EVENT REPORT

The sixth edition of Indias largest ICT expo and conference, was held from 4-6 August 2010 at Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC). The event was hosted by the Government of Andhra Pradesh and organised by Elets Technomedia and CSDMS, along with the Department of IT (GoI), Ministry of Panchayati Raj (GoI), Ministry of Labour & Employment (GoI), UIDAI, Directorate General of Employment & Training, NeGP, and IGNOU. The three-day event was attended by over 5,000 stakeholders from across the development and government sector, including elected members of state Assemblies and the Parliament, senior level bureaucrats, policy makers, academia, NGOs and industry associations.

Prof VN Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University

R Reghunathan, Former Chief Secretary, Delhi & Advisor, NKC

The chief guest Dr K Rosaiah, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, lighting the lamp at the inauguration of eINDIA2010. Standing L-R: K Ratna Prabha, PS, IT , GoAP; Dr Asraf Abdel Wahab, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Administrative Development, Egypt; Lt. Gen. (Retd) Bhopinder Singh, Lt Governor, Andaman & Nicobar; R Chandrashekhar, Secretary, DIT, GoI; Komathireddy Venkat Reddy, Minister, IT & Communications, GoAP

Subhash C Khuntia, Joint Secretary, Department of School Education, India

C R Biswal, Principal Secretary, Higher Education, Andhra Pradesh

D Sridhar Babu, Minister, Higher Education, Andhra Pradesh and J Krishna Rao, Minister for Food, Civil Supplies, Legal Metrology & Consumer Affairs, Andhra Pradesh talking to the exhibitors

Dr Rajneesh Arora, Vice Chancellor, Punjab Technical University

Prof V K Pathak, Vice Chancellor, Uttarakhand Open University

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(L-R) D Sridhar Babu, Minister, Higher Education, AP & Nadendla Manohar, Dy Speaker, AP Legislative Assembly

(L-R) Dr M P Narayanan & J Krishna Rao, Minister for Food, Civil Supplies, Legal Metrology & Consumer Affairs, AP

A Raja, Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Government of India

Agatha Sangma, Minister of State for Rural Development, Government of India Agatha Sangma, Minister of State for Rural Development, Government of India along with Dr M P Narayanan, President, CSDMS (centre) and Dr Ravi Gupta, Editor-in-Chief, Elets Technomedia (left) launching the special issue of eGov magazine.

nibh ero cor si. Guerciduipis dolobore ent

Odissi dance performance by members of Smitalay

eINDIA Award winners along with Dr M P Narayanan, President, CSDMS and Dr Ravi Gupta, Editor-in-Chief, Elets Technomedia digital LEARNING SEPTEMBER 2010 13

NEWS

NATIONAL
ALL MEDICAL COLLEGES TO HAVE SINGLE ENTRANCE EXAM

IIT BOMBAY AND US UNIVERSITY PARTNER NER FOR EXCHANGE PROGRAMME

Brown University from the an United States and Indian y Institute of Technology g (IIT) Bombay are planning o to sign an agreement to e start a student exchange er programme in October 2010. Representatives of tly the university are currently in India to explore the possibility of tie-ups with educational institutions.

42 NEW FACULTY MEMBERS JOIN DTU

There has been a recent recruitment of about 42 new faculty members at Delhi Technological University (DTU) as lecturers with the commencement of the new academic session. Out of these almost 23 faculty members are PhD degree holders.

It was recently conveyed to the Supreme Court on Friday, that the Medical Council of India (MCI) has taken a decision to introduce one common entrance test for all medical courses in India has been accepted by the Union Ministry and would be introduced from the next year, that is, 2011.

CCE ASSESSMENT IN OTHER SCHOOLS WITH NEW CBSE PROGRAMME

A new programme me ht has been brought into action by the Central Board of Secondary Education o (CBSE) to er asses whether the schools have been successful in implementing the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE). According to the circular issued by CBSE across India, the school principals have been asked to act as peer assessors and act as monitors responsible for capacity building and learning by gathering experiences from all the schools.

NIIT LAUNCHES GNIIT FOR ENGINEERS IN DELHI

NIIT, leading Global Talent Development Corporation and Asias largest IT trainer, today, launched the industry endorsed multiple track GNIIT for Engineers in Delhi. G. Raghavan, President-Global Individual Learning Solutions, NIIT, announced the launch of the program. GNIIT for Engineers is aimed at enhancing employability of engineering graduates by bridging the skill gap.

8 VARSITIES BY ICFAI WITH INR 400 CRORE

Known for its chain of B Schools, the ICFAI Group, is planning to set up eight universities in as many states in the next two years with an investment of INR 400 crore. It has received the necessary approvals from the governments of Chattisgarh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Orissa, Gujarat, Assam, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab, said SK Sharma, director, planning and coordination, ICFAI.

iDISCOVERI RAISING $10M

Supporting schools develop their curriculum, Lighthouse Funds may be leading the race for iDiscoveri. The leading contender for investing into education services rm iDiscoveri Education Pvt Ltd is the private equity rm Lighthouse Funds. iDiscoveri helps schools develop curriculum through its programme called X-SEED and is also involved in corporate training. iDiscoveri also provides outdoor programmes for children through a separate company called Youreka and also runs some pre-schools. Investment Light house carries in India is channeled through its $125-million India 2020 Fund. Emails sent to Lighthouse Funds and iDiscoveri remained unanswered at the time of posting this article. BMR Advisors is running the fundraising process. iDiscoveri has been founded by former worldwide marketing director of Group Danone Ashish Rajpal. The X-seed initiative has expanded to more than 400 schools. It involves services like student curriculum, assessment, teacher education and instructional leadership.

IN LAST FIVE YEARS, PRESCHOOL FEE HAS INCREASED BY 120 PERCENT

Through a survey, it has been discovered that between 2005 to 2010, the branded pre-schools across the country have managed to hike the fee structure to 120 percent. The average fees for the kindergarten segment have gone up from INR 1,500 to over 3,500 per month, the survey by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) described.

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ADVERTORIAL

www.talenticon.in

Empower your School with Information Management System

ONE OF THE HARDEST CHALLENGES FOR PARENTS AND POLICY-MAKER TODAY IS FINDING THE RIGHT SCHOOL FOR CHILDREN. A new Talenticon-Spiral School Management Product backed with Growth Model is all set to soon make their choice much easier. The studentlevel data provided by the growth model can be summarized at the school level to provide policy-makers and other interested groups with a school average growth. When viewed over multiple years, policymakers and parents can identify schools that are consistently strong in growing their students level of knowledge, or those that are consistently weak. The TalenticonSpiral Universe school management suite boasts, among other components: intuitive data analysis tools, integrated student and parent communication features, a robust reporting engine with support for state and federal standards, teacher grade books and schedules, a framework for remediation, and detailed medical records. TALENTICON IS INTRODUCING SPIRAL IN INDIA ON THE SAAS (SOFTWARE AS A SERVICE) MODEL. Spiral is an integrated software suite used by schools to increase efciency, reduce costs, and improve their management and administration. Our platform is designed to be used by K-12 public, independent, and charter schools, as well as small colleges and universities. Talenticon-Spiral 2.0 integrates a range of customizable features: Admission, Assessments, Alumni, Course Management, Parent Portal, Scheduling(Time Table), Email, File sharing, Grade book, Calendar, Reporting, Report Cards, School Work, Online Learning, Medical, Students Records, Fundraising into one versatile software suite delivered through a state-of-the-art WebTop interface and is designed to meet the demands of all members of a schools community. Software Available in Languages Indian Regional Talenticon Spiral looks interesting, but is it costly? Trial Package is FREE and available in different packages. No Capital Investment. Return of Investment for You: 50-60% savings on paper 25-30% savings in faculty efforts 30-40% savings in student time 20-30% Increase in overall infrastructure usage optimization 60-70% increase in parent satisfaction Reduce Electricity Bills and Save Energy If your institution uses Talenticon-Spiral, what cost do you avoid? Recurring monthly costs of approximately 40,000/month (including the consolidated man hours for all teachers, support staff and paper cost). Other intangible attributes. Server Cost for Software and infrastructure maintenance. Quantify results and savings: Report generation by consolidating feedbacks, suggestions and mapping to the planned action. Time Saver (students, teacher and parents time) Operational ability (Quick reports and ease of management for teachers and school management). Road Map: Making Spiral available on Nokia mobile phones within 6 months. Athletics Cafeteria/Catering Human Resources Yearbook Designer Transportation Library Accounting Dormitory Guidance Purchasing/Inventory School Store Special Education Mid-Day Meal School Interoperability framework. \\

Traditional education systems still works then why use Talenticon-Spiral? Research indicates that educational institutes are rapidly embracing technology and moving towards integrating IT with the educational system to enable them to: Align with International standards Higher involvement of Stakeholders - Parents, Students, Teachers A Greener solution Want to make your school standout of the crowd of emerging schools? Unlike every other school; your school can stand out of the crowd by: Having a really effective SchoolParent Interaction Considerably reducing overall expenditure Bringing down the efforts of teachers, students, parents and institutes management Having a High Value Branding and Internationalization What does Spiral have to offer you? A highly researched, stable and successful international product by Spiral Universe Inc. (USA) specially made for School Information Management. Web Based - No Software to download or install Flexible, Customizable, Scalable and Secure User Friendly and Easy Implementation No Server needed to use Spiral

digital LEARNING

SEPTEMBER 2010

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PLENARY SESSIONS

digitalLEARNING INDIA 2010 Report on Plenary Sessions

www.eINDIA.net.in
The day one of the mega event eINDIA 2010, the largest ICT conference of the country took place on August 4, 2010 at Hyderabad International Convention Centre, Hyderabad. The day began with a gala inauguration ceremony and marked opening of a three day tech-exhibition which was open to one and all. The latter half of the day saw the beginning of three day track digitalLEARNING INDIA 2010 with Plenary Sessions I and II.
YUKTI PAHWA

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE SESSION Prof VN Rajasekharan Pillai, the Track Chair for digitalLEARNING, chaired plenary session one. He told that scaling up is a challenge for country like India and catering to diverse large numbers. He spoke about national level programmes programmes PLENARY SESSION I to connect various higher Envisioning eLEARNING on Global education institutions, NME (L-R) Dr KP Hewagamage, Asif Saleh, James Vergese and Platform and Vision 2020: Policies, ICT (National Mission of R Reghunathan Strategies and Relevance for Achieving Education through ICT) and Excellence programme on technology The aim of this session was to enabled education. Prof VS Ramamurthy Chair, Shri R Regunathan, Chairman, elaborate, discuss and debate on the mentioned that at higher education State Fee Regulatory Committee, Former plans for betterment of education system level the matter is not about access but Chief Secretary, Government of Delhi and till 2020, through the utilisation of ICT. quality assurance and there is a reason Advisor, National Knowledge Commission, The Panelists for the digitalLEARNING to emphasise for excellence. Irina Ghose Government of India; Asif Saleh, India 2010 Track, Plenary Session gave a presentation and expanded upon Policy Specialist, Access to Information I consisted of the Chair, Prof VN Providing IT Literacy as a basic right to Programme, PMOs Bangladesh; Dr Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor, all by 2020. Terry Wason, spoke about KP Hewagamage, Sr Lecturer, UCSC; Indira Gandhi National Open University SMART Technologies and the large scale James Vergese, Secretary, Department of (IGNOU); Prof VS Ramamurthy, Director, steps required for implementation of Education, Government of India. National Institute of Advanced Studies, ICT, which included standardisation and Government of India; Irina Ghose, Director integration. HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE SESSION Education, Microsoft; and Terry Wason, Shri R Regunathan, deliberated on need Country Manager SMART Technologies. PLENARY SESSION II of exible learning and the new trends of Access, Equity and Excellence in globalisation, increased competitiveness, Education: Opportunities innovation and research, branding and for Public Private accreditation and use of technology. Partnership Dr KP Hewagamage emphasised The aim of the session that it would be extremely benecial was to invite policy for the society at large there is better makers and practioners communication between public and to elaborate on the ways private sectors. in which private players Asif Saleh discussed the areas in which can use ICT to enable attention should be given in context of ICT dissemination of education; in education including teaching learning providing for equity, access process, professional development of and excellence to present teachers and providing ICT literacy to and future generations of students. James Vergese said that an children. identied area of challenge in eld of ICT The Panelists for the in education is excellence. He spoke digitalLEARNING India on constructivist approach to teaching 2010 Track, Plenary learning process, which is prevalent in (L-R) Terry Wason, Prof VS Ramamurthy, Prof VN Rajesekharan Session II consisted of the Kerela education system. \\ Pillai and Irina Ghose

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NEWS

INTERNATIONAL

PROJECT-BASED LEARNING AND TELE-COLLABORATION IN CHINESE SCHOOLS BY UNESCO

UNESCO organised a workshop at Bangkok - ICT in Education Programme - under the Facilitating ICT-Pedagogy Integration Project, took place in Guangzhou, China from July 27-30, 2010, in collaboration with South China Normal University and the Educational Information Centre of Guang dong Province. The Korean Funds-In-Trust funded this Capacity-Building Workshop on Project-Based Learning and Tele-collaboration and introduced teachers to the Facilitating ICT-Pedagogy Integration Project, and expanded their horizons on the use of ICT-enhanced project-based learning and tele-collaboration.

BOOSTING SUPPORT TO STATES, OBAMA SIGNS A BILL

US President Barack Obama, recently, signed a 26-billion-dollar bill in order to extend support to states, to prevent teacher layoffs and make their Medicaid payments. This happened within hours after the House of Representatives passed it. The House, with a count of 247 to 161, in afternoon gave a green light to the bill ght that has been designed to ease the tight n tax state budget, in between a decline in 930s. For revenues and worst recession since 1930s. 1 to 39 to the same purpose, the Senate voted 61 approve the measure.

ESYLLABI FOR TEACHERS, SAYS THE NEW DEAL, KENYA

Now new laptops can be bought by teachers that already contain current syllabus and training material, as a part of Public Private Partnership initiative which aims at integrating e-learning in the education system. A deal has been struck between Safaricom, Equity bank, Microsoft, Intel, Kenya Literature Bureau (KLB) and Kenya Institute of Education (KIE) and the Teachers Service Commission targeting about 240,000 teachers.

K12 INC. AND GREENFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOLS PARTNER TO OPEN VIRTUAL ACADEMY, HERNDON
One of the Americas largest providers of proprietary curriculum and online school programmes for students in schools, K12 Inc. has announced on August 18, 2010, a new partnership with Greeneld Public Schools to launch Massachusetts rst full-time, statewide online public school. Within this scheme upto 500 students in grades from Kindergarten to standard eight across the Commonwealth, for the coming school year, will be catered to by the Massachusetts Virtual Academy at Greeneld.

CISCO NETWORKING ACADEMY PROGRAMME NOW IN CAMBODIA

TEACHERS FROM DEPRIVED SCHOOLS RECEIVE TRAINING BY DREAMOVAL, ZAIN GHANA

A laudable educational initiative has been introduced by Zain Ghana, as it drives to improve the general standard of education in the country particularly in the area of information technology. A child project by DreamOval, one of the leading providers of internet and Mobile software solutions creates a platform for the training of teachers mainly drawn from deprived schools in the Greater Accra region with an objective of improving teacher quality and, ultimately academic education.

CISCO - the dealer in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate - will be expanding the reach of their Cisco (News - Alert) Networking Academy programme to Cambodia with its launch at the University of Management and Economics. According to Cisco, the Cisco Networking Academy is a global education program that teaches students how to design, build, troubleshoot, and secure computer networks for increased access to career and economic opportunities in communities around the world.

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SCHOOL EDUCATION INDIA 2010 REPORT

ICT in School Education and Policy Matters

www.eINDIA.net.in
YUKTI PAHWA

eINDIA 2010 hosted the School Education INDIA 2010, where eminent dignitaries witnessed deliberation on Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan, strategising and implementation of policies on usage of ICT, challenges in developing eLearning and role of ICT in advancing inclusive education. The track also included discussion rounds on different education models, pedagogy and andragogy in ICT mediated classrooms, as a part of Principals Conclave.

SESSION I ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY IN RASHITRAIYA MADHYAMIK SHIKSHA ABHIYAN (RMSA) PROGRAMME: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES. The aim of the session was to carry out deliberations focusing on the provisions and hindrance in implementation of the said initiative and role of ICT in its facilitation. The Panelists for Session I consisted of

Chair: Dr D Samba Siva Rao, Secretary, School Education, Government of Andhra Pradesh Co-Chair: Shri Subhash C Khuntia, Joint Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India; Dr SS Jena, Chairman, National Institute of Open Schooling, Government of India; Dr Subir Roy, Technical Adviser, School education Department, Government of West Bengal; Amit Gupta, CEO, S Chand Hartcourt (India) Pvt Ltd.

(L-R) Dr SS Jena, Dr D Samba Siva Rao, Shri SC Khuntia, Dr Subir Roy and Amit Gupta

In about 7000 schools ICT implementation has been done, out of the 18000 high schools in the Andhra Pradesh. Teachers are given training for updating them with the ICT element.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE SESSION Dr D Samba Siva began the session with a welcome address, with a note on the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Then he elaborated upon the RMSA initiative of the government, for secondary and senior secondary education/ high school. He elaborated that in about 7000 schools ICT

implementation has been done, out of the 18000 high schools in the state. Teachers are given training for updating them with the ICT element. He nished by insisting upon improving the quality of service

provided, so that RMSA can be worked upon with the best. Dr SS Jena gave a presentation on ICT in open schooling in context of RMSA. Open schooling is seeing a paradigm

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There is an effort to equip high school children to cope with the future and it is a must to leverage ICT for teaching-learning.

shift from one time schooling to life long education, xed to exible timing, instructional based learning to learner based instruction, and so on. He spoke about the challenges in the eld, course delivery system, augmentation of learning resources, PPP and ICT based resource support for open schooling. Dr Subir Roy talked about ICT implementation at schools and use of computers only, for ICT literacy. He told about RMSA in West Bengal with 10,000 secondary schools , grant of INR 5 lac per school, challenges being faced, and concluded by talking about effective elearning systems (to comprise of interactivity and simulation). Amit Gupta then spoke about large Indian market space, requirement of a policy to let the private players interact at large with the education system. RMSA needs to bring not a few but all schools together under the benet umbrella. He concluded by requesting government representative Shri SC Khuntia, to consider giving an actual shape to PPP models allowing more private participation and benet to maximum number of schools. Shri SC Khuntia then addressed the gathering, beginning by speaking about

RMSA, as a logical extension to SSA. Universalisation of education through secondary education is a highlighting factor for RMSA. He emphasised on need to increase access, equity and quality the three pillars for RMSA. He spoke about new ways of learning, that are ICT enabled and initiatives being taken by government for the same. For instance, in KVS and NVS are mostly ICT enabled now, under the ICT enabled school scheme. There is an effort to equip high school children to cope with future and it is a must to make teaching-learning can be enhanced using ICT as leverage. He spoke about capacity building of teachers and importance of PPP as being envisaged under RMSA. Government has been recently working on Draft National Curriculum for Teachers and there ICT is being included in every pre-training course and also the in-service training programmes. He also described about providing online libraries, e-comprehensive evaluation and assessment, easy monitoring for the parents regarding the school progress of children and scholarships for the children with use of ICT. Near the end of his address, he explained that besides scholastic activities many other educational activities, along

Shri S C Khuntia

with curriculum reforms and classroom transactions will also be facilitated by ICT, under umbrella of RMSA. SESSION II MOVING TOWARDS DIGITALLY EQUIPPED SCHOOLS: PRIORITIES AND CHALLENGES The aim of the session was to have secretaries and principals of schools to discuss the ways to deliberate on how interactive classroom teaching learning modules can be developed and implemented. The Panelists included

Chair: K Sadagopan, Deputy Commissioner, Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS) Co-Chair: Prof BP Khandelwal, Former Chairman, Central Board of Secondary Education; Seetha Kiran, Principal and Regional Director, DAV Institutions, South Zone; C Neelap, Education Ofcer, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, Regional Ofce, Hyderabad Terry Wason, Country Manager India, SMART Technologies.

(L-R) C Neelap, Seetha Kiran, Prof BP Khandelwal, K Sadagopan and Terry Wason

In the beginning of the session, Seetha Kiran gave a presentation on digital schools or the smart schools. She appreciated CBSE for bringing in CCE into curriculum. She insisted that 21st Century demands that students have to be innovative thinkers and then we have to make them learn, helping them to construct knowledge and it is a must for teachers to have ICT in classrooms. And

digital LEARNING

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dissemination of knowledge in schools. The panel consisted of

(L-R) Dr R Shreedher, Kadu Baddanage Buddhika Sampat Darshana, Kalinga Athulathmudali, Ahmadzulkarnin Ramli, Zeena Abdul Gafoor, Prof Vasudha Kamat, Vandana Arimardan, Khor Kok Yeow

Chair: Dr R Shreedher, Director, Commonwealth of Educational Media Centre for Asia; Moderator: Prof Vasudha Kamat, Joint Director, CIET, National Council for Education, Research and Training (NCERT); Vandana Arimardan, CIET, NCERT; Khor Kok Yeow, Wawason Open University, Penang, Malaysia; Ahmadzulkarnin Ramli, Open University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Kalinga Athulathmudali, Tech Lanka, Colombo, Sri Lanka; Kadu Baddanage Buddhika Sampat Darshana, Tel Radio, Colombo, Sri Lanka; Zeena Abdul Gafoor, Repulic of Maldives.

we can not afford to say that we do not have ICT enabled schools. Terry Wason, next spoke highlighting the role of in-service professional development and to strengthen teachers skills. He also explained that social networking sites should be considered as learning sites such as teacher tube, a part of YouTube based site, where teachers share their learnings. C Neelap put forth two questions whether you should create technology or perpetually be acceptable of people who create technology for school. He described that it is important to include ICT in teaching so that we can compete with global standards. He insisted that the preachers must provide guaranteed quality knowledge and smiling learning which makes every student effective user of technology. K Sadagopan mentioned that eLearning is better known as extended or revolving or everywhere learning. He explained that future will be better than. The traditional methods are being challenged today and ICT implementation, especially in past ten years, has proved its worth with increased graduation rate, more meaning connection between staff and students and stronger relationships of academic institutions with business. He told that quality content

acquired for effective teaching-learning and nally said, we need to bring learning to people instead of people to learn. Prof BP Khandelwal, to begin with, spoke about life long learning. Technology has arrived, has made learning more vibrant and things are being turned into more interactive and attractive in classroom. He made an important point that teachers and their value must never be negated. He mentioned about importance of values that lie in education and International Commission Report for Education adopted by all UNESCO member countries where emphasis is on learning the treasure within. He put forth that with technology there should be implementation and supplementation, especially with respect to capacity building. SESSION III DIGITAL STORYTELLING: ICT MEDIATED LEARNING AND PRACTICES (SPECIAL SESSION SPONSORED BY COMMONWEALTH OF EDUCATIONAL MEDIA CENTRE FOR ASIA) The aim of the session was to share stories related to using radio media for

CIET has two audio studios and two video studio from where daily networking, conferencing and interactive programmes are broadcasted.

HIGHLIGHTS R Shreedher introduced some international delegates to speak on the digital stories for enhancement in school education. Prof Vasudha Kamat moderated the session. Vandana Arimardan talked about work of CIET, where they have two audio studios and two video studio from where daily networking, conferencing and interactive programmes are broadcasted. She described that they broadcast programmes from Gyan Vani and Gyan Darshan. They have 12 channels and thousands of audio clips of historical importance. Then she elaborated about the launch of I-Radio, which is a form of web-casting. For the broadcast towers are required while I-Radio operates with help of a cost effective set up and from there send signals from internet (use of MTNL Broadband), globally. They work for the education of children with effective use of technology. Prof Kamat added to above that they also convert text books into to digital books that are available to visually challenged students. Khor Kok Yeow talked about Life Size webcast method at WOU. He explained about the biggest challenge in usual webcast is the cost, which is very expensive. He talked about challenges available at WOU the bandwidth, audio and video and Internet for implementation of I-Radio in Malaysia. Finally, about the I-Radio implementation he told, It was a big success when received positive feedback and comment from different RO and public internet users, knowing that the audio/video is clear and without lag.

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Internal Ad For egov Page - 21

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(L-R) Peter Cahill (presenting), Simmi Kher, Pameila Khanna, James Shanely, Vineet Koka and Praveen K Pavuluri

Ahmadzulkarnin Ramli presented a case study Digital Story Telling (DST): The Case of Open University Malaysia (OUM). At OUM, DST has been seen as a facilitator of learning both by itself and in combination with other instructional elements. He concluded by saying, In order to stimulate DST development for education purposes at acceptable cost and timeline; investing to have an in-house Learning Materials Development Centre (CiDT) is the right decision for OUM. Buddhika gave a presentation on Telradio, a form of internet radio service. He briey explained the meaning of digital story telling as an art of telling stories with a variety of digital multimedia and DST workshops that have been conducted in Sri Lanka. He spoke about applications of the same in the area of health care, education, disaster management and community. The challenges faced by his institution mainly comprised of script writing, content dissemination and low number of DST produced after the workshops. Kalinga Athulathmudali spoke about how I-Radio helps in breaking geographical boundaries in elearning. He explained the concept of Tech Katha, and explained that how iRadio is a highly interactive, on demand way of breaking language barriers, sharing knowledge and building communities with self-support. Zeena Abdul Gafoor gave a presentation on I-Radio in Maldives. They started this programme in Maldives about six months ago. She described the workshops hosted through I-radio with parents, teachers and students, to disseminate knowledge to all. To sustain and maintain I-Radio there is an Education Development Centre, where

there is a station and a studio; and with help of professional experts broadcasting of relevant programmes is done but a major challenge is presence of only a few producers. SESSION IV ROLE OF ELEARNING TO ENHANCE SUBJECT KNOWLEDGE OF STUDENTS The aim of the session was to explore how multi-media instruments can help in encouraging children to learn in productive way, through deliberations amongst the implementers of learning. The panelists included-

HIGHLIGHTS Pameila Khanna began by giving an introduction of the topic and elaborating on the use of ICT in enhancing subject knowledge of students. Simmi Kher introduced Tony Blair Faith Foundation that connects schools across globe with video conferencing. She then gave presentation on Web2.0. She spoke from perspective of being teacher and how motivation can help teachers to use ICT effectively for classroom teaching. She gave a few other connotations of ICT information connecting technology, information collaboration technology, and information cultural change technology. Then Vineet Koka spoke about the how elearning can help students efciently grasp knowledge. For them he demonstrated example of how a lesson can be planned with help of technology, which is easy to be memorised and understood by students, on blood clotting. He explained how technology they provide can produce uniformity in teaching, cover absence of a teacher, help students in practicing on their own, is simple to use and requires minimum hardware. James Shanely spoke about use of interactive whiteboards. He introduced

Chair: Pameila Khanna, Principal, CHIREC Public School; Simmi Kher, India Coordinator, Tony Blair Foundation; Vineet koka, Vice President, Marketing & Ops, Designmate (I) Pvt LtdJ a m e s Shanely, Director Sales, Mimio; Peter Cahill, Education Media and Publishing Group International (an afliate of Houghton Mifin Harcourt), VP Business Development and Strategy, Ireland; Praveen K Pavuluri, Vice President, Prapan Solutions Pvt Ltd.
Peter Cahill

iRadio is a highly interactive, on demand way of breaking language barriers, sharing knowledge and building communities with self-support.

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(L-R) Shri K Anwar Sadath, S Selvaraj, Amit Khanna, Satish Jha, Ranjit Singh and John Reder

Mimios new suite of interactive whiteboards. He laid emphasis on delivering quality and effectiveness through content loaded within the interactive white boards. Praveen K Pavuluri talked about integrating technology in primary education. He spoke about the addon technology education services, his company provides to schools and state governments, especially after school, to disadvantaged children. He talked about empowering schools with technology and using multimedia for helping students and teachers to build their respective capacities. Peter Cahill, talked about how before use for teachers its a must to understand any elearning technology which has to be used. The motive of his company is to empower teachers to create better learners. He spoke about quality of teacher in classroom, appreciating different activities that teachers indulge in schools, understand the needs of teachers, understand student needs and considering increasing level of engagements of students. After each session, there was a question-answer round, after which all the speakers were thanked with a token of appreciation. SESSION V STRATEGISING AND IMPLEMENTATION OF POLICIES ON USAGE OF ICT IN LEVERAGING LEARNING The aim of the session was to invite stakeholders from government to discuss effective use of ICT tools in School Education.

The Panelists included -

Chair: K Anwar Sadath, Director, IT@ Schools Project, General Education Department, Government of Kerela; Dr Sushmita Mitra, Director, SSS, NIOSS Selvaraj, Assistant Commissioner, KVS, Andhra PradeshAmit Khanna, Business Development Director, N Computing; Satish Jha, CEO, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC); Ranjit Singh, CEO, Genee Solutions India Pvt Ltd; John Reder, Education Market Development Manager, DLP Products, Texas Instruments.

The session began with address by K Anwar Sadath. He spoke about the ICT implementation in school

education in Kerela. He highlighted points on policy framework, infrastructure readiness (equipped computer labs with broadband), capacity building (extensive teacher training programmes) and content development and management (inlcuding multi-faceted approach in schools including tools such as - Print, TV, Satellite & Web Media). Dr Sushmita Mitra talked about how ICT has changed learning into a 24/7 process. She elaborated that technologies available today and traditional pedagogy are bound to have some tensions as they are different in terms of activities done, type of learning (collaborative vs instructional), creativity, integration of theory and practice, and evaluation. She concluded by saying, Strategy plan ought to stress on complete integration with existing structures, processes and critical issues for a change for future. S Selvaraj presented a comparison of education at Kendriya Vidhyalayas before the advent of ICT and in present situation. He described the ICT facilities available at schools and how teachers use the same effectively to teach the class. He later discussed the research papers and articles available on ICT use in schools. Ranjit Singh to begin with gave introduction on his company Genee Solutions. He later elaborated how they provide educational solutions to support teachers in making classroom learning more fruitful. He explained, with help of demonstration of the equipments they manufacture, that Technology has so much more exibility, impact and opportunities for student inclusion.

(L-R) Dr Sushmita Mitra, Shri K Anwar Sadath, S Selvaraj, Amit Khanna, Satish Jha, Ranjit Singh and John Reder

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(L-R) CVenkata Giri, Prof Arun C Mehta and Dr Santosh Babu

Satish Jha talked about One Laptop Per Child, describing state of the present time education system for children, the barriers present (including infrastructure, teaching and content) and the most effective ways in which the challenges can be met using transformational OLPC.

John Reder made a presentation on 3D for Education, the digital display devices. He elaborated on the 3D revolution, necessity to acquire good 3D, 3D pilot programmes and results of the same. The devices developed by Texas Instruments are supportive in manner of high value content they provide, he added. SESSION VI ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION: SCHOOL LEADERS CONCLAVE Right to Education and Role of ICT The objective of the session was to gather recommendations from experts and principals regarding the role of ICT in execution of RTE act. The panelists consisted of -

all these students is to be borne by the state government and they have been given right to attain free of cost admission in schools (be it government or private). Since, the drop out rate of the students from disadvantaged communities has also gone down. Dr Santosh Babu gave a presentation elaborating on how it is possible to provide world class educational facilities to all the people in both urban and rural India. He talked about the three classes of poor rich poor, middle class poor and poor poor and how percolation of resources are required to the most bottom layer of the poor. He talked about importance of state collector and how dissemination of resources can be effective if collector is careful at his end. He also talked about self help groups, child friendly village and dissemination of knowledge.

Principal D Usha Reddy putting forth her opinion after the discussion on her table during Session VI

Chair: Dr Mohd Ilyas Rizvi, IFS, Chairman and Managing Director, Andhra Pradesh State, Minorities Finance Corporation; Prof Arun C Mehta, Head Department of Educational Management Information System (EMIS), NEUPA; C Venkata Giri, Teacher, Kendriya Vidhayalaya Sanghathan; Dr Santosh Babu, Managing Director, Elcot.

Chair for Session VI: Dr Mohd Ilyas Rizvi addressing the gathering

Amit Khanna gave a presentation on proven strategy to reduce ICT acquisition and maintenance cost in education. He then described about the way in which N Computing devices help in creating affordable, multiple, operational desktops with help of only a few master computers. Additionally, this helps in saving electricity, reduced e-waste and hardware waste, and bringing computing to 1.8 million students in India.

HIGHLIGHTS Dr Mohd Ilyas Rizvi talked about Andhra Pradesh government initiatives. He mentioned that the government, even before the RTE act came to be implemented, had takena call to provide free education to all students from SC/ST/ OBC and minority groups, from class two to the higher education courses (including the professional courses). The fees of

Arun C Mehta mostly discussed the features of the RTE act. He explained that ICT provisions are to be given to schools. But ICT details and way of implementation is not available to all, yet. He also mentioned about the provision to have a redressal mechanism/ monitoring mechanism but it will take time to develop it. Again it is the responsibility of state govt to develop child helpline/ online feedbakc mechanism where children and parents are enabled to register any violation of the RTE act with government, so that action can be taken by government. Finally, he spoke about importance of having professional/ qualied teachers in schools.

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C Venkata Giri talked about his teaching experience at school, in sector of ICT, for over 15 years. He emphasised that unless a teacher is there to teach, the ICT tools or any tools are of no use. He insisted upon supporting teachers to gain the relevant skills to make classroom teaching relevant. For a better future of education, teachers should be prepared to use ICT. Following the above presentations was a round table discussion between principals across various tables. The discussions consisted of points such as governments role in providing 100% free education to all students, requirement of funds for facilitating education of 25% of the seats that are to be reserved in private schools, and so on. SESSION VII BREAKING BARRIER TOWARDS ACCESS AND SUCCESS: TECHNOLOGY AS ENABLER IN INCLUSIVE EDUCATION The aim of the session was to invite the educationists to discuss how technology can support seamless education across various disparities. The panelists included -

(L-R) S Venkatesh, Hariharun M, Md Afzal Hossain Sarwar, Dr Usha D Reddy and Krishan Khanna

It is essential for teachers to be familiar with the technology and use the resources that are available with them.

Chair: Usha D Reddy, Principal Meridian School Md Afzal Hossain Sarwar, Content Development Associate, Access to Information Project, PMO, Bangladesh; Hariharun M, CEO, Hicommands Tech India Ltd; Krishna Khanna, Chairman, i2K; S Venkatesh, Tech Architect, Edurite.

HIGHLIGHTS Usha D Reddy began the session by introducing the title and deliberating on the same. She spoke about the importance of using technology in a balanced manner neither over doing it or underplaying its role. She described that it is essential for teachers to be familiar with the technology and use the resources that are available with them. Cooperation from private sector is of equal importance. She nally spoke about importance censorship of digital content and bridging the gap between the economically diverse groups. Md. Afzal Hossain Sarwar, spoke about ICT implementation with respect to teacher training, classroom teachinglearning, supplementary materials, and self-learning materials. He talked about different kinds of digital content and reected on the Bottom-up approach

in teaching, in Bangladesh. He further elaborated upon empowerment of teachers, use of multimedia and need of active leadership for combining the efforts of technologies and human efforts; along with Business Process Re-engineering. S Venkatesh talked about Manipal Education and TutorVista. He talked about the credentials of the same, elaborating the methodology (containing canned teaching, mapping the learning process, using semantic technology and assessing

Md Afzal Hossain Sarwar

the impact). He described a view of next generation classrooms, that would be solar powered, 3G connectivity, and projection technologies. Krishan Khanna began by describing thirty one demos of technology platform that i2K provides. He talked about the future education which will see articial intelligence, 24/7 learning, one to one mentoring, change from teacher centric system to student centric learning system. He told that every human being has a different style of learning- so teachers will have to learn to work with diverse personalities. He nally spoke about the interactive, one to one mentoring, articial intelligence platform they provide supports 11 Indian languages and is low cost . Hariharun M spoke about the platform Hicommands company provides in education sector. He explained how ICT implementation is usually conned to use of computers and projectors in the classrooms. He explained that his company specialises in emerging pedagogy and they train teachers to be comfortable with use of technology. They support interactive reinforcement, help teachers customise course to suit students and be part of learning process. With this the two day track on school education came to its closure. \\

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HIGHER EDUCATION TRACK

Tracking Innovations in Higher Education

www.eINDIA.net.in
SHEENA JOSEPH

The Higher Education Track brought together education leaders, academicians, and practitioners to discuss contemporary issues in higher education and to put together valuable information for addressing key challenges in this eld.
India has the nest of educationists and academicians who are experts not only in dissemeination of knowledge and practice but also in bringing about creative changes in the system to evolve a knowledge economy that is the best in the world. The Higher Educationb Track sought to deliberate on pertinant issues in policy and practice that will enable India to usher into an era of inclusive and innovative higher education. SYSTEMIC ENHANCEMENT OF LEARNING & TEACHING IN INNOVATION, RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT: POLICY AND PRACTICES Chair: C R Biswal, Principal Secretary, Higher Education Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh Panelists: Prof Srivathsan, Pro Vice Chancellor, IGNOU Dr V Balasubramanyam, Domain Consultant-Medical, elearning & Professor, Dept of Anatomy, St JohnsMedical College; Dr Srinivas Pentyala, Director of Translational Research, Stony Brook Medical Center, Stony Brook, New York; Dr Indraneel Ghose, Science & Technology Analyst, Delegation of European Union to India; Dr D N Reddy, Vice Chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru Technical University; MarcAlexis Remond, Director, Government, Education and Healthcare Solutions for Polycom Asia Pacic. The session highlighted that technology has become vital in order to make higher education more responsive to student needs. According to a recent survey, nearly two-thirds (63%) of survey
(L-R) Dr Srinivas Pentyala, Prof Srivathsan and CR Biswal

Education technology will become a core differentiator in attracting students and corporate partners. The National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning [NPTEL] has come a long way in opening up education to the masses.

respondents from both the public and private sectors say that technological innovation will have a major inuence on teaching methodologies over the next ve years. In fact, technology will become a core differentiator in attracting students and corporate partners. The National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning [NPTEL] has come a long way in opening up education to the masses through the use of technology.

125 video courses are available on YouTube and 130 courses on the web. Global developments in OCW, OKI, OER, Wikibooks, OCW-2, Open Access Publishing, Curriki, etc. have facilitated the process of spreading higher education through open source. Cloud Computing and FOSS suites are also available to reduce cost. Some of the challenges, like the shortage of quality faculty, need to be addressed

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Prof V N Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor, IGNOU

through greater encouragement to education research and effective utilization of funds allocated to higher education. EDUCATION LEADERS CONCLAVE: IMPERATIVES FOR GROWTH IN THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY

several educational institutions either already have foreign locations or plan to open them in the next three years. Distance education is also becoming increasingly global, with universities in the US and overseas leveraging advanced technologies to put education within reach of many more individuals around the world. In the era of the knowledge worker and the power of human capital, two key dimensions of knowledge economy were highlighted- that of existing stock of knowledge and, secondly, competence in the economy. While the role of the faculty is still to impart knowledge, there are many additional facets & responsibilities for the faculty of today. With increasingly sophisticated technology, there are numerous mediums available for imparting knowledge and education. There has to be a transition to suit the requirements of verbal to visual to virtual generation of students. GOVERNANCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION: ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY AND FUTURE TRENDS

Prof V K Pathak, Vice Chancellor, Uttarakhand Open University

Chair: Prof V N Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor IGNOU Panelists: Dr Rajneesh Arora, Vice Chancellor, Punjab Technical University; Prof V K Pathak, Vice Chancellor, Uttarakhand Open University; Dr R P Singh, Vice Chancellor, Sharda University; Prof Rajeev Sangal, Director, IIIT, Hyderabad; Brig(Dr) R S Grewal, Vice Chancellor, Chitkara University; Prof K S Rangappa, Vice Chancellor & Chairman, Karnataka State Open University.

Chair: Prof A K Bakshi, Director, Institute of Life Long Learning, University of Delhi Panelists: Dr R P Singh, Vice Chancellor, Sharda University; Prof Z H Khan, Director, FTKCentre for Information Technology, Jamia Millia Islamia; Dr M Roberts Masillamani, Dean Computing Sciences, Hindustan Insutute of Technology; Dr A P Wadegaonkar, General Manager Maharashtra Knowledge Commission Ltd; Dev Ramnane,, Director, Sales and Account Management, Excelsoft Technolgies Pvt. Ltd.

The session highlighted that the higher education system in India is increasingly responding to globalisation. Overseas presence of educational institutes will be the norm in the coming years. Today,

Dr Rajneesh Arora, Vice Chancellor, Punjab Technical University

The higher education system in India is increasingly responding to globalisation. Overseas presence of educational institutes will be the norm in the coming years.

The session put forth some of the emerging technologies that will impact teaching and learning in the future. These include network enabled class rooms and virtual learning environments. In the next 3 years collaborative web, mobile computing, e-books and cloud computing would play a larger role in facilitating education processes. Technology has been of late shaping the future of higher education. Online blended learning approach has paved the way for anytime, anywhere learning. The focus is to suit the learners requirements and introduce exibility into learning processes. Individualized degree programs have been created which is learner centric and customer driven. Web 2.0 tools can be used to achieve several educational goals. Blogs can be used to support the development of reective reporting and reective thinking and also help improve peer feedback.

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Discussion forums would facilitate enquiry based learning and enable sharing of wider range of learning resources. Wikis help support collaborative education and development of new resources. With the gradual change in the education system through technology, the role of the teacher is now shifting towards that of becoming a key facilitator of learning. ASSESSMENT, ACCREDITATION & QUALITY STANDARDS IN HIGHER EDUCATION: TECHNOLOGY LEADING THE WAY

Chair: Dr Darlie O Koshy, Director General, Institute of Apparel Management & Apparel Training & Design Centre ( AEPC) Panelists: Prof V K Pathak, Vice Chancellor, Uttrakhand Open University; Prof Srivathsan, Pro Vice Chancellor, IGNOU; Prof K S Rangappa, Vice Chancellor & Chariman, Karnataka State Open University; Amy Thomas, Learning Specilalist, Ecole Solutions; Satish Kaushal, Executive Director, Ernst & Young Pvt Ltd.

Moderator: Prof K S Rangappa, Vice Chancellor & Chariman, Karnataka State Open University Panelists: Dr Elizabeth Sherly, Director, Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management- Kerala; Dr Rajagopal, Regional Director, IGNOU; Biju Zachariah, Executive Vice President, Sales, MeritTrac.

Dr M Roberts Masillamani, Dean Computing Sciences, Hindustan Institute of Technology

According to Prof Rangappa, technological innovation is now changing the very way that universities teach and students learn. Technology has hadand will continue to havea signicant impact on higher education. The session highlighted several issues in higher education. The current Gross Enrollment Ratio in the higher education in India is 12% in the 18-23 age group, as compared to a global average of 24% and 30% in developed countries. There is a need to improve the quality of education in colleges. There has been a growing

awareness that universities have been reduced to admissions and examination control centres, and that increased attention has to be given towards quality research. Quality and accreditation in higher education are important parameters to ensure good standards in teaching and learning. It identies the producer and consumer and hence grants condence to both. Accreditation grants recognition by the consumer and also the product itself. The quality of education is the basic need of the society. There are number of effective teaching & learning methodologies in practice. Technology is the most effective way to increase the students knowledge. Nowadays ICT plays emminent role in the process of integrating technology into the educational activities. OPEN UNIVERSITY & DISTANCE EDUCATION: FLEXIBLE EDUCATION PRACTICES (SPECIAL IGNOU SESSION) The advances in information and communication technology provide great opportunities to enhance teaching and learning in higher education by both oncampus and distance education. Even

disabled students who are denied access to traditional institutions, and all those who require updating of their knowledge and life-long education can now be beneted by the modern facilities of communication. They also provide increased access to information sources and facilitate communication among researchers and teachers and the building of networks of institutions and scholars. The potential of open and distance learning are many. In efforts to meet the

Dr A P Wadegaonkar, Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation

With the gradual change in the education system through technology, the role of the teacher is now shifting towards that of becoming a key facilitator of learning.
Dr R P Singh, Vice Chancellor, Sharda University

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new and changing demands for education and training, open and distance learning may be seen as an approach that is at least complementary and under certain circumstances an appropriate substitute for the face-to-face methods that still dominate most educational systems. Through the open universities and distance learning initiatives, mechanisms are in place to upgrade skills at regular intervals and develop new competencies. Peoples needs of lifelong learning are constantly expanding. While its benets can be evaluated by technical, social and economic criteria, distance learning methods also have their own pedagogical merit, leading to different ways of conceiving knowledge generation and acquisition. To the learner, open and distance learning means more freedom of access, and thereby a wider range of opportunities for learning and qualication. The barriers that may be overcome by distance learning include not only geographical distance, but also other conning circumstances, such as personal constraints, cultural and social barriers and lack of educational infrastructure. Distance education is thought to be an effective way of educating people of all sections in society. STRENGTHENING CAPACITIES OF EDUCATORS: THE ICT WAY

Dr Elizabeth Sherly, Director, IIITM-K

Dr Rajagopal, Regional Director, IGNOU

Chair: Dr Rajneesh Arora, Vice Chancellor, Punjab Technical University Panelists: Uma Maheswari P, Assistant Professor, Dept of Media Sciences, Anna University; Amit Gupta, CEO, S Chand Harcourt; S Rajeev, VP Strategic Alliances Everonn Education Ltd; Amit Ranade, Manager Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation.

information in general. This availability of research material and information happens to both inspire and threaten teachers. Often the perception is that educators are not willing to adapt to new technologies as they feel threatened from the spurt of information. However, this perception needs to be changed through adequate training and bringing about greater familiarity with education technology for educators. A very critical role has to be played by teacher education institutions in providing the necessary leadership in adapting pre-service and in-service teacher education to deal with the current demands of society and economy. New pedagogies and tools for learning have to be adapted with the aim of enhancing the teaching-learning process. Moreover, teacher education institutions must also

give guidance in determining how the new technologies can best be used in the context of the culture, needs, and economic conditions of their country. MAINTAINING QUALITY STANDARDS IN ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT EDUCATION: KEY REQUIREMENTS

Chair: Dr Rajeshree Dutta Kumar, Senior Programme Ofcer, digitalLEARNING Panelists: Padmaja Naraharisetty, Principal Mentor CIHL, IIIT- Hyderabad; Peter Mozelius, IT-Pedagogue, Stockholm University; Prof Shweta Bhardwaj, Professor, IBS; Dr Rajneesh Arora, Vice Chancellor, Punjab Technical University.

Integration of technology in education would also mean training and capacity building of teachers in the same eld. Technology in education is not new, but modern computer technologies, such as the Internet, allow new types of teaching and learning experiences to ourish. Many new technologies are interactive, making it easier to create environments in which students can learn by doing, receive feedback, and continually rene their understanding and build new knowledge. Access to the Internet gives unprecedented opportunities in terms of the availability of research material and

Prof K S Rangappa, Vice Chancellor & Chairman, Karnataka State Open University

Engineering colleges have mushroomed in India over the past few years. The session focused on the need to ensure quality standards and for maintenance of a monitoring mechanism for engineering colleges across India. The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has been a prominent player in this eld, having set several parameters for technical education institutes. These parameters are in essence, the minimum requirements for any educational institute to be recognised. However, these guidelines have often been misrepresented by new educational institutes to suit requirements and set shop. There is a need for greater accountability among colleges to ensure that qualied, trained and industry ready students are churned out of these institutes. \\

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SKILL DEVELOPMENT & VOCATIONAL TRAINING TRACK

Roadmap for Building Globally Competitive Workforce

www.eINDIA.net.in
SHEENA JOSEPH

The increasing demand from the industry for skilled manpower has accentuated the need to address the gap between the demand and supply of trained labour force. The sessions in the Skill Development & Vocational Training Track sought to deliberate on crucial issues relating to the sector.
With the rising demand for formal skills and vocational training and education, a strong need has been felt by stakeholders to have a platform for deliberating certain pressing issues pertaining to skills and vocational training. The industries, not only from the region, but also from across the globe, have to address the challenges, along with the policy makers, thought leaders and the community. In this background, the Skill Development & Vocational Training track focused on few thematics, namely - skills and information literacy, PMs National Skills Mission, skills development and training, certication and quality assurance across education sector, role of training centres in providing youth employability and best practices in vocational education system. IMPORTANCE OF INDUSTRYUNIVERSITY SYNERGY IN SKILL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES (INSTITUTE OF ELECTRONIC GOVERNANCE SPECIAL SESSION) Chair: Amarnath Reddy, CEO, Institute for Electronic Governance Panelists: Matli Chandra Shekhar, Director, Institute for Electronic Governance; K V Vishnu Raju, Chairman, Sri Vishnu Education Society; Dr Raghava Cherabuddi, Chairman, CVR College of Engineering; Ajay Kapoor, Country Manager, Oracle Academy; Orungati Naresh Kumar, Symbiosis Technologies; Shalini S, Head-Learning and Development, Tata Consultancy Services; Ch Srinagesh, Campus Connect, Infosys Technologies Ltd, Hyderabad Development Centre; L Balasubramania, President, Skills Business Solutions, NIIT Ltd.

Amarnath Reddy (standing) and the panelists at the IEG Special Session on skill development

India remains the only country to provide the world with the largest youth population. Hence, strengthening skills and vocation sector becomes crucial. Building synergy between industry and academia has to be accorded high priority.

The session on vocational education and skills development began with the Jawahar Knowledge Centre (JKC) Programme for Skill Development and Training. The aim of the session was to understand why it is important to create and sustain an industrial interface with the Universities for skill development and vocational training programmes. The lacunae in formal education is lled in by developing skill capacities in the range

of non formal streams. Capacity building supply is linked to employment by the industrial demand. Four lakh students graduate out from the colleges and universities of the state of Andhra Pradesh. However, research studies have shown that low level of awareness of skills required for industries have resulted in not more than 10% of general graduates and 25% of engineering graduates being considered

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SKILLS AND VOCATIONAL LITERACY: TECHNOLOGY ENHANCED EMPLOYMENT (IGNOU SPECIAL SESSION)

manufacturing sectors of textile and apparel industries. NATIONAL SKILLS MISSION: DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES AND THE ROLE OF INDUSTRY

Chair: Dr Darlie O Koshy, Director General, Institute of Apparel Management & Apparel Training & Design Centre ( AEPC) Panelists: Dr S S Jena, Chairman, National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS); TVLN Rao, Deputy Director, Advance Training Institute for Electronic and Process Instrumentation, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Govt of India; Vivek Agarwal, CEO, Liqvid

Chair: B S Raghupathy, Joint Director, Employment and Training, Karnataka Panelists: Asfaq Ahmad, Deputy Director, Advance Training Institute; Yuvraj Galade, Vice President, National Skill Development Corporation; Sourav Banerjee, Senior Specialist, Education and Skill Development, USAID; Jasvider Singh, CEO, Words Worth

Dr S S Jena, Chairman, National Institute of Open Schooling speaks at the session

employable or are employed. There has been a strong realisation among the stakeholders towards the need for an effective synergy between industry, government and academia. To help realise this objective, the Andhra Pradesh government incorporated the Institute for Electronic Governance (IEG) to train young engineers to become knowledge workers. It was highlighted that although the number of engineering colleges have been on the rise, the employability of students and quality of the faculty has often been a point of debate. Quality infrastructure in engineering colleges and faculty competence needs to be checked to ensure skilled engineers. Communication skills and other soft skills including IT prowess are very important for those youth entering the job market. Institutes for training in foreign languages, as well as institutes to train students in English, are fundamentally important since many of the clients are from foreign countries, and students need to be skilled in language skills.

The session brought out certain basic facts about India in the skill development framework. Dr Jena pointed out that out of the population aged between 15-29 years, only 2% have formal vocational training, 8% have non-formal vocational training, and 93% of workforce are in the unorganised sector. New entrants to the workforce every year is 12.8 million. India has the youngest population in the world, with median age of 24, in the year 2000. The National Policy on Education provides for vocational stream in the higher secondary stage. About 5% of total student strength in higher secondary stage are in vocational stream, while the target under National Policy is 25%. According to TVLN Rao, skill and knowledge are the driving forces for economic growth and social development. The economy becomes more productive, innovate and competitive through skilled human potential. Darlie Koshy emphasised that it is essential to merge vocational skills training with mainstream education. The education and training arms of AEPC signed a MoU with Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) to expand the range of vocational education for apparel industry. The initiative has sought to improve skill base for both the domestic and export

The session brought out several focal points, including the need for renewed emphasis on skills development for a growing economy like India, especially by involving the private sector. The main challenge has been to ll the gap between the demand of the industry and supply of trained manpower. The National Skills Mission has set up a target of training 5 crore people by 2022. Involving the private sector would enhance the skill building capabilities, since training provided by them will be relevant and specic to market requirements.

(L-R) B S Raghupathy, Yuvraj Galade, Sourav Banerjee, Asfaq Ahmad and Jasvider Singh

The Jawahar Knowledge Center (JKC) has been an innovative endeavour to upgrade student skills to industry grade and in promoting the interaction between academia and industry.

NSDC has been given the mandate to facilitate the process of skilling 500 million people in India by 2022, mainly by fostering private sector initiatives in skill development programmes. This will be done through signicant industry involvement for upgradation of skills to international standards NSDC will enhance, support and coordinate private sector initiatives for skill development through appropriate PublicPrivate Partnership models and strive for signicant operational and nancial involvement from the private sector. \\

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