A Reality Check for Indian Education Sector

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April 7, 2012

Education in India has seen several positive changes in terms of policy practices. The last few years saw a series of reforms being proposed which have been eulogized for their revolutionary role in this segment. As many as nine bills for reforms in the higher education sector have been proposed. The latest budget of 2012 has increased the spending on education by 18 percent.

With all the reforms and policy documents put in place, now is the time to also look back and mull over the actual implementation and realities.

The focus of the Government to increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio, with a major thrust being given to educational institutes, was all in good intention. But the fallout of this has been a series of educational institutes that have sprung up without proper regulatory approval and with students now facing the problem of having to do with a degree which is of no relevance anywhere.

The Right to Education Act completed two years of existence on 1st April 2012, but several issues are still to be addressed. No grievance redressal mechanism has been instituted yet, in order to facilitate smooth operation. Accountability is an aspect that has to be seriously considered here.

Use of ICT in education has gained increased momentum with Government policies that have encouraged the integration of ICTs in schools across India. It is for us to see how the well intentioned policies are going to play out in the coming years. In this issue, we put our focus on technology trends that have strengthened the teaching and learning process and have provided a tool that can be replicated across different sectors. Interactive Whiteboards and interactive solutions are now creating waves in the education sector, with innovative technologies also being a part and parcel of the overall education policies. Technology is sure to act as a leveller in the coming years.

I am also proud to announce the World Education Summit (WES) 2012, which will carry forward the incredible success of the same Summit held in the year 2011. The education platform, this year, will highlight innovations and best practices in the education sector. The Summit will gather together ministers and secretaries of education from across various countries, stakeholders from civil society organisations, educationists, academia, Communities of Practices (CoP), corporate houses, International and national developmental organizations, donor and funding agencies, and decision-makers from the education industry. It will aim at enriching global efforts at inclusive education and at analysing the role of governments in the development and implementation of education policies.

With the able mentoring from Prof S S Mantha, Chairman, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and key participation from United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS); Ministry of Labour and Employment; National Council for Education, Research and Training (NCERT), the WES platform is hinged to become a one of a kind platform that will gather education leaders from across the globe deliberations on issues that are pertinent to the education community.

I invite all to join in this platform and be a part of the resurgence in the education sector.

digitalLEARNING Announces Higher Education Special Issue in May 2012

Magazine

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digitalLEARNING Network

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April 6, 2012

Guest Editor: Prof S S Mantha, Chairman, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)

The May 2012 issue of digitalLEARNING will focus on Higher Education sector. Many higher education institutes in the country are trail-blazing, forward thinking. They are leaders in progressive methods for teaching young children. Having covered the education sector for more than eight years, digitalLEARNING knows about the core capabilities of the Higher Education Institutes and also about the issues that they face.

The May 2012 issue of digitalLEARNING is poised to become the rallying voice of Higher Education Institutes. On 23-24 July 2012, the prestigious education event, World Education Summit 2012 (WES), is scheduled to be held in Le Méridien, New Delhi. The May 2012 issue can also be seen as a precursor to the WES 2012.

We will have stories that offer a complete 360° perspective on the higher education that is being imparted in our higher education institutes. There will be in depth research of the top trends in higher education. We will put the stoplight on innovative methods that are tested, proven, and successful. We will discover academia’s wish-list for ICT at Higher Education Institutes.

Issue Highlights:

Exclusive interaction with more than 50 leaders of the Higher Education Sector
Featuring Chancellors, Vice Chancellors, and Directors from Top Universities, B Schools and Engineering Institutes
Perspectives from Leaders of Education Regulatory Bodies including NAAC, UGC, NBA
Campus management solution for higher education and ERP for higher education
Innovations in examination and assessment
Features on Cloud Campus, National Knowledge Network, eBooks & e Learning, Social Media in Higher Education, and much else…

Timeline for participation:
Editorial material timeline: 16th April, 2012
Ad material timeline: 20th April, 2012

Circulation :

Expected number of copies to be published: 50,000
20,000 of the magazines go to Higher Education Institutes.
20,000 go to Schools.
10,000 go to other stake holders like various education bodies, associations, and government functionaries, etc.

For editorial queries, contact: Pragya Gupta, pragya@elets.in, +91 8860651648
For advertising queries, contact: Fahim Ul Haque, fahim@elets.in; +91 9873277808

Mumbai-Angels Funded CarveNiche Rolls out WisdomLeap Platform

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digitalLEARNING Network

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April 5, 2012

Bangalore-based, Mumbai Angels funded, CarveNiche Technologies is an education technology company building products, which improve teaching quality and engage students to ensure better retention, deeper understanding of concepts and improved exam results.

Carve Niche has launched their flagship product WisdomLeap in India. The multi-dimensional Wisdom Leap addresses the needs of all the stakeholders, including the students, their teachers, parents and the school management on a single platform. WisdomLeap has been developed with over 100,000 man hours is customised, interactive-content from Class 1 to 10 across all key subjects.

Says Dr Shardamba Rao, former NCERT member and now on the advisory board of CarveNiche, “The content is based on constructivist pedagogy and is in line with NCF guidelines.”

The product has been positioned as a holistic one stop solution for learning in schools today. According to Avneet Makkar, Co-Founder of CarveNiche, “WisdomLeap is uniquely positioned as it encompasses the complete lifecycle of learning integrating every stakeholder in the learning process from principals to parents and it includes a simple and user friendly platform for content delivery, assessments and remediation, comprehensive digital content that is based on sound pedagogical principals, CCE automation software and more.”One of the key differentiators of CarveNiche is that it is hardware-agnostic platform and does not lock in the schools and students alike on any hardware and hence the cost of acquisition and implementation is minimised. The key benefits of the WisdomLeap is by demonstrating the value of the technology adopted in the class by metrics and analytics that clearly justify the use of technology in Indian classrooms. Concurs Anil Joshi of Mumbai Angels, “CarveNiche’s WisdomLeap has a very strong value proposition to all the users of the products in the school as is evident from our due diligence with its pioneering set of customers in schools in Bangalore and Karnataka. It is a real value for money as it’s dependence on custom hardware for classrooms is mitigated. The product has seen fast adoption as it is plug-n-play and requires very little customisation as it is based on cloud technologies.”The product is already being used by over 8000 students across various schools in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

CarveNiche plans to reach around 200,000 students through its retails and school versions of its WisdomLeap as the product is very scalable. Says Saraswathy, Co-Founder,” The product offers remediation for students and offers technology to teachers to implement continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE) in the true sense.”

Says Kapil Khandelwal, an angel investor from Mumbai Angels and investors in education sector, “the launch of low-cost tablets such as Aakash and move towards supplemental platforms for automating content delivery in classrooms and at home is expected to boom in the near future, CarveNiche is positioned to leverage this wave with its cloud-based architecture to deliver the content and services to the schools, students alike, cheaper, better and faster through its WisdomLeap.”

Education Tablet from Micromax

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digitalLEARNING Network

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April 5, 2012

Micromax Informatics Limited has launched the new edutainment device- Funbook on Ice-cream Sandwich (Android 4.0.3) operating system by Google. The device is targeted at 67 percent (close to 20 million) of the total urban youth population in India who aspire to own a computing device for learning and fun.

Micromax has partnered with leading players to provide education and entertainment content. These partnerships include Pearson and Everonn to make available unique and relevant content for the students and BigFlix, Zenga and Indiagames to provide entertainment and gaming pleasure. The device will be available at 100,000 retail outlets across 50 cities in India and consumers can also order it exclusively through Snapdeal. To make online content available to users, the device will come bundled with Tata Photon plus, with additional 1GB data offer for first two months.

A perfect combination of hardware, content and seamless connectivity for a high-quality and engaging experience, Funbook is poised to change the way fun and learning is consumed on the go.
Unveiling the new device, Deepak Mehrotra, CEO, Micromax, “Fun and education are two important elements of a youth’s life they always to try balance between what they “have to do” and what they “want to do”. With the launch of funbook, we are offering a smart solution to solve this dilemma, and we believe that Funbook will help create a balance between the two.
Speaking on the occasion Max Gabriel, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Pearson India said, “As the world’s leading learning company, Pearson intends to make learning increasingly intimate and personalized. We believe that tablets are a great medium for offering an interactive and compelling learning experience”. He added “we strongly believe this can only be done through a network of partners, and so we are pleased to be able to partner with Micromax in the launch of an educational tablet that delivers world-class Pearson content to its users.”

Vriti Launches VLearnSmart on Android

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digitalLEARNING Network

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April 3, 2012

Bridging the gap in quality content and student, Vriti, an e-learning company has launched VLearnSmart, an education platform that brings authors, distributors and students together to find, create and sell courses. The platform has been launched on Android, with multi OEM support and is available for free download on Android app stores.

VLearnSmart allows students to access more than 500 smart courses ranging from Class 1 to Degree courses for CBSE, ICSE, Maharashtra State Board and West Bengal State Board and even preparatory material for Medical, Engineering and MBA, from leading content brands like Pearson, Everonn, Toppers Tutorials, Career Point, MBD Alchemie, Topchalks, CyberLearning, Future Vista, Learning Mantraa, Children Book Choice, GK Publishers, Scholars’ Hub, Vidyalankar, Universal Tutorials, CAPS Education, Zion Tutorials and many more making it India’s largest education exchange. Vriti’s Smart Courses are live across languages, countries reaching the smallest towns for competition, curriculum, skill development, languages and more.

“We want to make smart learning pervasive. With tablet devices’ affordable price points bundled with VLearnSmart and internet connectivity, this becomes a reality. VLearnSmart allows democratization of content delivery, which puts the discovery of relevant learning material in the hands of the consumer. Our distribution network extends to over 1000+ education institutes, which is a great advantage that we offer to any content partner,” said Swapnil Shrivastav, CEO and Founder, Vriti.

Students can get study material, videos, multimedia, tests, assessment on any subject of their interest.
“Launch of devices with tremendous capabilities will help us make the education delivery closer to the ultimate personalized tutoring experience through our tablet platform VLearnSmart. With quality content from content providers and education institutes, we are uniquely placed in the education industry in terms of our readiness to help millions of students benefit from a paradigm shift in learning experience that technology revolution is bringing in,” said Yogesh Seth, CTO and Co-Founder, Vriti.

With the VLearnSmart platform, Vriti brings to students with technology, what an expert teacher brings to a classroom. Vriti’s platform has benefited hundreds of thousands of students over the years through Accelerate recommendation engine and its collaborative learning features.

Toshiyuki Kasai Appointed as President of Epson India

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digitalLEARNING Network

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March 29, 2012

Epson has announced the appointment of Toshiyuki Kasai to the newly created position of President at Epson India. Toshiyuki will be based out of Epson India’s Bangalore headquarters. Toshiyuki is an Industrial Engineer from Waseda University and brings with him extensive experience spanning 30 years spent in various capacities within the Seiko Epson group.

Epson India has been growing rapidly for the last few years and expects to close this year with a turnover of approx Rs 590 crores. As per latest IDC data for the Inkjet Printer market (Q4 2011), Epson now commands a Value market share of 36.6 percent, placing it very close to the market leader. In Dot Matrix printers Epson has a commanding 54 percent market share and in Point of Sale printers 52 percent market share. In projectors Epson is in a close fought battle for the top position.

With India being a priority market, Epson India will no longer be reporting to the regional hub at Epson Singapore but will now be reporting directly to Seiko Epson Japan. This along with Toshiyuki’s appointment is indicative of the increased expectation from Epson India in the years to come.

Toshiyuki has a vast body of experience and has worked in various functions including production control, purchase, information systems, corporate planning, business planning, profit management and various project activities. This is Toshiyuki’s third posting out of Japan. He has spent Seven years at Epson Portland (USA) in the late 80’s and early 90’s and subsequently was the Senior Vice President of Business Infrastructure at Epson Europe from 2004 to 2007. Prior to joining Epson India, Toshiyuki was the Head of Business Management for the Imaging & Information Division at Seiko Epson Japan.

“I am honoured to be given the responsibility of taking the Epson brand further in this exciting market. We have a strong team, some amazing products and an extremely robust channel in place at Epson India. I am excited and looking forward to providing the vision and direction to ensure further robust growth for Epson India while ensuring fair returns to all its stakeholders” said Toshiyuki Kasai.

Govt Announces Interest Subsidy on Education Loan

News

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digitalLEARNING Network

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March 27, 2012

Ministry of Human Resource Development has formulated an Interest Subsidy Scheme to provide full interest subsidy during the period of moratorium on educational loans taken by students belonging to economically weaker sections from scheduled banks under the Model Educational Loan Scheme of the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) for pursuing any of the approved courses of studies in technical and professional streams from recognized institutions in India.

Students whose parental income is less than Rs 4.5 lakhs per annum and are enrolled in recognized technical & professional courses, after class twelfth, in India are eligible under the scheme. Educational loans of such students disbursed from 1st April 2009, irrespective of date of sanction are eligible for interest subsidy.

Govt Launches Scheme for Training of Agriculture Students

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digitalLEARNING Network

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March 27, 2012

Government has launched a scheme ‘Establishment of Agriclinic and Agri-business Centres’. The Scheme aims to:

Provide gainful self-employment opportunities to unemployed agricultural graduates, agricultural diploma holders, intermediate in agriculture and biological science graduates with PG in agri-related courses;
Support agricultural development; and
Supplement efforts of pubic extension by necessarily providing extension services to the farmers as per local needs of farmers.

Since inception of the scheme, 27,894 candidates have been trained and 9,949 of them have established agri-ventures up to February, 2012.

Salient features of the scheme:

The National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE) is the Implementing Agency for training component of the Scheme. Two months’ free residential training is imparted to the selected eligible candidates on Agri-Entrepreneurship Development followed by one-year handholding support after completion of training, .through Nodal Training Institutes.

The Scheme has a provision of credit support (start up loan) upto 20 lakhs for individual projects and 100 lakhs for a group project.

There is a provision of credit linked back-ended composite subsidy on the bank loan availed by trained candidates under the Scheme. The subsidy is 44% in respect of women, SC/ST & all categories of candidates from North-Eastern and Hill States; and 36% in respect of all other categories

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) is the Implementing Agency for disbursement of subsidy and monitoring the credit support to agri-clinics and agribusiness centres through the banks.

World Bank Approves US$500 Mn credit to Education Project to finance India

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digitalLEARNING Network

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March 27, 2012

The World Bank today approved a US$500 million credit to the Secondary Education Project to finance the Government of India’s efforts to make good quality education available, accessible and affordable to all young persons at the secondary level (grades IX and X).

The Project will support all activities as envisioned in the US$12.9 billion Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) program, a flagship Government of India program for gradual universalization of secondary education.

The government has made great strides in the area of elementary education over the past ten years. Net elementary enrollment rate stands at 96 percent and girls are almost equally represented in elementary education as boys. Attention is now needed for secondary education where the gross enrollment rate stands at about 50 percent and quality of education is very low. Access is also unequal and many poor households cannot afford the direct and opportunity costs of secondary education, particularly in rural areas.

This Project is designed to meet critical needs in secondary education. First, to make sure that secondary education expands in such a way that quality and equity are enhanced at the same time; second, to develop and evaluate innovative approaches to secondary education; and, third, to leverage World Bank resources to help the Government address systemic issues in the sector.

“The Government of India (GOI) has been investing in primary education for more than a decade and a half. These investments have resulted in more elementary graduates whose demand for secondary education has gone up tremendously, especially in the last five years. Also, the skills and knowledge requirements of the labor force in a globalized economy requires high quality secondary graduates. This necessitates revamping the secondary education system in India,” said Mr. Venu Rajamony, Joint Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India.

“It is in response to this surging demand that the GOI has launched another centrally-sponsored scheme, on the lines of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), known as the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan or RMSA. This World Bank Project will support the objectives and activities of RMSA. It will facilitate a whole set of mechanisms built around identifying what is needed to improve the quality of secondary education. The RMSA Program has also established a monitoring system, which will be further enhanced through this Project, including a forthcoming new grade ten national assessment. Teachers will be appointed and trained using the new pedagogical techniques set out in the National Curriculum Framework 2005. Provisions will be made for setting up libraries, science and computer laboratories.”

Today, most of the economic and employment growth in India is taking place in skilled services like information technology, financial services, telecommunications and skill-intensive manufacturing, all of which require, at a minimum, a secondary education degree. Surveys show there has been a steady rise in the rates of return to secondary education, which indicates that demand for the types of knowledge and skills gained, is rising faster than supply.

“A major concern in India today is the issue of quality education. Mere improvement in access, if it is of differential quality, may not be conducive for inclusive growth. Recent international research confirms that improved quality – measured by cognitive skills – is important in determining future income and contribution to economic growth. Hence the country needs all their young people to get good quality secondary education,” said Mr. Roberto Zagha, World Bank Country Director for India. “RMSA is a young program which is expected to grow rapidly and hence it is an opportunity for the World Bank to support the Government of India in building effective systems as the Program expands while improving quality.”

The Project also recognizes that teachers are vital to the success of the RMSA Program. “Efforts to improve quality will not succeed unless there are sufficient and capable teachers in all classrooms supported by the Program. The Program will also encourage and provide resources for innovations, which will spark new solutions for quality, equity and access, said Toby Linden, the Project’s Task Team Leader and Lead Education Specialist, World Bank.

In addition, expansion, repair and renovation will take place in some 60,000 existing government secondary schools; some 44,000 upper primary schools will be upgraded into secondary schools; and about 11,000 new secondary and senior secondary schools will come up mainly in underserved areas. Efforts will also be made to strengthen the role of local bodies in school management, which can, over time, lead to greater accountability and improved outcomes.

The Project will be financed by a credit from the International Development Association (IDA) – the World Bank’s concessionary lending arm – which provides interest-free loans with 25 years to maturity and a grace period of five years.

Tata plans to Set up a National Vocational Training University

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digitalLEARNING Network

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March 27, 2012

The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) is going to set up a school for vocational education on its Deonar campus. TISS has taken this step towards a larger plan to set up a national vocational training university. The school will offer two-year-long certificate courses and students who pass out will qualify as technicians. TISS and the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), which is promoting vocational education at top institutes in India, will sign a memorandum about the new school. The AICTE will provide financial assistance of Rs 10 crore for three years to TISS.

The AICTE, through the National Vocational Educational Qualification Framework (NVEQF), wants to develop and manage vocational education in the country and integrate it with academic streams of higher technical education, noted a statement released by the AICTE. Apart from training students, the school will focus on research in vocational education, conduct studies on skill requirements, build content for various sectors, develop teaching methodologies and pedagogy, train the trainers, and prepare a system for measuring skill assessment.

The school will set up a joint working group with members from TISS and the AICTE, which shall regularly review the working of the courses.

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