Finding Out Reasons

Implementing Agency
ASN Sr Sec School

Website
www.asnschool.org

With the intention of sensitising the people of Delhi on the atrocious state of River Yamuna, the school organised a six day event. Seeing the plight of Yamuna River, which has been declared as a ‘dead river’ by WHO, ASN Sr Sec School (ASN) resolved to come up with many more awareness programmes. Such projects are necessary to senstise students and society to know about the importance of clean reasons behind the degradation of the river environment.

Objective
To increase the awareness among students about the environmental issues.

Achievements
• It worked out as a practical way of bringing the students close to the nature
• The whole school was involved in this project, thus the students learned to work as a team.

Target Group: The Youth of  Today-School children

Challenges: There were several financial constraints in organising this on a mega scale. We overcame this problem by involving NGOs and Corporate houses who provided financial assistance. Getting pure water from Yamunotri in the Himalayas was a big challenge. After that we had to book IG Stadium for12000 odd spectators. So there were several logistical issues involved. Inviting the various judges for 70 different competitions was also a difficult exercise.

Ladders for Learning

Implementing Agency
Shanti Asiatic School, Ahmedabad

Website
www.shantiasiatic.org

The I Cube Learning Ladder is an unique teaching-learning methodology that has been adopted in Shanti Asiatic School, Ahmedabad, for creating a joyful school environment that will generate happy, righteous and quality individuals, equipped to make right choices in life and grow up to be responsible citizens of the world. The I Cube Learning Ladder is woven in the strong belief in the theory of ‘Think Global but Act Local.’ It is dedicated to bringing about a global vision in the students.

Objective
• To make a child inquisitive about a subject
• To ensure that the curiosity developed is sustained
• To build a healthy inquiry based learning approach

Achievements
• Message of awareness was broadcasted across the region

Target Group: Students of Class I to X

Challenges: The first key challenge we face was in development of the methodology. We had to train the trainer so that he could impart further training to the students.

The Cafe

Implementing Agency
Mahatma Gandhi International School

Website
www.mgis.in

The Cafe Project is a pedagogical initative undertaken by Mahatma Gandhi  International School, Ahmedabad. The focus of this project is running the community kitchen in schools. It offers several opportunities for learning traditional subjects like cooking. Under this Cafe project, one is able to address several subject competencies through a meaningful and fun filled approach.

Objective
• To bring fundamental learning for survival (food) in the mainstream education of K-12 schooling
• To integrate innovative and experiential pedagogy to teach subject

Achievements
• Students voluntarily opted for a healthy diet due to heightened awareness
• Students understood important principles of hygiene and safety

Target Group: K-10 Students

Challenges: The students and the teachers have to be careful with the tools being used in the café. They have to have full knowledge of the working of the tools and the systems. Fire related hazards  are also an issue. Another key challenge we faced was related to  infrastructure, which had to be developed in such a way that the entire class  could be accommodated in the kitchen premises. Time management is also a  cause for concern. The project had to be designed in such a way that the  younger children could be given extra training in safely cutting and chopping vegetables.

Reinventing Partnerships

Implementing Agency
IBM India Pvt Ltd

Website
www.ibm.com

The IBM Reinventing Education (RE) programme is driven with the motivation of enhancing the quality of schooling. The project works in partnership with the local governments in various countries. Launched in 1994, this programme is now available in 25 cities throughout the United States, as well as in Australia, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Singapore, China, India, etc. It is a holistic model for teachers’ professional development and child centric learning aligned to national goals.

Objective
• To improve the quality of teaching and learning in the secondary school sector

Achievements
• Teaching moved from teacher-centred to child-centred active learning
• Drop-outs rejoined in school after seeing their friends ‘enjoying’ the learning experience

Target Group: Secondary school teachers, students and school heads in selected government schools

Challenges: The major challenge that the company faced in the initial stages was due to the lack of ICT integration in teaching learning process. Also in government schools there is hardly any opportunity for teachers to take up continuous skill development. We overcame these challenges by taking various steps to reinvent the education programme.

Imparting Shiksha

Implementing Agency
Microsoft Corporation (India) Pvt Ltd

Website
www.microsoft.com

Project Shiksha, a part of Microsoft’s PiL programme, aims to incorporate innovative methods to provide new avenues of social and economic  empowerment for the underserved communities. With the help of ICT based education, teachers are able to integrate IT tools in their classroom teaching and thereby bring efficiency to the process of teaching. Till date, this project has trained over 6,94,426 government school teachers who in turn have impacted over 32 million students by making ICT a part of their teaching.

Objective
• Bringing innovation in the teachinglearning process in a classroom
• Empowering the teachers with ICT skills
• Digital inclusion

Achievements
• The reach of the Project Shiksha is across 12 states in India
• Microsoft has trained over 6, 77, 000 government school teachers till date, who in turn have impacted over 32 million students

Target Group: Government school teachers

Challenges: A major challenge came from the fact that teachers were not that eager to pick up new skills. Some of them argued that they were due for  retirement in a few months or a year or two and did not foresee the necessity  of picking up new skills so late in their professional lives. Lack of infrastructure for the running of the programme was also an issue. Even when a computer lab came into being, the school

Active Teaching

Implementing Agency
RUMI Education Pvt Ltd

Website
www.rumieducation.com

Rumi Pre-Primary (PP) Curriculum with Active Teaching is a complete end-to-end pedagogical system that ensures optimal learning outcome. This system meets the needs of the school’s pre-primary section. The system works through the involvement of teachers and students. It operates across the classrooms, schools and geographies in a standardised, scalable, monitor-able model. The exercise gets conducted within the academic framework of the school.

Objective
• To support the school with a single system that includes books, teacher manuals, methodology, teacher training, monitoring delivery, and assessments

Achievements
• Successfully adopted across multiple states
• Trained over 800 teachers

Target Group: Schools at every level.

Challenges: Parents compare their child with others in their friend/family circle and are concerned if their child has not learned as many alphabets or numbers. The product therefore had to meet the expectations of parents who are very discerning, when it comes to the educational needs of their own children. At parent teacher meetings, parents were sensitised of the fact that basic skills like gross motor, fine motor, kinaesthetic, reasoning etc. are important for all round development of the child. We also faced challenges due to different educational background of the parents.

MoU Between Students and School

Implementing Agency
Salwan Public School

Website
www.salwangurgaon.com

The entire idea was conceptualised with a simple proposal. The students of the school wanted a month long celebration on the occasion of children’s day. The Principal agreed on a simple condition that there should be improvement in academics and behavioural aspects of the students. The idea behind the project was to empower all stakeholders and enhance a range of leadership skills. A think tank team was formed to plan the event.

Objective
• To enhance knowledge sharing
• To instil the sense of camaraderie and collective responsibility

Achievements
• Self Discipline generated by peer monitoring especially by the Shadow Council
• The list of defaulters in the discipline register drastically reduced.
• Workshops on communication skills helped in developing inter-personal skills

Target Group: Management, Parents, Students, Faculty, Support Staff and Community at large

Challenges: It was a mammoth task to successfully manage the initiative. Initially when the collaborative framework was read in the assembly, few students refused to sign as one of the clauses was to improve the academic performance by 5 percent. The members of the student council, shadow council and the faculty with the counsellor counselled the students. The House Captain also helped the new students improve their performance.

Towards Spiritual Intelligence

Implementing Agency
DLF Public School

Website
www.dlfps.com

Objective
Inspiring children to adopt the three important precepts of life – Morality, Mastery over the mind, and Wisdom

Achievements
• Students have been winning the Yoga World Cup for India for the five consecutive Years
• Many case stories of children who have benefitted immensely from this programme

The School follows the Vipassana Meditation regime- one of India’s most ancient non-sectarian and scientific techniques of meditation. It is a significant part of the school curriculum. The students practice ‘AANPANA Sati’, the meditation of in-and-out breathing following the Vipassana meditation regime twice every day, in the morning and in the afternoon. Each classroom is equipped with a Speaker. Thus, the entire School follows ‘Guided Meditation’. ‘Yoga and Meditation’ an important part of the School curriculum.

Target Group: Students of Class III to Class XII

Challenges: One of the major challenges had to do with management of the logistics. Each classroom had to be equipped with speakers to aid guided  meditation. We had to foster association with Vipassana Sadhana Sansthan to carry out a long term effective programme. Initially it was a challenge to get the teachers to meditate with the students. The teachers were quite resistant to even attending the Vippassana Meditation Camps. They had to be cajoled into attending the camps. Also it is a difficult task to make all the students attend the Yoga sessions.

Developing Research Skill

Implementing Agency
Mount Abu Public School

Website
www.mountabuschool.com

The success of teaching is determined principally by evidence of improvement of some kind in the students being taught. This project is based on the assumption that educational evaluation is a professional responsibility of the academic staff. It arises from a commitment to understanding the effects of teaching on the students. The most important point is that not all teaching innovation requires special funding. Some of the most useful innovations are simple, cost-neutral changes in style, structure and parameters.

Objective
• To develop thirst for gaining new knowledge
• To develop research skill among the children and the teachers

Achievements
• Children became extrovert and developed efficiency
• Developed critical thinking among the students
• Developed creativity and proficiency
• Improved ranks in English, Science and Maths Olympiads Cloud

Target Group: School Children , teachers and parents across the globe

Challenges: The crunch of resources was a major problem. Some students lacked enthusiasm. So there was lack of complete participation from students. At times, we faced problems related to punctuality and regularity. The concentration level of students also left much to be desired.

Social Media in Education

Implementing Agency
Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Vijayanagram

Website
N/A

Global economic and social trends over the past few decades have had profound implications on educational reform and the use of technology in schools. The pervasiveness of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have changed the way people live and made it necessary for educational systems across India to reinvent teaching and learning to prepare students with 21st century skills. Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Vijayanagram (JNVs) embarked upon the ICT journey to facilitate the integration of effective, existing, and emerging technologies in order to enhance learning opportunities for all students.

Objective
Provide increased opportunities for individuals to master basic and advanced technical, academic, and job-related skills

Achievements
• Virtual Room – Learncentral allowed students to attend a class from even outside the school like a real classroom
• m-Learning tool for especially visually and physically challenged

Target Group: School Leaders, Teachers and Students

Challenges: Making teachers and students familiar with the tools is by itself a challenge. Lot of training is needed to be provided during the initial days. The infrastructure had to be prepared. During Online Classroom Session unless everyone has fast Internet, things slow down if everyone turns on their webcam at once.

ICT Based Agri- Education

Implementing Agency
University of Colombo Institute for Agrotechnology and Rural Sciences.

Website
www.uciars.cmb.ac.lk

Agriculture is the mainstay of the rural sector in Sri Lanka. Farmers are resource poor and face constraints in gaining access to information and knowledge that could improve their crop productivity. To expose rural farmer to knowledge, University of Colombo has built an Online Diploma in Agro-technology in local languages. This is the first-ever attempt by Sri Lankan university system for giving opportunity for farmers to pursue further education through Open and distance learning. A prototype was developed and implemented with farmers all around the country.

Objective
To open new avenues to the rural farming community <

 Target Group:
Farmers, young entrepreneurs from rural areas, agriculture related professionals

Achievements
• Many Sri Lankan Farmers have started to use e-mail and internet information search
• Government authorities became to be aware of expansion need of the program

 Challenges:
 The difference in the age and levels of qualification of the farmers was a cause of many problems. This was solved by providing the farmers with one month of training in basic computational skills. Most farmers lacked computing skills, so we had to organise workshops to train them. Basic English language skills also had to be imparted.

Online Education

  Implementing Agency
Marss Education Private Limited

Website
www.imiedu.in

Marss, through its various initiatives like the Indian Management Institute, is working with Indian Universities for building digital courses and curriculum to meet the demands of the industry. The courses, the pedagogy, the methodology and the content, produced by the Indian Management Institute, are contemporary, relevant, practical, industry aligned and deep rooted. The online learning platform of Marss, complete with a host of audiovisual
content provides an excellent flexible learning platform to the students.

Objective
• To provide best quality education to the students
• To reach out to the under privileged areas, tribal section
• To realise vision of creating and crafting the University as a centre of excellence in education

Achievements
• Courses are based on the latest syllabi that is industry oriented, versatile and cover the latest technology of the stream.

Target Group:
Working professionals and fresh graduates.

Challenges:
A key challenge is related to the lack of penetration of computers. The organisation is attempting to  overcome this problem by offering free laptops or tablets to the students who enrol for the course. It is a challenge to convince people that online education can lead to betterment of knowledge and the thinking process. Now that IMI is providing university degree to its students, there is a new recognition of the value in distance education.

The e-Learning Platform

Implementing Agency
Sikkim Manipal University

Website
www.smude.edu.in

The EduNxt platform is an easy to use delivery system. It enables a collaborative and interactive environment for learning and includes small group mentoring, virtual classrooms, simulation, self-study content, recorded presentations and shared browsing.With a reach of over 400,000 students enrolled across 825 learning centres in India, EduNxt is the pinnacle of learning management system in India.

Objective:
To open a channel of communication between the 400 thousand students on the rolls of SMU-DDE in India.

Achievements:
• The EduNxt environment has shown a 260 percent growth in usage over the last year
• Students, Faculty and Industry Experts on a Single platform.

Target Group:
Students pursuing Higher Education at the Graduation and Post-Graduation Levels. Age Group – 18 to 50.

Challenges: It is a cause of concern that many of the students are not inclined towards usage of modern technology. As large percentage of our students are working professionals, they need access to their learning environment and their mentor’s during non-working hours. We addressed this by putting large number of content online which can be accessible anytime anywhere.

The e-Connect

Implementing Agency
Lovely Professional University (LPU)

Website
www.lpu.in

LPU e-Connect is a strong and secure online connection and common platform, specially made to cater to the needs of Distance Learners, that links the University, its study centres and its students located at different parts of the country and the globe. Based on enterprise web portal technology, it automates all the processes of distance education and minimizes the physical differences by providing 24×7 accessibility through its various useful features.

Objective:
To make online connection a boon for the students by providing them personalised learning environment.

Achievements:
• The University is able to save papers by developing completely paperless system of operation
• The system is now being used by more than 16000 users

Target Group:
Students and staff members at institutions.

Challenges:
Initially it was a challenge to provide help and support to many students based at study centres in different parts of the country. There was too much load on the server at some points of time. So we had to bring about improvement in the server architecture and set up clusters of servers at the backend. Bandwidth was also improved to ensure smooth functioning of the system. The acceptance of the system by end users is also important. Addressing the security and privacy related concerns was also a challenge.

e-Examination System

 Implementing Agency
Punjab Agricultural University

Website
www.pau.edu

Web based Examination System is secured with IP based policy and students are allocated with roll numbers for logging into the system. The Online Examination System is a web based application developed through an open source MySQL and PHP solutions. This customised software has been developed for dual degree students of PAU. This is run from an In–House Apache Webserver on their internal network. The examination consists of different types of multiple choice questions and subjective questions. The questions and time to attempt are fixed. The answers are evaluated and the marks obtained for each along with the answer given by the student are stored in the database. The examiner can get the results immediately. The software maintains the details for each student as well as provides a facility for editing the student details if required. There is password based access for individual answer sheets and general mark lists. This Online Examination System in PHP and MySQL can be modified and customized to suit the need of any Educational Institutions, Primary and Secondary Schools, Colleges, Professional and Vocational Institutes, Universities or Training Academies.

Objective:
To automatethe  examination procedure

Achievements:
• Online Sharing of Data, Records and information
• The system is now used by more than 10000 users

 Spreading Education

Implementing Agency:
Gedaref digital city organisation

Website:
www.community.telecentre.org/photo/albums/idea

Gedaref digital city organisation (GDCO) is a civil society in Sudan founded in partnership between Gedaref and Eindhoven communities. GDCO established projects target the illiterate children and young who are often outside the umbrella of mainstream education providers. The students study for two years and then are accommodated in fourth grade in e-school. After eight years of study, the student is given an international certificate from the Sudan National Telecentre academy (SuNTA) from the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) in India.

 Objective:
Connecting the unconnected in rural communities

Achievements:
• Added value e-services including agriculture extension, e-Sheppard, e-tanker, telemedicine
• Utilisation of Telecentres to reduce the cost of education and improve its quality

Target Group:
Children, youth, women and people with disability

Challenges:
The major challenge we faced is due to the fact that ICT is not part of our culture and it is not a priority. The poverty in the country also makes it difficult to undertake such projects for education. The cost of e-infrastructure is relatively high. At times children in rural areas are engaged in bringing water from  the river, so they hardly have the time to read and learn. Overcoming the digital divide is a challenge.

Elevating Employability

Implementing Agency
Aide – et – Action India

Website:
www.aide-et-action.org,
www.aeasouthasia.org

ILEAD tries to address the employment concerns of one half of the world’s poor who live in South Asia. Skills training is offered in about 30 areas, including Information Technology, Hospitality, Dress designing, Secretarial training, Beautician courses, Mobile Phone services and repair.

Objective:
To bring about a reduction in the number of households living below the poverty line Achievements  iLEAD along with Aide et Action has trained various international organisations like American Indian Foundation, Children International and a few others.

Achievements:
iLEAD along with Aide et Action has trained various international organisations like American Indian Foundation, Children International and a few others

Target Group: School and College drop-out youth from disadvantaged sections of the society between 18 – 25 years
of age.

Challenges:
Youth having biased choices of courses – The youth many a times tend to choose courses under the influence of either the family or friends. Such a selection of course leads to a mismatch between the skills of the youth and the course. Also it becomes difficult for the youth to retain in the course or on the job. To avoid this kind of a biased selection of courses, iLEAD has developed an Aptitude test for the youth. Along with the aptitude test, the youth are counseled about the course and the market demand.

Digi-library

 Implementing Agency
SoftTech Engineers Pvt Ltd

Website
www.elearningsofttech.com

SoftTech offers digital learning library covering more than 100 subjects in Vocational education streams. Vocational education covers skills as recommended by National Vocational Training under Director General of Employment & Training. These can be used by institutes and students to achieve their education/training objectives.

Objective:
• To bridge the gap between academic curricula and industry expectations.
• To bridge the gap in availability of qualified faculty in remote institutions.

Achievements:
• Success in generating more employable resources for the industry
• Adoption in ITIs from Himachal Pradesh

Target Group:
Vocational Institutes, Students.

Challenges:
Teachers from institutes were reluctant to adopt the new technology. SoftTech invested significant efforts to create awareness on its value as an effective learning and reinforcement tool which complements the role of teachers. Support to remote clients about installation was a big task due to lack of basic computer knowledge. Company has taken local support to overcome this issue. Later on remote applications are used to solve the problems. Due to variation in the syllabi throughout India there are difficulties in marketing of the digital library.

Education for The Professional

  Implementing Agency
Suryadatta Group of Institutes

Website
www.suryadatta.org

Suryadatta Group is devoted to vocational education programmes. The organisation has taken number of initiatives such as Computer Literacy Programme for Senior Citizens, Workshop by Mumbai Dabbawala, English & IT Awareness  Programme for Auto Rickshaw drivers etc. Suryadatta Group has hosted many activities spreading awareness amongst society as regards to fatal issues, inculcating employability skills etc.

Objective:
To enhance self esteem and improve the career prospects of participants

Achievements:
• These programme helped participants to enhance their self esteem
• The programmes increased employment opportunities for participants.

Target Group:
Housewives, school children, senior citizens, auto drivers, and other needy sections of society.

Challenges:
The idea of providing computer literacy to poorer sections is quite difficult as they have education related constraints and also time related issues. It takes lot of time and effort to help them develop the right kind of concepts. Even senior citizens find it difficult to pick up computer related skills.

Virtual Learning

Implementing Agency
Virtual Voyage Institute Of Design, Media and Management

Website
www.virtualvoyageworld.com

Virtual Voyage Institute of Media and Management is striving to provide world class training to students. The institute is focussed on creating job-ready individuals, who are skilled enough to work in modern industry. During the education process, the students are given ample opportunity to interact with industry.

Objective:
Virtual Voyage believes that concentrated production work combined with industry lead to better results

Achievements:
Seminars in different fields to provide participants exposure to industry.

Target Group:
Virtual Voyage is focused on central provinces of India. We cater to the students and professionals from in and around Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Rajasthan.

Challenges:
The major challenge we have faced is linked to the fact that today’s youth and their parents are mostly unaware of the vocational stream of growth in the Industry the career opportunities that lie in it. A lot of interest and acumen is required to get the best out of these fields. People are more inclined to pick up traditional courses and they simply run after meaningless degrees. Spoken English, soft skills and communication are also a major barrier.

 The Mind Enhancer

 Implementing Agency
Brainwave educationconsultants

Website
www.brainwaveeducations.com

The self modulated programme named THOUGHTWEB and FLEXILEARN have been specially designed to facilitate psychological upliftment of people of all ages and professions. It provides training for handling of interviews and public
speaking.

Objective:
To extract life skill  with self help to induce the right moral values through motivational speaking

Achievements:
• Above 10,000 students trained since last 10 years
• Interview cracking has become far more easier
• Adolescents feel more comfortable in the classroom
• Teacher student relationship has become more conducive

Target Group:
People Of All Age Groups, Castes, Sex and Creed

Challenges:
The adamant attitude of some village folks was a big challenge for us. Lot of counselling had to be done to overcome this problem. Also the senior students tend to be argumentative; then there is the issue of too much interference by the parents. Availability of adequately qualified staff was also a cause of concern during the initial stages.

IT@School

Implementing Agency
 Department of General Education, Government of Kerala

Website
www.itschool.gov.in

Government of Kerala rolled out the IT@School Project in year 2001, to augment IT education in schools and also to enhance the quality of IT education for a complete ICT enabled educational system. Designed to improve the intellectual ability of the teachers and comprehension ability of the students (learner), the ICT based system also enhances the quality of service (QoS) parameters in education service delivery in the state. Intelligent content design for enabling faster and effective learning with National Curriculum Framework (NCF) has been done to explore and exploit satellite technology and create a synergistic atmosphere of edutainment in schools in the state.

Objective
• Connect IT education and State school curriculum
• Create a complete ICT enabled educational ecosystem

Achievements
• One of world’s largest simultaneous deployment of FOSS based ICT education
• Estimated 4 million students and 0.2 million teachers beneficiaries annually

Target Group
The entire teaching and learning population in Kerala

Challenges
It was a major challenge to create awareness among people and other stakeholders and this was overcome through campaigns and workshops. Then there was the issue of lack of funds. There were also issues related to usage of proprietary software, and this issue got resolved when we moved on to free software platform. The lack of ICT hardware in schools was also the cause for some complications.

ICT@School

 Implementing Agency
 State Educational Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd

Website
www.bseidc.in

Under School Education Department of Bihar, a society was started to curb discrepancy in implementation. The objective is to reach out to the school children in the state where electricity and theft are two of the major roadblocks for computerisation in schools. The SSA ICT@School scheme is one of the flagship programmes of the MHRD. The core objective is to reach out to the children of Bihar and also take care of major road blocks and failure points in education.

Objective
Implement SSA ICT@School in shortest possible time

Achievements
• Unbiased RFP with open specification towards technology
• Keenness to discuss with all stakeholders
• Sharing of data with Stakeholders at all times
• Maintaining timeline for fulfillment of objectives

Target Group
School Children of Bihar

Challenges
The major challenge was related to the high cost of procurement. A cartel got formed and started quoting very high prices. As the trainers were on low salary, their performance was below par. There was no PF facility for employees. Other challenges were related to major breakdown of hardware and theft.

Online Data Query Application

 Implementing Agency
 Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics BANBEIS,
Govt of Bangladesh

Website
www.banbeis.gov.bd

In 1999 BANBEIS established EMIS with Oracle database and developed client server base application with oracle developer tools. BANBEIS gets data requests from individuals and organisations every day. Sometime it gets the same request form different individuals or organisations. After analysing the different requests and identifying the common trends and patterns, we decided to develop an online and interactive application to address the multifarious data requirements. Developed in PHP, Java and MySql, it has the option of viewing and printing data (in excel form) by location/gender/type/category and is integrated with BANBEIS website.

Objective
To build knowledge base society through internet

Achievements
•BANBEIS is branding Bangladesh in the world with its education data
• A cost effective and quick access to education data
• Integrated data exchange among different educational organisations.

Target Group
Government and non-government agencies, development partners and international organisations, education researchers, teachers, students and all other education workers.

Challenges
It was a challenge to develop the online application for education. High data volume and poor internet connectivity posed its own set of challenges. The connectivity issue was overcome by acquiring of an 8 Mbps dedicated leased line. Addition funds had to be mobilised to fulfil the agenda of the initiative.

Community Mobilisation

 Implementing Agency
Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty

Website
www.serp.ap.gov.in/EDU

Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) is implementing Indira Kranthi Patham (IKP) in rural districts of Andhra Pradesh. SERP facilitated community mobilisation to create an enabling atmosphere for appropriate child care practices and empowerment of the local community. Community governed and community managed centre’s have been established to improve the physical, mental and cognitive development of the children. With target group of children being between age group 3-5 years, the project is active in 55 Blocks in 11 districts in Andhra Pradesh. The project is providing the platform to address the education needs of early childhood and is fully managed and run by the community based organisations (SHG federations).

Objective
• Create an enabling atmosphere for appropriate child care practices
• Empowerment of the local community

Achievements
• 21,718 children enrolled in about 1186 ECE centres across the state
• Created social capital, 2372 teachers and Ayahs and 118 Cluster coordinators

Target Group
Children between age group 3-5 years

Challenges
Migration was the biggest challenge when the organisation started the initiative. However, as ECE centres are considered to be a safer place, the parents started keeping their wards in them.

Online Labs for Schools

 Implementing Agency
 CREATE@Amrita,CDAC-Mumbai

Website
www.amrita.edu/create

The Online Labs (OLabs) is an innovative, interactive simulation providing online practical science experiments for students in Classes 9 and 10. It includes interactive simulations based on mathematical models, videos and rich animations for Physics and Chemistry. Initially 30 labs for Physics and Chemistry Experiments have been developed under this research initiative. Through OLabs, students with no access to physical labs can be taught experiments over the web and on low cost mobile devices like the Aakash tablets.

Objective
• Extend, improve, integrate, refine, and assist the learning and experimentation process of subjects in physical sciences
• Use of cloud, web and low end mobile devices

Achievements
• Launched at five schools in Kerala and Karnataka
• Over 3000 Students from Class 9 and Class 10 use online labs

Restructuring Higher Education

 Implementing Agency
Ministry of Higher Education, Sri Lanka

Website
www.mohe.gov.lk

The project aims to develop the leadership qualities and positive attitudes of all the new entrants to state universities for developing. It brought about a student loan scheme to purchase a Laptop Computer and promote an IT culture in the universities. A Quality Assurance system has been brought-in for covering the entire higher education sector, with the aim of providing assurance to government and the public at large.

Objective
• Enhance the quality of the higher education
• Enhance the quality of the graduates
• Increasing the employability of graduates
• Creating “world class” universities

Achievements
• World rank of selected universities has been upgraded
• Excellence in promoting talents of students

Target Group
Students involve higher education

Challenges
The negative attitude of the general public towards the leadership and positive attitudes programme was a major challenge faced while implementation, but with the commencement of the programme, the Ministry was able to bring up the favourable attitude up by 88 percent. Facilitating online service for 15,000 students for the Pre-orientation Programme was also a challenge and this was overcome by the extensive commitment of NODES staff and through collaborations with the Ministry of Education.

Rural Development

 Implementing Agency
AMR-Andhra Pradesh Academy of Rural Development

Website
www.apard.gov.in

AMR APARD is the apex training institute for building the capacities of Rural Development Officials and Panchayat Raj Elected Representatives in the State of Andhra Pradesh. The institute caters to the capacity building and training requirements of around 2.61 Lac elected representatives of Panchayat Raj Institutions and about 50 thousand officials from Panchayat Raj, Rural Development and other development departments. The e-learning project was initiated as a part of implementation of capacity building and training programmes under BRGF and MGNREGS sponsored by Ministry of Panchayat Raj and Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India.

Objective
Provide life-long learning opportunity and self paced learning opportunities on Rural Development

Achievement
Help grassroots level functionaries to keep abreast of the latest developments in the field of Rural Development and other allied sectors

Target Group
Elected Representatives of Panchayat Raj Institutions, officials of Panchayat Raj, Rural Development Departments, Bharat Nirman Volunteers (BNVS)

Challenges
For establishing virtual class room facility, obtaining necessary permissions from NIC was a major challenge. Only after lot of correspondence, NIC realised that this project deserves encouragement.

Finance India

 Implementing Agency
Finance India

Website
www.financeindia.org

The primary aim of the journal is to promote research by disseminating the results of such research in finance,  accounting, financial economics and related areas. The journal is intended to provide scholars a major forum for inter and intra disciplinary study of various aspects of finance.

Objective
Promote research by disseminating the results of such research in finance

Achievements
• Published more than 100 volumes of this research Journal
• Updates on research articles, bibliography, abstracts of doctoral dissertations, statistics, book reviews, annotated listings etc

Target Group
Researchers and Policy Makers

Regulating meals with Cloud Telephony

 Implementing Agency
Mid Day Meal Authority, UP

Website
www.upmdm.org

Daily Monitoring System is a unique innovation, through which real time, grass-root level data is collected  systematically from over 1,50,000 schools spread throughout UP on a daily basis for monitoring Mid-day Meal scheme. The data becomes automatically available on a website and helps in monitoring the progress efficiently through customised MIS/DSS. It marks a paradigm shift in the process of data collection for many huge/decentralised government projects.
The UP Government has replicated the project for monitoring book distribution under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and for daily monitoring of imple mentation of ICDS programme.

Objective
• Tracks number of schools that served mid day meal
• Tracks number of children that have had lunch in the school on working days

Achievements
• Better implementation of the Mid Day Meal Scheme
• Various inferences on efficacy of MDM implementation available on the portal 24×7

Target Group
About 1.35 crore children studying and availing government subsidised meals on daily basis in Uttar Pradesh.

Online Scholarship Management

 Implementing Agency
Andhra Pradesh State Minorities Finance Corporation Ltd

Website
www.apsmfc.com

The Online Scholarship Management System (OSMS) for Minority students was taken up in the year 2008-09 to cater to the needs of the students studying in cases ranging from Class XI to PhD.. Through this system Students have the facility of tracking their application online. This is a foolproof, user friendly and transparent system. Every year about 4 to 5 Lakh Students are getting benefit and continuing their studies otherwise large number might have dropped out.

Objective
Create awareness among the minority students about scholarship and fee reimbursement initiatives from Govt of India and State Government

Achievements
• Online Scholarship System is being used by more than five lakh students every year
• Drop-out rate among the minority students has been reduced

Target Group
Minorities of different religious backgrounds

Challenges
Handling the voluminous work was a major challenge. Serving more than five lakh students in time bound manner is not an easy task. Avoiding middle men and keeping the system transparent was also a challenge. Streamlining the fee structure of large number of universities having affiliated colleges with different fee structures was also difficult. We had to instil confidence in the miniorities that their fees will be paid on time and they would not have to face any botheration on this issue.

Developing Capacity Against Risk

 Implementing Agency
Department of Disaster Management, Institute of Land & Disaster Management, Kerala

Website
www.ildm.kerala.gov.in

The project has been designed with the objective of developing efficient disaster management ideas in society. Institute of Land and Disaster Management is an autonomous body constituted under the Revenue Department, Government of Kerala. It aims to impart professional training, including induction training, in-service training and refresher training to personnel of the Land Revenue and Survey Department of Kerala State.

Objectives
• To impart professional training
• To undertake research and study projects with a view of introducing new techniques

Achievements
Books targeting children from the level of LKG to Class 5 was developed and  distributed on the  subjects of disasters and its risk reduction strategies

Target Group
Children up to the age 10

Enhancing Teaching-Learning

 Implementing Agency
Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education and Intel Technology Pvt Ltd (Joint initiative)

Website
www.apsche.org

The APSCHE is the first body of its kind in the country, set up as per the recommendations of National Education Policy, 1986, with focus on coordinating and determining standards in institutions of Higher Education or Research. Intel® Teach programme is an innovative professional development programme for teachers to develop student-centred learning through technology integration and project-based approaches. The project has helped institutions to discover how the power of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can be turned into teaching strategies that captivates the students, motivates them, and ultimately moves them towards effective learning.

Objective
Help the Teacher Educators (TEs) and Student Teachers  (STs) learn how best to use Technology to enhance teaching and learning

Achievements
Integrating Intel Teach pre-service curriculum as part of computer education paper in colleges of education across 17 Universities in the state.

Target Group
Teachers, Educators and Student teachers from Colleges of Education under APSCHE umbrella

Challenges
The challenge we faced was because of the strong opposition from some people, who questioned the need of integrating technology. This problem was solved by the support of others who were strongly in favour of new technology. We also need to work towards ensuring the quality of this endeavour across more than 600 colleges. Extensive training programme for teachers was undertaken.

Amit Gupta, CEO, S Chand, speaks to Pragya Gupta, on the subject of the role that tablets can play in education space

What is your view of the role that tablets can play in Education?

There is an uncalled hype around tablets in education. Tablets are nothing more than a device, which occupy the space between a smart phone and a laptop computer. There is no denial about the importance of technology in education. But  hat is most important is to establish a context and definition about learning and type of learning. The tablet can be a  strong tool if used properly. At the same time, it can be a major deterrent to effective learning. This goes back again to establishing a context, if a tablet is used for refreshing and carrying out an assessment of learning, it can be a great device. But if tablet is used as a substitute for a computing device, a laptop or as a substitute to a book or teacher in a classroom or formal environment, it can be disastrous. In that case, it would encourage casual ‘need to know’ learning and would be more focused on examination success. My apprehension is if not used properly, tablets can be the digital answer for rote learning. Access to information, affordability and flexibility are major positives, but the technology has to be properly mentored and developed in order to bring maximum benefits to the learners.

What is your take on the content availability?

Content in any medium, from books to computers, to web to smart devices and now for tablets, is the most critical and relevant part of the learning process. Unfortunately, world over, the content is being given the least priority. Developing good content based on pedagogy, sound instruction design, at the same time keeping learner engagements is not only expensive, it is also time consuming and it calls for specialisation. It is also important to understand that the content should bring real-life experience into the learning process.

Unfortunately, there are no benchmarks for quality content and everyone is engaged in developing content. In my opinion, content would be available for tablets in every form standalone (stored alone on the device), in a network or through the web. There will be vendors converting existing content, organisations developing new content and the state providing budget outlays and investing money in development of content.

In my opinion, more than worrying about customisation of content, while advocating and distributing tablets, it is also important to define what would be the contribution of content on the tablet to overall learning process. It is also important to research and debate the issue of tablets being promoted in educational institutions merely because of their affordability. Distribution of tablets in a country like India where there continue to be gaps in the learning infrastructure tantamounts to an overemphasis being placed on devices and new technologies. If the tablets have to enter the education stream, they have to come through a natural process.

Please share with us S Chand’s plans for using tablets in education space?

S Chand primarily is ‘Knowledge Corporation’ with an unmatched legacy of content creation and delivery. As a content company, we feel responsible to the education community as a whole. The content provided by us is unmatched in the  -12 and technology space in the country. Our simple belief is that in a classroom, content should be delivered in a manner where all aspects of learning processes are covered. That’s why our content is not merely multimedia rich animation and videos; it is also based on the context of establishing an interactive learning process in the classroom.

Similarly, when we look at tablets, we relate to them as an individual learning device. We need to differentiate between academic learning, information gathering, application, skill development, and assessment. Considering the strength of tablets and also looking at low impact learning aspects of a tablet, we should be coming up with content that fills the gap between the classroom and after classroom studies and provides the learner with simple and engrossing content.

Pearson Clinical and Talent Assessment is engaged in publication and distribution of assessment related tools and therapy resources. Sushil Eapen, Managing Director, Pearson Clinical and Talent Assessment, in a candid conversation with Pragya Gupta, provides his views on emergence of new psychological assessment techniques

Please share the genesis of Pearson Clinical and Talent Assessment in India? What benefits does it offer to students and teachers?

Pearson owns some of the best known brands in assessments and remediation worldwide. Pearson Clinical and Talent Assessment (PCTA) office was established in India in 2009. The company has been engaged in publishing and distributing the most comprehensive and locally adaptable standardised assessment solutions. PCTA has recently published the standardised Dyslexia Screening Test – Junior, India Edition (DST-J India) to determine if students are at risk of dyslexia. The DST-J India is unique, as it empowers school teachers to assess children for the risk of Dyslexia, after they get trained by our experts in the administration of the test.

How do you see the acceptance of new assessment techniques by students and teachers? Please share with us the details of your tie-ups with schools in India.

Already large numbers of schools have bought the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC), Raven’s Progressive Matrices, Wechsler Individual Achievement Tests (WIAT) and the Dyslexia Screening Test Series from us. These tests are typically used by school psychologists for assessment of IQ, achievement or to determine if students are at risk of mental health problems.

We also offer workshops for training and certifying school teachers on the subject of Learning Disability with a special focus on Dyslexia and Working Memory. Hundreds of school teachers across India have attended our popular teachers training programme. Almost all of them have given feedback about the high level of quality of the tests from our company and our teacher training programmes.

How do the use of new techniques and technology offers better learning delivery outcomes?

Our company is progressively going digital in our offering of our tests to our customers. We now offer a remediation programme to improve working memory in children by using a patented and online program called Cogmed. Working memory problems account for many of the difficulties children face during learning. Cogmed is the only evidence-based remediation programme for improving working memory. It is now being offered in India and there is widespread acceptance of this programme, which has changed the lives of many children.

Please shed some light on the importance of psychological assessment and its acceptance in India

While psychological assessments have been used for many years in India, most of the instruments used in our country have outdated test items and norms. Pearson has made a commitment to set up its own office in India to adapt, translate and standardise many of these flagship instruments in India. There are a large number of children in our country who suffer from problems such as dyslexia, autism, depression, anxiety, working memory deficit and related problems. Our assessments help to identify these problems and in many cases we offer remediation for the identified children. It is very important to assess for these problems so that students can be identified early and that would allow opportunities for remediation. More and more schools in India are employing special education teachers and school psychologists who can identify these problems at the school settings and offer solutions. We are helping to train these professionals through development of high quality assessment and interpreting the results.

Please share your future plans for the Indian education segment. 

We are committed to improving the quality of assessments being used in the Indian educational settings. In many ways, we are agents of change – we offer application level tests that discourage rote-learning. For instance, there is our solution called Stanford Achievement Test Series, Tenth Edition, India (Stanford 10 India). In future we expect technology to play a big role in the process of assessments and interventions. We will be introducing many such assessments for our customers in India, both in clinical and educational settings

Projectors feature high LED brightness with 30,000 hours of long life

ViewSonic Corp, a leading global provider of computing, consumer electronics and communications solutions has launched the ultraportable and energy-efficient LED projectors. Featuring diminutive form factors and 30,000-hour, long-life LED lamps, the PLED-W500 and PLED-W200 usher in a new category of ViewSonic projectors. They support 3D technology with 120Hz frame rates for exciting 3D visuals, and can project 33-40 inch screens from a 1 m distance. They also feature versatile USB connectivity, while the built-in Microsoft Office/PDF viewer and SD/SDHC card reader can display documents and play multimedia files without needing a PC. The projectors of PLED-W500 and PLED-W200 are priced at Rs 61,000 and Rs 44,000

“The ultraportable LED projector transforms the projector from a cumbersome gadget to an incredibly lightweight, compact device that can be carried anywhere to meet all your projection needs,” said Kuldeep Ramaiya, Country Manager, India. “With their high-brightness, long-life lamps, the ultraportable LED projectors are superior to others in the same class” he added.

PLED-W500

The PLED-W500 shines with its innovative, stylish new look. The piano-black mirrored surface and geometric inset buttons make the projector modern, sleek and elegant, ideal for business presentations and multimedia entertainment. With dimensions of 214 x 164 x 42 mm, the PLED-W500 is compact and weighs only 1.18 kg. 500 ANSI lumens, superior in the LED pocket projector category, provide 20,000 hours of brightness for energy and cost savings. The 1.4:1 short throw ratio projects a 33” screen from a 1 m distance with high native WXGA resolution. 2GB of onboard memory allows you to store documents and multimedia files, enhancing presentation efficiency. With HDMI 1.3 support, simply connect the PLED-W500 with a PC, tablet or other device to enjoy a widescreen gaming or home theater experience. You can also view smooth 3D video with a 120Hz refresh rate using active shutter glasses. PLED-W500 has versatile USB connectivity, built-in Microsoft Office/PDF viewer and SD/SDHC card reader which can display documents and play multimedia files without needing a PC.

PLED-W200

The pocket-sized PLED-W200 offers ultimate mobility. Measuring 130 x 126 x 32 mm and weighing only 420 g, the PLED-W200 is ultrathin and easily carried in a briefcase. Its LED light source with 250 ANSI lumens lasts 30,000 hours while producing brilliant color. With a built-in 32 GB SD/SDHC card reader, Microsoft Office/PDF viewer and dual integrated 2W speakers, display Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF and other multimedia files without needing a PC. The PLED-W200 also features 1.16:1 short throw ratio that can project a 40” screen from a 1 m distance with high native WXGA resolution.

ViewSonic’s ultraportable LED projectors are thin, compact and lightweight for easy mobility between meeting rooms and on the go. Innovative new look and energy-efficient LED lamps with 20000 hours ( PLED-W500) 30,000-hour lifespan (PLED-W200) makes PLED series the best choice for the professional usage. 0-second poweron and power-off makes presentation immediately, and no need to wait for the projector to cool down. The PLEDW500 and PLED-W200 provide 500 and 250 lumens of brightness, respectively – superior to others in the pocket projector category.

Developed with Texas Instruments’ high performance DPP6401 image processing chip, the projectors support 3D graphics with 120Hz frame rates for exciting 3D gaming and movies using active shutter glasses. With the built-in 32 GB SD/SDHC card reader and Microsoft Office/PDF viewer, the projectors can play Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF and other multimedia files directly