World Education Summit 2013 Event Report

7/27/2019 World Education Summit 2013 Event Report

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Carrying forward the grandsuccess of its earlier edi-

tions, the 3rd annual edition

of World Education Sum-

mit was held on April 23-24, 2013,

in New Delhi. World Education Sum-

mit 2013 was jointly organised by the

AICTE, and Elets Technomedia Pvt Ltd;

and was co-organised by the UNESCO,

NCERT, and National Institute of Open

Schooling (NIOS).

Presented by digitalLEARNING, the

Summit has grown into a premier plat-

form on education thought leadership,

enabling one of the largest gatherings of

education leaders since its inception in

2011. Based on the theme of “Strength-

ening Equity, Inclusion and Quality”,

this year’s edition was graced by the

presence of Kapil Sibal, Minister of Com-

munications & Information Technology,

Government of India, as Chief Guest

and Shahid Ali Khan, Minister, Minority

Welfare and IT, Government of Bihar;Mantriprasad Naithani, Minister, Agri-

culture Marketing, School Education,

Adult Education, Sanskrit Education

and Drinking Water, Government of Ut-

tarakhand; and Naseem Akhtar Insaaf,

State Education Minister, Government

of Rajasthan, as Guests of Honour.

Prof (Dr) S S Mantha, Chairman,

All India Council for Technical Educa-

tion, participated as the Programme

Chair. The two-day Summit turned out

into a platform for knowledge exchange

among different stakeholders of the edu-

cation sector including academicians;

Strengthening Equity,

Inclusion and Quality

WorldEducationSummit 2013

15 sessions with more

than 100 speakers; 37

Sponsors and Exhibitors;

130 Schools; 140 HigherEducation Institutes; 195

participants from the Cor-

porate Sector; 60 partici-

pants from the Government

Sector; More than 300

delegates; 172 Award

Nominations, More than

82,489 online votes; 48

Award Winners

WORLD EDUCATION

SUMMIT 2013

HIGHLIGHTS

EVENT REPORT education.eletsonline.com

policy makers; leaders; educationists;

ambassadors from different countries;

representatives from the Ministry of Hu-

man Resource Development, Govern-

ment of India; directors of IIMs, IITs and

NITs; vice chancellors of various private

and government universities; foundersand directors of school chains across

the country and abroad; representatives

from governing bodies; service providers;

entrepreneurs and representatives from

the corporate sector active in bringing

innovations in the education sector.

The two-day Summit was also

marked by World Education Expo –

which offered a platform to education

stakeholders to showcase their unique

products and work – and World Educa-

tion Awards – which were given to vari-

ous stakeholders in recognition of bring-

ing in innovation in the education sector.

Chief Guest Kapil Sibal inaugurating World

Education Summit 2013 by lighting the lamp


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WES 2013 REPORT INAUGURAL SESSION

Digital and Collaborative Learning

is the Future in Education

India needs to think in terms of what

the world will be 10 years from now,

and then decide what our educa-tional programmes must of fer, what

teaching methodologies should be.

We require a change in mindset

in education. For instance, in school

education, the old definition of literacy

still continues, and we still have a

textbook system of teaching and we

follow an examination system. We

have the older methodologies where

the teacher stands in front of the class

and teaches. But learning is a far more

collaborative process than ever before,

thanks to technology and the future lies

in digital literacy.

Affordable technology We have to make sure that 10 years

from now, all kids will have tablets. The

government has to ensure that a digital

highway is created, and the last mile

connectivity is achieved. We are trying

to connect 1,50,000 Gram Panchayats

with fibre optics. We aim to connect2,50,000 villages by 2014.

We also require access devices

that are accessible and affordable like

‘Akash’, and for that we need to build

manufacturing capacities at home. The

next question is what kind of content

will flow on the information highway?

Institutes like AICTE and IGNOU are

already working on it. Courses and

content will be provided by private en-

trepreneurs to school kids anywhere in

the world for a price. If there is more

competition then there will be lower

price of the content. We will also have

to move into the university system. Thisis not going to work in the future.

Collaboration and R&DIf you look at history, the western coun-

tries have developed because of technol-

ogy. There is a need for an increased col-

laboration between all the stakeholders.

The industry transforms ideas into goods

and services, so it must be directly linked

to academic institutions. Also, the indus-

try as well as the government will take

up R & D, and we must collaborate with

each other because without collabora-

tion there will not be solutions.

Kapil Sibal

Union Minister ofCommunications & IT,

Government of India

We cannot look at the future through the eyes of past, not even through the eyes of present,

but we have to look at the future by having a dream of what the future will be, and those who

realise that dream will be the winners

to regulate the content and that’s achallenging task.

Choices galoreThe future lies in collaborative learning

where a teacher must understand indi-

vidual inclination and genius of each

child because each child might want to

learn different things.This choice must

also be reflected in higher education.

Now, if you have the present univer-

sity system where you have academic

councils and other councils controlling

the university system, there is no choice

available. There are only three streams



education.eletsonline.com

Education Must Encompass

Moral Values and IT

In this year’s budget, there will be no

exaggeration if I say that this time

there was a huge amount allocated

for educational development in Ra-

jasthan. There are various schemes, such

as giving scooters to students of Other

Backward Castes (OBC) as reward for those

getting more than 55 percent marks ortaking admission in college. Government is

also giving laptops to girls belonging to mi-

nority communities who are scoring good

marks in schools and are opting for higher

studies. Children, especially girls, who

earlier used to walk kilometers to reach

schools, are now being given bicycles for

easy conveyance to schools. This boosts

the moral of children to get education.

Government has opened thousands of

new primary schools, and thousands of

primary schools have graduated to second-

ary schools. Educational developments are

on going from the past many years.

Government is putting so much of

efforts because we want to create aware-

ness about education in every sector of

the society. Our aim is to educate every

single person in every village of Rajast-

han. In urban areas education is still at

par, but rural areas need real attention.

We are targeting to control the drop-

out rates in schools. We are runningbridge courses to associate them to

schools. Government will give laptops

to the top 10 meritorious students of

Xth and XIIth boards. Government is also

distributing special learning laptops to

the VIIIth class students. This is a huge

investment, but government wants

competitiveness among students and we

want to connect our education system

with information technology.

Indira Priyadarshani Puruskar,

Gargi Puruskar, free K-12 education for

girls are some phenomenal initiatives

taken by the government.

Importance of girleducationThe Government has provided a lot for

education. Now it is our responsibility to

take it to the common man. Our govern-

ment is determined to educate each and

every female in the state. That is why we

are highly focused towards girls’ educa-tion. When a girl gets educated, she edu-

cates two families - one is the family she

is born in, and the other is the family she

gets married in. She inculcates morals

and ethics in the family. The first teacherof any human being is his/her mother.

We need to add morals and traditions

values to our education system. We will

be able to build a constructive and cul-

tural society only when we tech morals

in our education system.

Various malpractices happening in so-

ciety like female foetus killing, and rapes

can be curbed up to greater extent if we

educate a child systematically since he is

in his mother’s lap and then in primary

education. We should inculcate values in

our child so that in future he becomes a

man with a healthy mentality.

Government’s initiativesIt is the 21st century, and it is an advanced

era of information technology. We need

an education system of global level. In-

dian students are very much popular

all around the world in terms of quality

education. Even the US President, Barack

Obama, watches out for Indian talent.The central government has helped

us in providing broadband services at

all the levels. Now Rajiv Gandhi Bharat

Nirman Seva Kendra is also connected

through IT. These initiatives eased thelife of rural population in Rajasthan as

they are now able to do most of their

work like bill payment and getting

many other documents from village it-

self through IT.

Rajasthan has set such a model in

terms of IT advancement that when the

US President, Barack Obama came to In-

dia he spoke to the people of Kanpura - a

small panchayat of Ajmer, direct from

New Delhi through video conferencing.

Numbers of schools have got computer

labs, and even many classrooms are

connected with IT.

Smt Naseem Akhtar Insaaf,

Minister of State for Education, Government of Rajasthan




Education in Bihar

Focussing on Employabilityand Affordability

Ibelieve technology is going to lead

the way in education and India is

going to be a global technology

hub. Today, Bihar is at the same

level as the rest of India as far as IT and

education sectors are concerned. We re-

ally need to put emphasis on primary

education because it is the first step for

any child. Yes, there is a dearth of qual-

ity faculty in the state, but we have to

manage within our means. I believe ed-

ucation has to be connected to employ-

ability and affordability yet high-quality

education is the order of the day.

to 20,225 and day-by-day an environ-

ment for education has been built. Wehave taken steps to extended technol-

ogy education in Madarsas. We also

formed the Bihar Knowledge Society

through which we impart computer

training in all districts across Bihar.

It is not only open to students, but for

teachers and general public as well.

Educating the girl childWe have started scholarship schemes

for meritorious girl students. This has

increased the rate of education among

girls. Other states have now started

distributing bicycles to girls, which we

have already done in the past. We have

been the front runners in promoting

education among girls through various

incentives.

Towards a bright futureIf today a person becomes a teacher af-

ter completing matriculation, then we

think that his son will be at least a lec-turer. However, any sort of change does

not come instantly; it can only be seen

in the next generation.

We did not have private university

in the state. Now we have passed a bill

through the cabinet to have a private

University in Bihar. We started IIT as

we had only two engineering colleges.

Earlier we had only 13 polytechnic in-

stitutes and now we are starting one

polytechnic institute in every district.

So we are continuously doing this work,

and as I said the next generation of Bi-

har will reap benefit out of this.

Shri Shahid Ali Khan,

Minister, Minority Welfareand IT, Government ofBihar

We did not have a private university in the state, but now we have passed a bill through the

cabinet to have a private university in Bihar

Tech education forminoritiesThe Sachar Committee report re-

vealed that minority communities in

Bihar fared even below the Schedule

Caste group in terms of education.

So our government initiated several

schemes to promote education among

the minorities. For the first time we

announced to give financial aid for

10,000 matriculation students. At

that time only 2,627 students in the

entire state were first year qualified.

Over the years that tally has gone up




Quality Education through

Motivating Teachers andStudents

Our Government has built a

complete computer-aided set-up in almost every educational

institute. We also have a proj-

ect to improve the basic infrastructure.

This project is associated with the Sarva

Siksha Abhiyaan wherein children from

class I to VIII are provided free of cost

education, books, uniforms and also one

time meal. Recently the government of

Uttarakhand realised that the percentage

of educated girls was sharply going down

in the state, as they were facing problems

in going to schools. Therefore, to boost

girls’ education in our state, we have de-

cided to provide bicycles to them, in the

non-hilly areas. For the girls living on the

hilly areas, we have planned to open bank

accounts and transfer a sum of `3,000,

which can be utilised by them to cover the

expenses incurred during travel to school.

The amount will be transferred to their ac-

count on a regular basis.

Maintaining qualityTo motivate teachers, we have conferred

23 government school teachers with

the Shailesh Matiyani State Teachers’

award for extraordinary work. We are

also mindful about other facilities for

our teachers such as maternity leave.

For students, the top ten rankers of Ut-

tarakhand Class X and Class XII board

examination in 2012 were awarded

with the Pt Deendayal Upadhayay Edu-

cational Meritorious Scholarships. We

also encourage and fund children at the

state level under the leadership of the

Chief Minister Vijay Bahugna Joshi. Our

pointment of new teachers, professors,

lecturers and even basic tutors.

Accessiblility matters

Higher education is not limited to anyparticular state. In Uttrakhand, cit-

ies like Dehradun and Nainital are the

hubs of international level education

institutes. Moreover, we also have sev-

eral kinds of universities like Himgiri

Nabh Vishwavidyalaya (University in

the Sky), Uttarakhand Technical Uni-

versity, etc and we are proud of the

fact that overseas students are coming

to study in these universities. Now the

main focus of the state government is to

provide education to the most interior

parts of the state by bringing the best

institutes’ branches to those places.

Shri Mantriprasad Naithani Minister, Agriculture Marketing,School Education, AdultEducation, Sanskrit Educationand Drinking Water, Governmentof Uttarakhand

To promote education among the girls, we have decided to provide bicycles to them in the

non-hilly areas of Uttarakhand

state government is focusing hard to im-

prove the quality of education through

motivated teachers so that a child’s IQ

gets increased.

Even for the minorities, the stategovernment has plans to provide qual-

ity education in Madarsas from basic

schooling to higher education. Earlier,

the government was not able to attract

youngsters but now we have laid these

plans considering the new technology,

new curriculum from SCERT books, etc.

Moreover, the landscape of Uttara-

khand is totally different. Here we have

three kinds of areas like the high alti-

tude, middle altitude and the ground

level. Therefore, we have the acute

shortage of teachers and to address the

same our government has started ap-




Higher Education will Shape

Life, Economy and theSociety

As opposed to the past, we

need to take a hard look at

the proposition of making

education available to ev-

eryone who needs it — a truly inclusive

system that is in everyone’s interest. Itshould teach us humility, benevolence,

and clarity of mind and purpose.

Private, public and governmental

partnerships have been on the rise in

the education sector. Forecast suggests

if the current pattern of participation

continues, more than 30 percent of to-

day’s school drop outs will experience

higher education 10 years from now.

I wish we reach GER (Gross Enrolment

Ratio) of 50 percent in probably the next

20 years.

However, statistics show that over

50 percent of the youth fail between

Xth- XIIth grades, and are out of educa-

tion scene forever. An out of the box ap-

proach and possible best practices could

allow them to pass the grade with mini-

mal intervention. Apart from the col-

lateral advantage of a higher GER and

overall growth in economics brought

about by an exalted youth.

Prof (Dr) S S Mantha,Chairman, All India Council for

Technical Education

“Setting up community colleges either new

or in the existing polytechnics needs to be

pushed aggressively, so that competency

based skills along with basic life skillsis imparted to enhance the employment

potential of our youth

Higher education will shape an indi-

vidual’s life and the economy and society.

Also, a scheme for vocational education

where a student can learn competency

based skills along with general education

at various certificate levels initiated earlyin the school going up to the diploma or a

graduate level is probably the way to go.

With the bachelors in vocational educa-

tion now duly constituted, it is expected

to play as catalyst to an otherwise satu-

rated system. The most important feature

of the framework created by AICTE is that

a student could also avail of multi-point

entry and exit between formal and voca-

tional education and the job markets.

Setting up community colleges ei-

ther new or in the existing polytech-

nics needs to be pushed aggressively,

so that competency based skills along

with basic life skills are imparted to

enhance the employment potential

of our youth. We also need to realise

that our youth coming from the lim-

ited financial means would need to be

sustained on some minimal financial

incentive to pursue skills for employ-

ment. Hence we also need credible fi-

nancial models to sustain education

for youth.




Inclusion with quality is what we all look for. Inclusion means reaching the last child. I

doubt if only technology is the answer to that. First of all, is it available to everybody?

We can reach that point slowly, but that does not mean we should not use all modes.

We talk about values in our curriculum, but for that we all have to share thosevalue systems. It doesn’t come by telling, it comes by imbibing. You have to decide

whether technology can impart values, you have to decide that.

Of course we need technology for certain things like teacher training. Also open

learning, in my view, is the answer to many issues. Technology can help us develop

multi-language usage that can help teachers in making learning easier. Even holistic

learning that you need to do for a vocation is important, but it should not be limited

to a par ticular skill-set.

Prof Parvin Sinclair, Director, National Council for Education Research and

Training (NCERT)

At UNESCO we are looking at two issues of what do we think, and what we

are doing to assist countries to achieve EFA goals by the year 2015. We are

asking our partners to look at the issue of schooling, not only in terms of

access, but also to get the completion rate high.

For instance, in India we have more than 90 percent access to the primary

school, but the completion rate is below 70 percent, and it is going down

drastically in secondary education and upper secondary education. Many of them are related to the gender exclusion, disability exclusion, etc. Post 2015

we are putting new focus, not saying education for all, but we are saying

learning for all.

Alisher Umarov, Chief of Education and Programme Specialist, UNESCO

Education should focus less on examination system and more on learning.

The examination system and rote learning from the text book is not what we

need. The examination system is only a tool to select. Is there anything in theexamination system that selects in terms of values like honesty, and are we

getting proper people at proper posts, in any profession?

So the rst thing is that the focus should be learning instead of teaching.

Focus should be on education instead of examination. Yes, we do need to

select, but we can look at a more holistic way of assessment, where we

look at the development of skill. We have to look at the development of

understanding, but even the role of the teacher is very important that helps in

value system and skill development.

Dr Pascal Chazot, Elected Member of Parliament in France for the French

Overseas; Founder and Head of School, Mahatma Gandhi InternationalSchool (MGIS), Ahmedabad



WES 2013 REPORT PLENARY SESSION 1 & 2

Education is a great enabler as well as leveller. We have

worked with former President APJ Abdul Kalam’s Pan-Afri-

can e-Network project. It is one of the most successful proj-

ects where 10,000 students from 48 countries across Africa

are enrolled in live, face-to-face classroom sessions. As we

have seen from Pan-African model, there is a lot of poten-

tial for cooperation at the global level in terms of sharing of

knowledge, content development, increasing accessibility,

and improvisation of technology for e-networks.

Vimal Wakhlu, Chairman & Managing Director,

Telecommunications Consultants India Limited

Strategies for Steering the

Education SectorThe wealth of nations is judged by the intellectual property they have and not by their physical

or mineral wealth. There is a need for integration of societies and countries. We may have

manufacturing in one place, the user maybe at another place, and the workforce maybe

coming from a separate country. This means, whatever education and skill development

we wish to have must be of comparable standards and be such that it can be trans-located

from one region to another.

Amit Khare, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Human Resource Development,

Government of India

Digital literacy is very important

in today’s world. Also, mobile

penetration is growing. So, we

have to plan for e-content for the

mobiles because that’s the best

component through which wecan reach the last miles. With

increased internet connectivity, I

also believe that we have to go

for a virtual classroom system,

as we have shortage of quality

teachers. Lastly, to enhance em-

ployability we have to focus on

skill development.

Dr Ashwini Kumar

Sharma, Managing Director,

National

Institute of

Electronics

and

Information

Technology

(NIELIT)

The Government of India’s investment in research is roughly 0.95

percent of the GDP, and it aims to increase this to two percent by

the end of this plan period. We are working on the Singh-Obama

Knowledge Initiative, and working for collaborations betweenforeign and Indian universities for the purpose of research and

innovation.

Dr Akhilesh Gupta, Secretary, University Grants Commission

Globally, the open learning education resources have gained a great

momentum and we must pace ourselves with this particular ap-

proach for improving quality in education. We have to create a safety

net for the disadvantaged groups or school dropouts so that they

complete their education up to secondary level. We should collabo-

rate and develop good quality resources that will be available at a

particular platform.

Dr S S Jena, Chairman, National Institute of Open Schooling




Opportunities of Overseas

Collaboration for Indian Institutions

We are grateful to India for leading the international education aid programmes in our

country. Nearly 7,000 Afghan students are studying at universities and technical schools

across India. We look forward to increased collaboration between India and Afghanistan

through faculty and student exchange programmes. Educational co-operation through

sustainable mechanisms will go a long way in enabling an economically and socially

integrated region.

HE Shaida Mohammad Abdali, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of

Afghanistan to India

I see enormous opportunities, benets, and synergies from international collaboration in the eld

of education. The inspiration for me is in seeing a future that is increasingly reective of people who

see themselves rst as the citizens of the world, and later as citizens of nations. We are striving

towards a world where international collaboration brings with it international understanding, which

in turn, brings opportunities for world harmony.

Mark Parkinson, Executive Director, Head of School, Kunskapsskolan Eduventures, Gurgoan

There are many avenues of collaboration

between India and the Philippines including theeducation sector. We welcome Indian investment

in education in the Philippines. There is already

an increased people-to-people contact between

the two nations. Implementing less restrictive

visa policies is a building block that can go a long

way in boosting ties in the eld of education. I

also believe organisations like ASEAN and SAARC should look into co-operation in

education with India.

Robert O Ferrer, First Secretary, Embassy of the Philippines

Our gross enrolment ratio (GER) in highereducation is 28 percent and our gov-

ernment is setting up a new target of 30

percent, for 2014. Thus, there is a need

for more higher education institutions in

Indonsesia, and we look forward to more

collaboration with friendly countries like

India. Also, India has now become an at-

tractive education destination for students

from overseas students. We are already

working closely in several areas like organ-ising training and exchange programmes

and joint-research programmes.

HE Rizali Wilmar

Indrakesuma,

Ambassador of

Indonesia

to India

Under the ‘Erasmus Mundus’ programme we are

collaborating with more and more international

students, especially in the short -term programmes

of six months or nine months. Slovenia and India

have been the main supporters of the International

Centre for Promotion of Enterprises (ICPE) for

the last two decades and we have had a lots of

students from India. The programme will begin

from this year in October and we expect that atleast 25 or more students will enrol.

Lt Boris Jelovšek, Minister Plenipotentiary, Republic of Slovenia

WES 2013 REPORT SPECIAL SESSION



WES 2013 REPORT SCHOOL EDUCATION

Our project e-Pronounce is an ongoing research project. It

aims at learning correct pronounciation using phonetic sym-

bols. We wanted to have something to bridge the language

divide for people in the non-native English environment. The

objective is pedagogy rst and technology second.

Prof (Dr) Fong Soon Fook, Professor, School of

Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia

Blended Learning, MultimediaContent and Supportive Teaching

Tools to Promote Student EngagementIn teaching through technology, we have to stop

looking at engagement through content. Context is

more important than content. We conducted an ex-

periment, where we converted a sixth-grade science

textbook into a comic. Students read through their

entire science textbooks in exactly two days. So by

changing context you can get students’ interest.

Kunal Sharma, Founder & Director,

Mexus Education

Education should not be limited to read-

ing or writing, it must be understood,

applied and reasoned. Also, with digital

learning and internet, a lot of resources

are available for the students. We are in-

troducing the tablet PCs with pre-loaded

content to reduce paperwork.Prabhakar Rao Polasani,

Chairman, Rao’s Group of

Educational Institutions, Hyderabad

There is only one percent penetration of interactive

displays in India, while other countries like Moscow,

Russia, and China have far greater adoption. So as a

technology provider, we are working with our ecosystem

to ensure that some of these problems are captured in our

future products. Also, the future lies in 3-D stereoscopic,

which is more engaging for students.Ganesh S, Business Development Manager, DLP

Products, Texas Instruments (India) Ltd

I believe it’s not just about hardware and software. It is

not even about how we apply technology. It’s about com-

pletely re-thinking the way we personalise learning spac-

es and learning experiences. It means we place the stu-

dents at the core, and let them set their goals. Instead of

teachers, we should have coaches. This personal coach-

ing leads to personal accountability for the students. Even

the assessments have to be on the basis of knowledge

instead of running after grades or marks.Mark Parkinson, Executive Director, Head of School, Kunskapsskolan

Eduventures, Gurgaon

Our core function is to digitise data that

is written by hand to business process-

able data. We designed a digital pen

with the prime purpose of not wast-

ing human time for completely non-productive things. I believe any new

technology faces problems of adapta-

tion and adaptability. No technology

is bad. It only fails when it is wrongly

implemented.

Sundaram Ramaswamy,

Chief Executive Ofcer,

Xcallibre Digital Pen

Solutions Pvt Ltd




Early Childhood Education

Emotional stability is important, as a child needs to be

understood and heard. There shouldn’t be any rank-

ing, neither in academics nor in sports. Our effort is

to de-digitise, as too early stimulation will affect in the

long run. Thus, computers should be limited as an aid.

Treating parents as partners is extremely important.Also, teachers need to feel valued.

Shilpa Solanki, Founder Principal, The Orchid

School, Pune

The role of

educators is to

keep the cu-

riosity alive in

the children todevelop them

fully. The key

imperatives of

early childhood

educators to

help children

reach their

goals are: Care, Curriculum, Curiosity, Condence

and Creativity. The art of asking questions rather

than knowing the right answers is a major aspect ofa child’s development.

Pooja Goyal, Director, Intellitots, Guargoan

I believe no matter howsoever marvellous the

school curriculum is, the problem lies in its imple-

mentation. I have been involved in setting up early

learning centres with the Shri Ram Group. We be-

lieve in not only imparting skills but an attitude. We

work in a children-centric curriculum. We look into

different aspects like emotional security, experien-

tial learning to encourage inquiry among students,

and differentiating between a slow and a fast learner. We also hold workshops

for parents to bridge any sort of disconnect.Kaadambari Muttoo, Director Academics, Schools Division, Shri Ram New

Horizons, New Delhi

We have realised that we cannot live

in that idealist framework where you

teach a moral science chapter on

don’t lie and the kid goes back home

and observes his/her parents lying.

So we believe that parents should go

many steps beyond PTMs, and not

only in pre-primary classes but be-

yond that as well.

Amol Arora, Vice Chairman & MD,Shemrock & Shemford Group of

Schools, New Delhi

The issue here is not only about early childhood education (ECE). It is

about early childhood care where emotional needs should be met. A

school is a child’s rst point of separation from his/her family. I think

there is a lot of homework that needs to be done by most schools in that

regard. ECE also needs to have

measurable outcomes in terms of

the ambience and the pedagogy.

Dr Jitendra Nagpal

Program Director “Expressions

India” The National Life Skills

Education & School Wellness

Program; Sr Consultant

Psychiatrist & Incharge,

Institute of Child Development

& Adolescent Health,Moolchand Medicity,

New Delhi




Teacher training is about getting complete mastery of ICT

as pedagogical tools. Focus should be on ICTs in schools

to transform teaching and learning. Implementation is an

issue, professional development has happened haphazardly.

It should be a continuous process. If teachers are not trained,

then hardware and software are of no use.

Dr Termit Kaur Ranjit Singh, Senior Lecturer, School of

Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia

Capacity Building of Educators

Teachers, Training, Technology

You have to inspire children and create in them a

desire to learn, not just rote learn. They should be

able to discuss and have belief in values and should

have condence in themselves. We should give them

a stable tomorrow with informed decisions. But are

we training our teachers to do that? There are large

percentage of teachers who are unaware of what they

need to do for a better future of young children. It is teacher training component that

is going to make a critical difference. Teachers today have to act as facilitators and

turn into mentor. For achieving that teachers should become a life-long learners.

Gowri Ishwaran, CEO, The Global Education & Leadership Foundation

One of the most important thing that I tried to identify is

availability of teachers. Across India there is a dearth of

teachers and according to reports we require 1.2 million

teachers. The main reason for this, as per reports, is that

teaching is the least preferred career choice. Another

reason is the insufcient teacher training institutions and

lack of qualied teacher educators.

Dr Dinesh Kumar, Additional Commissioner (Academics),

Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, New Delhi

Today our system demands so much

from us. We have to add so much,

like cognitive element, social element,

and psychological elements, intel-

ligent quotient, new curriculum along

with new acts like RTE, etc. Therefore,

capacity building of teachers has be-

come a full-time demand for school

systems. Schools may have dramaticinfrastructure and you may get good

admissions, but you will not sustain

those children in your campus unless

you do something extraordinary.

Lakshmi Kumar, Director, Pradnya

Niketan Education Society &

Coordinator, Sweden-India Project

Inter-Cultural Training Specialist

ICT can make a mark in education and

various teaching challenges can be

addressed by using ICT in classroom.

So we have to change according to the

digital world.

Monika Mehan, Principal, DAV Public

School, Khera Khurd, New Delhi

The passion for teaching is lacking in the country.

There is a huge gap beetween how the classes are

held in India and abroad. The problem is either we

have 18 th century classrooms or we have 22nd century

classrooms in most of the international schools, and

we have 20 th century teachers and 21st century

students. To solve the problem we need to focus on

quality teachers. The whole concept of education is a waste if teachers, the most

important factor for student development, are not paid attention to.

Shalini Nambiar, Director, Excelsior American School, Gurgaon




International Schools in India

Challenges and Opportunities

Everything has changed – the role of

the teachers as facilitators, advance-

ments in IT, etc. Still there are chal-

lenges like dearth of quality teachers

and resources. International collabo-

ration is a fantastic opportunity and

we need to harness it. Updating tech-

nology is important, but let us not

forget which technology is relevant

to our community. Ryan Pinto, CEO, Ryan

Group of Schools, Mumbai

All our schools can

become international

schools, no matter

whichever board af-

liation, through the

universal best prac-

tices like good stu-

dent-teacher ratios,

assessment for depth

and application of learning, and being accountable

to parents by demonstrating real performances of

understanding by their kids. It is a package of Intel-

ligence Quotient (IQ), Passion Quotient (PQ), Spiritual

Quotient (SQ) and Emotional Quotient (EQ).

Lina Ashar, Founder, Kangaroo Kids Education Ltd,

Mumbai

In this age of ‘ice-cream dilemma’ of careers, as

an international educationist, I wanted to guide

children to be able to pick the right kind of careers

for themselves, based on their natures. Interna-

tional education is about having choices, and also

the need to get the RPRP approach i.e. right people

at the right place/profession.

Steven Rudolph, Director, Jiva Education

Why do we live with the excuse that

international education is limited to the

rich? The theory of connectivism is

the way forward, especially for learn-

ing in the digital age. Every teacher has

to be a part of international teaching-

learning platforms because we do not

live in India, we live in a global world

and compete at an international level.

We need to improve at the level of mu-

nicipal schools.

Manjula Pooja Shroff, CEO,

Calorx, Mumbai

Globalisation has led to the de-

mand for international schools

in metros and even in tier-I cit-

ies. International exchange pro-

grammes, international teachingpractices where learning is not by

rote, and the use of technology

all form part of an international

school. Challenges range from

quality infrastructure, catering

to a growing but niche segment,

teacher availability, etc.

Rajeev Katyal, Country

Director (India), Global Indian

International School, New Delhi




International afliation, resources, teacher and

training costs lead to an expensive fee structure.

So the cost factor itself is a big challenge, and it isnot meant for all. Prices may only come down if we

have many international schools. Another challenge

is there are not as many international universities in

India for a child to be able to pursue international

certication.

Dr Vandana Lulla, Directorh & Principal, Podar International School

(IB & CIE), Mumbai

International education breaks down the barriers

of race and culture. Such schools are expected to

double in next ve to seven years. But there are

challenges like the mentality that it’s a ticket fora child’s study abroad, so sometimes the vision

behind the programme is lost. Also, acceptance of

international education is a problem with the higher

education universities in India.

Priyamvada Taneja, Development Manager, India, International

Baccalaureate Organization, Haryana

The model of education that we have

is from the days of industrialisation

were, schools are still organised on

factory lines; there is compartmen-

talised subject delivery; and there is

no intermingling. We have to start

thinking differently about education,

and we have to realise what our hu-

man capacity is.

Rita Wilson, Former Chief

Executive and Secretary, Council

for the Indian School Certicate

Examination; and Academic Lead,

Develop Schools

digitalLEARNING Upcoming Ranking Issues

For Participation in University & B School Ranking contact: [email protected]

For Participation in School and Pre School Ranking contact: [email protected];

[email protected]


Ranking Top Private Universities in India in July 2013

Ranking Top Government Universities in India in August 2013Ranking Top Pre-schools in India in November 2013

Ranking Top Schools in India in December 2013

Ranking Top B-Schools in India in January 2014




Creating Excellence

in School Education

“E

xcellence in education

has become a buzzword

today, and is very often

used in clichéd terms.

But I think excellence is an overall pack-

age of character building with focus

on values, and the final summit is that

of creating a good human being,” said

Gowri Ishwaran, CEO, The Global

Education & Leadership Foundation,

during a roundtable discussion at the

third edition of World Education Sum-

mit 2013.

Speaking about current schooling

systems, Col V K Gaur, Advisor, ManavRachna Educational Institutions said,

“Nowadays, schools have become facto-

ries that are more concerned about how

many of their students have been selected

for the IITs or IIMs. Excellence for them

only means what converts into money.

This is the state of affairs at the highest

level in the country. Sadly, India only has

two percent of skilled workforce.”

“Excellence will be there if we focus

on Adhyayan (study), Adhyaapan (teach-

ing), Abhayaas (practice), and Vyavahaar

(behaviour),” Col Gaur added.

Elaborating upon the distinctive ap-

proach towards educating young minds,

Steven Rudolph, Director, Jiva Educa-

tion said, “Every morning in our school

we give 15 minutes to what we call SOE-

Self Others Environment, and we do

swadhyaya (self-study). Every student

talks to the other student about what

good deeds he has done, and what prob-

lems he is facing.”

Pointing towards the need for in-

creased partnership between educators

and parents to promote excellence in

schools Rudolph added, “My belief on

how we get excellence is through find-

ing out what is the nature of the child,analysing it over the years, making him

reflect with his parents, and setting him

on the right path.”

Kavita Das, Principal, St John’s High

School, Chandigarh, spoke about the im-

portance of bridging the rich-poor divide

in education, “We should not forget that

there are millions out there who are very

poor and who need to be educated. We

have to start bringing them in our schools,

and start integrating them rather than

treating them as separate members of the

society. The schools need to start widening

their perspectives and not only cater to the

haves of the society, but should also start

looking at the have-nots.”

Muhammad Husain Zulqarnain

from The Knowledge Bridges Interna-

tional Schools, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

added, “Einstein once said that it is not

intellect but character that makes great

scientists. If you are not imbibing charac-

ter among students in schools, they will

not get to learn it elsewhere.”

Discussion also highlighted the need

of having gurus. “Are we having teach-

ers or gurus, because there is a differ-

ence between the two. If we have good

gurus then we are actually going to dogood to the society. Nowadays, moral

values have gone down, and schools

need to include moral lessons and per-

sonality development classes. It is not

only about teaching,” said one of the

participants.

Summing up the session, Anirudh

Gupta, CEO, DCM Group of Schools said,

“Generally K-12 is referred to as 15 years

of school education. If we substract what-

ever syllabi or curriculum taught in all

those 15 years from the child’s personal-

ity, then whatever is left with the child is

what the holistic education means.”



WES 2013 AWARDS

12

3

4

5

6

7

8

1- LtoR: Lt Boris Jolevsek,

Minister Plenipotentiary,

Republic of Slovenia;

Shahid Ali Khan, Minister,

Minority Welfare and

Information Technology,

Government of Bihar;

Mantriprasad Naithani,

Minister, School Education,

Adult Education, Sanskrit

Education, Government

of Uttarakhand; Ryan

Pinto, CEO, Ryan Group

of Schools; Dr Ravi Gupta,

CEO, Elets Technomedia

Pvt Ltd

2- LtoR: Asim Chauhan,

Chancellor, Amity

172 Award Nominations, More than 82,489

online votes, 48 Award Winners

University; Lt Boris

Jolevsek; Shahid Ali Khan

3- Release of CYBERFORT

Technologies

4- Entrepreneurship inSchool Education (Special

Mention): Dr Amrit Lal

Ishrat Memorial Sunbeam

Group of Schools Varanasi,

Uttar Pradesh

5- Vocational Education &

Training Initiative (Special

Mention): AISECT – Bhopal,

Madhya Pradesh

6- Government Sector

Initiative in Education (Jury

Choice): Computer Aided

Learning in Primary Schools

of Gujarat


Initiative in Education

(Public Choice): My

School e-School – District

Panchayat Kutch, Gujarat

8- Start-up Initiative

(Special Mention): Touch-

on-Cloud – Harness

Handitouch Pvt Ltd

9- Innovation By

Engineering Institute (Public

Choice): SAL Institute of

Technology & Engineering

Research, Ahmedabad,

Gujarat

June 2013 / digitalLEARNING



education.eletsonline.com9 10

11

12

13 14

15

16

17

10- Global Collaborative

Learning Initiative (Jury

Choice): Who We Are &

Where Are We Going – Bal

Bharati Public School, Delhi

11- Innovation By

Engineering Institute

(Jury Choice): Foundation

Programme – Indian

Institute of Technology

Gandhinagar, Gujarat


Initiative in Education

(Special Mention):

eScholarship Management

System – Directorate of

Information Technology,

Government of Maharashtra

13- Innovation in Teaching

Pedagogy (Public Choice):

Seamless Learning – Dr K

N Modi University, Newai,Rajasthan


Pedagogy (Jury Choice):

Customizable Business

Simulation Software – Amity

University, Gurgaon, Haryana


Learning Initiative (Public

Choice): Exploring the World

– Ryan International School,

Greater Noida,

16- Innovation in

Language(s) Education

(Jury Choice): ePronounce –

School of Educational Studies,

Universiti Sains Malaysia

17- Innovation in Language(s)

Education (Public Choice):

Innovations in Hindi

Curriculum – The Cathedral

and John Connon School,

Mumbai

They Also Won

Innovation in Teaching


Ask Your Kids – Oakridge

International School,

Visakhapatnam, Andhra

Pradesh

Innovation By Management

Institute (Public Choice):

MIT School of Management,

Pune, Maharashtra

Use of Assistive Technologies

In Education (Public Choice):

ICR @ Home – NIIT Ltd

Government Sector Initiative

in Education (Special

Mention): Vignana Yathre

– Department of State

Education Research and

Training, Government of

Karnataka

63digitalLEARNING / June 2012



WES 2013 AWARDS

18 1920

21

22 23 24

25

26

27

28

29

30

18- Innovation in Science


Kaleidoscope – Sir

Padampat Singhania

Education Centre, Kanpur,

Uttar Pradesh

19- e-School Initiative

(Public Choice): Online

Interactive Virtual School

Portal – Dr Kedar Nath Modi

Foundation, New Delhi

20- Green Campus

Initiative (Public Choice):

RMK Engineering College,

Chennai, Tamil Nadu

21- Multimedia Content

For K-12 Education (Public

Choice): DigitALly – Pearson

Education Services Pvt Ltd

22- Green School Initiative

(Public Choice): Save Earth,

Save Mankind – Gyan Ganga

International School, Jabalpur,

Madhya Pradesh


Learning Initiative (Public

Choice): International

Exposure Programme – Dewan

V S Group of Insti tutions,

Meerut, Uttar Pradesh

24- Green Campus Initiative

(Jury Choice): University of

Petroleum & Energy Studies,

Dehradun, Uttrakhand

25- Vocational Education

& Training Initiative (Public

Choice): Apprenticeship

Programme – Volkswagen

India Pvt Ltd

26- eCampus Initiative

(Jury Choice): Campus

Initiative University – Jayoti

Vidyapeeth Women’s

University, Jaipur, Rajasthan

27- Non-Government Sector

Initiative in Education (Public

Choice): Empowering Deaf

Kids through Donated Mobile

Phones – Sounds of Silence,

Mumbai, Maharashtra

28- Start-up Initiative (Jury

Choice): Synergize – Esquvi

Technologies Pvt Ltd

29- Innovation in Math


Math Fair Application of

Math in Life – The Orchid

School, Pune, Maharashtra




31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

42

43 44

30- Multimedia Content

For K-12 Education

(Jury Choice): Raptivity

– Harbinger Knowledge

Products

31- Non-Government Sector

Initiative in Education (Jury

Choice): Legacy of Creating

Educational Institutions

of Excellence – Shri Ram

Education Trust, New Delhi



MathsLab – Next EducationIndia Pvt Ltd

33- e-School Initiative

(Jury Choice): e-School

Programme – Doon Public

School, New Delhi

34- Use of Technology

For Engineering Institutes

(Jury Choice): Virtual 3-D

Simulations A Sustainable

Approach – JaipurEngineering College and

Research Centre, Jaipur,

Rajasthan

35- Innovation in Pre-School

(Public Choice): Multiple

Intelligence Learning

Strategies – Delhi Public

School, Bopal, Gujarat

36- Interface between

Academia-Industry (Public

Choice): Shadow Engineering

– VNR Vignana Jyothi

Institute of Engineering &

Technology, Hyderabad,

Andhra Pradesh

37- eCampus Initiative (Public

Choice): Activ(e)-Learning

– Gujarat Technological

University, Ahmedabad,

Gujarat



Making No Bones about

It – Mahatma Gandhi

International School,

Ahmedabad, Gujarat

39- Innovation in Open

and Distance Learning

(Jury Choice): Virtual Labs

Universalizing Education

NMEICT Project – Amrita

Vishwa Vidyapeetham,

Kollam, Kerela

40- Use of Technology For

Engineering Institutes (Public

Choice): Microsoft India

Student AppFest – Microsoft

Corporation (India) Pvt Ltd

41- Start-up Initiative

(Public Choice): Recruitment

Assisstance – Substance

41

45

42- Innovation By

Management Institute

(Jury Choice): Abhyudaya

– S P Jain Institute

of Management and

Research, Mumbai,

Maharashtra


Learning Initiative (JuryChoice): Competence

Development in Product

Lifecycle Management –

JSS Academy of Technical

Education, Noida, Uttar

Pradesh



iKen Design & Technology

Lab Hands-on-Learning –

Mexus Education Pvt Ltd

45- Innovation in Pre-

School (Jury Choice):

Towards Making of Holistic

Global Citizens – Kangaroo

Kids Education Ltd

65digitalLEARNING / June 2012



WES 2013 REPORT HIGHER EDUCATION

Fostering Excellence

Transformative Practices towardsEnsuring Quality

To bring about excel-

lence, commercialisa-

tion of education needs

to be stopped rst. Edu-

cationists and education

aid providers need to

work together on areas

of improvement through

deliberations and in-novations. Enrolments

need to be increased,

while dropout rates

have to be minimised.

Language barriers play

a vital role too.

Dr G James Pitchai,

Vice Chancellor,

Bhararhiar University,

Coimbatore

The biggest factor that correlates good qualit education is a good qualit teacher. How do we improve

the qualit of teachers is a major concern. Secondl, we need to understand wh our institutions don’t

gure in global rankings, as much as we are proud of them and have invested billions of dollars into

them. If we are to become a knowledge econom, we need the insight and experience to take the Indian

higher education to a completel different level.

Dr Amir Ullah Khan, Deput Director, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, India

A lot of transformational practices can come into examinations that will im-

prove the overall qualit of the education sstem. Mabe ve ears down

the line, we shall be talking more about the best practices in computer-

based mode of examination, instead of just talking about switching over

to online sstem. Crucial aspects such as qualit guidance, candidate

convenience, and multiple service providers shall have to be considered.

Nagendran S, Executive Vice President, MeritTrac Services Pvt Ltd

The issue of ensuring quality in education is inherently tied to the scalabil-it and accessibilit of education. We need larger number of classrooms,

books, stud materials, labs, equipments, and good teachers, etc. However,

human resources cannot be guaranteed to scale, and that’s where blended

learning can help through models such as ipped classrooms and distance

education. It enables students to get a mix of face-to-face tpe interaction

with teachers and computer-mediated learning technologies, hence offering

them best of both the worlds.

Jaya Jha, Head, Product & Marketing, Aurus Network

We need to create a framework where a student’s self-

learning process gets much better. Technolog is not

about taking the teacher out of the system, but enabling

the teacher. We need to change the mindset and see

technolog as an enabler. For an transformation to

happen, we need corporates to provide us technology

that would take us to the next level,

academicians for bringing in re-

search and innovation, and parents

to keep faith in us.Ullas Sathyanarayana, Co-Founder

& Director, Cogknit Semantics Pvt Ltd

The classroom

should focus on

how we can learn

together. This is the

age of diminishing IP.

The idea of patents is

going to be over, because everything is

going to be open. We are talking about

ethical hacking. We reall need to open

up.Supreet Kaur, Head, Marketing and

Alliances, Harness Handitouch




Over the years, foreign presence

may increase in the management

institutes and programme offer-

ings will be changed. Less than

two years or executive MBA pro-

grammes will gain popularit.

Prof P Rameshan, Director,

Indian Institute of Management

Rohtak, Harana

Management Education

The Current Scenario and theWay Forward

Onl three percent of India’s total R&D is conducted b

educational institutions, and we have not done well in ap-

plied research in engineering and management as well. So,

that is a matter of concern. Also, teaching is usuall done

through the case study method that focuses on companies

who have performed in terms of prot and strateg. But

this method has become obsolete abroad, as it talks about

past practices. But toda, the future lies in building sociall

responsible companies and inno-

vative practices.

Dr M P Jaiswal, Chairman,

Centre for Smart Innovation

& Governance; Chairman,Process Rennovation

Projects, MDI, Gurgaon

There was a time when MBA provoked a lot of craze among people. However, over the last few

ears, not onl in India but even in the US, placements have been ver bad in MBA institutes.

The cost of tuition has risen manifold. The two-ear MBA has lost its relevance, and it should

be converted into a combined four-ear programme. In fact, specialisation programmes of 14-

18 months on business analtics, nancial engineering, multimedia, e-commerce, and digital

marketing will do well in future.

M J Xavier, Director, Indian Institute of Management Ranchi, Jharkhand

There has been a dearth of serious

people in education. I feel the facult

and students are the heart of any in-

stitute. We should invest in delivering

quality knowledge and more value

for all stakeholders. For instance, we

have a structured mentorship pro-

gramme for students at our institute,

where faculty and industry leaders

come together to guide our students. We also have academ qualit

assurance system, and academic audit at both internal and external

level.

Prof Pankaj Gupta, Director General, Jaipuria Institutes of

Management

There is a common concern among universi-

ties of management education world-over on

how to build socially sensitive business lead-

ers for tomorrow. Our institute undertakes

man pedagogic innovations in this regard.

For example, the programme called ‘Abyu-

daa’, where our students mentor underprivi-

leged students from neighbouring slums.Rukaiya Joshi, Professor, S P Jain Institute of Management &

Research, Mumbai




Private Universities in India

Innovation in Education

Innovative curriculum, including contemporar

subjects, is going to be the most important thing in

the coming ears. Experiential learning is also ver

important and students need to take up projects

with the industr. Technolog transfer and collabo-

rations between government, research institutions,

and industr are going to pla a pivotal role.

Padmakali Banerjee, Pro Vice Chancellor, Amit

University, Gurgaon

Qualit is the hallmark of education. It can be attained b aligning global partnerships

to national interest, along with institutional autonomy, balanced with accountability to

prevent misuse of freedom. The private institutions should come up with innovations to

include a global perspective in a more global-oriented curriculum. The students should

be given challenging assignments and be evaluated on an innovative grading sstem.

Dr Francis C Peter, Vice Chancellor & President, Dr K N Modi Universit, Rajasthan

For education we need only one thing, which

is a great mind and enabling environment.

We know that India has great minds, but

where is the enabling environment? There

is a lack of freedom for private institutions.

The hope is that they can differentiate them-

selves by focusing on students, who should

be treated as the centre of all the activities.

Another hope is in engaging the industry, as

employability of students depends on the in-

dustr. But it has to be two-sided interaction

wherein teachers and students also contrib-

ute to the industr. Also, private universities

should have other models of revenue gen-

eration apart from

students’ fees,

to remain

s u s t a i n -able in the

long-run.

Dr Anup

K Singh,

Director

General &

Chairman,

Nirma Universit,

Gujarat

We believe in innovations through entrepreneurship

whether it is technology or management or business

schools. The motive should now be to produce

employers rather than employees, because an employer

can feed and assist four other people. We encourage

our students to take up entrepreneurial projects.

Prof Satish C Sharma, CMD & Professor in

Management, Maharaja Group of Colleges

Though the private sector has contributed a lot towards the success of technical

education, priorit structures have to be maintained across institutions. The most

important thing on the list is the qualit of the facult that ou acquire. It has to be

followed by teaching-learning processes, quality of academic leadership, quality

of admission, alumni relations, sports and cultural activities.

But most of these segments have been misplaced in the

priorit list. It is time to stop distinguishing between public

and private colleges, rather making both of them deliverable.Prof Prem Vrat, Vice Chancellor, ITM Universit,

Gurgaon




India has become one of the major hubs for knowledge outsourcing and skill

development. The qualit of skill enhancement programmes, their variet and

deliver has become major advantage for the world. It is onl in India that ou

can nd skill development enhancement solution for an need.

One of the most sought after course is the algorithm training

programme. Another emerging area of skill development is that

of cber securit, given the rising cber criminal activities.

Amit Kumar, Managing Director, Dr A Kumar Institute of

Education; President, CyBERFORT Technologies

Vocational Training

Enhancing Employability Skills

In India onl 10 percent of fresh grad-

uates are employable, as the majority

lacks industr specic skills. We need

to emphasise on vocational training

for target groups like school drop-

outs, women and socially backward

groups of our societ. Also, we have

to do away with the stigma attached

with vocational education to attract the

best talent.

Dr U C Pandey, Regional Director,

IGNOU Regional Centre

Our education system is more

theoretical leaning on getting

good grades, but we do not

create professionals. We have

to build linkages between all

sections of education to enableskill development along with

knowledge generation.

Dr Aarti Srivastava, Associate

Professor, National Universit

of Educational Planning and

AdministrationWe have been working for the last 27

years in the unorganised sector in the

backward districts of the countr. We

provide short-term and entry-levelcourses in regional languages. Our focus

is on providing skills development in

areas that are relevant to that particular

region, like data entry

operators, bank

kiosk operators,

hardware-repair, and

maintenance of mobile,

etc.

Abhishek Pandit, Director, Business

Services, AISECT

Recently, the Government of Andhra

Pradesh started Rajiv yuva Kiranalu

scheme. It aims to build job specic

skills among the unemployed, and

place them in appropriate private job

sectors like construction. However,

it is essential to make people aware

about the different vocational skills

and their learning centres.

Prof B Venkat Rathnam, Vice

Chancellor, Kakatia Universit




The sectoral approach is that we need to scale quality ca-

pacity among the faculty, infrastructure, students, and the

ecosstem, at large. Emploabilit at the entr-level, and

research and development at the higher level, both are re-

quired. While the industr has gone on its own journe, we

have not made our efforts to bridge the misconception of

suppl and demand requirement. So the suppl side has ac-

tually perceived

the industry re-

quirement and

moved on its

own journe.

Dr Sandhya

Chintala,

Executive

Director, Sector

Skills Council,

NASSCOM

Industry-Academia Bridge

Channelising CollaborativeModels

The government is not solel responsible for doing everthing.

There are many examples across the world where education,

health, transport and many important sectors are into private

domains. It is good to involve private sector, both at the school

level and higher education level in education, as it increases the

competitiveness. When we sa that education is the backbone,

it is about inculcating democratic and secular values among the

citizens.

Capt H A Arfi, IAS, (Retd) Director

AICC & AIESR, Amit Universit,

Noida

Graduates now require skills like critical thinking, communication,

collaboration and creativity that are documented in the approach

paper of the plan document in the 12th Plan. Special emphasis on

verbal communication skills, especiall English, will help in bringingemploabilit. We need an interactive and collective arrangement

between academic institutions and the business cooperation, for the

achievement of certain mutuall inclusive goals and objectives. There is

a growing need of industry in making new recruits productive with right

skill and knowledge, and thereb reducing the cost.

Shakila Shamsu, Ofcer on Special Dut, Department of Higher

Education, Ministr of Human Resource Development, Government of

India




Industr and academia are not working together.

We are facing this issue that after four ears

of engineering, the companies come to us

and say that their mindset is different, and

the want something else from the students.

We made industr-specic learning as a part

of our curriculum. There are some industr

relevant curriculums, which we have designed

in consultation with major companies.

Dr Madhu Chitkara, Vice Chancellor,

Chitkara University

We have kept the concept of corporate

mentor at our institute, whereby we as-

sign 15 students to a corporate and the

mentors groom students. The take all the

responsibility, starting from the academ-

ics to placements and teach business

etiquette to students. We are also provid-

ing vocational courses to our students

as corporates need students with basic

knowledge of a particular industr. Wemust emphasise on practical knowledge

and then the theor.

Prof (Dr) Sandip P Solanki,

Director, MBA Dept, M H Gardi

School of Management, Gardi

Vidyapith, Rajkot

Gujarat Knowledge Societ (GKS) is a revolutionar

measure of the Gujarat Government, undertaken in

2008, to bridge the gap between the industr and

academia. GKS believes in empowering the outh. We

incorporate training centres with the help of various

industries, where quality education is imparted to the

candidates. GKS has alread registered with some of

the nest public and private institutions in the countr

like NIIT, HCL, etc. The students get great emploment

opportunities along with enhancement of the skills and

knowledge.

Ritesh Maheta, Accounts Ofcer, Gujrat

Knowledge Societ

During the second year of MBA

course, we talk to the industry

people, and they give curriculum

to us, which has to be added to the

sllabus. Retail giant, Shoppers

Stop, approached us and said

that the need 900 emploees

ever ear. Attrition rate is high,

but we have to give extensive

training to graduates for one

ear to make them emploable.

They suggested us to give six-

month training in the last year of

graduation for students who want

to join the retail industr.

Dr Deepak Shah, Secretar,

Kamala Education Societ (KES)



WES 2013 REPORT SPECIAL SESSION

New Financing and BusinessModels in Education

India’s private education market is estimated to reach USD 103 billion from USD 71 bil-

lion currently. New models of PPP in the skill development sector are assisting the vo-

cational education sector. We see expansion in education with participation of private

and foreign players. For that, the sector should be turned into for prot. Government

can allow long-term lease on land and infrastructure. It may cap protability, but allow

a rate of return to the investor.

Melwin Braggs, Business Lead, Develop Schools

Most of the companies think

that investment happens

on top line. The new set of

investment that is happening

in the country, which is

particularly in education is

happening on PACT (Prot

After Tax). Even if you have

`1 pact there are investorswho are ready to give you

20 times of that. But if you have a top line of 50 crores and you

are not protable means the execution is a big problem inside the

company and we as Indians are far better in giving ideas, chalking

out strategies, but lack in the execution side. If you are running a

company, or a business and, if you have `1 of prot, it is more

valuable than `100 of top line.

Naveen Jha, CEO, Deshpande Foundation;

and Managing Trustee, Deshpande Education Trust;

President-TiE-Hubli

There are lots of challenges in nding investors in educa-

tion. In India, education is considered as a non-prot making

sector. For prot entities like partners rm, cooperatives, pri-

vate limited companies, investments is not a challenge. But

with education, which is formed under entities like societ-

ies, trusts and Section

25 companies, nding

investor is a real chal-lenge. Investor or VC

funds cannot invest

in trust or society

because they cannot

reap benets out of

them.

Seema Jhingan,

Partner, LexCounsel

Law Ofces, NewDelhi

I think private players like us are looking to invest in innovations so that we can play a meaningful

role in the education sector. For instance, we support an organisation called ‘Agastya’ that designs

low-cost science equipment. So there is a huge opportunity lying in the philanthropy and innovation

format that can be used to supplement the education system. Various sectors require very specic

skills. I think India’s demographic dividend has to be converted into human capital else it will

become a liability.Ujjawal Singh, Partner, Indus Balaji


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/world-education-summit-2013-event-report 27/30

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