Constant Improvement is the Biggest Challenge

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November 19, 2012

Dr K T Mahi, Chairman, Sree Group, Sreenidhi International School and Sreenidhi Institute of Science and Technology, tells how the school is doing its bit for the society

Please tell us how Sreenidhi International School was started.
The genesis lay in the idea of creating something that would endure and make a small contribution to the society. The school was founded to realise a dream: to create an institution where there is no fear of education in the minds of the students, and where teachers do not pursue the teaching for any short-sighted gain.

The school has been in operation for a couple of years. Where does it stand now?
It stands poised, confident, eager to learn, prepared to take greater strides in all directions, and, above all, at peace with itself and perfectly self-possessed.

What is the biggest challenge of the school today, and what are you doing to address it?
The biggest challenge is to not stopping even for a moment in the journey to improve ourselves and learn new skills. Besides this, there are three other challenges:
1. Not to allow anything to make us deviate from our vision
2. Never become self-satisfied and rest on our laurels
3. Never forget our duty towards the students and the parents.

How is the school distinctive from other international schools?
We neither believe in competition nor do we compare. Running a school is not like participating in a beauty contest. We have our goal, vision and responsibility and we are focused on that.

Please share your vision for 2020.
Such visions do not take into account two things: First is the world of change: I do not know what will happen tomorrow. And second is too great a pre-occupation with the future that makes us neglect the present.
Moreover, a school is always an evolving vision that develops from conversations with parents, students and teachers. For me, 2020 is here and now, and so, we work towards making the school great every moment.

Colossal Growth Awaits K-12 Space in India

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November 19, 2012

A K Agarwal, Director, DRS Group, believes that schools must focus on personality development, good academics and exposure to the best in the world in order to deliver quality education. In conversation with Pragya Gupta

People need to change with time or time will change them

Please give us a little background about the school.
Starting this school was my father’s vision. We started this school in 2003. We had thought of starting a normal school, but my family wanted to make it international because in those days, there was not even a single school in Hyderabad. We thought of starting an International Baccalaureate (IB) school because there were hardly 4-5 IB schools in the country then. It was a grand success. Finally, we started Cambridge also in the same campus. And today, we have up till twelfth class and 1,150 students which is the full capacity of the school.
We focus not just on academics; it is the major core area of any educational institution or school. Our aim is to make it simpler, the way IB says it should be: practical, and based on projects and research. But it’s becoming common in the country.

What steps are you taking to ensure that your students have proper grooming?
In my opinion, schools can do wonders in the way they mould a child. For example, we feel that a student should know at least three languages apart from his mother tongue and the local language so that wherever in the world he goes, he should feel like a local person because he knows the local language. So we have started two more languages in addition to English: French and Spanish. The CBSE or IB does not say a school should teach these. Our objective is only to add to their communication skills and we don’t teach them reading or writing in these languages.
We have around 11 sports in the school and to find which of these is the most important in life, we spoke to around 10 people, and their answer was swimming. So we made it mandatory for each of our students to first learn swimming and only then can they join a second sport. And today, all the 1,150 students in our school know how to swim.

What steps are you taking to make the parents more involved in the educational process?
We give emphasis on involving parents in the school. Be it the rich or the poor, everyone wants his kids to be the best in the country. So we been doing a small exercise for the past six years in which our teachers visit the house of each of the 25 students we have in one class, at least once a year. The reason: we want to keep the teacher and the parents in close conjunction so that they can drive the student better. If my son is not doing well, I should feel free to talk to his teacher. And if the teacher wants any improvement at home, he can talk to the mother directly and not wait for PTMs, because they happen once in a quarter or once in two months. Today, our teachers are good friends with the mothers and jointly work towards the betterment of the students: a small thing but it improves the students a lot.
We do not want to run our school like a school, we want to run in a way so that students learn something from here, build their life here and remember that they have learnt a lot from here: relationships, bonding, humanity, helping nature, and sensitiveness: things that are required in every step in life. One who wants to get education can study in a government school or in a five-star school also. One who has to prosper, will. What is important in life is personal development and give priority to that.

What is your opinion about the role of technology in education?
Technology drives everything today. If we are teaching our students Geography, we cannot take them to the Moon and teach them about it. But we can show them everything practically with the help of technology. Technology helps students to understand concepts in a more practically manner. We can’t track or control the institutions manually every day. The system not only drives a company but also helps the students learn more, it may be LCD or an interactive board. Today, every student above ninth has a laptop. From third class onwards, we’re introducing tablets for students. The idea is as they see more, and thus learn more.

The overuse of technology has been challenged by a lot of people. What is your view on that?
What is already proved in the world is introduced in India after 6-7 years. Those who are opposing today will themselves implement it after a few years. They’ll be late in the industry but it’ll come. Without technology, we can’t improve. People need to change with time or time will change them. After five years, all the schools will be using tablets. Everyone wants to cut down the cost of printing books and this is one of the ways to do it. Moreover, if you are aware of the area where you are working in and the system you are implementing, you won’t have a problem. It is nothing but awareness. Maybe the people who are talking about this have less awareness.

Where do you think the school stands after the many years of its inception?
Achievement is only about satisfaction. We are personally very satisfied after starting the school because it makes us feel that we are giving something back to the country and its people. Tomorrow when these people become IAS or big businessmen, it would be an achievement for us.
We’ve also expanded our product into a franchise model. We have started a company called Edify Education Pvt Ltd to give franchisees in the country. There are three brands we are using in this company: Edify School, a K-12 school; Edify Kids, a pre-school; and MDN Future School, a low-budget school. All the schools will have the same system, the same quality of education and the same concept which we have implementing in our school in Hyderabad. The difference is only in the fees and facilities. The aim is personality development, good academics and exposure to the world.
Today, we have 12 operating Edify Schools and 175 pre-schools. We have signed another 20 K-12 and another 25 pre-schools. There is a big market and we are growing very fast. In the next five years, we will have around 100 K-12 schools and 200 pre-schools in the country.

Do you have any plans to expand it to the higher education segment?
No. Many people are foraying into the higher education sector already. In Hyderabad, for example, at least 50 percent of the seats in colleges are vacant. In India, what is required is K-12 education. We have lesser K-12 schools in the country when compared to their demand, and more engineering or MBBS colleges. And this school is a bigger project than any engineering college because an engineering college can only teach 350-400 students whereas a school can teach a minimum of 1,200. Each of the schools that we are starting will target 1,640 students.
According to a survey by the Education Department, we need around 8,000 schools every year. And we are hardly opening 200. So for the next five years, we only want to focus on K-12.

Is it difficult to control the quality in franchise model?
Yes, it is difficult, but if they are investing `15-20 cores in education, they’re obviously equally concerned and focused. In pre-schools, it’s a small project of `10 lakh and they don’t bother if something happens. But in K-12, if anything happens, the whole brand gets spoilt. And we have appointed an MNC to check the quality of every school every year. They give feedback to every school which helps us in maintaining the quality. As of now, we’re very happy with the performance of the schools.

What is the criterion if someone is interested in taking a franchise?
In K-12, minimum five acres of land, an investment of Rs 15 crore approximately in a span of 4-5 years, one family member or promoter for a span of at least five years in the school, the reason why they want to start the school and that’s the most important criterion. People shouldn’t start a school just because they have the money. We also look if the area in which the school is being started will attract enough demand.

What is your vision for education 2020?
In addition to new schools and pre-schools, we also plan to start an MBA and a law college and make it one of the best in the country, along with five training schools for teachers. We are also starting one teachers’ training college in Hyderabad this year where we will have a diploma course for them, and definitely plan to start five in India by 2020. Apart from this, we also plan to start at least 10 libraries in all the big cities of the country by 2020. The objective: people will become more knowledgeable and their communication skills and thought process will improve.

Kudos to Inspirational Teaching

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November 19, 2012

It is the quality of teachers and the kind of learning being imparted that is critical in bringing about a transformational change in the society, opines Meena Ganesh, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Pearson Education Services

Please tell us about Pearson Education Services and Pearson Teachig Awards.
Pearson has been working in a number of areas in education. We work with schools to provide them digital classrooms. We have been providing students with various services for preparation in entrance and board exams. Apart from that, we run a network of schools called Pearson Schools. We have 30 regular schools across the country and follow the CBSE curriculum. We have been intimately associated with schooling and K-12 spaces in multiple angles, so we thought it was appropriate to reach out in a way that will help students deal with learning practices in classrooms better.
We are very blessed because of the kind of support that teachers have been giving us. They showed us the right path and gave us direction. We felt we should do something very exquisite and that is why we introduced the Pearson Teaching Awards. We want to recognise teachers and hear their inspiring stories and hope that other teachers also get inspired.
Pearson Teaching Awards aim to reach out to all corners of India. The goal is to identify, recognise and felicitate teachers who go beyond the administrative call of duty to deliver extraordinary content in innovative, inspiring and path-breaking ways that maximise the engagement of their students. Also, and helps in eliciting their creative potential. We want teaching to be seen as a very exciting profession once again.

Who are your target audience and the geographical reach of this?
The award gives recognition to excellent teachers from all regions and communities of India and highlights their contribution in nation building. It also helps in making a better society through inspirational teaching.
It is a pan-India award, so we are encouraging people from all over the country to come in and apply. We want all urban, rural, private and public to apply and be a part of this award ceremony. We are not restricting to teaching only academic subjects. Apart from the core academic subjects and languages, we also have awards for other categories like sports, arts, crafts, music and other co-curricular activities. Not just this, we also have an award for teachers for special children.
Also, there are awards for innovative teachers who have brought technology or any innovative method of teaching into their classrooms.

What is the criterion on which the nominations and the entries will be evaluated?
We have a very detailed process and the partners are the Digital Empowerment Foundation who will help us run the process. NDTV is the media partner. In terms of the process, it’s a detailed questionnaire that has to be filled in by the teachers and then ratified by the principal of the school in which they work. It talks about what subjects you teach, how long you have been teaching, how many students you have taught, and what you have done differently which influences the children and the kind of change that they are going to make. We will be ensuring that all nominations are authentic and all projects are verified on the kind of impact they are going to make.

What is the time period that has been given to the teachers?
The award applications are open till the middle of November. The awards will be announced by the end of December.

How is the response till now?
The response has been very good. We have just opened it and we have already received a lot of nominations. Website hit rate is also very high. NDTV has been helping us in promoting the awards.

How Pearson is going to contribute in the overall growth story of the education sector in India?
India has a really solid education system and people see it as a major tool to alleviate the societal position. The government also understands that the private industry needs to play a big role in further strengthening this edifice. At the end of the day, it is the quality of teachers and the kind of learning being imparted that is critical in bringing about a transformational change in the society.

Technology Enables Effective Learning in the Classroom

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November 19, 2012

Technology is a tool for steering education towards creative thinking, opines Adilakshmi C, Principal, Oakridge School, in conversation with Rozelle Laha

Please share with us the school’s initiatives.
Oakridge continues to be in tune with time and we strive to incorporate the techniques useful for the children to have effective learning. We train our teachers continuously. And the best schools are those that have continuous upgradation of their teachers through the training processes as they are the facilitators of imparting knowledge in the classrooms.

Why did you shift from a CBSE school to being an International school?
Since the inception of the school, we wanted to have a smart school and make technology an important tool for teaching in the school. The school has the best smart classes, multimedia and computers and equal emphasis is laid on training the teachers in using the technology effectively. The school has seen a shift from blackboards to whiteboards, and the children have access to laptops and tablets.
The assignments are sent to the students in advance and some teachers also do flipped classrooms. The teachers record the lessons and send them to the children. The children watch the video of the lesson at home and have a fair understanding of the topic when they come to the classroom. Thus, the teaching method changes from teacher-centric to discussion-centric. In the flippedclassroom-style of learning, the time in class is used for discussions among the children and teachers.
The children are able to connect to other children in the world through Skype. With the availability of the Internet, children are taught the concept of framing the right questions so that they can search the right information from the Internet.

How do you see the future of school education with the advent of ICT tools?
The most important thing in education is that the children should learn and understand the core content of the lesson. They should acquire the domain knowledge without any hiccups.
In the near future, the change will happen in the delivery of the knowledge to the children. There are various types of learners in the class and technology helps them in learning effectively.

How often should technology in e-Learning be upgraded?
Technology needs to be upgraded so that the children get more opportunities to inculcate creative thinking. The children should have confidence and should learn to communicate well. Technology gives them a medium to express themselves and explore the depth of their inquisitiveness. Technology has to be continuously upgraded to keep pace with the requirement.

Please tell us about your teachertraining programmes.
We put a lot of effort in building our faculty. The teachers are always in sync with the latest pedagogy techniques and philosophy of the school. Thus, they are able to deliver effective learning in the classroom based on these principles. All teachers have to undergo mandatory hours of training on the effective use of technology deployed in the classrooms.

How can we bridge the gap between the government and international schools in terms of technology deployment?
The awareness of computers in CBSE and government schools is rapidly rising as they have also come to realise the importance of using technology in their schools. With the launch of Akash tablets, the deployment of cost-effective solutions in education will come forth so that everyone can benefit from the use of technology.

Competence Follows Character Development

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November 19, 2012

“No teacher training programme is customised for any particular institution. If the aspirations of an institution are high, they have to encourage their teachers,” says Seetha Murthy, Principal, Silver Oaks School, Hyderabad, in conversation with Rozelle Laha

Please tell us about special feature of Silver Oaks School?
We, at Silver Oaks, believe that the character of an individual comes first and then comes competence. Today, after seven years, I can say proudly that all the 2,000 students and 200 teachers we have are very responsible in terms of their approach towards life. In terms of competence, I would not mind if you are weak in a particular subject, but I would want you to be a risk taker and work harder on in subject.

What made you to make a move towards International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum?
There is a special philosophy behind it. IB concentrates more on a child’s profile; it is child-centric. Also, there has been a phenomenal transformation in the school after that. We did not move to IB to get the international tag.

How have you implemented ICT in your education model?
We do not have very high tech gadgets in the classrooms, but every classroom has a system and Internet access. The teachers use it to show the world to the children. We do not have textbooks, as there is no prescribed curriculum. We strike a balance between the curriculum and the methodology. In the classrooms, the teachers and the students form a small group and find out how research in scientific phenomenon works in countries like Australia, Switzerland etc. The monitor is used to stimulate the audio visual sense of the education.

Today’s students are more technologically advanced as compared to the teachers. How can this gap be filled?
Students have their own websites these days. A lot of them know how to upload videos too. So, there is a lot of gap between the children and the teachers. It may be a generation gap, but technology has definitely accentuated their learning. We also give time-to- time training to the teachers in a softwareoriented format for teaching in classrooms.

There is a lack of quality teachers’ training programmes in the country. How can the schools address this problem?
You cannot find the best skilled people anywhere in the world, be it a school or any other institution. When we interview a teacher, we only look at his attitude towards learning and his openmindedness.

We should stop complaining that we do not have enough trained teachers. The teacher training colleges that train the teachers to cater to the present generation are in reality, imparting training only to teach the students of 1980s. There is a lack of teacher training colleges to make the teachers ready to teach in the present day schools. Schools should train the teachers according to their needs.

Green is the New Mantra for Indian Education System

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November 19, 2012

The process in India education needs to change to empower the academician to validate everything. Currently, it is the clerks and bureaucrats who are empowered, opines K S Muralidhar, CEO, Learnsmart India

How do you visualise modern education? What is the way ahead with the help of digital tools?
For many reasons, education in this era can only happen with digital tools. One is the lack of training the teachers. Digitisation of learning is required to learn or assess or learn through assessment.
We learn through assessments. So how do you assess what you have learnt? You learn, but you don’t know how much you have learnt. That’s why our tagline is: ‘Do you know how much you know?’ If I know how much I know, I can take the next step forward.

How can we rectify ourselves through the learning process?
You need to know where you are going wrong at every stage and what the shortfall in the learning mechanism is. The online system that we have developed tells you on the spot the mistake you’ve made and the way forward. So there will be no backlogs.
In the Indian education system, there are many backlogs. For example, if you’ve been taught a chapter, before you understand that chapter completely, you’re already being taught the third or fourth chapter. The aim of the teachers is to complete the syllabus. There should be no delay or spoon-feeding.

Today, if the teachers are at 1.0, the students have reached 3.0. How do you think this gap can be bridged?
Today’s generation is computer-savvy and much more advanced than the teachers when it comes to technology. But, the teachers who graduated years back will have to change their mindsets and logic to understand the challenges ahead of them.

How has the model you have created resolved the problem of power in India?
Necessity is the mother of invention. We analysed that even the best content and self-analysis reports would be futile if we did not reach to a school. Even today, most of the schools do not have power. We branded our product as 24X7guru.com, aiming at giving green labs with clean and green energy to schools 24X7. And for students, it’s a full cycle of learning on alternate power.
If you are waiting for power to be generated, it will take about 15-20 years. Solar and wind power are recognised worldwide. We only need to have a standalone system. One kV power is enough for a school with 10 computers and lights. That would need a bare minimum investment, and can go on for at least 10-15 years.

Please tell us a little more about the model.
In the project, we will have energy efficient computers. The computers that we generally have consume because they consume up to 150 watt, whereas the energy-efficient computers will take only 25 watt. And using LED lights means saving more power. If we don’t use energy-efficient computers and lights, the energy consumption will go up to at least 5 kV. To generate more power, the capital cost will increase.

What is the cost of implementation?
We should be able to generate 1 kV power in `7-8 lakh. This is enough to power at least 4-5 computers, LED lights and fans.

Please tell us about your ongoing pilot projects.
We visited Navodaya School in Gachibowli, Hyderabad, to test the project. It is completely green and has 20 energy-efficient computers. Today, the school is not paying a single rupee for its power consumption. The government of Assam has also asked us to do this as a pilot project in 10 schools in the state. If this model is successful, all the panchayats will be connected properly and e-Governance will happen.

Which state governments have you approached for this?
We have approached the government of Andhra Pradesh and they have shown a positive response. They have also sent a proposal to the government of India for fund sanction. If our project in Assam is successful, the project will be implemented in at least 400 schools.We are approaching other state governments also.

There are e-Labs in the NKN model of exchanging knowledge. What is your opinion on that?
Technology is moving at a very fast pace and the level of collaborative learning has come up. 24X7guru.com will be on that platform.

Surging Demand for e-Learning Solutions

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November 19, 2012

The highly competitive world of global business is driving the demand for e-Learning solutions
By Veena Raizada, Director Academics, Next Education India Pvt Ltd

The distance education market in India is expected to grow at 24 percent during 2011-16

The ever-changing world of technology has transformed the lives of the young and the old alike. Smartphones, Wi-Fi, 2G and 3G technologies, and Web2.0 and 3.0 have revolutionised the way we interact within and beyond our world.
Google says around 40 million Indians access the Internet through their mobile phones and download 30 million apps in one week.
The impact of technological innovations is growing exponentially. This has brought in a radical change in the attitudes of the people, and in the way they interact with each other. It has, indeed, given birth to a “digital population”, and ushered in an e-Learning revolution that thrives not only in the K-12 segment but in institutions of higher learning and in the corporate world too.
On the thriving milieu of e-Learning activity, demand for customised e-Solutions for m-Generation will continue to surge and e-Business industry is bound to grow in India.
Research shows that there are about 100 companies of varying size and scale in India in the e-Learning sector. Delhi/NCR leads with 25 percent followed by Mumbai at 20 percent.
According to marketsearch.com, “The e-Learning market in India was valued at `18.41 trillion in 2010-11, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 20 percent in the near future.”
The report, Indian Distance Learning Market Analysis, projects the distance education market growth in India at 24 percent during 2011-2016.
The factors driving the growth of e-Learning solutions in Indian education include the projected increase in the population of young Indians (243 million in 2008 to 293 million by 2022), increasing awareness about education, huge demand-supply gap of teaching faculty (shortage of 12 lakh teachers at present), lack of infrastructure (2,500 schools to be set through PPP to support government initiatives in XII Five-Year Plan), and lack of skills for the jobs in various segments.
The demand for e-Learning solutions and effective delivery platforms with tools will undoubtedly keep growing as the missions Right to Education, Education for All, and No Child Left Behind continue to be the challenges for Indian education.
e-Healthcare, web-based services to extend quality patient care, treatment and knowledge management are propping and demand extensive support of trained professionals for e-Governance of hospitals and services.
e-Literate Indians opt for shopping online. “Indian e-Retail market is expected to be more than INR `10,000 crore by 2015,” reports Companies Revenue Analysis & Forecast to 2015, Bharat Book Bureau. Indians e-Tailing thrust in future will seek e-Learning tools and solutions for training talent to monitor customer satisfaction.
The market also thrives with the advent of flexible learning, virtual classrooms, conferences, web seminars, customised content solutions, instructor- led training, blended learning, augmented learning and simulations across business domains and functions.
Though e-Governance in India is a challenge with low literacy and socio-economically weaker lots, yet measures at all levels are heading towards a better future.
To conclude, the transition to knowledge-based professional services cannot happen without adequate effort in training talent. Time constraints and cost effectiveness call for rapid e-Learning solutions with low cost interactive, adaptable learning tools facilitating executive and operative performance to enhance service industries.
Education industry, be it e-Learning solutions or tools supporting flexi-learning, is a supporting element of growth. Even in times of a gloomy world economy, e-Learning is here to stay.

Andhra Pradesh Making Srides in Education :: November 2012

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November 19, 2012

EDITORIAL
A Digital Paradigm for Education

GUEST EDITORIAL
Funding Higher Education

CONTRIBUTORY EDITORIAL
Higher Education in AP Up for Change

INTERVIEW
Implementing ICTs will Make Education System Wholesome
Prof Ramakrishnan Ramaswamy, Vice Chancellor, University of Hyderabad

ODL Makes Learning Flexible
Dr P Prakash, Vice Chancellor, B R Ambedkar Open University

Students Should be Taught Employability Skills
S Sampathy, Deputy CEO, Siva Sivani Institutes

Glocalising India
Sri Krishna, Managing Director, Birla Edutech Ltd

Pre-Schooling Takes a Giant Leap
Priya Krishnan, CEO, Klay Schools

K-12 INTERVIEW
Educating Beyond the Classroom
Kavita C Das, Principal, St John’s High School, Chandigarh

Competence Follows Character Development
Seetha Murthy, Principal, Silver Oaks School, Hyderabad

Technology Enables Effective Learning in the Classroom
Adilakshmi C, Principal, Oakridge School

Colossal Growth Awaits K-12 Space in India
A K Agarwal, Director, DRS Group

Constant Improvement is the Biggest Challenge
Dr K T Mahi, Chairman, Sree Group, Sreenidhi International School

Education is All-Compassing
Nancy S Nanavaty, Academic Director, Phoenix Greens International School

Towards a Holistic Education System
Prashant Jain, Founder Director, Pathways Group of Schools

Preparing Students for Future
A Murali Mukund, Secretary, Jubilee Hills Society & Chairman, Jubilee Hills Public School

Quality Education should be Accessible to All
Anirudh Gupta, CEO, DCM Schools

K-12 GUEST ARTICLE
Indian Education Needs to Hit the Bull’s Eye
Dr T Venu Gopal Rao, Academic Director, Fusion International School, Hyderabad

CORPORATE DIARY
Enhancing Higher Education
Akshat Srivastava, Managing Director, Enhance Education Pvt Ltd

Kudos to Inspirational Teaching
Meena Ganesh, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Pearson Education Services

ACADEMIA SPEAK
Every Educationist Should be a Change Agent
Dr V K Swamy, Principal, St Joseph’s PG College, Hyderabad

EVENT REPORT
TAISI Conference Decodes the Language of Learning

INDUSTRY SPEAK
Skill Development for Higher Education
Dr Haresh Tank, Director, Station-e Language Labs

Surging Demand for e-Learning Solutions
Veena Raizada, Director Academics, Next Education India Pvt Ltd

CORPORATE DIARY
Affordable Smart Content for Digital Education
Ivan Vazquez, Country Director, Netex Knowledge Factory

Green is the New Mantra for Indian Education System
K S Muralidhar, CEO, Learnsmart India

SPECIAL FEATURE
Gateway to Education Mpowerment through Technology

POLICY MATTERS
We are Capable of Providing World Class Training in IT Related Subjects
Ponnala Lakshmaiaha, Minister of Information Technology & Communications, Government of Andhra Pradesh

Right to Education The Way Ahead
K Parthasarathy, Minister for Secondary Education

Enhancing Higher Education

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November 19, 2012

“The Indian education sector is constantly evolving and we want to be a part of this change and lead from the front. We strongly believe that a right mix of traditional teaching methods and adoption of technology is imperative to help the Indian Education sector,” says Akshat Srivastava, Managing Director, Enhance Education Pvt Ltd, in conversation with Pragya Gupta

Through the use of technology, millions of students can be given certification and skill upgradation programmes that can foster lifelong learning

Please share the genesis of Enhance Education in India.
Enhance Education was formed to address the technology pain points in the Indian higher education system. The core team consists of people with deep understanding of technology.
The vision of the company is to provide platforms to the higher education vertical that improve their processes, help both students and administrators, and generate more revenue from existing streams. Our focus is on enabling the use of technology on campus to help all the stakeholders within the ecosystem.

How do you enhance education through technology? Also please tell us how you address the challenges of educational institutes with your technology solutions.
We have launched our collaboration platform My Open Campus that is geared towards the needs of the Indian campuses. The platform provides features like online student database and profile management, online assessments, placement and internship opportunities coupled with a complete secure collaboration solution.
We help the college right from the admission of a student to his life inside the campus and then onto placement. The platform smoothens the interaction between the various stakeholders including administrators, faculty, students, alumni and corporates. It is a structured and moderated platform where we add value to each and every facet of the campus.
We have noticed that most colleges in India use technology solutions that are piecemeal – My Open Campus plans to create a structured online ecosystem that gets all these disparate systems into one easy to use platform. The platform is free to use for any educational institute ranging from large universities to coaching classes to specialised colleges.

Enhance Education is planning to come up with online certifications for skill enhancement. Please shed light on the solution.
We are partners of National Mission of Education in ICT (NMEICT) and National Programme on Technology Enhance Learning (NPTEL) and help extend their offering across our partner colleges. More than 12,000 hours of premium content created by the IITs under NPTEL is available on our portals, along with learning ecosystem meant to help students enhance their knowledge through intensive interactions.
We will soon be launching online skill enhancement and certification courses through leading universities and other certification agencies. Students will be able to get industry-certified courses on My Open Campus that will help them advance their careers. The idea is also for a student to have an online repository of courses that they have done or participated in. This online profile can be embedded in their resumes which will then be opened to corporates across India. We understand that it is only through the use of technology that millions of students can be given certification and skill upgradation programmes.
To start off, we will be having vocational certifications that add value to core degree courses that students complete. However, over the next three years, we plan to add several mainstream higher education courses to the roster. Overall, within next three years, we plan to offer 100 different course certifications to students.

What are the products and solutions offered to the education sector?
We have launched two portals – My Open Campus and My Open Courses. Both are geared to the higher education vertical. My Open Courses offers lectures created by NPTEL. We have created an interactive platform where students can watch these lectures and also interact with the creators of these videos, as well as with other students. They can get their queries answered and also extend help to their peers.
My Open Campus is a secure collaboration platform that is ‘white labeled’ for a college. It has all the features that an educational institute needs right from admission to placements and also creating a vibrant alumni network.
My Open Courses has been launched less than two months back and we have seen tremendous response from students. Already, more than 10,000 students and mentors login to the site on a daily basis. We have an average time spent of close to 20 minutes per student.
In the last couple of months, 25 large educational institutes have embraced My Open Campus totaling over one lakh students on the platform already.

Educating Beyond the Classroom

Magazine

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

November 19, 2012

Educators should approach teaching as a ‘vocation’ and not simply as a ‘profession’, opines Kavita C Das, Principal, St John’s High School, Chandigarh, during her conversation with Mansi Bansal

Please tell us about the growth story of St John’s Schools. What’s your mission and vision?
We were incepted in the year 1959 when the Christian Brothers were invited by the then government to begin a school in Chandigarh. Today, more than 50 years later, St John’s has introduced a senior secondary wing and grown from an initial strength of about 100 boys to more than 2,000.
We are an Edmund Rice Educational Institute and work at forming a community composed of students, teachers, parents, management and other staff.
The central purpose of the school community is the religious, moral, intellectual, physical and social education of the student. This community seeks to create an atmosphere of genuine care and concern for its students.

What distinguishes St John’s from other schools?
St John’s is different from other schools because it teaches its children to have a heart. We give a lot of emphasis to value education and it is not confined to the classroom alone. Our outreach programmes inculcate in our students a deep sense of compassion and a moral responsibility for those less fortunate. It is this ability to reach out to others that will truly impact our society and make a worthwhile difference.

What are your views on the various government policies like the RTE and CPE?
The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 is the work of a visionary who has striven to bring about a paradigm shift in education in our country. Change, unfortunately, is always treated with suspicion.
If CCE is implemented in the spirit in which it was introduced, it will allow children to develop in an all-round manner. Education will no longer be a rat race for marks alone. CCE will allow education to be seen as a healthier approach for the all-round development of children.

How do you think will ICT enhance learning?
Whilst ICT integration enhances the quality of learning, we should not consider it the be-all and end-all of teaching. Education goes beyond ICT and is essentially, a matter of the heart. That human factor can never be replaced.

Please elaborate on the digital solutions you are using in the school.
St. John’s has two fully-equipped computer laboratories with the latest software. We also have a multimedia room, which is kept updated with the most recent programmes designed to assist learning. Not just this, our students design the most innovative teaching presentations as part of their projects and these are also integrated into the library.

Do you think IT will help the education sector to progress and reach to the last mile?
So long as there are dedicated teachers and a committed government to spread education, the roots of learning will spread with or without IT.

What are the key elements that make for the visionary schools of the 21st century?
The greatest key element that will make for the visionary schools of the 21st century is when the educators take up teaching as a ‘vocation’ and not simply as a ‘profession’. Teaching has to go beyond the mere goal of imparting of knowledge.

What’s your message to the parents?
Parents need to open up to the inputs from teachers. Only when the school and the parents work together with trust, the child will grow and benefit.

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