affiliated schools, all students up to class 8 would be promoted each year even if they scored poorly. Not any longer. Union Minister Prakash Javadekar has announced that central examinations will be conducted at class 5 and class 8 in CBSE, and students who are unable to clear the exams will be detained. The students can make subsequent attempts to pass the compartment or improvement papers, but would be detained if they failed to clear these as well. Twenty-five states have approved of this particular central government decision. Additionally, the option available to students to choose the examinations conducted by their schools over the board exam, has also been rolled back, as class X board exams have been made compulsory. The union government has also instructed state boards to stop the “bunching” and “spiking” of marks under the guise of moderation. Meetings have already been held with certain states to discuss the discontinuation of marks moderation.

October 2017

TRENDING

Pratham raises 4 million USD

Chimple wins big The Global Learning XPRIZE, a nonprofit organisation that encourages technological development, awarded a little known bootstrapped start-up from Bangalore called Chimple a whopping 1 million dollars (6.5 crore). They were among the top 5 finalists for the prize. The global learning competition was sponsored by Elon Musk. The aim of the competition was to develop methods to enable 250 million children to learn to read, write and do math within 15 months. No less than 198 teams have taken part in the competition which has been running for over two years. Srikanth Talapadi, who founded Chimple in 2015, says that the teaching methods have become old and new methods have to be brought in. Talapadi graduated from the University of Mysore after which he did his Master’s from the US and has been running his own software firm called Amiti Software. On hearing about the XPRIZE he founded Chimple with a team of twelve software developers, game developers, graphic designers and animation artists. They developed a prototype game in Kannada and gave it to 20 first grade students at a local school. Since then they have developed over 60 gaming solutions that help kids learn basic reading, writing and arithmetic. Children don’t like too much instruction and love to have fun while learning, so Chimple seeks to make learning fun. They have games that have car racing, cute monsters and also some with superheroes. The variety of games help cater to the varying interests of children and get them excited to learn and share their learning experience with others. Though they have won the 1 million dollars, being among the top 5 finalists, the competition is far from over. Next year the teams will travel to the Tanga region of Tanzania where they will test their software solutions for 15 months where approximately 4000 kids from across 150 villages will use 8000 pixel C tablets donated by Google. The solution that has the best proficiency in reading, writing and arithmetic will win the grand prize of 10 million dollars.

Pratham, an innovative learning organization created to improve the quality of education in India, has raised more than USD 4 million to provide quality education to underprivileged children in the country. One of India's largest non-governmental education organisations, Pratham was established in 1995 to focus on high-quality, low-cost, and replicable interventions that could address the gaps in the education system. Providing education to children in the slums of Mumbai, over the years Pratham has grown both in scope and geographical reach. At the fundraiser held in Chicago on September 21, Genpact President and CEO, N V ‘Tiger’ Tyagarajan underlined the importance of educating the girl child. One of the many beneficiaries of Pratham’s educational programmes,

Mangala Mehar spoke touchingly of her dream to become a successful and independent woman. She shared that the Pratham course gave her something far greater than the skills to get a job at a fancy hotel. “It gave me the motivation and self-confidence to keep moving ahead.”

WDR 2018 warns of ‘learning crisis’ Dubbing the learning crisis a moral and economic crisis, World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim stated, “When delivered well, education promises young people employment, better earnings, good health, and a life without poverty. For communities, education spurs innovation, strengthens institutions, and fosters social cohesion. But these benefits depend on learning, and schooling without learning is a wasted opportunity. More than that, it’s a great injustice: the children whom societies fail the most are the ones who are most in need of a good education to succeed in life.” The World Development Report 2018: ‘Learning to Realise Education’s Promise’, recommends that concrete policy steps be taken to enable developing countries to solve this serious learning crisis in the areas of stronger learning assessments, using evidence of what works and what doesn’t to guide education decisionmaking; and mobilizing a strong social movement to push for educa-

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tion changes that champion ‘learning for all.’ The report notes that when countries and their leaders make “learning for all” a national priority, education standards can improve dramatically. The report offers three policy recommendations: Assess learning, so it can become a measurable goal. Make schools work for all children. Mobilize everyone who has a stake in learning.

UNICEF urges countries to prioritise early childhood development

Robotics & marketing for 8-year-olds

Young students at Mount Litera School International have compulsory and credit-winning weekly sessions in Roboticis and Design, right from Class 1. The students of Bombay Scottish attend voluntary workshops on debate skills, as they research and discuss international current affairs as preparation for inter-school competitions and the annual Model United Nations conclave. The Young Entrepreneurs Academy hosts entrepreneurship programmes at schools like Cathedral & John Connon, Fort, and American School of Bombay at BKC, where students as young as 11 learn business planning, marketing basics and share startup ideas. Mumbai schools have been keeping pace with growing curricula, as boards realise the need for discussion, education and interactive sessions in finance management, critical thinking and problem-solving, economics, technology, opines Fatema Agarkar, co-founder of educational consultancy KA Associates. Whether it’s preparing children for studies abroad or to run successful enterprises, that training must start at the school level itself is the growing realisation.

The first 1,000 days of a child’s life is most crucial in his/her development and yet 32 countries, including Bangladesh and the United States, lack three basic national policies to support parents of babies and young children, according to a United Nations report. According to the Early Moments Matter for Every Child, published by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), only 15 countries including Cuba, France, Portugal, Russia and Sweden, have the three policies necessary to support a young child’s healthy brain development. They include two years of free pre-primary education, paid breastfeeding breaks for the first six months and adequate paid parental leave. These policies are essential for children to attain better nutrition and play, and learning experiences in the first crucial years of life. According to the report, around 85 million children under the age of five are growing up in 32 countries without any of the three critical policies in place and 40 per cent of them live in Bangladesh and the US.

Ghana assures free secondary school education for all

Staying true to his campaign promise, Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo launched the government’s flagship education programme, Free Senior High School (Free SHS). The programme makes secondary education free for students in public secondary schools across the country. This September, in Ghana, there are more than 420,000 students set to enter secondary school and benefit from the programme. According to the programme, in addition to free tuition fees, there will be no admission fees, library fees, science centre fees, exam fees or utility fees. There will also be free textbooks, free boarding and free meals, and day students will get a meal at school for free. Analysts however feel that this initiative will add pressure on the budget and expand Ghana’s debt position.

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COVER STORY

The 21st century

GUIDE

to SAFER

The 21st century safe school addresses school safety from a holistic perspective of mental, emotional, physical and social safety.

schools

October 2017

Anjana Deepak writeback@scoonews.com

he shock remains but the panic is replaced by a growing resolution: Enough is enough. The recent gruesome incidents (rape/ murder) targeting children in schools, compels a complete relook and rethink of where we are going wrong and what exactly can be done to ensure and secure the safety of our children. Keeping students safe and in an environment where they

can flourish is becoming more and more difficult. Children spend a large percentage of their time at school and it is imperative that we make sure that we implement every possible measure to keep them safe. A new kind of rigorous education is now a must for all children as well, maybe from the very moment they learn to understand the word “safety”. It is not only the parents’ responsibility to make sure their child is safe but also the duty of the school that we equip the minds of our children to do everything in their power to protect themselves from the monsters that roam in society.

The concept of ‘Your mind, your body’ should be taught to a child. A child must know that they and only they own their bodies and it is okay for them to say ‘NO’ if they don’t want to be touched. Even if it’s as simple as a hug or a kiss, a child should have the right to say no if it makes them even slightly uncomfortable. They have certain areas as ‘private’ which are off limits to everyone else, including members of the family.

Sexual Abuse A difficult topic but A difficult topic but one which demands we shed inhibitions and educate children about the issue and their rights.In most cases the sexual predator is usually someone the child knows and has interacted with. A teacher, a family member, a neighbour, a friend… any of these people who we come to trust may violate our children.

Says Pushpendra Kumar, Principal, RM Public School, Bijnor, “It should be made mandatory for school children to be educated about sex. Since I am from a rural area, I see a lot of parents hesitating to discuss sex with their child. As society leaders we have to take up these responsibilities as sex education is not only for the children of the big cities; it is very important for the children of the rural areas as well to understand and shed inhibitions around the topic.” Using appropriate terminology is important. It ensures that the child is correctly informed and can talk about it if there is a situation. Making the child feel comfortable during this conversation is a must.

Sonal Ahuja, Director, Shri Ram Foundation Preschool and Shri Ram Bal Bharti School emphasises on the fact that, “Once we cross the barrier of our own apprehensions, only then will we be able to share many more secrets of ‘sex education beyond the physical act’, with children.”

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COVER STORY The mouth, chest area, stomach area, area between the legs, buttocks are off limits to anyone and everyone. That doesn’t mean that everywhere else is okay. Illustrated books on sex education can be used to explain these concepts to children simply and effectively.

Sex education is mandatory. According to Kavita Sanghavi, MET Rishikul, “Sex education is imparted through regular sessions by the school counsellor and expert talk on the subject is delivered to students by gynaecologists, psychologists and sexologists from outside.” This awareness goes a long way in keeping children safe.

Bullying Bullying, one of the largest problems in schools, is a form of abuse that usually occurs when a child or a group of children target another individual and exercise their power over them. It usually happens in areas that have less supervision by the staff or teachers of the school - bathrooms, deserted hallways, cafeterias, at the school bus

areas or even in the bus. Bullying comes in many forms - fighting, name calling, teasing, excluding someone repeatedly…. Bullying can be physical or an emotional trauma for the child who is at the receiving end of it.

signs can be seen if a child is a victim of bullying. They might withdraw from people and from friends, lose interest in activities they previously used to enjoy, display physical injuries, and show a drop in grades, etc.

Bullying isn’t considered a big problem as compared to drug abuse, so most parents and teachers tend to make light of it, but it can have long lasting effects on the child being bullied and on the bully as well.

If a child is being bullied, they can be helped, first by talking to the parents of the bully, teaching kids to take the nonviolent approach to deal with a bully by walking away, talking it out or just by moving away to play with a group of friends. They need to be helped to restore their confidence. The first thing that bullies usually do is to break the self-confidence of a person.

If signs of bullying are seen, a parent or teacher must address it immediately. A child disclosing an incident of bullying must be taken seriously. Sunny Mahajan, Joint Secretary, Pratap World School says, “Workshops are conducted with students and there is an Anti-Bullying committee also in place. Statements like these are also highlighted at various places in school. Bullying is strictly prohibited inside the school premises and no such act should go unnoticed or unpunished.” Don’t brush it away. Certain tell-tale

Vice Principal, The Wisdom Valley Global School, Palwal, Taruna Kapoor says, “We conduct assessments in our school as to how often bullying occurs, when it occurs and how students and adults intervene. Parents are also made aware of these problems and encouraged to handle them properly. Awareness campaigns

DEPRESSION Although depression is classified as an adult disorder, children are also susceptible to it. When depression is recognized early and treatment is provided, young people can feel and function better in school and life. Schools play a pivotal role in in identifying depression and intervening. School staff must be knowledgeable about depression as the disorder can seriously impair academic and interpersonal behav-

iour. Some of the signs teachers must look out for are: low tolerance for frustration and negative patterns for thinking, giving up on tasks quickly which they find daunting, doubting their ability to independently complete tasks and solve problems, lethargy, speaking laboriously, difficulty in completely expressing thoughts and ideas, decreased self-esteem and self-worth, and separation anxiety from parents.

October 2017

In cases where the child is going through depression a homeschool communication system has to be developed to share information on the student’s academic, social and emotional behaviour. The best approach taken is often individualised. Children, when helped to overcome their depressed state with patience and perseverance from school staff, home and peers, tend to lead happy and normal lives.

and workshops are conducted for the benefit of students. A thorough code of conduct, rules and reporting system is established. Also, a general school culture of acceptance, tolerance and respect is encouraged. Positive social interactions among school staff, students and parents is reinforced. Bullying prevention materials are introduced in the school curriculum and activities.” She adds, “Bullying can threaten students’ physical and emotional safety at school and can negatively impact their ability to learn. The best way to address bullying is to STOP before it starts.” Children who are bullies must also be helped as it can cause severe behavioural problems later in life. Children normally turn out to be bullies when they don’t empathise or sympathise with others, they usually like to be the centre of attention, enjoy aggression and love to pick fights. A counsellor at school could talk to the child, and may help get to the root cause of the problem. They might have anger issues, or some changes that are happening at home or they might feel insecure. Counselling may help solve these problems. Children who usually bully have, at some point, been victim themselves.

Corporal Punishment A common disciplinary measure in schools is corporal punishment. Hitting with the hand or with an object like a cane, pinching, excessive physical exercising, twisting of the ear, etc are some forms of corporal punishment. There have been instances where children have lost their lives or have been gravely injured. In most cases the physical hurt can be treated but the psychological and emotional effects can have severe consequences in the future. Mental harassment is also a form of corporal punishment. There is no excuse to resorting to corporal punishment. It is important to treat every student with respect and care. Children can lose their confidence and self-esteem. With a child being continuously subjected to corporal punishment, the dire consequences could be children developing aggressive or destructive behaviour. They start to think that it is okay to hit someone if not listened to, or they may show cowardice, learning to obey without asking questions or having opinions. It is the collective responsibility of all

Learning Disabilities How receptive are our schools and teachers to kids who have learning disabilities? These kids are most vulnerable and are at a risk for long term academic and social problems. Children who find it difficult in classrooms be it with reading, writing, comprehending, paying attention, proper coordination, memory, and staying organised could be facing learning disabilities. These disabilities can manifest in varying degrees of severity. Some students may struggle with more than one. Proper diagnosis is extremely important, followed by remedial measures to correct their situation. Solutions for children with learning disabilities must focuses on individual achievement, progress and learning to ensure they are successful.

to abolish corporal punishment completely. Teachers and educators need to form mutual agreements with students, motivating them and giving them a sense of belonging to the school. It is the right of every human to live a peaceful life without having to face violence in any form.

Online Abuse Technology cannot be eradicated from children’s lives; it is here to stay. Monitoring them every second of everyday is impossible. So, when they get sucked into the big bad world of virtual reality what do we do? How do we cope with the fact that our kids can be hurt by someone who is sitting thousands of miles away? The Blue Whale game, which is a 50task game culminating in a suicide order, is a classic example of children being ensnared online. Developing trust and openness is the way to combat such dangerous influences. Children should be educated to talk openly about things that concern them, whether it is internet related or otherwise. Adults in a child’s life should make sure they don’t blow things out of

proportion or overreact to situations but understand the needs of the child so that, in any situation, they feel comfortable to come up and speak to an adult, regardless of the issue. We need to speak to children, develop their self-worth and give them the confidence that life is not about letting someone or something influence us into the wrong behaviour, and that there are alternatives to combat stress and confidence issues. Countering the sinister Blue Whale challenge is the Pink Whale challenge or the Baleia Rosa game, which aims to spread not anguish and harm but love and happiness. While the Blue Whale is about depressing messages, self-harm and suicide, Baleia Rosa promotes positivity and encourages people to save lives. Eventually, youngsters must realize that online challenges are not the ultimate game-changers, and that we all have our inherent traits of strengths and weaknesses - it is up to us to work on them.

Internet Safety Internet usage has to be monitored continuously as today’s youngsters tend to use the internet heavily these days. It is important to provide kids with safety and protection from online predators. We must keep an eye out on what they surf online. Children should be taught not to trust everything that they hear or see on the internet and to never reveal any personal information like their real name, which school they go to, their address or even frequent places they hang out. They must also be told not to share their family or friends’ information either. Most internet browsers have parental controls that can be easily used to set up security safeguards and content filters for language, nudity, sex and violence. Special browsers can also be set up that are kid-friendly. You can allow your child to only have access to this browser. Children also get sucked into online chats where identity thieves or child predators pose as friends. A constant vigilance has to be maintained to their chat activity. Children must be allowed to play age appropriate games. Check gaming web-

October 2017

COVER STORY sites that list the ratings of each game. Do not allow children to do online shopping by themselves, we never know if they are going into insecure sites to make purchases and could be left vulnerable to online thefts. School Safety Schools must ensure that there is CCTV coverage in all corners of the school to ensure that the kids are monitored. When hiring staff and teachers, the school must ensure that they go through the proper channels of hiring, because these are the people who are responsible for a child’s safety and wellbeing. Schools must develop guidelines regarding the hiring process. It shows that the institute has done their homework and that they are a serious organisation and not just a money-churning machine. Says Kusum Kanwar, Principal, Billabong High International School – Santacruz, “The 21st Century Safe School is a forward-thinking comprehensive approach addressing school safety from a holistic perspective of mental, emotional, physical and social safety. It is much more than physical threats. However, schools at times have a false understanding of school security and poor training and not following best practice guidelines for safety programs, leaves schools vulnerable to threats.“Students deserve quality education in a learning environment where they feel safe and secure. Ensuring safety training for stakeholders prepares and empowers school administrators, educators and staff to effectively plan and train for a multitude of potential threats risks. It begins with planning and an increased level of awareness of potential threat indicators.“Safety Training includes creating safe learning environments which are emotionally and psychologically safe, have situational awareness and other critical social and behavioural topics and simulation drills and safety exercises. Many schools have a mindset that training a small number of staff who can train the rest of employees can help, however the outcome will probably not be favourable. Parents need to be a collaborative partner in this endeavour by heightened awareness.“Safety Training programs need to merge mental health and security practices for creation of a safe school.” “If a school is aware about the facts related to raising sensible children, then parents automatically start following the culture of the school,” points out Sonal Ahuja, Director, Shri

Ram Foundation Preschool and Shri Ram Bal Bharti School. “We hold sessions and make sure that each one of them attend. School activities are not done just as formalities. We make sure that raising a child is a triangular effort: Teacher-Child-Parent. We all have to play our roles equally to reach a set standard or a goal. “Schools are expected to address behavioural issues, minimize absences, reduce or eradicate mistreatment and bullying, prevent abuse cases and also fully prepare all students regardless of family circumstances or community characteristics. Given these demands, schools may find it difficult to be successful if they are operating in a reactive stance. “Quality and character of school life can also be improved by welcoming partnerships, which aim at mutual trust and respect, responsiveness, research, reflections and introspections. In this partnership, school, staff, principal, parents, neighbourhood school representatives can develop a plan of action that is responsive to the needs of the school towards safety and security. The goal is not to provide the ‘one size fits all’ set of prescribed action. Schools should now step out of the so called, self-centred approach and bring a more community driven approach, by collaborating and welcoming partnerships - more brains, more reflections and hence most appropriate action plans leading to safe schools.” Sunny Mahajan, Joint Secretary, Pratap World School also adds, “More personalized care by every member of the school can help in spreading positivity and protection for students. Mobile jammers can be introduced so that children do not become a victim of the Blue Whale game in school premises, particularly boarding schools. CCTV cameras should be present in every nook and corner so that everyone is alert. Police verification of each staff member must be conducted and anyone found with a record should not be kept in school. Psychometric assessment of each and every employee is essential. There should be security guards in school premises at various points as a physical presence always has an edge over any technology. Meditation activities for non-teaching and teaching staff help to maintain a positive balance of energies. Negative thoughts can be channelized. Ensuring more technology driven checks and balance can also help.”

October 2017

Kalpana Chaudhary, Principal, NH Goel World School, Raipur, says that apart from the regular norms of school safety, “We also do not encourage children driving their own two or four wheelers to school. We encourage children to use school transport. The children who come by their own vehicles have been issued I-cards to the drivers. Their names and phone numbers have to be registered with the school and they have to sign a register and a gate pass while leaving the school. Random and regular breath checking of the support staff specially the transport

department is also essential.â&#x20AC;?

Stay Prepared Life is full of surprises, not all of them pleasant. It is better that the organisation is prepared for fewer surprises. Institutes must continuously sensitise staff and enhance security measures in all possible ways. Some schools have already increased their security detail. Some of the measures that these schools have taken are: The school staff and teachers are in the premises much before the students enter the school. After dispersal the building is secured by security staff. CCTV cameras are installed at strategic points across the school and are regularly monitored by dedicated personnel. Regular maintenance is done to ensure functionality is strictly implemented. Entry and movement of all adults in the school campus is recorded. The

school is secured and the gates are manned by security guards all the time. Students toilets are clearly demarcated and separate toilets are used by the support staff. The GPRS system has been incorporated for school buses, while CCTV cameras, first aid and fire extinguishers have been placed in every bus. Students board and alight from the buses within the school premises under the supervision of the school transport in charge. Teachers are assigned duties on vantage points during school hours. The school medical team comprising of doctors and counsellors conduct regular sessions with students on various subjects on safety and otherwise. Bullying is strictly dealt with. Corporal punishment is not permitted

and the physical safety of each child is of utmost importance. An ambulance is stationed at the campus at all times for any medical emergencies. Adding to these measures, Kavita Sanghvi, MET Rishikul, recommends that profiles are very clearly outlined to all so that every stakeholder is aware of their roles and responsibilities. Regular monitoring and recording, working closely with parents and earn their support and trust, informing parents of the school safety measures, holding meetings with staff members on child protection policy and their need to look into every aspect of studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; safety, recording of regular inspection by school safety officer, and the Police Clearance Certificate (PCC) of male staff members, are all essential steps. When it comes to the safety of students, it is infinitely better to err on the side of caution.

October 2017

TECH FOCUS

Tech

GOOD Care! Nichola Pais editor@scoonews.com

Technology can be the ‘guardian angel’, securing students’ safety in school. Time to embrace it!

October 2017

iolence against children in schools is becoming frighteningly regular, and even the so-called superior institutions in metros are far from immune. The human element in ensuring students’ safety is crucial – it is the combined responsibility of the government, school management, teachers, care-givers, and families to work together to ensure that children are

safe. However, in today’s day and age, it would be simply inexcusable to ignore the technology available, which can play the role of additional ‘guardian angel’, supplementing child safety in myriad ways.

systems which include smartphone apps, and GPS devices… there is no dearth of tech options available to keep children safer in schools. Question is: do we have the will to use them?

From entry-control equipment and identification, which includes electromagnetic door locks, visitor badges, and palm scanners; to video surveillance, communication technology, alarm and protection systems, emergency alerts which include automated text messages or emails, to tracking

Dr T. Padmavathy, Principal, Fusion International School, Hyderabad, believes that technology can and does go a long way in making schools a safe zone. “Children ranging from 3 years to 15 years learn in a vibrant environment, and should be kept safe and educated at various ages. Technology can

always be embraced as it is fast and can be sure. CCTVs are one such equipment which have reduced the crime rate drastically,” she points out. Even simple technology like SMS messages can play an important part in securing the safety of children. “SMS messages can be sent to all the parents whose children who do not turn up at school, to ensure their presence at home and provide knowledge to the parent about the whereabouts of the child,” Dr Padmavathy avers. “Again, when the child reaches home in the

October 2017

TECH FOCUS Dr T. Padmavathy, Principal, Fusion International School, Hyderabad, believes that technology can and does go a long way in making schools a safe zone.

evening, the parent sends a reverse mail to the school and acknowledges the arrival of the child home.” While SMS alerts can fulfil a basic function, actual monitoring of child safety is a more intensive task. Rockwoods International School, Udaipur, for instance, is equipped with a surveillance system of over 130 CCTV cameras with a resource person who continuously monitors different areas of the school. “All classrooms, corridors, playgrounds, parking areas, entry-exit gates, areas outside washrooms, and the whole admin block is fully under CCTV coverage,” says Principal, Ashish Bhatnagar. “Additional monitoring screens are also installed in the director’s office, the principal’s office and in the server room, while the school periphery is also closely monitored for any unwanted or anti-social elements.” In addition, most cameras in the school also have inbuilt microphones to not just prevent physical abuse, but to record verbal abuse too if any whether in the classrooms or the corridors. That sounds like a mammoth task, but not with intelligent products and technologies which have been designed to work seamlessly together. Axis Communications is one such provider who gives schools a complete package to help increase safety and security to students, staff and visitors. A global market leader in network video surveillance, with a worldwide presence in more than 20 countries, Axis products have been installed at Indian schools like the Indian Public School, Coimbatore, Amrita School, Kerala, Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Agra, Osmania University, Hyderabad and IIM Bengaluru. As Sudhindra Holla, Country Manager, India & SAARC, maintains, “The use of Axis Network Cameras at different locations at the school - classrooms, cafeterias, stairways, libraries and conference rooms – ensures real time moni-

toring and reduced time in response in case of a security breach, along with value for money and first-class support.” Partap World School (PWS), Pathankot, is another institution that effectively harnesses technology in school safety. From the installation of mobile jammers to metal detectors, alcohol-testing devices and even metal screen doors, the school is trying to eliminate all risks when it comes to ensuring the safety of students. Besides securing safety at school with no less than 305 camerason campus, Sunny Mahajan, Joint Secretary, PWS, adds, “We also have a school mobile app which keeps parents updated about various aspects like attendance, etc. What’s more, each school bus is fitted with two cameras, hydraulic doors, and GPS, while Fire Safety equipment and the landing walls are connected with the swimming pool.” At Rockwoods, the admin block and academic blocks are separated with digital locks enabled with ID-card recognition or biometric sensors to recognise finger-prints. “No outsider can get into the academic block while the school is in progress, reducing the chances of any mishaps from outsiders,” avers Bhatnagar, adding, “All our buses are installed with GPS and CCTV too. Buses can be tracked anytime by the school authorities and are under constant watch.” Realising the challenges faced by schools in managing security and safety in school transport, while also focusing on providing core education, is what led Alba Smart Automation Pvt Ltd to address end to end solutions for School Transport Security Management, in a focused manner. Rajeev Bajaj, Associate Director, reveals, “With three decades of experience in the area of enterprise security and surveillance, we are now offering real time CCTV surveillance with integrated GPS tracking with our Cloud based solution specifically designed for school transport buses

October 2017

backed with 3-tiered support.” BusOkay, the customisable solution introduced in July 2017, has since been commissioned in approximately 100 school buses. “We are living in a world of constant connectivity,” says Bajaj. “This empowers you to be in full control, and secure your life and family.” And yet tech in school safety continues to be swatted away like a pesky mosquito with that hoary old canard – ‘It would be too expensive”. Is tech for students’ safety really too elitist, complicated, and costly, and thus not for ‘regular’ schools? “Not at all,” vouches Rockwoods’ Ashish Bhatnagar. “How can any safety features be elitist? Yes, some systems can be a little complicated but looking at the students’ safety, such complexities can be ignored. In the current scenario, I feel that every school must put these safety and security measures in place. Whether the so-called elite schools or regular schools, the issue is how these systems are monitored and maintained.” Seconding Bhatnagar, Dr Parvathy claims, “Technology would never be complicated if used with the right perspective. Technological and trend changes must be in place when we are working with students who would only see the light of the future. 21st century adaptation is to prevail at school. Personnel can be employed if the management feels that it is difficult to adapt to the new technology. After all, we all did welcome new technological advancements in the field of automobiles, kitchen gadgets, travel and so on.” Tech in school safety does come at a cost – and it could be a surprisingly low one. With higher numbers of students, the figure could be as little as Rs.200 per child per month. That’s a little more than the cost of a single ‘Happy Meal’. Reason enough for even the nay-sayers to start lovin’ it?

EVENTS

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Bett Asia 2017 is celebrating

THE POWER OF PARTNERSHIPâ&#x20AC;?

Over November 15-16, 2017, 1,700+ education policy-makers, leaders and experts from 40+ countries will once again come to discuss the transformation of education and to discover the innovation that will inspire change. At the two-day Bett Asia Leadership Summit and Expo, the latest trends, challenges and advancements in education and technology will be addressed, with a distinct focus on Asia Pacific.

October 2017

Nichola Pais in conversation with Eve Harper, Event Director – Bett Asia

How is Bett Asia working to usher in better practices in education? At Bett we believe in creating a better future by transforming education. Our mission is to bring together people, ideas, practices and technologies so that educators and learners can ful?l their potential. It is that mission statement that is the foundation of all Bett events, and Bett Asia is no exception. In bringing together Asia’s education community – the leading minds, the latest edtech innovations, and dedicated educators, we can help facilitate the transfer of knowledge, of training and of best practice.

aways for all sectors of education. From the Leadership Summit where decision-makers from government, schools and universities have a chance to discuss forthcoming policy and cutting-edge edtech strategy, to our Learn Live programme where practical tips and tricks are showcased for educators to take back to their classrooms. Alongside our Expo, targeted streams of workshops and seminars for Teachers and School Leaders hosted by leading partners including Microsoft and Education Changemakers bring the very latest thinking and practices in Edtech to life.

At Bett Asia we enable this ‘transfer’ across several different CPD-accredited platforms, to ensure tangible take-

Outside of the seminars and workshops we create multiple networking opportunities to help forge connec-

tions and encourage discussion. From welcome receptions, to working lunches to a 1-2-1 meeting platform, Bett Asia champions the sharing of ideas. We know that seeing better practices in action is the most impactful way to inspire change, and for 2017 Bett Asia will be hosting its first School Tour with the renowned Nexus International School, giving international attendees a unique opportunity to experience a leading Malaysian school first-hand. Bett Asia also celebrates brave thinking and innovation with the Bett Asia Awards. With categories open to solution providers and educators, we’re putting the best in class products, practices and policies on stage.

October 2017

EVENTS

What would be the key learning for educators at Bett Asia 2017? In recognition of the 50th year of ASEAN, Bett Asia 2017 is celebrating the power of partnership with the theme ‘Cultivating Global Collaboration in Education’. We’re putting a spotlight on the collaborations that are truly enabling educational excellence and improving learning outcomes – from government-togovernment, institution-to-industry, public-to-private and institution-toinstitution – Bett Asia 2017 is bringing a line-up of the very best examples. Through a cutting-edge programme Bett Asia 2017 will show how partnerships are helping to move the needle on critical opportunities for education transformation, from STEM Education to Teacher Training, from Assessment to VR. It is in the spirit of partnership that for Bett Asia 2017 we are going a step further to help educators not only learn about the importance of partnership, but importantly to takeaway new contacts with the launch of the Connect@Bett platform

and lounge. This facilitated networking space pre-event and onsite will help attendees find the peers, part-

October 2017

ners and providers that can make a difference based on their goals and objectives.

FEATURE STORY

M T

U H

S E

I A

C P

Striking A Chord Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s time music therapy was given a listening ear for its use of music to achieve non-musical goals

October 2017

“According to Hindu mythology, music originated with the first sound ever to be heard in the universe - the Naadbrahma, or Om. The Samveda is all about music and its beneficial use. Pandit Haridas Maharaj and the Great Tansen also used music for beneficial purposes. Unfortunately, the growth of scientific music therapy (Bio-musicology) in India has been very slow even though we were the first to use music as therapy...” As Dr Dinesh Sharma, Indian Association of Music Therapy, Delhi, points out, music therapy is not exactly ‘top of the charts’ in India, as far as treatments go… but then chart-busters are no real indication of true worth, right? Nichola Pais writeback@scoonews.com

JUST WHAT IS MUSIC THERAPY? Nina Cherla, Senior Music Therapist at The Music Therapy Trust, Gurgaon defines it as “the clinical and evidencebased use of music to achieve nonmusical goals.” She explains, “By nonmusical goals I mean that as a music therapist we do not teach children to play an instrument. We use music as a tool to enhance communication skills, social interaction, and cognitive and physical abilities, to mention a few.” Dr Sharma opines that living in the age of chemicals, it is chemicals that are

responsible for creating various types of diseases and disorders. Ironically, we turn to chemicals again as a cure, in the form of scheduled drugs, which come with their own side effects. Using sound vibrations, in the form of music, can influence the brain, thus impacting the entire metabolism and physiology of the body. “The pleasant sounds used in music therapy have their impact on the physiology of living by altering the levels of biochemical and haematological parameters. No one can deny the fact that we feel cool and calm listening to a bird singing, breeze blowing in a forest or certain songs.”

HOW MUSIC THERAPY HELPS CHILDREN… Study proves that music therapy enhances the efficiency and concentra-

tion of children while doing mental tasks. Specific background music in a class of growing children, for instance, can be helpful in increasing their concentration on education, while helping reduce aggressive behaviour. Scientific music therapy also enhances the mathematics skills and attentiveness of students. Used scientifically, music therapy proves very effective for children struggling with learning disabilities or post-traumatic stress. While music therapy is not meant to replace special education, it can help students to improve in several important areas, which may enable them to meet their educational goals. This form of therapy uses non-verbal interaction to encourage the child to communicate and socially interact.

October 2017

FEATURE STORY Music is evidently the only medium which is processed in the entire brain. This means that even for individuals with brain injury, there will very likely be healthy parts of the brain which can process music. For example, individuals on the autistic spectrum often show difficulties with social and emotional cognition, but they may have an intact emotion recognition from music. Music therapy utilises music’s unique effect on the brain to meet the individual goals of each client, whatever the age or diagnoses may be. A music therapist assesses the emotional well-being, physical health, social functioning, communication abilities, and cognitive skills of a child through musical responses. “Children with learning disabilities often find it difficult to communicate with the world around them. Music may help enhance the child’s communication skills and enable self-expression. It may also increase motivation and improve their physical movement and coordination,” shares Nina. Music can help children with posttraumatic stress, to express and process difficult feelings. Thoughts that may be hard to express verbally can be explored musically. Musical activities including listening, playing, singing and song-writing are commonly used for reducing stress levels, helping with coping and mood regulation.

WHAT IS A TYPICAL SESSION LIKE? There is apparently no one-size-fitsall standard. “Music therapy is heavily based on clinical improvisation, which means that the music is created in the moment, in response to whatever the child plays or does,” Nina explains. A music therapy room at The Music Therapy Trust, for instance, could possess an array of instruments and the child may choose whichever instruments appeal. The music therapist plays together with the child, listens carefully to how the child plays, and responds accordingly. The therapist may respond musically to movements, vocalisations, dynamics and rhythm, all of which helps the child to raise self-awareness, and for the child and therapist to connect. Thus, it is difficult to define a specific type of music or genre that is

October 2017

So, you want to be a music therapist? Some institutes offering certificate courses in the field are: The Indian Institute of Medical Music Therapy (IIMMT), a unit of Apollo hospital, Chennai Music Therapy Academy, New Delhi Chennai School of Music Therapy, Chennai Indian Association of Music Therapy, Delhi The Music Therapy Trust, Delhi

used as most of the music is not precomposed and does not follow a specific structure. The music would sound different depending on the child and what transpires during the session. According to Dr Sharma, there are three theories to explain the process of music therapy. There is the Entrainment theory which suggests that oscillations produced by music are received by the human energy field and various physiological systems entrain with or match the hertz (oscillation) of the music. The Metaphysical theory suggests that music is divine in nature and is thus able to heal. The DCS theory, which he himself has proposed, suggests that sound vibrations affect the health of humans by stimulating the neuroendocrine system. Pleasant sounds help release the feel-good hormone – endorphins – in the brain, which fosters well-being and calmness. At the Indian Association of Music Therapy, a session mainly depends upon the requirements of the child, the type of music, frequency, time, background, and personal interest. The use of pleasant sounds for therapy, whether instrumental, western, Indian, classical, pop as well as natural sounds, depends upon the case.

BREAKING BARRIERS Despite over 50 years of research and a practice that is global, there is a general unawareness regarding music therapy as an evidence-based form of therapy. The most common miscon-

ception is that music therapy is receptive, that a music therapist merely plays to the child, and that precomposed music is used. Some erroneously believe that the aim of a music therapist is to teach the child an instrument, or that the goal of therapy is mainly to make the child happy. “There is a big lack of understanding of how music therapy works, and that although we use music as a medium to connect and interact, the aims of the therapy are non-musical,” confirms Nina. The fact that the Indian government still does not recognise music as therapy, the desire of the Indian public for instant results, and the scarcity of scientifically trained music therapists are some of the reasons responsible for the relatively slow growth of music therapy in India. However, the trend is definitely changing, as the arts therapy field is witnessing desirable growth. Over the past decade, The Music Therapy Trust, a registered charity in India founded by Margaret Lobo, who is the Founder and Director of the Otakar Kraus Music Trust, UK, has worked with hundreds of children, adolescents, the elderly and adults. What’s more, the trust works in marginalised areas, including schools for children from low income groups, offering music therapy to anyone in need of treatment, not turning away any child regardless of social or economic background. That is indeed sweet music to the ears!

October 2017

EVENTS

Aptech Career Quest Qatar, 2017

IMPARTING WISDOM OVER KNOWLEDGE ScooNewsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Parvathy Jayakrishnan reports from Qatar

October 2017

he evening of September 23 had a roomful of Aptech students in their black graduation gowns, with beaming smiles on their faces, waiting eagerly for the ceremony to begin. The Aptech Career Quest and Graduation 2017 took place at the Crowne Plaza, Qatar. The ceremony witnessed 84 students receiving their graduation in various disciplines like animation, IT education and English language education. The graduates further have an opportunity to study and attain a degree at any of the four campuses of Middlesex University, London. Middlesex University is ranked 73rd in the world. Ms Lucy Everest, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Director of Marketing at Middlesex University; Mr Kallol Mukherjee, Deputy Vice President, Aptech International Operations; Mr Kiran Deo Choudhary, Manager, Aptech Qatar; and Mr Sunny Varghese, Director of DPS Modern Indian School participated in the event.

Aptech, Qatar was started in 1994 and has played an important part in

empowering students with digital literacy and skill development. In his address, Mr Manoj Megchiani, General Manager of Aptech Qatar Computer Education Centre, spoke about how Aptech students have made their mark by working in companies like Microsoft, Google and Pixar. Aptech CEO and MD Mr Anil Pant shared some words of inspiration with the graduating students wherein he emphasised, via a simple exercise, that there is no shortcut to making money; that it doesn’t fall from the sky. He said that Aptech strives to make students realise the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Quoting a simple example, “Knowledge is knowing that tomato is a fruit and wisdom is knowing not to use it in a fruit salad. We at Aptech teach students to identify that.” He mentioned that there is no dearth of jobs if you attain the skill for it, citing an example that Bangladesh gets 300 million dollars of Forex per year just via the outsourcing work they receive. He concluded by saying, “Learning

does not end when you throw your hats after the ceremony. The learning has just begun.” Ms Lucy Everest gave a detailed presentation to the students regarding the tie-up programme they have with Aptech. Students who graduate from Aptech Qatar are eligible to apply for a degree programme to Middlesex University. They can choose to complete a year of training at either the London, Dubai, Malta, or Mauritius campuses. A discounted fee of 10,750 pounds (regular fee is 13,000) is being offered for the full time programme at the London campus. Aptech conducts a Techno Mind contest in various disciplines, for which prizes and certificates were also presented to the winning students at the ceremony. Some of the categories include logo design, pencil drawing, 3D graphics, website design and web application development. Aptech Qatar is the largest Indian nonformal education company.

October 2017

INTERVIEW

Anil Pant, CEO & MD Aptech Ltd, discusses the factors behind Aptechâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s huge success and growth

October 2017

Education & Employability

THE APTECH

PROMISE Parvathy Jayakrishnan writeback@scoonews.com

ptech Ltd is the largest Indian non-formal education company with presence in around 40 countries. Since its commencement in 1986, Aptech has effectively ventured into ten diverse sectors ranging from IT training to personal development.

Anil Pant took over as the CEO and MD of the company in November 2016 and within a year, he has been setting new benchmarks and taking the company to new heights. He firmly believes that

India is on a path towards the trend of micro-entrepreneurship, and that the discussion of jobless growth is far from reality. Under his leadership, Aptech has made a strategic shift from enrollment-driven employment to employment-driven enrollment and Aptech has been registering a 100% placement record. A shrewd businessman and a charismatic leader with gestures as sharp as his looks, Anil Pant spoke to ScooNews at the Aptech Career Quest, Doha 2017. Career Quest is an annual student confluence which also serves as a valedictory function for graduating students,

Look at Bangladesh as a country. It is the second largest country that is exporting software on the independent platform, not as IT service companies. There are platforms today where people post software work as services and you can quote and bid for that. Almost 300 million dollars of revenue came into Bangladesh.

along with a platform to attend seminars and talks delivered by leading names in the industry. Excerpts from the interview: Could you tell us what Aptech is focussing on today? Everybody thinks of Aptech as a software training company. Aptech is much more than that today. Today, the software education part of the business is less than 5 per cent. We have an 85 per cent share in the media and entertainment space where our children, who are trained in our two brands Arena and MAAC (Maya

October 2017

INTERVIEW Academy of Animation and Cinematics) - and we train around 40,000 students every year - are placed in almost every media house, every studio. Our children have worked in films like The Mummy, Harry Potter series, Life of Pi; these are some of the famous ones but they have worked in almost every space. Name any studio in the world, our kids are there! When you look at what we bring to the table for these children, we actually give them a career. The skills that they learn from Arena and MAAC are adequate for them to become a studio head. Some of them are even ambitious to start their own studio. We also have brands in the aviation, hospitality and retail space. You go to any airport in India and shout, â&#x20AC;&#x153;How many of you studied in Aptech?â&#x20AC;?. You will find a whole host of people who are working in either baggage-handling, ticketing, in the retail or in the lounges. We have started courses in banking, finance and insurance as well. Our

focus on employability is increasing enrollments. How are these new courses validated? We have banking partners like Axis and HDFC. They have validated our courses and based on that they tell us that if a student scores more than a certain percent in our course, they will hire them automatically. Here we are talking about tens of thousands of jobs. They will, of course, be hired at an entry level and they need to work their way up, like they need to in any job they get into. We spend a lot of money on creating content that is cutting edge, relevant and most importantly, makes a child job-ready. Otherwise, a graduate joins a job and spends ten months learning it and leaves for a new job. So the benefit goes to someone else. What I tell my employers is that I have a child who is job-ready, who needs just a week of induction and he/she can start work. Our business, after we made this change, has been growing at the rate of 35 per cent plus, which is huge in the perspective of education and this

October 2017

has happened in the last one year. Even with resistance from some business groups, I took the best minds in Aptech and I created a group called the Industry Connect and Placement Group. They are the ones who have actually been making a difference. They know everything about content, delivery and what the customer wants, and they are the ones driving this initiative. What are the challenges you face? Today the biggest challenge is convincing parents that media and entertainment is a great place to send our children. They still want their children to either be a doctor, engineer, lawyer or a chartered accountant. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d say media and entertainment is a great space to be in because even if there is a recession, people will cut down on jewellery, clothing and buying a house but they will not cut down on content. They are still going to consume content. Some of you may disagree saying that some of the TV channels are in trouble but I would say that content is still being consumed and jobs are still there.

Just two years back, people were not ready to pay for NetFlix but today every upper middle class home is subscribing to NetFlix. So, people will pay for content. Look at Bangladesh as a country. It is the second largest country that is exporting software on the independent platform, not as IT service companies. There are platforms today where people post software work as services and you can quote and bid for that. Almost 300 million dollars of revenue came into Bangladesh because of foreign exchange through this one source. People are willing to outsource a lot of this editing and VFX work to small enterprises because something that cost $12 a frame now costs $1-$2 a frame. How important is updation of curriculum for Aptech courses? In this age of Internet of Things, Cloud, Big Data, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Gaming, we need to keep our courses updated with whatever new comes in. For example, when GST came in, we creat-

ed a course on GST. Every small city needs a GST consultant. We have created at least 5,000 people who are capable of supporting small businesses with GST implementation in the country. Do you plan to diversify into providing services for schools? We are already doing that now with a product called Learning Ladder. We have content right from nursery to high school. We haven’t monetised it yet. It’s an investment that we have made in the content. We have landed our first customer in Australia. We are looking at how to structure this so that we can embed it in schools. We may not even bring this to India because India is too regulated a market. We would rather go to a market where people will value the content for what it is. Learning Ladder is about experiential learning. Do you give a cent percent guarantee for placement? We do not give a guarantee. If we do, then the demands will increase. The student will say he wants a job that

will give him Rs.1 lakh a month, a car, a 4-day work week etc. But we still have a record of hundred per cent placement. Could you tell us about Aptech Qatar’s collaboration with Middlesex University? It is a matter of great pride for us. Middlesex University is ranked 73rd in the world and IIT Bombay is 179th. They have entered into an articulation with us that a child has to study there for a year post two years in Aptech and they will get a UK degree. Children can save so much money that way. They can choose to study in any of their four campuses - London, Dubai, Malta and Mauritius. Do you conduct a screening process for admissions to Aptech courses? No, we don’t. Let me be honest, we want as many students as we can get. Our job is to take someone in the unemployable segment of society and make him/her employable. Most of our students come from typically SEC B and below. Are you focussing on expansion in India or internationally? Both. I have a domestic team that drives business in India and another team that drives the international business. We are moving into new countries. We are looking to expand to developed countries. We have just started our initiative in Australia. We are looking at Germany as a focus area. The problem with Western Europe is an aging population. A lot of the low-end IT, hospitality, beauty training and retail jobs don’t have too many people. So there is a big scope for this business in these countries, especially with immigrants. For example, one of the programmes that we have proposed is in Germany for Syrian refugees, saying that why don't we take these women, create a 9month programme to teach culture, language and skill so that they can become a part of society. We will roll this out in townships in South Africa next year. What is your message to the youth of our country? I just have one message: Just don’t run after attaining educational degrees because merely earning a degree will not help you attain a skill for doing a job. There are enough and more jobs available. Just make yourself skilled enough so that you are fit for the job.

October 2017

DIFFERENT STROKES

Out of the DUSTY BOX! From field trips and films, to making events relatable, learning history deserves to be stimulating Parvathy Jayakrishnan writeback@scoonews.com

here is a history exam in school tomorrow. Some students have made charts and cue cards to remember the chronology of events. Some of them are trying to do that on the day before the exam. A few are focussed on studying enough content that will assure them pass marks in the exam, while yet others are cursing our forefathers for having done so much to fill up their textbooks!

Learning history is not a piece of cake for most students, who themselves try

and devise innovative methods to remember dates and names. Often many are interested in the topics taught in school, yet when it comes to exams, there is too much to memorise and it kills their love for the subject almost instantly. What needs to be rethought is the method in which we deliver history lessons to our children. For most students, history is an unending catalogue of dates, names, people and events passed down through school textbooks. “History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon,” said Napoleon Bonaparte, yet it is seldom questioned. As a subject, it needs an extra effort

October 2017

from the teacher’s side to kindle interest in students. Here are a few tips that educators worldwide have developed to make learning history an enjoyable and fruitful exercise.

ACTING OUT IS A GOOD WAY TO REMEMBER EVENTS AND PEOPLE Children can be asked to prepare and summarise a historical event and act it out in class. This helps improve their understanding of the event. Seeing it enacted live in class will aid them to

can make students more sensitive to the topics taught. This will also help them retain the information longer. While some historical films have excellent content, they could be emotionally heavy for some children, so teachers should exercise discretion while showing such content on screen.

FIELD TRIP TO THE MUSEUM Take your students on a field trip to the museum. Even if it is not related to the topic to be taught, the experience of being in a museum and listening to an expert speaking on the subject can help induce curiosity among students about the past.

EXPLAIN THE REASON WHY WE NEED TO KNOW HISTORY

retain it in their memory in a way better than if it were merely read out of a textbook and explained. Additionally, the use of props can help liven up the class and engage the students in a better way. The end of the class should promote questions and discussion on the event. This could make history classes one which children look forward to.

ENCOURAGE WELL-ROUNDED DISCUSSIONS ON TOPICS Get children to prepare on a topic in advance. One set of students can speak for the topic and one set can speak against the topic, thereby having a well-rounded debate. More often than not, our textbooks fail to provide that as they cover just one side of the story. Open discussions help gain a better perspective on the subject taught.

EMPLOY SECONDARY BOOKS Relying on a single textbook and syllabus will not help the deeper cause of learning and understanding history. Most often, prescribed textbooks are syllabus-oriented and leave out some background facts about certain events and people which can be of value to students of history. In fact, employing other reference books, autobiographies and biographies and even using

fiction books that are time-lined in a certain era of history can help learn history better. Teachers can give the students a list of reference books that are available in the library or online before starting a lesson. Or she/he can divide the class into study groups and get each group to gather information from a certain source and share it with the class.

MAKE HISTORY RELATABLE History is a subject that presents itself as difficult because students cannot relate to most of the content taught. The first thing that a teacher can do is make it relatable by narrating a similar story that is happening in the present or something that occurred in the near past.

USE MUSIC, RECORDINGS, DOCUMENTARIES AND FILMS TO STIMULATE SENSES Frequently using various media to give students a glimpse of what may have happened in the past is always a good idea. Often, reading a textbook may be a mundane task that can be assigned to them to do at home. Teachers can adopt other methods to teach history in class. Screening documentaries and films

Knowing history helps us understand the world we live in, the way of living in different countries and why certain rules and laws prevail in society. Students often donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t understand why they have to learn history or what good it will do them in future. For example, as Indians, we should know about Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s struggle for Independence as it will render a sense of patriotism and love for our nation. We need to know the people who fought and laid down their lives for the cause. As the world is becoming smaller, knowing history will help in our interactions with people from different cultures. Knowing history in imperative to judge wisely. An understanding of past behaviours can help us make decisions on the present without bias. History can help understand change. Knowing history can help a person embrace change, and the need for change and development, far better than someone who is unaware of it. History is full of drama, action, love, betrayal and emotions. If taught the right way, it can be a subject that students will love. When you make history interesting, children will be motivated to learn and have a deeper understanding of their past. Children should understand that history is open to interpretation and that they can challenge and question what they learn. A good teacher should facilitate that. Teachers should strive to connect history to today and stress on the importance of how people can learn from their past mistakes for, inevitably, History repeats itself ! The wide and wonderful subject of history deserves to be taught interestingly and with fresh methods that are not an age-old repetition of yesteryears.

October 2017

INNOVATION

NOVA N I L T

S ION

GLOBA

5 Indian education initiatives feature in the hundrED list of

Vega Schools, Design For Change, Project DEFY, Self Organized Learning Environments (SOLE) and The Museum School were listed in the most prestigious Top 100 K-12 education innovation list of hundrED, Vinay Singh and Parvathy Jayakrishnan bring you firsthand insights from these innovators. undrED, a Finland based non-profit, selects 100 inspiring innovations in K-12 education from around the world annually. The first collection of 100 innovations was released on October 4 in Helsinki. Vega Schools, Design For Change, Project DEFY, Self Organized Learning Environments (SOLE) and The Museum School from India feature in this list.

To celebrate the release of the 100 innovations, hundrED has organized an innovation summit for the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading education innovators at

Helsinki, Finland. Last year, hundrED had showcased 100 great innovations from Finland. All insights and best practices are documented, packaged and shared with the world for free. The ones that made the list had to adhere to strict search criteria. HundrED's research team analyzed all innovations to find out if they were addressing a problem from a new perspective, if they provided real impact, and if they could work somewhere else and scale. Over 1000 innovations were researched and interviewed by

October 2017

expert researchers and then analysed further by an academic advisory panel. The range of the innovations chosen span 41 countries. The best thing about this initiative is that you can find out more about each and every innovation on their own page, complete with step-by-step instructions on how to implement them where you are. Here is a brief on the five Indian innovations in K-12 education featuring in the first hundrED global innovations list:

Vega Schools Vega is a school thoughtfully designed to facilitate ProjectBased Learning with a school culture centered on flat leadership, collaboration and international sharing. According to hundrED, “Vega is inspirational and encourages dynamic interaction with people around the world.” Learn more about Vega at https://www.vega.edu.in/

Design For Change (DFC) The vision of Design for Change is to ensure, by design, that all children grow with the “I can” mindset – the belief that they are not helpless, that change is possible and that they can drive it. According to hundrED, “Design for Change is very contextual. It can be replicated and used in multiple ways to teach content and inspire children to participate in projects and become self-aware. It is the simplicity of the framework that allows so much innovation to happen. The programme develops problem-solving skills, critical thinking and a high level of empathy.” Learn more about DFC at http://www.dfcworld.com/SITE

Vega is an open learning community. We have no classrooms. We have multiple learning zones and they help us do what is core to Vega, which is project-based learning. Children right from the age of three learn by doing real-world projects and real-world problems. All the data on project-based learning around the world says that children perform incrementally better in that set up. The reason they perform better is because while learning, they don't go from one topic to another, unlike in a classroom lecture where you're listening to something and if your attention wavers, you miss out on what you've learnt. Here, you have to constantly reinforce your learning all the time. So their fundamentals become stronger and that enables them to do better in a test as well. I founded Vega because of my own school experience. I spent a large part of my time in a classroom being bored and uninterested. While graduating, I realised that I had no sense of what I wanted to do. When I started working, I realised how disconnected really education is from the stuff you have to deal with in the real world. It’s only now, over the past few years, that schools around the world have changed. That has sparked a revolution and we wish to do that here. I think we have already started doing it here. Sandy Hooda, Co-founder of Vega

I’m a designer by education. I realised that if one wanted to make an impact we should introduce design to children at an early age. If children learn to take responsibility and learn to solve problems at an early age, we can make them doers rather than ‘complain-ers’. We want children to know that they can make a difference. Rather than working on a child at age 17, we believe the earlier the better. We should work on them at age 7, not 17. Young children is where a lot of potential rests. We want children to move to think from “Can I?” to “I can!” Our programme is running in more than 60 countries. Nandini Sood, CEO, Design for Change, India

October 2017

INNOVATION The Museum School, Bhopal

OASIS is a social innovations laboratory. We want to create new models for the development sector. New approaches should be experimented with, which can later become models of development. Our story began like this... We were waiting at a bus stop when we saw a group of rag-picking children on the road. As we looked on, another set of children were dropped off by their school bus and safely taken home by their parents. It was an absolute contrast between the ragpickers and the school-going children. One group of children were protected by their parents while the other was neglected. But these rag-picking children had a sparkle in their eyes when they saw the children coming out of the school bus. “We spoke to them and came to know that they wanted to go to school but not a traditional one, where a teacher dictates and a student learns. They wanted to learn by moving around. These children were very observant because that's what they are trained to do. These are skills which today's privileged children do not have. Another problem in the education sector is that no one talks about quality in education. Even in the RTE, it talks about everything else other than quality. “There are three things that contribute to quality in education, namely, infrastructure, sufficient and good quality of teaching aids, and quality teachers. “Privileged children get all three but the poor children are denied it all. Education is the foundation of every country but there is a huge disparity in education. In our search for infrastructure for children, we landed at the museums of Bhopal. That’s when we realised that the museums can be used as a teaching aid for children. With the consent of the museum director we brought in underprivileged children to the museum to learn. Now we have collaborated with five museums in Bhopal. We engaged volunteers to map the items of the museum to what we can teach based on this. We identified a few educated girls in slums and got them to teach these children in museums. The subject experts were sitting right there in the museums. So we got them to train the teachers. We got it all in place absolutely free of cost!” Pradeep Ghosh, Founder and President of OASiS (The Museum School is a project of OASiS - Organization for Awareness of Integrated Social Security).

The Museum School reduces educational inequality by bringing school to underprivileged children in the form of their local museums, giving them high quality infrastructure, teachers and materials, as well as access to a whole world of knowledge! Although museums are an invaluable source of knowledge, Indian museums had never been included in mainstream education on a regular basis. While museums struggle to get visitors’ footfalls every day, underprivileged children struggle to get quality education every day. HundrED includes The Museum School in the global innovation list as it matches the two needs in a unique effort to provide quality education for underprivileged children. Learn more about The Museum School at www.themuseumschool.in

October 2017

We congratulate all innovators who have been included in this year's hundrED innovations showcase and are excited to share this with our readers. The complete list of 100 inspiring innovations that are changing the face of K-12 education today can be seen here https://hundred.org/en/collections/hu ndred-2017

Project DEFY: Design Education for Yourself At Project DEFY: Design Education for Yourself, the mission is to change the way people think and ignite individual passions so students can believe in their abilities to educate themselves, others and their communities. “The concept of Nooks flips the power dynamics of education, and returns it to the people. It breaks the quality spectrum created in a linear increment with economic status, by mainstream education, and democratizes learning bringing it to its simplest necessities – needs and interests – of individuals and communities,” says hundrED. Learn more about Project DEFY at http://www.projectdefy.org/

Self Organized Learning Environments (SOLEs) SOLEs grew from Sugata Mitra’s ‘Hole in the Wall’ experiment in New Delhi which recognised the potential for self-organised learning. This developed into the understanding that, with access to the internet, groups of children can learn almost anything by themselves. From India the idea spread to the UK, then to the US and beyond. According to hundrED, “There are no limits to this approach which makes it very exciting! All you need is broadband, collaboration and encouragement. It is then fascinating to see how much children can learn themselves without any direct instruction.” Learn more about SOLE at https://www.theschoolinthecloud.org/about/

I quit my job and moved to a village outside Bangalore. No one had used computers and smartphones in that village. When I would use my cell phone or play a game of Temple Run on my phone, a lot of kids coming from school would come and stand behind me and watch me. After a few weeks, one of them asked me for my phone. I gave it to them and in just 15 minutes, they had figured out how to play Temple Run just by watching me, with absolutely no prior experience of using the gadget. We then set up a room with a computer and internet and asked the children to just try out things and soon enough they were playing games online, without even knowing that they were online! We believe that learning happens naturally since information is available freely. So, we want to help communities create their own schools because they are capable of doing it on their own. We call such groups as Nooks and currently we have set up five Nooks. Abhijit Sinha, Founder Director of Project Defy

Children in unsupervised and self-organised groups can learn to use the Internet for their own purpose (1999-2005). They learn to search and find answers to questions they have. Such ‘hole in the wall’ environments can be created inside schools. They are called ‘Self Organised Learning Environments’ (SOLEs, 2006-2010). In SOLEs, children can learn almost anything by themselves. Their reading, comprehension, searching skills and self-confidence seem to improve quickly. Search Engines are at the heart of this process. This process is helped by the presence of a friendly, but not necessarily knowledgeable, mediator. In remote areas, such mediators can be brought in using Internet video conferencing [The ‘Granny Cloud’ (2009)]. SOLEs augmented with the Granny Cloud form the so-called ‘School in the Cloud’. They can be built inside schools or in community settings. Prof. Sugata Mitra, TED Prize Winner 2013 & creator of SOLE, Granny Cloud & School in the Cloud (Excerpt from article in ScooNews June 2017)

October 2017

TECH IT OUT

Schools Must Evaluate EdTech for Results and Not Features Vinay Singh writeback@scoonews.com

Here are a few pointers for evaluating an edtech solution for your school

ducation Technology providers tend to make various claims about the usefulness of their solutions. For educators and administrators there is usually no available reference, aside from marketing material and vendors’ “studies” of their own programs, to validate these solutions.

Team ScooNews surveyed more than 100 education professionals on their edtech successes and frustrations, as well as their future technology adoption goals and desires, to obtain these pointers for evaluating an edtech solution for your school: When evaluating an edtech solution, it is important to first decide what outcomes a school wants to focus on. Ask for references. Do speak to educa-

October 2017

tors who are already using the solution for their feedback and use case story. Seek input from all stakeholders. If your school does not already have a technology committee, create one. Committee members should include representatives of all affected stakeholders. Always do a pilot. Before deciding to go full-on with the solution, carry out a test with a smaller subset of the overall universe of stakeholders. Are there any additional requirements? Please evaluate all factors related to technology upgrade, hardware and any other requirements in advance. Are there any drawbacks or service times that will affect the working time of the staff or team members involved? In addition to the time spent teaching and interacting with stu-

10 interesting facts in favour of using edtech in schools An Educause survey found that 54% of students would typically use at least two devices simultaneously for school work. A 2013 PBS LearningMedia study found that 74% of teachers agree that technology enables them to reinforce their lessons. Huffington Post found that, “78 percent of Kindergarten through Middle School teachers agree that technology has had a positive impact on their classroom.” Websites are the most commonly used tech resources in the classroom with 56% of educators citing the use of a website.

dents, educators have enormous administrative burdens throughout a school year—preparing lessons, finding teaching materials, grading, reporting, communicating with parents, and supporting school functions, to name a few. Is the technology available across multiple platforms i.e. mobile, web, desktop etc.? Schools use a variety of devices (such as tablets and laptops) to connect to the Internet. This means that apps and tools must run on many platforms, including older operating system versions. Are there any hidden or recurring costs associated with servicing or supporting the technology that you should be aware of before making the purchase? The hidden costs of technology can dent a school budget, so understanding total cost of ownership is vital to financial success.

Is there a better solution that achieves the same purpose and at a better price? As in other avenues of life, it makes sense to estimate costs and cost-effectiveness of edtech solutions. Is the solution easy to use? Always evaluate the solution for user interface, the learning curve and support provided. Training, technology support, and instructional coaching enable strong implementation of the new tool. At the end of the day, different organizations adopt technology for the classroom for different reasons. The ultimate goal must be awareness of your technological surroundings and how that specific technology will integrate with your institution - instead of interfering with the educational environment.

CompTIA’s study showed that 9 out of 10 students indicated that using technology in the classroom would help prepare them for the digital future. Eighteen second grade students were challenged to complete a Power Point project about an animal. Sixteen out of the 18 students remembered more facts about the animal after completing the presentation. These results show that technology indeed helps students remember what they learn. 50% of students aged 10 to 18 go online for homework help at least once a week. 75% of students aged 5-7 regularly use technology to play educational games. According to Deloitte’s 2016 Digital Education Survey, twothirds of kids start using digital learning materials at home by the age of 5. According to the same survey, parents trust advice on the best type of digital education materials for their child’s learning from teachers (72%).

October 2017

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TAKE2

Top 10 Internet Memes for

TEACHERS

Time to loosen up and laugh at these teacher memes our web team has rounded up from the internet. Disclaimer: These jokes are not meant to be taken seriously; thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why they are called jokes!

October 2017

TAKE2

DID YOU KNOWâ&#x20AC;¦?

FAMOUS People Who Used to be TEACHERS

Akshay Kumar, Alexander Graham Bell, Sting, Kader Khan, Hugh Jackman, Tom Alter, Nandita Das, J.K. Rowling, Balraj Sahni and Sylvester Stallone.

October 2017

Maria Montessori, a famous Italian medical doctor and education reformer who invented the still popular Montessori method, advocated a “discovery” model of learning over a traditional “instructional” model.

October 5 is celebrated as World Teachers’ Day, a UNESCO initiative, devoted to appreciating, assessing, and improving the educators of the world.

More than 65% of teachers have paid for food at some point of time for their students.

Apart from CBSE, ICSE and IB, various Indian states have a State Board of Secondary Education except for Andhra Pradesh, which has more than one board. Union territories like Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Chandigarh and Puducherry do not have their own board of education.

The Higher Education enrollment ratio in the United States of America is a whopping 83% which is in steep contrast to that of India which is a mere 11%.

Teachers are the third most trusted profession in the UK behind nurses and doctors.

India spends only 3.3 percent of its GDP on education, compared to an average of 5.8 percent in developed countries.

October 2017

TAKE2

READ

140 Twitter Tips for Educators By Brad Currie, Billy Krakower, Scott Rocco In 140 Twitter Tips for Educators, #Satchat, hosts and founders of Evolving Educators, Brad Currie, Billy Krakower, and Scott Rocco offer step-by-step instructions to help you master the basics of Twitter, build an online following, and become a Twitter rock star.

Ditch That Textbook By Matt Miller Packed with practical advice, specific recommendations for tools, and the encouragement you need to revolutionize your classes, Ditch That Textbook will inspire you to create relevant teaching that gets student buy-in so they will enjoy learning.

The Innovator's Mindset By George Couros In The Innovatorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mindset, George Couros encourages teachers and administrators to empower their learners to wonder, to exploreâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and to become forward-thinking leaders. If we want innovative students, we need innovative educators. In other words, innovation begins with you. Ultimately, innovation is not about a skill set but about a mindset.

October 2017

TAKE2

WATCH

Freedom Writers (2007) Based on a true story, the film follows an enthusiastic teacher assigned to a class of "at risk" students in 1994 Los Angeles. In classic "inspirational teacher movie" form, Erin Gruwell (essayed by Hilary Swank) inspires her students to think about their future through tactics like journaling.

Coach Carter (2005) A 2005 American biographical sports drama film directed by Thomas Carter, it is based on the true story of Richmond High School basketball coach Ken Carter (portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson). Carter had made headlines in 1999 for benching his undefeated high school basketball team due to poor academic results.

Remember the Titans (2000) This film is based on a true story of a newly appointed African-American coach and his high school team on their first season as a racially integrated unit. The screenplay, written by Gregory Allen Howard, is based on Herman Boone, portrayed by Denzel Washington, and his attempt to integrate the T.C. Williams High School football team in Alexandria, Virginia, in 1971. Will Patton portrays Bill Yoast, Boone's assistant coach. Real-life athletes Gerry Bertier and Julius Campbell are portrayed by Ryan Hurst and Wood Harris, respectively.

October 2017