World Education Summit 2011 The Beginning…

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August 1, 2011

The first World Education Summit envisaged as a major global platform for dialogues, debates and deliberations upon policies, tools and methods of learning towards education for all was inaugrated by leading global dignitaries on 13th July 2011

The World Education Summit-2011(WES) was organised by the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) along with Center for Science Development and Media Studies (CSDMS) and Elets Technomedia in New Delhi.

The sprawling function was inaugurated by the special guests of honour Loynpo Thakur S Powdyel, Minister of Education, Royal Government of Bhutan, Dr Taseer Al Nuaimi, Minister of Education, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and Shri Kapil Sibal, Minister of Human Resource and Development, Government of India. Participants were from academic programmes/services of 33 participating educational institutions including IGNOU attended the event.

Education industry is undergoing a paradigm shift, which aroused the need of a platform where global leaders, civil society, academia, industry can converge to plan and share knowledge, plans and recommendations for educational reforms. The World Education Summit proved to be that platform. The three-day event was attended by more than 1000 national and international stakeholders from development, government sector, academia, NGOs, and industry.

The summit witnessed various sessions on school education, higher education, vocational and skills, and distance and open learning.

Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for Human Resource and Development (HRD) and Information Technology emphasised upon the parallel system of vocational education, which will be exactly like the formal system of the Central Board of Secondary Education.

“It is hoped that in the next 10 years, India will emerge as a developed nation. But this also means that India will require 500 million skilled individuals and 250 million graduates to achieve this dream. But at the moment, out of every 100 children that go to school, only 13 reach college. The global average is 23 out of 100 and in all developed countries, it is above 40. Thus, any developed nation has a critical mass of children going to college,” said Sibal, while inaugurating the WES 2011 at the Ashok Hotel in New Delhi on July 13.

“In higher education, to collaborate between the universities, you need mobility and choice of set standards to easily move to reform the examination system so that the entry should be based on one exam. You need a semester system to allow that mobility,” said Sibal

Reflecting upon what is happening globally in the education sector he analysed the reasons for global renaissance. “Unless we have the critical mass going to the university system for cross fertilisation of ideas, it is not possible to reach our desired goals. The Gross Enrolment Ratio in Jordan is 43 percent but there are many parts of the world where it is less than 10 percent. In India it is less than 15 percent, we must ensure that it moves from 15 percent to 30 percent,” he added

Shri Kapil Sibal “We need flexibility and change of mindset. Discipline of knowledge is only acquisition of knowledge. What we need is skills for tomorrow, with a change in content of education. We must ensure that a child develops employable skills during school days.”

“A major challenge in this endeavour, however, is absenteeism of teachers. This is an infrastructural challenge. We are trying to ensure quality infrastructure under this act by setting out minimum parameters for a school

Education Development in the North East Region: Emerging Scenario

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August 1, 2011

The Education Development of the North East Regional Unit (EDNERU) of IGNOU organized a special session on the emerging scenario of education in the North Eastern states of India. The session was attended by key stakeholders in the education sector from States in the North East. The objectives of the session was to exchange ideas on challenges and opportunities in the education sector and explore avenues for vocational and skills training in the region

Panelists at the round-table discussion

Speakers

Prof K R Srivathsan, Pro Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University
Prof Debjani Roy, Director, Centre for Traditional Knowledge Systems
Dr Bini Toms, Deputy Director, EDNERU

Dr Bini Toms opened the session by highlighting the activities of the Educational Development of North East Region Unit (EDNERU), which was established with the objective of creating educational access and to equalize the opportunities of education and vocational training to the hitherto 'unreached' in the North East Region cutting across physical and geographical barriers.

Prof Debjani Roy specified some of the activities of the Centre for Traditional Knowledge Systems, which has been in the process of assessing, analyzing and accrediting the traditional knowledge of North East region.

Prof Srivathsan pointed out that one of the most important method of promoting education in backward regions of India is to link ICT with development. The Community Knowledge Enterprise, he emphasized, can play an important role in inculcating common IT literacy among masses.

The session provided insights into the work being done by IGNOU for promoting education in the North East. Indira Gandhi National Open University in its endeavour to bring quality education to the North East region has further expanded its activities in the region by establishing the IGNOU Institute for Vocational Education and Training (IIVET) at Shillong, Meghalaya to equip people with skills and knowledge to expand their life choices.

Suggestions

The session highlighted a need to set standards for vocational education and training. IGNOU has been working towards this endeavour and has been promoting the accreditation and certification of traditional knowledge and vocational skills in the North East.
One of the key requirements that was pointed out was the need for faculty development and training workshops in order to update the skills of faculty members of educational institutes of the North East region.
It was also highlighted that skills development
in the North East should not just focus on the organized sector but also on the unorganized sections.
There is also a need to integrate the indigenous knowledge of the traditional communities in the north east with modern trade and employment. Efforts have to be strengthened to ensure that indigenous knowledge are not wiped out by the onslaught of modern technologies and trade.

Global Education Leaders&rsquo: Conclave Bridging Barriers in Education

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August 1, 2011

The session deliberated on strategies for Education Leadership across different countries to come together and harmonise efforts in bringing cordial relations in education and leadership. It highlighted the strategies of governments from different countries in promoting school education and higher education and their vision for education in the future.

MODERATOR:
Prof V N Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU)

Special Guest:
Smt Vibha Puri Das, Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India

Eminent Panelists:

Loynpo Thakur S Powdyel, Hon'ble Minister of Education, Ministry of Education, Royal Government of Bhutan

Dr Taseer Al Nuaimi, Hon'ble Minister of Education, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

Dr Narendra Jadhav, Member, Planning Commission & Member, National Advisory Council, Government of India

Salil Bhandari, President, PhD Chamber of Commerce

The Global Education Leaders' Conclave aimed at building policies and partnerships for promoting education on the global platform.

Vibha Puri Das started the session highlighting the issues pertaining to higher education in India. For universalisation of primary and secondary education and improvement in the GER (Gross Enrolment Ratio), “we have to look at strategies that will enable us to achieve these goals.” Smt Das concluded by emphasising on skill delivery to improve GER. Skill delivery should be done in a sustainable manner to ensure vertical, horizontal, diagonal mobility for students from skill to education and back again. Connectivity amongst institutions excellence in terms of optical fiber networks, teaching learning methods and national leaning network is being actualised.

Dr Narendra Jadhav discussed all the four sectors of education. “We will be precisely involving education in the 12th plan.” Elementary education have two schemes – Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Mid Day Meal scheme – which have been implemented across the country. Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan introduced in the 11th plan will continue to impact education.

The PPP mode can be beneficial to the country with the premier Kendriya Vidyalays and Navodya Vidyalays. He concluded by sharing his insights on brining excellence in higher education, which needs to be addressed by holding research programs to reinforce teaching programs using technological learning methods. “We need to further facilitating investments by private institutions in higher education as resource limitation is a reality and identification of good PPP models is important.”

Dr Taseer Al Nuiami focused on educational reforms globally. The fee policy needs to be revised as education is the basic human right. Incentives for innovation, for reaching the target, for teachers need not necessarily be financial but May be technological for better teaching methods.

Loynpo Thakur S Powdeyl concluded the session with his vision on education. He said that if we set education right, we can set our nation right. Education must be taken to the next higher level of engagement than merely being a mercenary pursuit of degrees and diplomas unrelieved by light and learning. “What we really need is a new civilization- an educational civilization, if you will. The hope is that our children and youth exposed to these learning experiences will imbibe the right kind of knowledge to make them better actualized and more fulfilled human beings.”

World Education Summit 2011: Moving One Step Closer Towards Excellence in Education

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August 1, 2011

The first World Education Summit 2011 came to its logical conclusion on 15th July 2011, after three days of intensive discussions and deliberations on key issues in the education sector. The Summit lived up to its name of being a truly global platform by highlighting global best practices, bringing innovations and change to the fore and giving added momentum to international collaborations. High level participation from global education dignitaries and ministers from across the globe and representatives from over 70 countries gave the Summit a highly international flavor. It proved that India has established its place in the international education network and will only get stronger in the coming years as the global education destination.

Several noted personalities in the education sector provided their vision and perspective on the current education scenario and their vision for the future. The common goal seemed to echo across boundariesthe universal effort to move closer towards a world of inclusive, collaborative and quality education. Intensive workshop session on Distance Education, Community Colleges, Educational Development of the North East regions and Open Schooling
threw a light on the extent of work being done in these fields and those that can be undertaken in order to carry forward the national mission of education for all. The Expo at World Education Summit showcased delightful technology solutions and gave a first-hand look into the most innovative technologies in education that have the potential of truly revolutionizing the education world. The World Education awards, with more than 150 nominations and over 74000 voters, adequately demonstrated the reach of the Summit across the globe. The time is now ripe for all those in the education sector to explore, innovate and display their creative best. Dr APJ Abdul Kalam honoured the World Education Summit by his gracious presence and gave an apt conclusion to the three days of jam packed itinerary in the following words, “Education in its real sense is the pursuit of truth, it is an endless journey where there is no scope for hatred or disharmony. It is an asset to the universe…” The World Education Summit is a beginning of OUR endless journey towards building a platform for exchange of excellence and innovation in the knowledge sphere. I take this opportunity to thank all our participants, speakers, supporters, sponsors, exhibitors, and delegates for helping us make this Summit a memorable and an enriching experience. A special vote of thanks to Prof Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor of IGNOU, whose constant support and guidance has helped us move leap years ahead.

Promoting Collaborations in Higher Education

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August 1, 2011

The World Education Summit 2011 held exclusive sessions on higher education during13 July – 15 July 2011. There were discussions on pertinent issues like India’s move towards a knowledge economy in a globalised world, distance learning and the role of technology in education, skills development, accreditation and assessment. Report..

Sess ion: IMPERATIVES FOR GROWTH IN A KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY: PERSPECTIVES FROM THE LEADERSHIP :
The aim of this session was to discuss India’s transition to a knowledge economy – an economy that creates, disseminates and uses knowledge to enhance its growth. Discussants argued for globally competitive institutions and good researchers who are also good teachers for a strong research and teaching community Drawing on past examples of knowledge driving the economy in India, it was brought to the notice of everyone present how Indian merchants, when they went to Europe for purposes of trade, saved journey time than their European counterparts because of the nautical tables they used. This not only helped save time but also ensured transport of goods better and safely. The question raised was, is knowledge still driving the economy in India? For various reasons, education institutions in India have become silos. As the Indian economy is growing, it is growing independent of any great educational nstitution inputs. As this growth is not coming from the knowledge sector, the question arises that can this growth sustain itself? Just having industrial growth and high-tech products is not enough as India enters different markets in different parts of the world. A common concern that emerged throughout the session was, divesting education from the real world is harmful. Knowledge that comes from the undergraduates must be integrated into systematised knowledge and the emphasis should be on inter-disciplinarily studies. For example, in health, the best solutions are today coming from technologists and mathematicians. Such interdisciplinary studies, therefore, have to be encouraged and promoted.
Certa in key suggestions that came out from the sess ion were
• Knowledge should create innovators and should not be driven by rote learning to pass exams and get jobs
• Identify capable students and introduce them to the teaching culture during their higher education under a mentor
• India needs to harness experts on politics and economy of the countries whose markets she enters
• Apart from ICT skills, the 21st century knowledgeeconomy also demands soft skills such as prob- lem-solving, effective communication, team work, analytical skills .
• It is important to improve the Research and Development
infrastructure in India

digitOpportunities for Indian and European ICT Research

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July 30, 2011

eInfrastructures are becoming fundamental resources for supporting activities across the public sector in areas such as eGovernment, eResearch and eHealth. The drive towards building a smart society requires the federation of services and reduction of fragmentation, the improvement of security and access to data and resources, developing interoperability to avoid vendor lock-in, and educating the next generation of users and developers to benefit from such technologies. In short, advances in eDevelopment and eInfrastructures can lead to far-reaching improvements for all levels of society. Sound familiar? Well these are just some of the challenges that are not only being faced in India today, but are also major concerns in Europe.

The Euro-India SPIRIT workshop to be held Monday 1 August at eWorld 2011, New Delhi, will focus on how Indian and European organizations are addressing such challenges through European Commission funded ICT collaborative research projects. Through live testimonials, the workshop will highlight the direct benefits that Indian organizations are experiencing through joining EU-Indian collaborative ICT research projects that are funded by the European Commission. Participants will learn about how IBM Research, Bangalore, are benefitting from such cooperation. Through their involvement with the EC-funded Cockpit project , IBM Research Bangalore are working towards establishing new governance models to engage and empower citizens in the public service delivery decision making process

Lucknow Teachers to learn hands-on science

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July 26, 2011

SPACE in association with Council of Science and Technology, U.P. is once again bringing all the teachers together to learn hands-on science in Lucknow. The workshop was scheduled to be conducted in fuve districts of Uttar Pradesh, has been successfully conducted in Bijnor, Meerut, Hardoi and Allahabad. Now, in July, the last leg of the workshop gets complete with a teacher training workshop in Lucknow. SPACE has successfully brought together teachers to learn science in an exciting manner. The teachers who have participated in this workshop feel that it's one of their best experience and would like to join SPACE for further activities also.

This program attempts to address why fewer students are pursuing higher studies in the pure sciences and instead going on to engineering, medical, computer science, Biotech etc. It is believed that if teachers introduce hands on tools and activities into lessons at the middle school level, it will increase the spirit of enquiry and enjoyment in science, as classroom teaching in science is perceived as dull. After this training, teachers will in turn be able to communicate the joy of science by utilizing these tools and methods and attract talent to this field at an early age, thus building the country's science and technology base. Department of Science and Technology's INSPIRE program addresses the same issues of how to attract students to the pure sciences, and this teachers training program is following INSPIRE's precedence. A unique feature in this program is that it will be centered around Astronomy, as it is a superset of many sciences and includes physics, chemistry, math, biology and geography within its boundaries.

The program will be initiated with the fourth workshop at Allahabad from 25th July to 29th July. About 60 school teachers from Government schools will participate in a 5-day program encompassing presentations, hands on activities, model making, and demonstrations. A variety of activities such as making hydro rockets and sundials, creating solar systems with daily life objects such as fruits and marbles, and learning about the night sky through observations will immerse the teachers in hands on science. The activities will demonstrate how science can be better conveyed with teaching aids, and that aids are easily available as part of nature around us. Teachers will be introduced to internet tools of communication such as web conferencing and social networking with Twitter and Facebook as tools to disseminate and share information and pictures.

The program will culminate in a 'KHAGOL MELA' open to the public on 29th July, 11:00 am- 3:00 pm, where teachers will design and conduct their own science activities! Hydrorockets made by participants will be launched. Find out your weight on different planets, learn how to make pop rockets, cook a comet in the comet kitchen and find out how gyroscopes work! All schools, colleges, and public are welcome to attend and find out about such activities at this unique space fair – 'KHAGOL MELA'. Local dignitaries will also grace this event.

KPCL announces scholarship for underprivileged children Scholarship

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July 26, 2011

KPCL announces scholarship for underprivileged children to cover 12 schools from Pune district Pune, July 2011: Kirloskar Pneumatic Company Limited (KPCL), a leading name in compressed air-conditioning, refrigeration and hydraulic power transmission, announced scholarship program for underprivileged children. Students from twelve schools in Pune district will benefit from this program.

KPCL during its 8th Annual Felicitation Program held recently, announced the scholarship program to further give impetus to company's principle of assisting and motivating children from underprivileged background to get access to education. In the last eight years, KPCL under its corporate social responsibilities initiatives have extended support to children from secondary schools by designing programs for orphan, single parent and economically challenged children. These initiatives have enabled underprivileged children from various background get access to education. The new initiative is aimed to provide access to higher education.

Under the new program, children who have passed Senior Secondary Certificate (SSC) will be awarded a scholarship which will enable them to get access to education for the next five years. The scholarship covers the costs of tuition fees and books. For the first year, 40 children selected on merit basis from 12 schools across Pune district will be awarded the scholarship.

Speaking on the occasion, Kiran Kulkarni, General Manager, KPCL said, “When we started in 2003 we started with 50 students. Today our initiatives have reached to 12 schools and 15,000 students. Our constant endeavor has been to provide education to the underprivileged which would play vital a part in the upliftment of the society. I am confident that the scholarship will not only benefit the children to gain access to education and knowledge but help to become financial independent in the future adding to the overall development of our country.”

Online Self Study Mathematics Portal Released

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July 26, 2011

Mathguru.com, online curriculum oriented mathematics learning portal has been launched. The portal is designed or self study by students in middle school, high school and upto pre-university level as per syllabus of ICSE / ISC board also. Content development and its testing is almost done and this new feature will become live in its website during this month of July 2011. Students in ICSE / ISC schools will now have exactly the same online math learning method which students in NCERT / CBSE board schools have been long enjoying and benefitting from.

Methods of learning involves watching videos on key concepts (theory) and then watching videos on how to solve math problems on a variety of topics. Third step is doing the given practice exercises. These must be done without taking anybody's help. Final answers are given. If students arrive at the correct answer, fine. If not, they are asked to go back and review related key concept and solved example videos and then try again. This trial and error is what prepares them for becoming good in the subject. Fourth step is taking the given practice tests. A good score conveys that the topic is well understood.

Being an online database, the only requirement is a broadband internet connection. This product is different from live one to one tutoring and thus offers some advantages such as always available access, consistent quality of teaching and a nominal cost. As the program is designed for self study, a certain amount of self discipline is required for gaining from it. In case of middle school students, parental guidance is likely to help.

IGNOU ties up with MCIT to spread e-literacy at grassroots level

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July 26, 2011

The Indira Gandhi National Open University's (IGNOU's) Computer Division in collaboration with Human Resource Development Division of Department Of Information Technology, Government of India, and DOEACC under the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT) hosted a day long brainstorming session on IT Mass Literacy programme to create awareness about IT and its applications in all walks of life for enhancing IT literacy and capacity-building of every citizen in the country. The workshop was held at the convention center of IGNOU headquarters.

The objective of this IT Mass Literacy programme is to enhance the use of IT in areas of a citizen's interest by adopting simple and commonly used IT practices and methods for day to day activities. It is a basic IT Literacy movement to train Indian society irrespective of their age, caste, background, educational background, profession, etc.

Mr N Ravi Shanker, Additional Secretary, Department of IT, Government of India, the chief guest of the workshop, focused on strategies and thoughts to take IT to the masses while delivering his address. “ICT plays a crucial role in skilling and empowering people; multilingualism is the way to reach maximum people. It is because of this reason DOEACC's Certificate Course in Computer Concepts (CCC) is available in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu, Punjabi, Marathi, Bengali, Assamese, Manipuri, Malayalam and English.”

“We have chalked out an action plan involving participants from all over thecountry for a brainstorming session on IT Mass Literacy to make people IT literate. By eliminating the digital divide, we are eliminating all sorts of divide. The programme would be available in e-learning mode and would aim to impart IT knowledge at different levels of IT literacy,” said Prof V N Rajasekharan Pillai, VC, IGNOU.

Dr C Muralikrishna Kumar, Senior Adviser (C& IT), Planning Commission said that, “For the 12th Five Year Plan one of the identified strategy is to enhance skills and faster generation of employment. Those who remainedexcluded need to be included; areas which are not covered need to be covered. We are working towards the inclusiveness agenda with an increase in the use of ICT for governance as well as for providing it to the citizens.”

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