Why do companies need to hire skilled employees?

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November 10, 2022

There is an interesting shift in hiring patterns in recent times. While earlier companies preferred to hire skilled employees, the trend has now shifted, and now employers focus on hiring professionals with job-relevant skills as well as investing in upskilling their current employees.

Today the industry and academia innovate and update learning and development modules with a strong focus on skills to address industry-specific requirements. It is especially true for technology led careers.

The reasons for the gradual shift in company hiring patterns arise from the key principles of loyalty, productivity, and growth.

1. Employees associated with companies long-term are loyal and display trust in the institute and its growth. They are aligned with the culture and ethics of the organisation and prove a value addition. However, companies must recognise this loyalty and upskill them with relevant and new-age tech/operational skills to ensure optimum skills transformation and competency building.

2. Existing employees are aligned with the organisation’s vision and policies. The cost to train them with relevant updated skills is lower than investing in hiring, training, and employing a new professional. The productivity and delivery disruptions in operations are at a minimum.

3. In hiring an employee with exceptional industry experience and behavioural skills, it is beneficial to train a candidate with tech skills rather than hiring a candidate with limited behavioural and problem-solving skills. These skills are beneficial to the company and the professional in the long term.

Technology is ever-evolving, and so are the skills attached to it. Hence, hiring employees based on their managerial aptitude, behaviour, critical thinking, and problem-solving approach is a long-term investment rather than an employee who hones a skill but lacks the right work attitude and ethics. While technical skills can be learnt, behavioural skills are nurtured traits. An example is Ratan Tata choosing Shantanu Naidu as his private secretary rather than a skilled employee with experience. While Shantanu may not have had the technical expertise, he showcased the personality sought after by one of the biggest leaders of all time. To promote growth and scale with minimum disruption and

maximum human capital building, a company must invest in its employees. The growth by upskilling its workforce in line with the technological advancements that are bound to transform in years to come. However, while companies look to retain professionals, the responsibility of upskilling and skills transformation should be on the individual. Professionals should continually look for relevant courses and programs to train themselves on the latest technologies and tools. The solution lies in progressing as a team in sync with the technological changes rather than disintegrating and integrating a team to fit the changing landscape.

Views expressed by Robin Bhowmik, Chief Business Officer, Manipal Global Education Services(Skills Academy).

Stimulating empathic learning in the field of education

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digitalLEARNING Network

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November 10, 2022

In a world where life is busy, complex, and filled with stress, empathy is the glue that holds relationships together. “Empathy is like giving someone a psychological hug.” It is about finding a way to connect and to be able to say, “I want to understand how this feels to you and let you know that you’re not alone.” Being empathetic requires us to have perception– we must put ourselves in others’ shoes, which can be difficult when their experiences are foreign to us.

School communities strive to build empathy in their school setting. The school adopts existing research and strategies to promote empathic learning to students and parents. To actualise the idea, we at Sanjeevani World School adopted ‘’Be a Teacher”. Parents were invited to step into a teacher’s sneaker first, wherein they imparted effective lessons, conducted hands-on activities, managed the class, assessed and evaluated them. The idea behind organising the session was to commiserate with teachers, understand their roles and responsibility, detect their emotions and their perspective. Parents developed a new found appreciation for the energy it takes to work with high-spirited age groups. It created a better understanding for parents of how their children actually experience school. Roles and responsibilities, challenges, diverse techniques and personalities of each teacher was taken into consideration.

On Parents’ day, the school invited parents to participate in “Be a Student” session. Parents took part in various activities as students and stepped into their shoes. The parents re-lived their good childhood days and embraced the inner child with self compassion. The school felt exhilarated to see their faces light up to childlike joy.

A teacher is no longer the “Sage of the stage – a controller of pace, sequence and content” but a co-constructor, co-created and a co-contributor in an automated world. Educators also agree that personalised education yields better learning outcomes, and technology has accelerated this process. Innovation in education is not a question of technology acquisition but rather leveraging technology to drive student objectives and outcomes.

Dr. Seema Negi, Director Principal, Sanjeevani World School, Dahisar, Mumbai.

Tally Education joins hands with Coursera to impart industry skills

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November 9, 2022

Tally Education, a company under Tally Solutions has joined hands with Coursera to boost industry skills and enhance economic growth by ensuring employment for young aspirants.

Under this partnership, all learner groups will have access to Tally Certification Courses at a global scale on a digital platform. The company claims to provide certification courses for trainers and trainees. The courses will have access to rich and diverse content that was curated and delivered by industry experts.

Bhuwaneshwari B, CEO, Tally Education, on the occasion of joining hands with Coursera said, “Tally Education aims to boost the pool of skilled resources available to both established and emerging technology-enabled firms. To help the youth become more employable, TEPL is collaborating with universities, colleges, and education facilitators across the globe.”

The exponential rise of virtual placements – An exceptional transformation

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November 9, 2022

The recruitment industry keeps evolving, and it has transformed exceptionally from traditional recruitment methods to modern hiring methods. Virtual placement is an advanced way of recruitment and is one step further than traditional placement. Technology is simplifying and aiding hiring agencies for a smooth hiring process. Delving deep into the discussion S Pasupathi, Chief Operating Officer, HirePro had an interaction with Kaanchi Chawla of Elets News Network (ENN). Edited excerpts:

What were some advancements in campus placements caused by the pandemic?

There has been a seismic shift in traditional hiring practices in the past two years. With increasing hiring targets, growing competition for talent, and process automation, a new benchmark for ideal hiring processes have been established. Following the pandemic, campus recruiters’ attention has shifted from doing the groundwork to managing a vast talent pool. The distinction between on-campus and off-campus hiring solutions is blurring as organisations take a more holistic approach. This evolution has resulted in the greater use of integrated tools from end to end to handle the hiring processes. Automation has altered businesses approach to campus hiring by removing the mundane. The digitalisation of campus hiring has:

• Enhanced organisation’s talent reach and shortened their hiring period

• Allowed for seamless hiring from diverse sources

• Helped facilitate specialised hiring by offering precise data about
universities and candidate performance.

What are the pros and cons of on-campus vs virtual campus placements?

Recruiters and hiring managers around the world now have a new tool that delivers a broader reach, a greater pool of exceptional candidates, and more efficient and cost-effective logistics during the recruitment process. With the introduction of the new virtual hiring approach, the net has been cast wide, even globally, for several jobs.

On-campus hiring is preferred by:

• Organisations that find it difficult to brand themselves and attract talent virtually. So, they are present on the ground and try to create awareness and build their employer brand.

• Organisations hiring for high paying-high stakes roles wherein the hiring is very competitive. For example, banks hire on campus in tier-one colleges as being on ground gives them better control to make quick decisions, collaborate with multiple interviewers, and also convince candidates to join them.

• Organisations hiring in tier-one colleges like IITs, where acquiring talent is extremely competitive. The hiring window is quite short and hence, organisations need to be very agile in the process.

How did virtual campus placements help students and to what extent?

Since the pandemic and its many ramifications made campus recruitment drives practically impossible for educational institutions, increased adoption of virtual education has helped reimagine and revolutionise campus recruitment, enhancing employment opportunities for students from all academic streams.

Virtual recruitment is not limited by geography, logistics, or time. It has enabled students to apply for their ideal companies and jobs from virtually any location. All students, regardless of gender, location, or other diversity differences, have equitable and accessible placement chances through virtual campus hiring.

Furthermore, employers prefer to hire from college and university campuses as it provides students with insights into their job roles and workplace culture, and helps employers hire fresh, innovative, enthusiastic, and loyal talent.

After the unprecedented occurrence of the pandemic, the education ecosystem has been molded into many forms for better and worse. What trends from the pandemic will carry forward in the long run regarding campus placement?

Hiring teams have carried through several current hiring strategies from the pandemic-induced remote hiring era to put their best foot forward and acquire a competitive edge in the war for talent. A noteworthy example is the continued use of remote and hybrid recruiting practices. During the shutdown, employers saw automation as a way to broaden their talent pools and hire in massive numbers without compromising quality talent. A few strategies that appear to be long-term trends are:

Automating the screening and early assessment processes
Outsourcing interviews
Employers practicing brand building through activities such as hackathons, placement activities, and campus relations.
Employers adopting distinct branding and marketing techniques for each target segment of candidates

Your brand has such an innovative concept. What inspired you to start this and how are you planning your future expansions?

In today’s brutally competitive recruitment environment, any firm that can hire top talent is guaranteed to succeed. HirePro was conceived to support businesses in managing their hiring operations through technology-driven solutions and services. Today, we see a growing number of recruitment departments throughout the world looking at solutions created in India since they can better accommodate volume and complexity. Given the intricacies and nuances of the Indian hiring scenario, such as the number of hires, rejects, dropouts, and candidates who cheat, there is a greater need for HirePro products.

It has been helping organisations manage college hiring since 2004. Having been in the industry for the past 18 years, the team understands the nuances of college hiring, assessments, process, and have been guiding organisations on how to make this change. Automation of our service offerings has helped us transform the business and also build speed and scale for our customers.

This is only the beginning of our expansion journey, as the adoption of technology for remote recruitment is at an all-time high. We are always evolving in terms of releasing smarter products in the industry, acquiring more clients, and expanding our geographical presence across India and globally.

“Education has to be comprehensive, meaningful & constructive”

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November 9, 2022

The disruption of the pandemic has transitioned teachers, students, and parents in India into a new learning landscape. The hybrid education model relieves the potential of online learning systems by offering optimum flexibility and freedom to both educators and students. Delving deep into the discussion Dr. E. Prasad Rao, Chairman, Paramita Educational Institutions had an interaction with Kaanchi Chawla of Elets News Network (ENN). Edited excerpts.

Paramita Educational Institutions was established in 1996. In the last 25 years, your institution has grown tremendously as an educational institution with passion and innovation. How has been your journey? Please shed some light on the hurdles in the path.

Paramita was not just a school, it was a movement to redefine quality and equity in education. Schools in the region and across the country were steeped in archaic and out-of-place learning. To dismantle lackluster schooling experiences, meaningless ritualistic and out-of-place, compelling learning, and changing the mindset of the stakeholders was a huge task. Industrial age education was at its peak. Students’ voices and choices never mattered. Schools were teaching, but teachers were never reaching the children. Students epitomised Robo. Learning was reduced to producing meaningless information with Xerox’s efficiency. It is the passion that has been set in motion to change the paradigm in Paramita. It was a tough task indeed, but going against the current and walking on the untrodden path was what we chose willfully and purposefully. We were considered mavericks, our approaches scoffed at, and bringing about change was a major challenge, a challenge we have overcome slowly but certainly. Today, after an eventful journey of 26 years, Paramita has shown to the world that if you have passion and drive it with a mission, breaking conventions is a possibility.

Indian education system follows multiple boards like CBSE, ICSE, or state in their schools. Which board does your school follow and why?

We have Telangana State Board, CBSE, and ICSE schools. The CBSE Board with the support of NCERT has brought about paradigmatic changes in curriculum design and delivery. CBSE Board has now taken up the task of implementing the National Education Policy, 2020, a major change maker in Indian education. We are convinced that the CBSE curriculum is comprehensive and relevant with a focus on 21st Century skills education, capacity building, and value education. Learning is fun, frolic, deeply engaging, and meaningful. Reskilling and Upskilling teachers are being done regularly.

What are your plans to equip your students with 21st-century skills and enhance the overall learning experience?

Paramita has been endeavouring to teach skills to children. Capacity building at the school level is extremely important. The employability and deployability of graduates have become untenable as employers find them less skilled. It has pioneered project-based learning in this region. Students explore diverse themes through projects such as model making, thematic, collection, and investigatory projects across the year. They select a theme – a social problem or a knowledge element and explore it. They hypothesise and go through the process and find solutions. The learning experience is highly rewarding indeed. We have Paramita TED x Club licensed by TED, New York. Also, we run Inter disciplinary learning from Pre-K to Grade Seven.

Hybrid Learning is somewhere reducing the role of teachers in students’ growth. Do you think the introduction of technology in the education landscape can completely erase the existence of teachers?

Blended and Hybrid models of learning are going to stay as technology is playing a major role in teaching and learning. The covid pandemic has tutored teachers to learn technology. Our take on hybrid learning is that it is interesting and promotes learning. Though hybrid learning does help but learning by discovery, teachers as a guide and mentors are always integral in ensuring assured and quality learning.

Your school is contributing immensely to India’s education sector. What are your expansion plans for this year and beyond?

With a student strength of five thousand plus, the Paramita Group of schools, with Iris World School and Explorica as sister concerns has set the benchmarks. We are a learning group, and grab what is good for students. For us, each child matters. We don’t believe in quantifying without subscribing to quality schooling experiences. However, we wish to reach out to as many numbers of children as possible.

Education has to be comprehensive, meaningful, and constructive. Students have to grow and evolve with the required skills and values. There should not be skill and value gaps. Education has to be holistic, much beyond skills and values.

Edtech Giant Unacademy to fire 10% of its workforce

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November 8, 2022

Companies are facing massive layoffs and edtech sector is not behind. Unacademy, one of the leading edtech decided to go for another round of layoffs. 10 per cent of the workforce is predicted to get affected by this round of lay-offs.

According to a source, the message was conveyed through an internal email sent to employees, Unacademy CEO Gaurav Munjal cited harsh economic conditions, the need to build efficient systems for the “unprecedented times”, and the pivot on offline education as the reasons for the layoff exercise.

“I am deeply saddened to share that we will have to say goodbye to some of our extremely talented Unacademy employees”, said Munjal in the mail. He further mentions that these would be across the Unacademy Group from verticals where we have to take a difficult decision either to scale down or completely shut in some harsh situations. Detailed communication will be sent to affected employees within 48 hours from the HR team.

Earlier, the CEO promised its employees that there would be no firings at the company. Though he had to sadly inform the employees that market challenges forced the startup to reevaluate his decision.

“Even though we realised this much earlier and took some stringent measures such as reducing our monthly burns, controlling our operational spends, limiting our marketing budgets and identifying other redundancies within the organisation, it was not enough. We need to keep optimising and building efficient systems for leaner and unprecedented times,” Munjal said.

Taking flight to achieve dream careers abroad

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digitalLEARNING Network

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November 8, 2022

According to the latest global survey by INTO University Partnerships, more than nine out of ten Indian recruitment agents (93 per cent) expect to send more students to the UK in the current academic year than last year, with nearly two-thirds expecting to send significantly more. Meanwhile, 92 per cent expect to send more students to the US, 87 per cent to Canada and 71 per cent to Australia. The study abroad demand and confidence among Indian education consultants remain higher than the global average.

The buoyant mood among recruitment agents is reflected in the mobility statistics for Indian students heading overseas for higher education. The US issued 82,000 student visas to Indians in 2022, higher than any previous year. According to UK visa data, visas to Indian students increased by 88 per cent in the 12 months to the end of Quarter II, 2022. This year-on-year increase in visa issuance is a testimony to the growing demand for studying abroad among Indian students.

There are many reasons that are encouraging Gen Z students to move abroad for further studies. Better quality of education, bright employment prospects and a chance to gain an international perspective are among the top motivating factors. A Gen Z survey conducted by INTO in India earlier this year, revealed computer science as the second most preferred subject for Indian students looking to study abroad. In total, 12 per cent of both millennial and Gen Z students said they were interested in computer science — second only to engineering (18 per cent ) and ahead of business studies (11 per cent ). Over 1,250 Indian students took part in the survey.

These highly sought-after programmes are widely available abroad and have a high demand in the job market. A number of foreign universities are also globally renowned for research-based courses, ready with post-doctoral research opportunities. Vibrant campus life and extracurricular activities also add to the joy of studying at foreign universities. Exposure to multiple cultures gives students a global perspective and helps acquire soft skills that enhance their personalities and contribute to their overall skillset. Apart from developing good communication and interpersonal skills, living abroad also helps students become more independent and confident, which goes a long way in working or settling in a new country.

Dishant, an Indian student, completed his Master’s in Computer Science at University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in 2018. He began his career with LinkedIn in California and recently accepted a role with Google as a Senior Intelligence Investigator, Trust, and Safety.

Dishant’s career goal was clear from the very beginning about pursuing his chosen field of study at UAB. The UAB offered him a world-class learning experience, academic excellence, and research opportunities. He set off on his career path with a brilliant opportunity, proving how his degree played a key role in transforming his life.

Haneet and Dishant are great success stories for thousands of students who want to pursue their study abroad dreams. They represent India’s unrivaled pool of young talented people who are at the frontline of research, technology and emerging fields that are shaping our highly connected world today. They represent a new generation of global citizens who are eager to make a difference.

Views expressed by Diwakar Chandiok, Vice President for Recruitment (South Asia), INTO University Partnerships.

Gamification – The futuristic approach to online learning

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November 8, 2022

Technology intervention has increased rapidly into the education space. One of the most significant method that is gaining traction is ‘Gamification’ both in learning and teaching methods. Gamification can be easily and effectively incorporated into the e-learning practices also. The traditional role-method is impacting the curiosity of students to learn and enhance their knowledge base. With gamification, students are keen to learn and adapt to long hours of learning as it is more of ‘play as you learn’ instead of boring long hours of monotonous learning. It is also a significant way of improving student’s behaviour not just in learning journey but in their life also. Gamification also has the potential to inculcate higher education skillsets with easy gamified learning methods. To delve deeper into the topic, Sheeba Chauhan of Elets News Network interacted with Sharad Tiwari, Principal, Mayoor Chopsani School, Jodhpur. Edited excerpts:

With the erupting usage of technology in the education sector, which technology do you consider the best innovation for students at higher and school levels?

According to me, no technology can altogether replace a teacher or a facilitator. AI unquestioningly is part of the future but not quite there yet. It is rapidly becoming a topic of study for many schools and institutions whether or not to implement it at a higher level. It could be considered the best so far for information storing and sharing but would still be devoid of emotional connection with the students which is a must requirement at the higher level.

As the world is pacing fast toward technology-driven education, one such application of technology is the “gamification of learning”. What are your thoughts on using gamification as a way of teaching and learning?

Gamification is nothing really new in the world of learning. However, there is now increasing pressure to use these tools and techniques to a much greater extent, especially in learning that is provided digitally. It would be fine for me, encouraging gamification at schools until the ultimate goal of its implementation is not compromised which is the mastery of knowledge, skills and behaviours that are a requirement for student’s future.

Making maths and science more of a fun then a dull exchange of facts and figures certainly helps young learners, even breaking the cultural prejudices for certain subjects labelled as “Tough or Difficult.

Gamification may work well for junior learners, certainly not of much help to senior school students unless we are taking into consideration differently abled learners. Finishing years of school must prepare the young adult to take up challenges he/she would soon be dealing with in a working environment in his/her near future.

Do you have any plans in near future to implement technologies like gamification at your school?

As I had mentioned earlier, Gamification may work well for junior learners. We have gamified Maths learning for students in our school which have brought substantial difference and made maths learning winning. We constantly upgrade and update ourselves to cater the current needs of the children. We constantly do what is in the interest of the children. If gamification makes learning fun nothing would hinder me in implementing more of such tools to promote fun learning which will inspire the students to continue learning.

How is your school planning to implement technology-driven education? What can be the next big innovation that the education sector can get involved in for a better future?

Our school has made all possible updates when it comes to the usage of technology in order to keep Learning-On for students and teachers. Whether it was sudden coming on online platforms like zoom, google classroom, Microsoft team etc for teaching, creating the digital library, providing teachers with the latest software for AV creation, empowering teachers to be tech-savvy and many more.

Our teachers have not yet given in the weapons of technology which were responsibly handed to them. They make constant use of these in taking classes for those who could not attend classes because of one or the other reasons. Keeping in mind that each child learns at his/her own pace teachers invite slow-learner for the remedial session online and try to bridge the learning gap in such students.

Flip classroom is the need of the hour. To put it simply, this technique encourages students to use technology to learn at their own convenience at home and teachers assess their learning when the students attend classes. Why not teach new generation to be self and life-long learners?

Post covid, we have come across a new ecosystem of school education. What are current changes that are apt for the holistic development of students?

The school systems went through a threshing floor experience. It has given clear edge to those at the forefront of using cutting-edge technology but a death blow to many others who had just the basic infrastructure to impart education.

It is impossible for this generation to be away from technology and attempting to do so would be catastrophic. Education’s age-old three R’s – Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic – are being joined by a fourth: Rethink. School structures which largely stayed the same is posed with a challenge to meet that is from teaching culture to learning culture.

Unsurprisingly, the educational focus has to move toward the life skills, attitudes, and personal awareness the student will need in an increasingly complex world or what the great mind calls it the VUCA world. The all-inclusive approach to education develops a learner’s ability to adapt and accept life’s challenges, build their understanding, and learn from their errors. This is what is also the aims and objectives of NEP-2020.

The curriculum framework deepens the thought process and easy planning. Tell us about the innovative curriculum you have been following in your school.

We have an informal base of the NCERT curriculum, lavishly garnished with an assorted mix of international flavors from the IGCSE and IB approaches in our classrooms. Our long-standing collaboration with schools in Germany and UK helps our teachers to serve academic help in their classes in such a manner that the learners get the best of both worlds!

Our school tries to develop in students the ability to ‘create’ as against ‘copy’ by providing an experiential learning curriculum in the formative years. It not only enhances their learning potential but also brings them to the center stage of learning.

Our school’s curriculum is recognised for its strong emphasis on cultural and value education. Utmost importance is given to action based classrooms with a blend of co-cultural activities.

Great emphasis is laid on technology-intensive teaching. Audio visual aids like Avs, charts, models, and PowerPoint presentations are used regularly for effective teaching.

Classrooms are equipped with interactive digital whiteboards connected to a Smart Class Knowledge Centre in the school building. A team of trained professionals ensures technical support for teachers. Students are exposed to world-class teaching methods.

We firmly believe that in today’s close-knit world community, every child must grow in appreciation of different cultures. Therefore, we promote international viewpoint and global awareness in our students as well as teachers by sending them on regular exchange programmes to Germany and UK.

We encourage abundant access to the ‘global way of life’ and discoveries that unravel the common thread of humanity worldwide.

Do you think a learning-centric approach is the best way to reach students for teaching?

Learner centric approach has always been the best way. You consult the learner for his/her preferred style and pace of learning. You design or moderate the content as per the need of the learner in today’s world with a quick switching view to the next decade.

India has the second-largest market for online education. According to the recent National Achievement Survey, there is a decline in learning levels. Do you consider digital transformation as a catalyst for a decline in learning results?

The last NAS was conducted at a time the systems were just recovering from the blow of the pandemic. The mode of assessment has a limited scope when you resort only to the MCQs. I do not fully agree with the survey outcomes.

“COVID-led pandemic transformed the face of the education sector”

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digitalLEARNING Network

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November 8, 2022

Elaborating on the transformative role of technology in the education sector, Jonali Das, Principal, Modern English School, Kahilipara, Guwahati shares with Sheeba Chauhan of Elets News Network (ENN) how it enables students to explore new subjects and deepen their understanding of complex concepts. Edited excerpts:

The Indian education system follows multiple school boards like CBSE, ICSE, or state. Which board does your school follow and why?

Modern English School, Guwahati, follows the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). We follow the CBSE board because it is well-recognised, respected, and universally accepted throughout the country. Moreover, it has a thorough and dynamic curriculum imbibed with the latest trends in education. Further, the pattern of most of the competitive entrance examinations like IIT-JEE, PMT, Dental Courses, NDA, CDS, and other Defence and civil services follow CBSE, as its syllabus is nationally acclaimed.

How does exposure to a global perspective provide educational benefits to your students? Please elaborate on the same?

Exposure to a global perspective in education helps students develop global competencies and equips them with relevant 21st-century skills necessary for communication and collaboration. Besides, learning with authentic tasks drives the students’ engagement in class activities. Further, learning with a global perspective allows students to understand global citizenship politics while creating a fair understanding of world issues, current economic & political events, world history, culture, and geography

Students have recently been exposed to significant mental health issues at an early age. How do you cater to your students for a mentally healthy ambience that can foster learning?

To help students fight mental health issues, we have launched a Mental Health Counselling Division, raising awareness and teaching students to deal with various emotional and psychological concerns. The team of experts at the division will guide students in handling stress and making healthy choices. Further, the mental health issue programs launched by the school aim to help students deal with stress in their daily lives and how to strike a balance between academic and personal life. These counsellings are provided to the students of class 5 and onwards. Under the mental health counselling initiative, various individual and therapy sessions will be conducted. Additionally, counsellors will visit each class as a part of the class-observation activity.

What key features have your school inculcated to keep itself ahead in technology-driven education?

COVID-led pandemic transformed the face of the education sector. Changes witnessed during this time are expected to dominate the industry even in 2022 and beyond. Therefore, the need for education trends such as online, experiential, outcome-based, and skill-based learning will grow further. Technology provides students with easyto-access information, accelerated learning, and fun opportunities to practice their knowledge. It enables students to explore new subjects and deepen their understanding of complex concepts, particularly in STEM. We have introduced various tech-driven education platforms in our school. Usage of Smart Boards, TV, Google Classroom, and Google Meet are being introduced for effective learning, communication, and access to educational resources. Our school recently conducted Structured Assessment for Analyzing Learning (SAFAL), an online competency-based assessment (pilot project) by CBSE for Grades 3, 5, and 8, to assess the progress of foundational skills and basic learning outcomes/competencies among students.

Building technology-driven education: The road ahead

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November 8, 2022

Education has the most proliferating impact on the growth of a nation as well as on the evolution of society and the values it upholds. The spectrum of education is facing an era of digital transformation with rapid changes happening at a great pace. As a part of education, along with leadership and vision as well as building the capacity of teachers and the millennials, creating the right learning infrastructure is equally important. Access to technology can facilitate and empower educators to build 21st-century skills, that will build critical thinking, problem-solving, attention to detail, collaboration and teamwork among each other. With regards to the same, Sheeba Chauhan of Elets News Network had an exclusive conversation with DR. R. Balaji, Secretary & Correspondent, SBOA School and Junior College. Edited excerpts:

Technology is driving the education sector to great success. What is the action plan in your state to equip students with technology-driven education?

“Education helps people become better citizens, get a better-paid job, and shows the difference between good and bad”. We aim to inculcate a C&C action plan, spanning the twin objectives of digital competency – Cyber ethics and Curriculum development. We would begin by providing holistic and extensive orientation programmes, topped with effective seminars and projects that induce tech creativity as well as teamwork. Furthermore, we would approach the prevalent problem of tech-based barriers and equip students with technological proficiency. The following methods of teaching have been adopted in the action plan to equip students with technology-driven education; the four components of technology, ie. Personalisation, evidence-based learning, increasing school efficiency and bringing out continuous innovation are incorporated to bring out the desired results in learning. There are several technological activities for children like developing digital literacy, increasing visual literacy skills through songs and stories, and developing Learning Speaking Reading Writing (LSRW) skills. Each lesson, whatever the subject are further taught through gamification and a blended learning environment. These are better engagements through which immersive learning is attainable. Integrating mechanisms such as Kalvi TV, Dhiksha App, TwT (Teach with Technology) would drastically improve technological-driven education ubiquitously.

Hybrid learning is somewhere reducing the role of teachers in students’ growth. Do you think the introduction of technology in the education landscape can completely erase the existence of teachers?

As rightly said by Frank Bruni “The health of our democracy and the perpetuation of our prosperity depends on teachers no less than they do on Silicon Valley’s innovations. Let’s make the classroom destination as sensible, exciting and fulfilling as any other.” It would be inaccurate to assume that teachers would be rendered obsolete with the advent of technological education. In fact, teachers would transform into more effective mentors and tutors. One-to-one interaction between the teacher and the pupil helps in gauging the depth of understanding of a topic by the student. Human interaction kindles motivation and inspiration in the learner. Monitoring of students’ activity is not effective in online classes. Attention span in an online class is drastically reduced. In today’s age, the old-school method alone will not work. The generation today loves technology. To connect with students and help them understand better, the teacher has to come out of their comfort zone and explore new ways to engage them. This means even in a technology-infused learning environment, the role of a teacher will remain ever-important. Our teachers and supervisors are inherent to the system and their use case with the rise of technology will only lead to higher efficiency and effectiveness. Under hybrid learning, teamwork would facilitate more in-depth and nifty schooling.

Your school has been awarded in the category of “Innovative Practices for Academic Excellence” recently at the Elets World Education Summit. What are the next innovation practices you are bringing in to make the education space better?

SBOA School and Junior College with its motto of “Educate and Illuminate” has not just evolved, developed and adapted itself to be in tune with the current changes in education but also envisioned keeping pace with the futuristic education system. Traditional classrooms have been relatively isolated and collaboration has been limited to other students in the same classroom. In the future, we expect students to share and learn with students from other states /countries. They will collaborate on group projects, learning cultures and exchange ideas using technology-based tools such as WIKI’s, Google Docs etc. Students take more responsibility for their own learning by gathering relevant information. The teacher’s role will shift to being a “Guide on the side” rather than “a sage on the stage”. In our institution, we will be integrating financial education into our curriculum which, we feel, is prime to the holistic development of our students. Working with Finance4Future, an organisation that spreads knowledge on personal finance as well as entrepreneurship, will empower us all. Secondly, to hone the extracurricular skills which we believe are just as vital for thriving in a competitive environment, we are constantly developing and expanding our Model United Nations Society as well as the Debating Society – which work to foster logical reasoning and critical thinking.

Your school is contributing immensely to India’s education sector. What are your expansion plans for this year and beyond?

“The great aim of education is not just knowledge, but action.” This academic year-

We aim to bring in education with Virtual Reality – this would enable us to transverse many barriers and exponentially increase the engagement and liveliness of the classrooms.
Identifying the unique talent in each individual and honing them to perfection.
To provide high-quality sports infrastructure with multiple sporting facilities on the terrace.
Bringing in redesigned furniture and latest state-of-the-art devices.
More outreach programmes for better social integration in our society.
Incorporate energy efficiency into our present architecture and to plan in campus waste management to make our school selfsustainable, zero waste zone.

Furthermore, we aim to bring in the student-centric discussion, collaborative reading and writing complimented with brain-developing infrastructures such as the Mind Box (Creative Tech Centre) and the Atal Tinkering Lab. The challenge of creating a positive atmosphere is about making school a place where children feel challenged but competent, where they work hard but enjoy it, and where achievement is the product but not the sole objective.

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