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March 6, 2012

Mohit Anand, MD, Belkin India Sub-continent

“Economic uncertainties in the past year have exposed India Inc. to financial and economic vulnerabilities. The year 2011 witnessed Inflationary pressures and rupee devaluation that have affected IT spending across consumers and the corporate sector. The Union Budget 2012-13 brings with itself a hope of a better tomorrow. Aspects of Duty corrections like Withdrawal of MRP based assessment for IT Products, elimination of ambiguity on transfer pricing rules and implementation focus on manufacturing centric policies are key areas to look out for in this year’s union budget. The implementation of the biggest direct tax reform – GST is a critical growth lever for the IT industry we are hopeful that it will find a mention in this year’s budget, this would phase out other major taxes like excise duty, VAT, service tax, will be instrumental in unifying the markets in term of local taxation, which in turn, will bring down overall cost of goods and services in the country. We are also hopeful that the issue of FDI in multi brand retail, will be resolved soon , which will be a boon for consumers and industry alike. This year’s Union Budget will be the key influencer of India’s development and economic stability.”

digitalLEARNING Announces Interactive Whiteboard and Audio-Visual special issue in April 2012

Magazine

digitalLEARNING Network

March 6, 2012

While covering the latest technological innovations in education for more than 8 years, digitalLEARNING has been able to stand out because of its useful, bold and analytical coverage. In mega special planned for the month of April 2012 we, at digitalLEARNING, plan to carry out an in-depth analysis of the Interactive Whiteboard and Audio-Visual industry that has been making seminal contributions to India’s educational landscape.

The issue will cover the Interactive Whiteboard and Audio-Visual from the perspective of industry and academia in the month of April 2012. Through the month there will be coverage of the industry in multiple platforms – Print Magazine, Website, Events, Social Networking Sites, Newsletters and beyond…

The issue will have interactions with principals, VCs, directors, registrars, chairmen of schools & colleges, administrators, CIOs, officials and leading stalwarts of the industry. We will interact with the academic community and the industry to get their inputs on the various types of Interactive Whiteboards and Audio-Visual equipments that are currently being used in different institutions.

Share your Interactive Whiteboards and Audio-Visual equipments and other educational services, products, and experiences in digitalLEARNING’s mega April special. digitalLEARNING is the best place for Interactive Whiteboards and Audio Visual products manaufacturers, and distributors to ensure message is optimised to achieve best possible coverage, which cuts through the clutter and targets key people who research, recommend and purchase your products and services. Similarly, from past 4 years, it has been continuously guiding schools, higher education institutes, and vocational training institutes about latest IWB and AV product and solutions for better pedagogical experience.

We look forward to see you becoming a part of the mega Interactive Whiteboard and Audio-Visual issue of digitalLEARNING in the month of April 2012.
Timeline: Editorial material timeline: 15th March, 2012; Ad material timeline: 20th March, 2012

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

SMART Technologies Launch Professional development Program for Teachers

digitalLEARNING Network

March 6, 2012

SMART Technologies has launched the SMART Professional Development Program for Teachers – India. The program was unveiled by Linda Thomas, Vice President, Products, for SMART Technologies and is focused on addressing the need for training teachers in the use of interactive educational technology tools. The aim of the program is to help educators acquire technology skills enabling them to actively integrate digital learning tools in their teaching process for improved learning outcomes. The company aims to train up to 8,000 teachers in 15 major cities across India in the first wave of the program.

Under the SMART Professional Development Program for Teachers – India, SMART Technologies’ team of Education Consultants will conduct a series of workshops across 15 major cities in India in order to prepare teachers in the use of technology tools including the industry-leading SMART Notebook™ collaborative learning software. Over six million teachers have activated SMART Notebook software to create and deliver engaging lessons for more than 40 million students in 175 countries around the world. The award-winning software enables educators to bring course material alive for learners with the aid of various interactive tools, videos, images and activities allowing lessons to be highly engaging and dynamic for students. The training sessions will be offered to teachers at no cost.

Commenting on the launch of the SMART Professional Development Program for Teachers – India, Linda Thomas, Vice President, Products, for SMART Technologies said, “Educational technology is expected to drive the next wave of growth in education owing to its immense potential in improving the quality of education offered in schools. Well trained teachers are integral for an effective education system and it is critical to equip them with 21st century educational tools as well as offer professional development to optimize the use of such products.”

Sanjiv Pande, Managing Director for India and South Asia noted, “This is the first instruction series of its kind forSMART in India and we are excited to offer this transformative program to educators across the country. SMART has a vision to assist in creating effective technology-enabled learning environments. Lack of training for teachers is one major gap identified and we are taking a significant step forward with this training series. The SMART Professional Development Program for Teachers – India will reach educators and equip them with skills to ensure their success in using SMART products and enabling them to make subject lessons more engaging for students.”

?“Canada and India have a strong bilateral relationship and one of the most important areas of knowledge-based collaboration is education,” said Stewart Beck, High Commissioner for Canada to India. “For India to meet its targets, which include doubling its higher education enrolment rate to 30 percent by 2020, the country requires technologically advanced education solutions. Canadian companies such as SMART Technologies are playing an instrumental role by empowering teachers with professional development and modern learning tools that enhance learner engagement. I wish the company success for their initiative.”

NIOS Launches Web Radio for Learners

digitalLEARNING Network

March 6, 2012

The National Institute of Open Schooling has launched a web-radio facility for its learners in collaboration with Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA), New Delhi to bring educational and information content for the community.

Internet radio (also called web-radio, streaming radio, e-radio webcasting) is an audio service transmitted via the Internet. Internet radio services are usually accessible from anywhere in the world. Internet radio is popular among expatriates and listeners with interest that is not adequately served by local radio stations.

All audio contents developed by NIOS, be it subject related or to address social issues, are being placed in the web-radio. The subject contents available in the website would be much useful to the learners of NIOS as the same are directly related to the syllabus of the NIOS, both for Academic and Vocational subjects. The NIOS has reached another milestone of reaching out to the learners with the support of ICT.

NIOS internet radio involves streaming media, presenting listeners with a continuous stream of audio that can be paused or replayed, it is distinct from on-demand file serving. Internet radio is also distinct from podcasting, which involves downloading rather than streaming. Many Internet radio services are associated with a corresponding traditional (terrestrial) radio station or radio network. Internet-only radio stations are independent of such associations. NIOS internet radio services are accessible from anywhere in the world from NIOS’ website.

Concepts + Simulation +Tech = Labs 21st Century + Aptitude

Magazine

digitalLEARNING Network

March 6, 2012

digitalLEARNING has conducted a survey to map the usage of digital labs in India. Around 500 schools across India participated in the survey and shared their experience of using digital Labs

By Pragya Gupta, Elets News Network (ENN)

Mention of the word ‘lab’ automatically pops out a picture of room or building equipped with tools for scientific research, or teaching, or for the manufacture of drugs or chemicals into minds. Checking the acidic and alkaline nature of any liquid by help of a litmus paper is one the most usual experiments that students in junior or middle level classes are often required to do. In the late seventies, eighties and even till the late nineties Litmus paper experiment, observing onion peels through a microscope used to be a popular pastime in the school laboratories.

With the advent of digital technology, the scope of the experiments that students can conduct has been enhanced to a large extent. The modern digital labs are not limited in scope to just basic apparatuses like microscope or beaker or Petri dish or subject. They subsume a blend of cutting edge technology and simulation techniques and they are capable of enhancing the scope of education in a rather transformative way.

With digital tools teaching moves beyond the stage of cramming, it is more about learning through experience and observation. Today we have labs for almost every subject – Science, Math Labs, English and language labs – all of which are a combination of hardware, software application and simulation. Robotics Labs are also getting quite popular.

With digital labs, students have the opportunity of visualising abstruse concepts in Maths, Science, Engineering in a virtual medium. For instance, the math lab comprises of Geometer’s sketchpad software, technology applications, videos, manipulative, measuring Instruments, tables, charts, etc. English labs have brought revolution in learning a language that has always seemed quite difficult to many Indian students. A typical Language lab comprises of software tools that help students improve their accent, vocabulary and grammar.

digitalLEARNING has conducted a survey to map the usage of digital labs in India. Around 500 schools across India participated in the survey and shared their experience of using digital Labs.

Adoption: The level of Adoption among schools has been increasing. With CBSE coming up with a new mandate in favour of labs, a lot of schools are installing digital lab solutions in their classrooms. The future of the digital lab industry seems quite bright.

English is the weakest area in India, hence the adoption of English lab is much higher in school segment followed by Science and Math Lab.

Curiosity about Labs

Are they Cost effective?

Do teachers feel comfortable while teaching through this technology?

Some major players in the market are Wordsworth, Math Buddy, Liqvid, Orell, Hey Math, Exlpore learning, LAZ, Razz Kids, Gizzmos, Educomp Solutions Ltd, Apple, Adobe, Extramarks, TAB TREE, Edaxis.

Teachers’ Expectations from the new labs

•   “Something more advanced than what we are currently using”
•   That are really beneficial and time saving than hands on experience
•   Tablet based labs

Experience with vendors

Quotes from schools

“Digital Lab experiments can be explained to the students in class itself.”
Prabhu Dayal, Faculty Head, Computer Science, Modern Child Public School

“It saves time, deep practice, reports, assessments.”
Deepak BV, Principal Consultant, JILIT

“Students get clarity and retain what they learn through digital experiments.”
Prantika Das, TGT Computer, The Millennium School, Noida

“It saves consumables. We can observe results of some impractical experiments. It saves time, manpower.”
Geetanjali Grover, Informatics Coordinator, BGS International Public School

“Especially with the tablets like iPads we are able to create experiential learning for every student at their own pace with minimum resources and maximum excitement.”
G R Sivakumar, Principal, Delhi Public School, Surat

The Push to Install Technology-rich Labs

Magazine

digitalLEARNING Network

March 6, 2012

In educational institutes around the world, the push to install technology-rich labs is growing, so much so that many academics have started promoting technology as an appropriate tool and even a bridge between the students and their institutions. Digital labs help students in various ways, the most important of which is their ability to make students familiar with the high-tech tools that they might be using once they begin their professional life. It is also true that students prefer to have learning environment that is in tune with their own knowledge, lifestyle and experiences. Yet, in many cases, there exists a great deal of disparity between the technologies – smartphones, notebooks, tablets, social media, etc. – that they use outside the school to those that they use inside the school. Students are twice as likely to respond to their teachers if enough technology is incorporated into the teaching process. It is clear that the shift towards using digital labs in modern classrooms is properly aligned with the needs of today’s students. In order to garner a comprehensive view on the digital labs industry that has now started flourishing in India, digitalLEARNING interacted with a select group of companies that are engaged in developing digital labs for education purposes. The responses that we have received enable us to have a comprehensive overview of the business related and educational prospects of the digital labs industry in the country.

Hemant Sethi, President, School Learning Solutions & Hole-in-the-wall (HiWEL), NIIT Ltd.,is responsible for driving the growth of NIIT’s business in government and private schools. He also looks after the Hole-in-the-wall (HiWEL) initiative, which aims to improve elementary education and life-skills of children.Focus area for NIIT
We are active across the entire education space. We have the IT Lab, which is a holistic IT education solution addressing the IT Curriculum for classes KG to XII. We also offer a state of the art math lab. We have launched a mobile science lab in association with Fourier Systems.

Price of the top selling product
Our Math Lab solution comes with complete hardware, software and infrastructure support, including computers loaded with Windows XP, Antivirus software and Geometer’s Sketch pad for students and teachers. Depending on the features the price can range between `10 to `15 lakhs.

View on market size of digital lab business
Education technology market in India is booming. More and more schools are adapting these solutions and bringing new technology to students. Today we are providing services to around 2.5 lakh private schools. The K-12 market is growing at the rate of 10 percent annually.

Rate of growth in 2011? Expected rate in 2012?
The market has grown substantially in 2011 both in terms of expansion in private school market and penetration of ICT in government schools in various states. We expect similar high growth in 2012.

Jayaram Pillai, MD, National Instruments IndRA (India, Russia & Arabia), and Solaikutty Dhanabal, Academic Manager, National instruments, India,are active in the digital labs business in India. Focus area for National Instruments
ELVIS is a universal learning platform for students from Electronics Engineering to perform experiments throughout their curriculum. Like all other NI Products, it is based on the concept of Virtual Instrumentation where student used the power of LabVIEW software to customise the general purpose hardware. Our primary focus is to help students to learn new engineering concepts.

Is there scope for improvement in IT education in India?
Compared to OECD countries, India lags behind in implementation of IT in engineering education. Given the large number of engineering graduates India produces, there exists tremendous scope of improvement in the areas of Collaborative Learning, Remotely Reconfigurable educational platforms and Remote Labs.

Upcoming technological innovations
Technological Innovations like Mobile Labs and Portable Labs have a huge potential for revolutionising engineering education in India.

Improving skills of engineers
We believe that our engineers must be encouraged to move beyond simulation. They must be introduced to real-world constraints through lab experiments and Student Projects. This is the only way of improving their skills.

Debabrata Bagchi, CEO and founder, Sparsha Learning Technologies,is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and North-western University, Illinois. He has more than 11+ years experience in technology start-ups both in India and USA.Focus area for Sparsha Learning Technologies
Sparsha Learning Technologies works with Higher Educational Institutes to integrate course curriculum in iLearnMore suite of digital virtual labs. Teachers can use this platform to teach in a more engaged and interactive manner and as a result convert non-learners to learners.

Top selling digital lab product
Our top selling Digital Lab product is in Analogue and Digital Electronics. The use of instruments like oscilloscopes and function generators in the system is helpful in making more familiar with devices and their workability in regards to circuit design and other aspects. The system costs around $20 per student per year per virtual lab.

Digital Labs being planned for future
We are already piloting Programming in C/C++/JAVA/Python virtual labs. We are developing labs in control systems, digital image processing, databases and operating systems.

Market size of digital labs business? Growth rate for Sparsh Learning Technologies
The size of the digital lab business in India is more than $200 million. In 2011 the growth rate for Sparsh was 40 percent. In 2012, we expect to grow at rates between 40 to 80 percent.

Sudarshan Borker, co-founder, IE Education,started his career in 2002 as a Sales Executive with a B2B offshore company in Bangalore. Later he joined his brothers in Chennai to Co-found NextBiT Computing in 2005. He helped found IE Education in 2010 and is focused on making technology affordable in schools.Top selling digital lab product
We have deployed a number of Language Labs using the EduPC hardware and the Language application form English Edge. Our 30 Seater Learning Lab costs around `4 to `5 Lakhs, and our digital classroom solutions are priced at `15 lakhs.

Market size of digital labs in India
The penetration of the digital labs market in India is quite small. There is a huge scope for installing low cost solutions in the rural market. We look to attract investors to our organisation and expand our reach throughout India.

Vivek Agarwal, Chief Executive Officer, Liqvid eLearning Services Pvt. Ltd.,played a pivotal role in starting of eGurucool in 1998.Top selling digital lab product
English Edge is our top selling English Language Lab. It sells equally well in all the three segments of schools, colleges and vocational institutes. We are now seeing lots of interest in our portable language lab offering and customers from all three segments have signed up for these labs.Price of the top selling product
We have three pricing models. In the per student per course model, we charge in the range of Rs. 500 to Rs. 2500 per student per course. In the Per lab model, the price varies between `1.5 lakhs to `3.5 lakhs. The AMC can be in the range of 10 percent of the price. Then there is in the per student per month model in which the price can range between `40 to `100 per student for a 3 year duration.

Market size of digital Labs business in India
During the next three years there is going to be huge growth in the market size. We expect 20,000 schools in India to implement language labs solutions in their classrooms.

Rate of growth in 2011? Expected rate in 2012?
Our business is witnessing a healthy year on year growth rate of 100
percent.

Nirmala Sankaran, co-founder & Chief Evangelist, HeyMath!,used to serve as the vice president of Citibank’s Global Transactional Banking division before she became an entrepreneur and helped found a premier digital labs solution company.Top selling digital labs product
HeyMath! Zone is a vibrant and engaging learning environment that facilitates learning through a process of discovery and exploration. It caters to all kinds of learning and teaching styles. The price of HeyMath! Zone depends on the nature and size of implementation. The list price for setting up the HeyMath! Zone is `4.5 lacs per annum.

Rate of growth in 2011? Expected rate in 2012?
In 2011, we had a growth rate of around 200 percent. In 2012, we expected a growth rate of at least 100 percent.

Are digital Labs cheaper than the traditional teaching tools?
Digital labs allow customisation of the school curriculum. By using digital technology teachers are able to adapt the available resources for meeting the learning related needs of individual students. This ensures that digital labs are not only impactful, they are also cost effective. One of the biggest advantages of Digital Labs is that they make it easy for teachers to manage students with multiple learning abilities.

Gagan Goyal, Founder and CEO, ThinkLABS Technosolutions Pvt Ltd.,has a passion for robotics. In March 2010, he was named among India’s top 10 Young Entrepreneurs by Businessworld in March 2010.

Digital Labs already deployed
Robotics Learning System (RLS) is a hands-on science learning platform, in which students are able to explore the fundamentals of Computer Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (CS-STEM) by building and programming robots. The installation cost of the system comes out to around `4.5 lakhs over a period of three years.

Market size of robotic labs business in India
It is hard for me to put a monetary figure to the market size. But there are over a lakh of premium private schools all of which pose as a target market for setting up robotics labs. So there is a huge potential.

Rate of growth in 2011? Expected rate in 2012?
We saw a 250 percent growth in revenue from robotics labs in 2011 over the preceding calendar year. We aim to achieve around 300 percent growth in 2012.

Shameema Parveen, CEO, Edutech,started her career as a management trainee and went on to become the CEO of one of the leading companies in the digital education space.Top selling digital labs product
Edutech Language Labs and Language Teaching Solutions can be used to teach and learn any language. Edutech’s ICT based Science Lab is a fully integrated solution, which provides students with portable hand-held devices for learning new lessons in a rather interesting way. Designed to meet the learning needs of CBSE, ICSE and IB curricula, our Science Lab is suitable for students of all age groups.

Price of Science Labs solutions
It costs `1.35 lakhs to install the Science Labs in middle school. In case of high school, the cost goes up to `1.75 lakhs. In Senior School the cost is `3 lakhs.

State of the digital labs market
The market is still in its infancy. We expect it to grow multi-fold in the coming years, as the market becomes more aware and better products are launched.

Are digital Labs cheaper than the traditional teaching tools?
Digital labs are certainly cheaper than traditional teaching tools. For instance, with our virtual lab for CAD/CAM, every student can write programs and test/update/modify the same by using the virtual lab. They can work on this at the time of their convenience.

Timir Ghosh, Director North America, Edaxis,has extensive experience of leading major companies like Skyton, Electrovaya, Noble Group, AJ, BMTL, Modi Oliviti in Canada, East Africa and India. He has experience in technology, Education and KPO industry.Top selling digital labs product
Edaxis LangLab is an affordable multimedia platform for learning any language at any level, anywhere. It is a suite of software modules that can turn any computer lab or classroom with laptops into a multimedia language lab. A special hardware is not required with the system.

Price of top selling product
Edaxis LangLab is most cost effective, as compared to any other language lab. For a system with 30 plus 1 terminals the company charges only about `70,000 for one time perpetual licence.

Expected growth rates in 2012
The company is aiming for a growth rate of at least 200 percent in year 2012.

Rita Raje, Commercial agent, WALDNER Laborund Schuleinrichtungen GmbH,is a specialist in educational architecture. Waldner is the leading innovator in the global digital education industry and the market leader for laboratory technology and laboratory equipment at the highest standard.Labs deployed in India
We have been installing labs in Indian Grade 5 to 12 schools since 2005. The labs are practically maintenance-free and meet stringent international safety standards.

Market size for labs business in India
With rising number of schools in India warming up to digital methodologies for teaching, there exist a lot of potential for growth.

Top selling digital lab solution
Our digital science lab allows students to perform experiments wherever they are – in the classroom, in the lab or at home. For instance, if you want to study the water quality at the beach, a lake or the tap, this mobile lab can help you collect and save real time data for further analysis in the classroom.

Srikanth B Iyer, COO, Pearson Education Services,started his career with Wipro in 1993, but he soon left to chase his own entrepreneurial dreams. Pearson Education Services was formerly known as Edurite Technologies, and Iyer is responsible for driving the company to a position of leadership in the e-education space. Top selling digital labs product
English Edge and our Digitally Grammar and comprehension product are our top sellers. English Edge is an excellent tool for building a student’s spoken English skills; it subtly teaches grammar and pronunciation.

Are digital Labs cheaper than the traditional teaching tools?
Digital tools are far more superior to traditional teaching methods. They are convenient to use, cheaper and easy to update and of course a lot more interactive. Also with digital aids students can find answers more quickly and easily.

Digital Labs planned in future
The process of enhancing our digital products is a continuous one. Our in-house teams constantly work on enhancing our existing products by adding more content and them more and more interactive and user friendly.

Deepak Bhardwaj, Director, Corporate Affairs, Texas Instruments,works closely with the Government of India and various state governments, as well as the key Industry and trade associations and Universities, to evolve new ideas for trade and policy. Focus area of Texas Instruments (TI)
Texas Instruments (TI) has developed easy to use math and science lab systems. Science and math tools such as data collection probes that work with TI-Nspire CX (Student handhelds) allow students to predict experiment outcomes, quickly collect data and analyse results.

Market size of digital lab business in India
The market is scattered between different kinds of lab solution providers. Considering the radical changes in the Indian education system and the enhancements by Indian boards of education, we see this market to be growing at an extremely fast pace.

Rate of growth in 2011? Expected rate in 2012?
TI saw reasonable growth in 2011. We are a global leader in math and science labs. We expect to see a good growth in 2012 and beyond, as our technology is a “one of a kind” solution that meets the needs of classroom learning, maths and science lab activities and much else.

The digitisation of our classrooms

digitalLEARNING Network

March 6, 2012

While on a broader level the debate on the best ways for educational institutes to invest wisely in ICT technology continues, it has quietly emerged that a vast majority of institutions in India are on way to having digital labs deployed in their classrooms. The digital labs allow for compelling multimedia lessons, and let students work at their own pace or in groups. The role of the teacher continues to be important. Students collaborate in groups, and swoop on the teacher for consultation.

The digital labs – science labs, math labs, robotic labs, language labs – that are being used in modern classrooms are different from what we used to have earlier. They are not just standard computer based labs. The companies in the education space are now coming up with solutions that don’t require students to be sitting in front of the computer and looking blankly into the screen. The students have access to LCD screens, headsets, microphones, so that they can collaborate with other students in the class and beyond.

The teacher has access to a central station equipped with a monitor and keypad. Through personal interventions and through the digital tools, the teacher is able to give individual attention to each one of his students. He or she can apportion time on the basis of the need of students. The weaker students no longer have to struggle at the blackboard in front of the class. This system of digital labs is especially helpful to the children with learning disabilities, as they are able to participate and succeed in mainstream classes.

However, it is also true that the digital labs business is going through a high-growth phase and hence it has some growing pains. Companies in the digital labs space are coming up with new innovations, but at times they have to go back to the drawing board to make their products more suitable for the needs of the Indian educational landscape. In the current issue of digitalLEARNING we have conducted an in depth exploration of the digital lab business in the country. Some companies have been clocking more than 100 percent year on year growth. There is an overwhelming view in the market that this kind of growth is sustainable at least for the next five years.

In the state of Maharashtra, in particular, there is lot of movement towards implementing digital labs in classrooms. To showcase the state’s prowess in the field of ICT, we have chosen Mumbai as the venue for the eMaharashtra 2012 (http://emaharashtra.eletsonline.com/) in April. ICT is a playground for innovators, who can come from any part of the country or the world and have positive impact on the life of people in living in diverse geographical areas.

As always I look forward to having your feedback on this issue of digitalLEARNING.

ComGuard Focuses on Education Market in India

digitalLEARNING Network

February 28, 2012

ComGuard, a part of Spectrum Group, Dubai, and value added distributor (VAD) of global leading networking and security products across Middle East and Africa, announces its entry into the Indian market.
As most of the sectors are performing well in India, the market opportunity for IT security and networking is really huge, which can go upto multi billion dollars but there is a paucity of VADs to address the whole market, therefore there is a natural gap. ComGuard being a leading player in this space can actually explore the opportunity and help the market to grow faster. To start with ComGuard will focus on enterprises and education markets and introduce global brands for networking and security products to cater to this market.

Ajay Singh Chauhan, CEO, Spectrum Group said, “After having strong presence in Middle-East and African countries, we are focusing now on Indian IT security market. Indian IT security industry is moving strongly, and is expected to continue scoring solid growth in near future. With the robust growth of India’s emerging SMB segment, the demand for IT security solutions will go a long way. We as a VAD will hand hold the partners to make a transition from their traditional business to the emerging business.”

Speaking on the occasion, George Jason, Vice President, ComGuard said, “India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and will be for the foreseeable future. Our objective for the Indian market would be to mirror the success of our other regions. Our focus would be to build a well informed eco-system amongst our partners and our clients. This would add immense value to all involved.”
He further added, “ComGuard in India wants to emerge as a niche network and security technology distributor. With a product portfolio that is studded with world class vendors like Acunetix, Array Networks, BlueCatNetworks, Beyond Trust, Brovis, EC Council, Infowatch, iolo, MeruNet-works and Seclore. ComGuard has supported project requirements of leading enterprises in the region. Leveraging on in-house technical support resources and strong channel support, ComGuard has been recognised for its dedicated and sustained efforts to add value to its distribution role.”

“We are targeting the enterprises and education markets as currently in India there are very few value added distributor in these areas” said George Jason.

As a VAD, ComGuard has raised the standards in value added distribution in the regions and was awarded as the best overall partner in 2008 by Kaspersky Labs for its innovative promotional campaigns, channel initiatives, technical support and effective training programs for resellers and customers. With proven strategies and market success, the company has grown significantly with high sales turnover, team strengths and strong channel network.

Canara Bank Develops Portal for Implementation of NSIGSE

digitalLEARNING Network

February 28, 2012

Dr D Purandeswari, Minister of State for Human Resource Development has launched a web portal for implementation of the National Scheme of Incentive to Girls for Secondary Education (NSIGSE) . Also present were Smt. Anshu Vaish, Secretary, Department of School Education & Literacy and Shri A.K. Gupta Executive Director, Canara Bank.

The Centrally Sponsored Scheme ‘National Scheme of Incentive to Girls for Secondary Education” was launched in May 2008 with the objective to establish an enabling environment to reduce the drop-outs and to promote the enrolment of girl child belonging mainly to SC/ST communities in secondary schools. As per the scheme, a sum of Rs. 3,000 is deposited in the name of eligible girls as fixed deposit, who are entitled to withdraw it along with interest threon reaching 18 years of age and after passing out in 10th class examination. The scheme covers (i) all girls belonging to SC/ST communities , who pass class VIII and (ii) all girls who pass VII examination from Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (irrespective of whether they belong to SC/ST) and enroll in class IX in Government, Government –aided and local Body schools. 100% funds are provided by the Central Government for the Scheme. Canara bank is the implementing agency for the scheme.

Sanctions covering 843026 girls from 26 states/UTs have so far been issued since launch of the scheme in May 2008 involving an expenditure of Rs 252.90 crore. Approximately 105000 beneficiary girls have become eligible to receive the maturity amount and are being paid the incentive amount subject to fulfilling the conditions.

The Canara Bank has developed a web based portal to implement the scheme. The portal will facilitate on line submission of data of the beneficiaries and on line disbursement of the amount on the day of the maturity into their accounts directly after certification by the State Nodal Officer on line that the beneficiary is 18 years old and passed class X examination.

With the operationalization of the web portal, the proposals under the scheme will be submitted by the State Governments on line. This will eliminate the possibility of feeding incorrect data and bank account numbers which was the major cause for delay in the processing of the proposals and ensure error free entry of data and timely release of funds. The on-line system will also ensure total transparency and quicker disbursement of benefits to the beneficiary girls and on time submission of proposals by the State Governments.

UGC May Introduce Bachelor’s degree in Vocational Education

digitalLEARNING Network

February 28, 2012

University Grants Commission (UGC) may introduce a bachelor’s degree in vocational education in its affiliated institutions in 2012. The standing committee of UGC has formally approved a proposal to introduce a bachelor’s degree in vocational education.

Final nod from the commission is still awaited. Once approved, a college student can pick up a bachelor’s degree in art, science, commerce or vocational education. “We propose to add vocational education as one of the specific degrees of UGC from 2012. The finer details are however being worked on,” acting chairman of UGC Ved Prakash quoted in the Hindustan Times.
The All India Council of Technical Education had earlier written a letter to UGC requesting them to introduce vocational education at college level. AICTE chairman S S Mantha said that the curriculum of the new courses will be put on the website by March 10. The initiative intended to boost employment for college graduates. The student will have to choose a sector and a specific specialization from each sector. Initially 10 sectors have been chosen including tourism, construction, printing, telecom, IT, mobile and communication.

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