From systemic professional development practices in context of a teacher, to learner centered educational approaches, Intel’s Education Transformation model is helping prepare India’s next generation for success

Sixty kilometers from Ahmedabad, in Mehsana district, there is the village called Gozaria. A large grouping of village inhabitants has gathered at Smt MK Patel High School to listen to a speech on heart disease. Health officers of the area are also present. But it’s not a cardiologist who is the speaker. It is students of class 9 and 10. They do a multimedia presentation on heart disease, highlighting how our lifestyle can lead to clogged arteries and heart attacks. There are animated videos on various types of heart surgeries, as well as interviews with heart patients and doctors, that drive home the fact that by changing our diet we have a good chance of countering heart related diseases. The audience leaves the school with an increased awareness about the heart.

How did this happen? How have students from a village become capable of making such an impact in their community? How did their teacher impart such knowledge to them?

“Digital learning and technology create miracles, not just in the classroom, but outside as well,” says Jitendra Kumar Patel, a science teacher, who is credited with enabling his students to speak convincingly on the abstruse subject of heart diseases. Patel started his career in the traditional ‘chalk and talk’ methodology. He had a transformational experience when he attended the Intel Teach program, back in 2001. “This training changed my outlook towards education and showed me a new way in which technology and digital learning could transform traditional classrooms into 21st century classrooms, and foster higher order thinking, technological skills and various other skills in students,” Patel says.

That’s exactly what Intel set out to achieve when it started the Intel Teach program in Gujarat. The program has covered 26 districts so far. Over 110,000 teachers from government and private schools, and 112,874 Teacher Educators and Student Teachers from 280 colleges have been trained.

To reach out to various schools in these districts, Intel works with various state-level organizations, such as Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB), Sarva Shkisha Abhiyan (SSA), Gujarat Council of Education Research and Training (GCERT) and Commissioner of Schools. Intel is collaborating with the Commissioner of Schools to train teachers from over 3,600 schools in the state. Intel also signed the World Ahead State MoU with the Education and Tribal Department to support the state Chief Minister’s 10-point program, as part of Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2009. Intel works with NGOs, and local companies to enable the implementation of its initiatives.

The Gujarat government is serious about enabling education in the state. At a recent Intel Teach training event held at Gandhinagar, CV Som, Commissioner, Schools, urged teachers to make use of the facilities being made available. He said, “All Grant in Aid secondary schools in the state have been given 11 desktop computers, one LCD TV, a scanner and printer under the ICT @ School scheme. Schools need to make most use of it. Intel is providing free training and every teacher should make the best use of this opportunity.”

Ushering in Change
Intel has been committed to education transformation for more than a decade now. The company believes that improvements in education can only happen through a holistic and systemic approach, which takes into account the critical and interrelated components of education transformation.

The model for successful education transformation leveraged by Intel includes policy, curriculum standards and assessment, professional development, information and communications technology (ICT), and research and evaluation. When all of these components are successfully integrated and implemented, real education transformation can take place.

“Secondary schools in the state have been given 11 desktop computers, one LCD TV, a scanner and printer under the ICT @ School scheme. Schools need to make most use of it”-C V Som,  Commissioner, Schools, Government of Gujarat

Benefits from Education Transformation
Effective education transformation brings a number of benefits. Research has shown that quality education has a direct impact on economic growth.

• Increasing student competitiveness by developing skills such as digital literacy, problem solving, critical thinking and collaboration.
• Helping citizens develop lifelong learning skills, and better preparing them for current and future employment.
• Creating economic development as local businesses benefit from a better-educated citizenry and workforce.
• Creating more social cohesion and a better social climate as access to technology, the Internet, and digital content narrows the digital divide and creates opportunities.
• Immediate economic benefits to local businesses that help develop and deliver education solutions.

There’s no doubt that education transformation has a huge impact on the society. Intel believes in creating economic and social opportunities for all. And that’s why Intel works with governments to improve the quality of their education system using a holistic model. Replicating this model all over India is Intel’s mission so that the objectives of the country become inclusive and the goal of universal education is reached.

The entire concept of education is now changing. With explosion of digital content, what is the future of books? As the online space makes it possible for students and teachers to interact in a virtual medium, what is the future of classrooms? How much impact will Internet have on schools, students and literacy rates in, say, ten years of time?

These are all very pertinent questions, and there are no clear answers. The future is changing at such a rapid pace that the concept of education is expected to be constantly buffeted by winds of new technology. It is possible for today’s students to go online for hearing a lecture on physics, mathematics or any other subject. Even the post lecture discussion can be held online. Students in different parts of the country and even the world can get involved in a discussion. There is enough scope for teachers to add value to the discussion that is going on. The online space tends to be a great equaliser. The rich and the poor can participate in the same forum and develop new knowledge and perspectives.

Under the stewardship of Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Gujarat is making rapid strides in education and a lot of technological systems for education are evolving. These systems enhance the quality of education, and also make it possible for a larger number of students to become enrolled. For instance, there are tools being used that make it possible for taking the educational infrastructure to the student’s doorstep. These kinds of systems can be especially useful for students living in remote villages.

The manufacturing industries and the IT sector in Gujarat are booming. Students from lower sections of society are particularly impassioned about learning to use computers, for they see such training as a way of rising in life. As more and more people embrace a new technology, it leads to further innovation and the creation of a new round of advanced services and products. On its part, new innovations always lead to more people joining the technology bandwagon. Hence the process is, in many ways, capable of growing from strength to strength.

The bottom line is that as far as education is concerned, it is certainly true that we are living in most exciting times. Prof. Sudhir K Jain Director IIT Gandhinagar

Classteacher Learning Systems provides digital solutions to over 700 schools, 1 million students and 25,000 educators across India. Rohit Pande, CEO, Classteacher Learning Systems, shares his insights

 Advent of IT is having a seminal impact on Gujarat’s education segment. The state’s literacy rate has increased by more than 10 percent in the last decade. The census data of 2011 released on March 31 shows that Gujarat’s literacy rate has clearly increased from 69.1 percent (according to 2001 census) to 79.31 percent (according to 2011 census). While the state is providing the much needed impetus to the K-12 segment, there exists considerable scope for improvement.

According to NASSCOM, with an improved infrastructure and education, Gujarat will be in a position to drive IT growth in the next decade. Som Mittal, president of the IT industry body, says that while currently only six cities, including Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Pune, form 90 per cent of total IT industry, newer cities like Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mysore and Chandigarh will drive growth in the next decade. Gujarat has immense potential to become the next IT hub.

With information technology it is easier to achieve the goal of building a society that is rich, aware and discerning. IT is an enabler of social inclusivity; it can bring information to the masses, educate them and enable them to enjoy a better quality of life.

Gujarat to leapfrog
ICT can enable data assessment, data analytics in schools, and this is something that will go a long way in creating the minds that will lead India into the future.

• Digital interactive education has seen tremendous growth in the last two years in the market across both large and small towns.
• We see greater than 100 percent growth in market for assessments, as well as web based learning.
• E-learning is growing both as a support tool for existing educational institutions as well as for delivery of high quality solutions for the end user.
• Digital education has crept into our classrooms and has become mainstream in big and small towns.
• It helps in engaging students as students see and interact with the subject they are studying.

Gujarat is blessed with a dynamic economy. The state government is very serious about improving the education level and has started several programs to achieve full literacy, such as universalisation of elementary education, District Primary Education Program and compulsory primary education.

As per the figures of 2011 census, the female literacy rate in the last decade has increased by 12.93 percent in Gujarat. Moreover, the male literacy rate was 79.7 percent in 2001 census, this has increased to 87.23 percent in 2011 census. The male literacy rate shows a rise of 7.53 percent in the last decade. This is a notable milestone of progress.

Reaching the Last Mile
Of the nearly one million public schools in India less than 0.2 percent have access to IT infrastructure or computer-based education. Setting up a school is a cumbersome process. The costs for building materials, municipality permits, electricity, remuneration for teachers and maintenance is quite high.

Out of approximately 200 million children in the age group of 6-14 years, only 120 million ever go to school, hence it is important to use IT technology to take education to everyone’s doorstep. As a part of its Vision 2020 plan, the government is looking to increase the number of school going children by 30 percent.

In 2009, Government of Gujarat began a novel initiative called Gunotsav, which aims at bringing quality to primary education. Led by CM himself, ministers and officials visit primary schools for three days every year

Gunotsav, a three-day annual programme aimed at improving quality of primary education in Government of Gujarat-run schools, is now in its third year. Senior functionaries, including the Chief Minister and other ministers, and approximately 3000 government officials, including senior IAS, IFS and IPS officers, personally visit over 30,000 primary schools.

Students are assessed on basis of their reading, writing and math skills. Students till the fifth standard are tested in Hindi, Gujarati and Math. Students of 6-8 standards are also tested in English. The identity of the school, which has to be visited, remains a secret till the day of inspection. The schools are graded from A-C depending on the performance of students.

At Gunotsav 2011, CM Narendra Modi visited primary schools Banaskantha district’s Danta taluka, in north Gujarat. Modi spent time with teachers, and students in Jashwant Gadh and Bhemal villages.

This year, around 8,000 primary schools – one-fourth of all primary schools in the state – will be inspected as part of Gunotsav.
Besides education, schools will be rated on parameters such as cleanliness, water, power, greenery and quality of mid-day meal.
The NGO Pratham has been roped in to conduct a third party audit of the entire Gunotsav 2011.