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March 15, 2012

Sanjaya Sharma, CEO, Tata Interactive Systems — Sanjaya Sharma, CEO, Tata Interactive System

Education is very important for the development of a country as it increases the standard of living and opens new opportunities for individuals. It is the key to producing skilled and rational-thinking people who can help lead the country. It is vital for any nation’s growth and development especially when we are competing on a global platform. In the last budget the Government had increased allocation for education by 24 per cent over the previous year. The National Innovation Council was also set up to prepare road map for innovations in India. We think this was a very encouraging move and we need various such tools to promote education making it all inclusive. India has proved time & again that we are a global leader in technology and this can be the precise key to unlock and unleash the power of our true potential. We believe that the Government will continue to rigorously invest and promote investments in IT infrastructure. This will be crucial in connecting even the outmost schools which in turn will enable education as a fundamental growth process for the country.

Koji Oda, Managing Director, NEC India on budget Expectations

Features

digitalLEARNING Network

March 14, 2012

We look forward to a more holistic approach towards budget 2012. Not to miss, we expect it to be progressive in terms of giving thrust to innovation and lay greater emphasis on adoption of technology in varied sectors. In today’s scenario, there is increasing deployment of IT in the growing fields of education, retail, healthcare and public safety & security. As in FY 2011, we hope to see further momentum in these sectors.

Among the most important steps undertaken by the government last year, the Union ministry had sought to develop seven cities around the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) with a total investment of about $90 billion within a decade. We anticipate that this pilot project to develop these ‘smart cities’ will enable the overall development of the country and ensure safe and secure infrastructure with an eco-friendly environment for the citizens. This project has opened doors for technology solution providers in the biometric security and surveillance domain for sustainable delivery. The biometrics market in India is expected to grow at a CAGR of 42.4 percent over the period 2010-2014*. This trend is expected to grow with more and more government projects being undertaken hence we hope that this will be a major focus area in the Union budget 2012-2013.

When we are talking about growth in CAGR, a vital subject such as green infrastructure cannot be ignored. Sustainable development and adoption of green business practices has become the cornerstone of any debate on environment. With India’s economy recording a steady growth rate, it has become even more important for sustainability to feature prominently in the country’s development plans. India has managed a good growth rate with various initiatives to combat climate change. There is no difference between development and environment. Conservation is not just about restraint but progressing in a sustainable manner. Towards this, we see a larger role being played out by corporates and government on energy savings and environment responsive implementation of technology. We are hoping government’s increased influence in the upcoming budget.
While we talk of sustainability and growth, one factor to impact the economy very strongly is proliferation and raising the standard of education in the country. With the emergence of increasingly robust connectivity infrastructure and cheaper computers, school systems around the world are developing the ability to provide learning opportunities to students “anytime, anywhere”. This trend requires a rethinking of the traditional 40 minute lesson. In addition to hardware and Internet access, it requires the availability of virtual mentors or teachers, and/or opportunities for peer to peer and self-paced, deeper learning. A few more things that we perceive will change the face of education in India would be cloud computing, ubiquitous learning, one-to-one learning to name a few. The trend in classrooms is to provide an information appliance to every learner and create learning environments that assumes universal access to technology. Whether the hardware involved a laptop, interactive devised such as a projector, a net computer, smart phone, or the re-emergence of the tablet, classrooms should prepare for the universal availability of personal learning devices. We hope to see a great role of the government in bringing about this transformation. With government funded initiatives such as Sarv Shiksha Abhiyaan, the IT sector will get a chance to implement technology services to ensure highest levels of delivery.

Another very important subject that needs the government’s attention in the upcoming Union budget is towards advanced healthcare facilities for the people. A recent healthcare study indicates, the Indian healthcare spending itself is about $30 bn and is expected to go up to $80 bn in the next 10 years. By 2020, the Indian healthcare industry is estimated to be worth $275.6 bn. As per the research, Government’s long term vision of making quality health care affordable, at least 50 per cent of country’s population should be covered by health insurance by 2020. Taking cue from this revelation, we expect the process to be expedited largely with the help of technology. Hence, an increased budgetary allocation will enable healthcare companies to invest in IT and improve upon their service efficiency.

Madras HC stays Govt Order on formation of School Management Committees

digitalLEARNING Network

March 13, 2012

The Madras High Court Bench here has stayed the operation of a Government Order issued by the School Education Department on December 26 insisting that all aided schools in Tamil Nadu constitute school management committees (SMC) for planning, monitoring and implementing the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan reported the Hindu.

Justice V. Dhanapalan granted the interim stay on a writ petition filed by Rehamania Higher Secondary School, represented by its manager and correspondent S.S. Hassan Aboobacker, at Melapalayam in Tirunelveli district.

The school claimed that the exclusion of school managements from the SMC amounted to interfering with the right of minorities to administer educational institutions.

Photocopy of CBSE, AIEEE, AIPMT Answer Sheets Made Available to Students

digitalLEARNING Network

March 13, 2012

Central Board of Secondary Education(CBSE) students can now on apply to get a photocopy of their answer Sheets after their board results (classes X and XII) are out. Following a Supreme Court order in August 2011, students appearing in an examination have a right to view their answer sheets if they want to.

Students will receive photocopies of their answer sheets as per the request within 15 days of submitting their application forms. However, students can continue to avail of the marks verification facility.

Fee of Rupees 500 per paper shall be applied for the application which can be paid online or through deamnd draft. However, for verification, students can continue to pay Rs 100 per answer script.The facility is available to students for 21 days, once the results are out.

Apart from CBSE boards, students appearing for All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) and AIPMT can also avail of this facility.

Bihar Receives Fund for Post Matric Scholarships

digitalLEARNING Network

March 13, 2012

Ministry for Social Justice & Empowerment released an amount of Rs 39,84,75 000 (Rupees-Thirty nine crore eighty four lakh seventy five thousand only) to the State Government of Bihar, towards central assistance for the current financial year 2011-2012,under the centrally sponsored scheme of Post-Matric Scholarships to student belonging to Scheduled Castes.

The Post Matric Scholarship for SC Students Scheme is a single largest intervention by Government of India for educational development of scheduled caste students. It is a flagship Scheme of the Ministry, in operation since 1944, which provides financial assistance to Scheduled Caste students studying at post matriculation level in the country. There is no upper limit on the number of scholarships and all the SC students fulfilling the eligibility criteria are covered under the Scheme. About 48 lakh students are anticipated to be covered during 2011-12.During X FY Plan, an amount of Rs. 1826.91 Crore was released to cover 113.82 lakh beneficiaries. It has increased sharply in XI FY Plan and Rs.6780.52 crore has been released so far to cover 196.16 lakh beneficiaries.

In order to streamline the delivery system of the Scheme and fulfilling the objective of improving enrollment and retention of SC students all the State Governments and Administrators of UTs have been advised by Ministry to ensure timely and regular disbursement of scholarship to the beneficiary students, payment through bank/post-office accounts, start online processing of scholarship and designate Grievance Redressal Officers (GROs) at the State and District levels to redress students’ scholarship-related grievances. The Scheme is implemented through State Governments and Union Territory Administrations which receive 100 percent Central assistance from the Government of India for the total expenditure under the scheme, over and above their respective Committed Liability. The North Eastern states have been exempted from the burden of committed liability.

The Scheme has been revised by the Government on 31-12-2010 w.e.f. 1.7.2010 and the revision includes increase in parental income ceiling from Rs. 1.00 lakh p.a. to Rs. 2.00 lakh p.a.; regrouping of courses; and rates of maintenance and other allowances.

Rates of maintenance and other allowances have been increased by 60 percent with respect to pre-revised rates. Presently, 23 State Governments have already implemented revised Scheme. Others are under process to implement the revised Scheme.

St Xavier’s group of Schools Opt for digitisation

digitalLEARNING Network

March 13, 2012

Mexus Education has partnered with St. Xavier’s group of Schools in Uttar Pradesh to complement the learning environment and philosophy of the Group. These schools have opted for technology integration to further leverage the creativity of students by creating a complete learning environment. This partnership would complement the learning system that offers adequate opportunity to every learner to avail quality education transcending textbook education..

All the 45 schools of The Group spread over Varanasi, Allahabad, Lucknow and other areas in Uttar Pradesh have opted for digitisation through partnership with Mexus. These schools have opted for complete school solutions including Iken Library for a digital classroom, Iken Evaluate for remote-based objective test, Iken Learning Labs to introduce hands-on conceptual understanding. This partnership would build upon the learning standards by supporting teachers to teach the concepts in the classroom with the help of interesting animations, videos, real-life concept applications that enhance involvement of students in the lessons.

Speaking about the partnership, Anil Goyal, Director; Mexus Education said “The ultimate objective of education is to prepare students for the rapidly changing and thereby unpredictable economy and jobs. Mexus Education works with schools across India to ensure that all children have access to effective education. Engaging contexts, activities and content formats of new education create an experience in itself. Partnership with St. Xavier’s Group of Schools is a milestone in taking the technology-education integration to the grass-roots.”

Sandeep Kumar, Director, St. Xavier’s Group of Schools adds “Channeling students as they grow would ensure that the country grows in the long run. Our learning practices supported by Iken School Ecosystem will orient children to use their creativity and learn with context. Contextual learning gears children to continually find applications of their learning as progress in their careers and life; automatically improving the recall.”

New teaching practices would include supplementing the classroom sessions with the real life, application-based activities in the dedicated experiential lab – the Iken Learning Lab & preparing students to exchange thoughts on global platform with Iken English Lab.

Inopen Technologies,GurujiWorld Join hands to Create Digital Content

digitalLEARNING Network

March 13, 2012

Inopen Technologies create alliance with GurujiWorld to provide digital based e-content at schools that will offer Inopen and GurujiWorld capacity building opportunities in the space of Computer Education & IT Literacy. Both the companies intend to create a Joint Venture as well as consortiums which will feature products and services from both the companies as agreed in the MoU. They would together work on “Opportunities in the field of Computer Literacy, K12 Education and Technology Based training in ICT and training projects”. The venture will be equally owned by both companies. They will strive to excel and come out with the best in the field of Education Delivery through Technology servicing the Computer Education training needs of various School boards and Government departments.
The JV Company that GurujiWorld and InOpen will create; will work aggressively towards standardization of the IT Literacy curricula in various Schools boards and Government departments. InOpen with IIT Bombay will be providing the academic support and GurujiWorld will be providing its technology support to create innovative lightweight digital contents for new delivery platforms like Tabs/Web/Mobile/iPads, etc.

Girish Prabhu (Founder and CEO GurujiWorld Technologies) said “GurujiWorld firmly believes that India of tomorrow is India which is e-ready at the bottom of the pyramid. For this to happen, the people need access to easy, efficient, relevant and affordable localized e-learning digital contents at their doorstep. To cater to the masses we need to eliminate the language barrier and adapt technology based solutions. This association will help both GurujiWorld & InOpen to achieve the common objective of delivering Quality Computer Education to the masses using innovative technology delivery platforms & digital contents. I and Rupesh have set a target to increase our present user base by minimum 10 percent in the first 6 months of our association. Our major focus will be to create quality IT Literacy digitized contents and work towards standardization of IT Literacy curricula for various School Boards & Adult Education in India with a learner centric approach.”
Rupesh Shah (Co-founder and CEO) said “I am very positive about the partnership with GurujiWorld. Girish and I share the same vision for penetration and adaptability of IT literacy in India. Our combined strength can be useful for large scale projects as well as give us competitive advantage on the existing players.”

digitalLEARNING LABS DIGITAL REALITY : March 2012

Magazine

digitalLEARNING Network

March 12, 2012

EDITORIAL
The digitisation of our classrooms

COVER STORY
The Push to Install Technology-rich Labs
By Elets News Network (ENN)

K-12
Concepts + Simulation +Tech = Labs 21st Century + Aptitude

Chemistry Labs Simulating the Lab Experience!

CREATE@Amrita Research Agenda for Educational Technologies for Societal Benefit

Challenges of Implementing Technology into Schools
Veena Raizada, Director Academics, Next Education India Pvt Ltd

Quality Education via Digital Medium
Dheeraj Mehrotra, Deputy General Manager (DGM)

PRODUCT PROFILE
Labs on Demand

HIGHER EDUCATION
Virtual Laboratories Perspectives from Higher Education Institutes

“Regulations Need Thorough Review and Appropriate Implementation”
Dr H Chaturvedi, Director, BIMTECH

EVENT REPORT
Learning in the Digital Era Conclave Distance Education Through Online Platform

Enabling Next Gen Innovators in STEM Intel Launches Intel Future Scientist Program in India

Integration of Academic Courses with Vocational Education in Secondary Schools

IN CONVERSATION
Online Examination The Game Changer
S Murlidhar, Co-founder and CEO, MeritTrac Services

“CBT is not something you can do overnight”
Fiona Collins, Managing Director, Pearson VUE India

Private School Penetration Increases NIIT’s Revenue
Hemant Sethi, President, School Learning Solutions, NIIT Ltd

“We Don’t Like to Compete, Our Task is to Create Competition”
N Subramanian, MD, TRS Forma

ADVERTORIAL
Breaking the Language Barrier

Introducing 4th Generation English Language Learning
Portable Language Lab

Edaxis LangLab: Integrated teaching of all language skills

ACTUniv (Academy for Computer Training (Guj.) Pvt Ltd

CORPORATE DIARY
‘Robotics’ as the fourth R
Gagan Goyal, CEO, ThinkLABS

INVESTMENT FILE
Sustainable Capitalism in Education

Sustainable Capitalism in Education

Magazine

digitalLEARNING Network

March 12, 2012

By Anoop Verma, Elets News Network (ENN)

The investments, even those with so-called profit motive, being made in the education space can be seen as echoing Aesop’s classic fable. After all, the money that goes into education also serves the purpose of protecting the future flow of golden eggs by taking better care of the goose that lays them. This is what the concept of “Sustainable capitalism,” is all about.

The investor forgoes current consumption in order to invest for future returns, not only for himself, but also for the society in general. Theoretically, this is a capitalist virtue. “Short-termism” or what someone might call investment myopia is not a possibility in the education space. Investments made in education usually have a high gestation period; it takes significant about of time before the investment start yielding returns.

The investment angles

Investors are typical moving away from the beaten path while picking up stakes in new or established companies in the education space. In February this year, Dubai-based Varkey Group has increased its stake y to 38.12 percent in Everonn Education. The Varkey Group has also appointed Rakesh Sharma and Dino Varkey as directors on the board.

In a filing with BSE, Everonn said, “Varkey Group has been allotted 2,618,120 shares of Everonn Education through preferential allotment at a price of Rs 528 per share, aggregating to 12 per cent of the post preferential issuance equity capital.” The investment community is of the opinion that the education companies have good long term potential. This why competition seems to be heating up for education companies in India.

Few months back we had the news of Infotel Broadband, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, acquiring 38.5 percent stake in Extramarks Education, a company focused on school education and digital learning, for an undisclosed amount. The statement from RIL declared that the investment in Extramarks had been made through an affiliate company Reliance Strategic Investments.

RIL’s investments in Extramarks are in no way altruistic. The investment has been made with the strategic aim of creating content related value for Infotel, which is the only company in India to have bandwidth for high-speed wireless broadband service across the country. In the mid-2010 auction, Infotel had won spectrum for an approximate cost of 13,000 crores.

But let us see this investment from the point of view of what it might achieve for our educational system. Quality educational content and services will become available to students and teachers through high speed 4G networks. The Extramarks investment might spur similar investments by other telecom service providers leading to a tariff war in the data services industry for education. The ultimate beneficiary of such a tariff war will not be the private companies; it will be the community of students and teachers are going to be the big gainers.

The time of start-ups!

The investments in the education space are flowing in large and small amounts. Few weeks back a technology start-up Carveniche, which has been founded by Infosys engineers Avneet Makkar and Saraswathy A, secured angel funding from Mumbai Angels. Carveniche is in the business of providing content based products and services to schools in the country. It is leveraging cloud technology for delivery of content. We are also having rumours of Mumbai Angels investing in few other start-ups in education.

The company called Edusys was launched in 2004 and it already boasts of a customer base of more than 3,500 companies globally. It supports students in 150 countries and offers courses and tests that span a vast spectrum of conventional and emerging domains of learning and work. The company’s offices are located in USA, UK, Singapore and Australia besides Bangalore and Bhubaneshwar.

In February, Edusys raised $7.5 million (approximately Rs 38 crore) from Sequoia Capital. With this round of funding, Edusys aims to expand its business by introducing new products and strengthening its core team and technology platform. The founder and CEO of the company, Tridibesh Satpathy, says, “The certification market is a $48 billion global industry and we see tremendous opportunity for growth.” According to sources, company is planning to double its workforce next year.

Even websites that are remotely linked to the field of education are catching the eye of the investment community. The Delhi based boutique investment firm, VAS Capital has made an investment in AM Edumedia Pvt Ltd, which runs, which is a website devoted to helping students pick the right engineering colleges among thousands. The IndiaCollegeSearch.com was launched only in April 2010, and as of now the company records more than 50,000 searches per month on the site.

CL Educate, which was formerly known as Career Launcher, has acquired G.K. Publications, which is a publishing house that specialises in career and academic test preparation and skill building resources.

The tablet syndrome

New technological trends like tablets are also becoming a vehicle for investments to flow into the education sector. The government of India has launched the ambitious scheme to empower students with handheld devices like Aakash tablet PC. Perhaps the tablet that finally comes into the hands of our students will be more advanced than the initial version of Aakash.

The Union Minister for Human Resource and Development, Kapil Sibal has stated that an improved version of the Aakash tablet is being planned. The tender from government could be of around 50 lakh Tablet PCs for students. The tender is expected to be out in two months of time. This kind of large order for Table PCs, will certainly lead to large investments flowing into the educational devices space. Many major companies will start eying for a slice of the market. That is already happening as RIL is rumoured to have teamed up with a major Chinese device maker to procure low cost tablets in the 4G space.

On an international level the launch of Apple’s iBooks has received lot of attention. The product is aimed at reinventing the textbook. Instead of a bagful of books, students will be using tablets powered with Apple’s iBooks system. The platform embraces interactive textbooks. Students can pinch to zoom on DNA strands, watch videos on mysterious of outer space and they can experience learning in an interactive fashion. The words are still there. iBooks simply serves the purpose of making learning a bit more exciting.

Apple is yet to reveal the exact investments that the company intends to make in the iBooks section. But it is going to be substantial. As Apple has teamed up with publishing partners Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Pearson, and McGraw Hill, there is scope lot of interesting investment ideas to emerge.

Quality Education via Digital Medium

Magazine

digitalLEARNING Network

March 12, 2012

‘www’ is regarded as the second name for the Internet. However, for childern today, it is actually ‘Whatever, Whenever and Wherever’

By Dr Dheeraj Mehrotra

Education is the pathway to excellence. But this excellence can only be achieved when we have quality infrastructure. Many experts in the education space have now started regarding the Internet as the core infrastructure for education. When you tell a child to write an essay, he/she is might download the content and present it before you in no time. Some parents have started thinking that the Internet is a menace, as it is making their children lazy by giving them easy access to course material. But the truth is that the Internet has a large role to play in the process of education. It is not a menace, if properly used, it can be a boon.

The tilt from Web 1.0 to 2.0 and now to 3.0 offers new opportunities to our students. It is up to the teachers to guide their students through the maze of the digital world. Teachers need to develop a balanced approach in developing new policies and practices that can guide the students in regards to usage of the Internet. Conservations and discussions on the best ways of taking advantage of the Internet has to be conducted between the teachers, administrators, and parents. It is not necessary to have rules that are too rigid. All stakeholders should have a chance to contribute to the decision-making process. There is no doubt that a computer empowered with vibrant software can be an exciting tool for learning.

In my view, a quality educator must be deeply networked with all his students. He needs to have the following:a. A website.
b. At least 200 links on the Internet. Many of the links can be in “About the Teacher” sections.
c. He/she must share websites with the children.
d. He/she must expand the scope of learning through 24/7 availability.
e. Be a Facilitator by walk not only by the talk.
f. Activate self and open to learning rather than teaching.
g. Respect the knowledge of students that students already possess.
h. He/she must be capable of criticizing privately and praising publicly.
i. He/she must have blogs
j. He must share YouTube videos of his own

should come as no surprise that we are having e-Classrooms in every school. But the true potential of the e-Classrooms can only be achieved once the teachers and the school administration are able to develop an affinity for the digital systems. In today’s environment, it is imperative for a teacher to be a trainer, learner and an all rounder. He should be well conversed with the modalities of the cyber space. It is advisable for teachers to have presence in social networks, blogs, etc.

The modern kid is SMART – Systematic, Meticulous, Active, Realistic and Tactful. He will be involved with the learning process in the classroom only when he is being taught something that he did not know earlier. A teacher has to be aware of the 21st century learning requirements. The teacher should not be teaching what the kids already know through parents/friends or through interactions on the social networks. If he tries to teach what is already well known, then he might have to hear this kind of words in the classroom, “Sir/ Madam, It is already in the book. Please tell us something new”. Do we have a reply to such questions from kids?

Someone has rightly commented, “Good teaching is also about style.” Should good teaching be entertaining? You bet it should!

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