New Education Policy prepared after deep thought & research, will soon show results: Vice President

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October 15, 2022

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar said on Friday, the New Education Policy (NEP) has been prepared with deep thought and research and will show results in the days to come.

“The New Education Policy is not a policy of any party or government, but of the entire nation that has been prepared after deep thought and research. It will show results in the coming days,” he further said.

“Due to this policy, combined with technological development, the students of the country will get ample employment opportunities in any corner of the world,” said the VP in a release issued by the state information department.

Speaking about the towering memorial to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in the state’s Kevadiya area, he said, “When I visited the Statue of Liberty in America 34 years ago, I never dreamt an even bigger statue would be built in India.” I feel pride in seeing the wonderful Statue of Unity, Dhankhar said.

More than 14,500 schools will be developed under PM SHRI scheme

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digitalLEARNING Network

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October 15, 2022

Neeta Prasad, Joint Secretary (International Cooperation) Ministry of Education on Friday said, more than 14,500 schools will be built across India under the PM SHRI scheme with the components of NEP 2020.

NEP 2020 encourages a holistic, flexible and multidisciplinary approach to education as envisioned by the Prime Minister. “It is based on foundational pillars of access, equality, quality, affordability and accountability. It is aligned with Sustainable Development Goals 2030 goals”, she said addressing the 6th East Asia Summit Education Minister’s Meeting.

“There are various e-learning platforms like DIKSHA, SWAYAM MOOCS platform, Virtual Labs, e-PG Pathshala and National Digital Library”, Prasad added that online, open and multi-modal learning has been promoted under the PM- eVidya.

She said that NEP 2020 focuses on the internationalization of education and building collaborations with other countries.

Delhi education model gaining global popularity: Sisodia

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October 14, 2022

The AAP’s education model is gaining popularity across the world said Deputy CM Manish Sisodia on Thursday, and the neighboring countries are showing keen interest in adopting the best practices from Delhi’s government schools for the development of their education systems.

Sisodia, who is also the education minister, said a delegation of 30 school principals, vice principals, and teachers from the municipality of Tilottama, Lumbini, Nepal is on a 3-day visit to Delhi government schools in a press conference.

“As a government, our motto is to establish an educated nation that can efficiently deal with the issues of poverty, unemployment, and inequality. Only education is the solution to all these issues. By improving school infrastructure and introducing new curriculums, our aim is to provide new opportunities to students and help them learn and grow as responsible citizens. This goal of the government is being achieved successfully with the efforts of teachers who are provided global-level training by the government for their professional enrichment,” Deputy CM further said.

“We are introducing a series of initiatives to bring about changes in government schools. Delhi education model was the first we could think of when we were looking for best practices to be implemented in our schools. It is our curiosity to learn from the education model of Delhi and understand the ground-level implementation process of unique curricula for holistic development of children, that brought us here”, said Shyam Lal Kharel, an academician and member of the delegation while sharing the purpose of the visit.

Vedantu acquires majority stake in Deeksha for $40 million

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digitalLEARNING Network

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October 14, 2022

Vedantu, a pioneer in Live Online Learning in India announced today that they have bought a majority stake in Deeksha (Ace Creative Learning Pvt. Ltd) – a leading test preparation platform in Karnataka for the board and competitive exam coaching for students of grade 11th and 12th. With a majority stake in the strategic investment, this partnership has been closed at a deal size of $40 million. This partnership seeks to leverage Vedantu`s technology and integrate it into offline centers to create a scalable hybrid model which provides access to quality teaching even in remote Tier 3 and Tier 4 towns at affordable cost.

This initiative will further support Deeksha’s pioneered learning model that specialises in competitive exam prep in sync with board exam prep through collaboration with schools and colleges. Leveraging Vedantu’s industry-best online learning innovation and Deeksha’s massive offline footprint, both partners envision digitising classrooms in Tier 3 and Tier 4 cities where quality education is not accessible and bring forth immersive learning experiences to students. Together Vedantu and Deeksha will revolutionise the way education is imparted, improve the quality of the learning system as a whole, and help students to achieve their true potential with outstanding learning outcomes.

“At Vedantu, we have always been committed to make quality education accessible and affordable to students from all corners of the country. With this acquisition, our mission is to empower and scale Deeksha’s current learning model by deploying our disruptive in-house hybrid technology to reach the masses in remote areas and create impact at scale. This culmination of online and offline capabilities will help us expand our hybrid learning initiatives. We endeavor to change India’s learning curve through definitive outcomes at the back of our strong passion for delivering quality learning. This impact will be possible because of the shared vision, mission, values, and culture of our two organizations”, said Vamsi Krishna, CEO, and Co-Founder, Vedantu.

“Deeksha has always believed in Nurturing Success of Every Child through a Triple Integration Model that amalgamates Wellness, Academics and Technology. Through this partnership, we will leverage Vedantu’s LIVE Class platform for our students and provide a hybrid solution that maximizes learning outcomes through personalized learning algorithms. Vedantu’s hybrid learning model will also enable us to provide the same “Deeksha Experience” to millions of students in smaller towns and cities at an affordable cost”, said Dr. Sridhar, Co-Founder, Deeksha.

With this strategic investment, Deeksha will bring in close to 13K of its students to Vedantu’s platform. In addition, Deeksha will leverage Vedantu’s already existing strong credentials in LIVE Classes, educational technology, and strong pedagogical content.

Foreign universities waiting for government to formalise guidelines to set up campuses in India: UNiSA

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October 13, 2022

According to top officials at the University of South Australia (UNiSA), foreign universities are waiting for the Indian government to formalise guidelines. So that they could set up campuses in the country. They termed India’s move to let foreign universities operate in the country as a major development.

“Many universities in Australia and other countries are waiting for the guidelines to be formalised,” said Rishen Shekhar, director, Global Recruitment and Engagement, UNiSA.

“We already deliver similar hybrid models in countries like Malaysia, Singapore, and China but we haven’t done it in India so far due to the regulations. We can replicate the same in India but we need to understand the legislation first,” he further added.

The new National Education Policy (NEP) states that the world’s top 100 universities will be facilitated to operate in the country through a new law. After the earlier policies that were brought in 1968 and 1986, NEP 2020 is the third major revamp of the education framework in India since its independence.

So far the engagement between India and Australia in the education sector was limited to research and student exchange, said Tom Steer, chief academic officer at UniSA.”NEP is an extremely positive policy because it really will make studying at international universities not only more accessible but also relevant,” he further said.

The top officials were part of a contingent that recently visited Delhi to promote the “Bachelor of Digital Business Degree” course. Over 1,600 Indian students are enrolled in different courses at UNiSA.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) in April had approved regulations for Indian and foreign higher educational institutions to offer joint or dual degrees and twinning programmes.

According to the approved regulations, a “twinning programme” will be a collaborative arrangement whereby students enrolled with an Indian higher education institution may undertake their programmes of study partly in India, complying with the relevant UGC regulations, and partly in a foreign higher educational institution. The UGC had, however, clarified that no franchise arrangement or study centre, “whether overtly or covertly, by whatever nomenclature used, between a foreign higher education institution and an Indian higher educational institution shall be allowed under these regulations”.

My Rendezvous with Technology

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digitalLEARNING Network

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October 12, 2022

My rendezvous with technology started in 2000 when I was heading the Mathematics Department in a reputed school following the CBSE curriculum. We had to undergo a training program conducted by Schoolnet. I enjoyed learning the usage of technology for effective teaching. Besides integrating technology with Mathematics, I prepared a credit system for Mathematics from class 3 to class 12 in a span of 10 months along with a number of worksheets for every grade on CDs. After that amazing start, I hadn’t made much progress. Then in 2012, I got an opportunity to be trained by Google on Computational Thinking and became an active Google educator and ensured all my teachers were trained on Computational Thinking.

In 2012, we were introduced to an organisation that imparts STEM education to students. Until then I had read a lot about the importance of STEM Education in the curriculum. Integration of subjects like Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and other Art oriented subjects was already being followed in school. Integrating technology and engineering along with Science and Mathematics was unheard off, in our city. Hence, we became the pioneers in imparting STEM education as a part of the curriculum in middle school. Later we integrated Arts to STEM & started imparting STEAM education to students.

In 2014, I submitted my research papers on ‘Reconnecting the past with the Present form of Education’ at an International Conference held at IIT Madras.

It’s important for all school leaders to always be open to learning. I had a vision for ‘Blended Learning’ to be the futuristic learning for teachers in order to make learning effective for students. I got an opportunity in 2015, to be a keynote speaker at the Google office in Hyderabad and my topic for the address was ‘Blending Learning’.

In March 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic was responsible for bringing about profound changes in the education system. Disruptions to the education system have resulted in substantial losses and inequalities in learning.

Starting March 2020, it has been a time of uncertainty for all educators. There was an immediate need to adapt to a new process of online teaching, quick thinking, and perseverance particularly when the entire student body shifted to online learning. We were equipped to try all alternatives to face-to-face instruction in order to ensure that the child’s learning process was not stunted. Our training in the usage of various tools, and effective teaching through Google Classrooms became a regular feature. Not only did we adopt online teaching on an unprecedented scale but also helped other schools by training their teachers to adopt online teaching. We used various tools like pptx, flashcards, videos, PHET simulations, online whiteboards etc. For practicals, we used Science buddies, Mystery Science & Microsoft Chemistry. The assessment tools like Google Forms, Quizziz, Ed Puzzle, Go Formative, Screen Castify, WebQuest, etc were also used.

I strongly believe that the teacher’s enthusiasm ignites the curiosity of students and boosts their motivation to learn. Enthusiasm and passionate involvement in teaching is the best teaching strategy. This kind of teacher becomes energized about his/her students as well as his/ her subject. As school teachers, it is very important for us to cultivate this enthusiasm for learning and adapting to any changes that come our way.

Now after heading back to campus, after a gap of two years, our teachers have planned the transition for students by making strong connections and establishing new routines for students.

Our teachers combine the best of both traditional and online instructions to offer an engaging and learning experience for students. We provide optimal learning for students by offering hybrid or blended forms of the teaching-learning process.

The online interactions in the hybrid medium of instruction can be completed by synchronously using real-time meeting sessions or asynchronously where students interact at different times, using artificial intelligence for personalised learning. This is another requirement for the post-pandemic period.

Using coding in teaching is an important area that we are focusing in. The use of stimulation also leads to learning being available beyond the bricks & mortar and the four walls of the classroom. All these learning experiences have a high return on investment over the obsolete traditional teaching method.

We have to reduce the gap when the students are learning in the traditional way and revamp the workplace with the use of technology. We educators should look at technology as an enabler of great methodology. It is the only Master key to the future.

The amalgamation of artificial Intelligence, augmented reality, automation, robotics, virtual reality, etc will revolutionise the education sector.

Hence an innovative, smart, and dynamic curriculum is the best investment a school can make to prepare students for tomorrow’s challenges.

Maya Sukumaran, Principal, Gitanjali Senior School, Hyderabad

Education minister Harjot Singh Bains confers Swachh Vidyalaya Awards to schools

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October 12, 2022

Punjab School Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains gave away Prizes and Certificates of Appreciation to those schools that topped in various categories of Swachh Vidyala Awards of session 2021-22 during a function organized at the head office on Tuesday.

During the award ceremony Pradeep Kumar Agarwal, Director, General School Education, DPI Secondary Education Kuljit Pal Singh Mahi, Director SCERT Dr. Maninder Singh Sarkaria, Deputy SPD and State Nodal Officer Swachh Vidyala Campaign Gurjit Singh and other concerned officials were present.

Appreciating the work of principals and teachers of the concerned schools, the Education Minister said that these teachers and their teams brought laurels for the state with their constructive approach. He also urged the teachers of the winning schools to play vanguard role to improve the situation of sanitation in nearby schools so that more schools can get this national distinction next year.

The Government of India has selected these schools in various categories on sanitation parameters under the Swachh Bharat Campaign. The selected schools included government and private ones. In the overall category of elementary schools in selected rural areas included Government Middle School Kingra (Faridkot), Government Primary School Inderpura (Patiala), Government Primary School Suhali (SAS Nagar), Government Primary School Katarian (SBS Nagar), Government Primary School Fatehpur (SAS Nagar), and Government Primary School Mukandpur (SBS Nagar).

However, the overall category of elementary schools in urban areas included Government Primary School Sheikhupur (Kapurthala), Golden Era Millennium School Mandi Killianwali (Sri Muktsar Sahib), Government Primary School Chohak Kalan (Jalandhar) and Government Primary School Sensi Wehra Amloh (Fatehgarh Sahib).

Similarly, DAV International School Verka Chowk (Amritsar), Government Senior Secondary School Bhawanipur (Kapurthala), Government Senior Secondary School Pakki Tibbi (Sri Muktsar Sahib), Pioneer Convent School Gurmukh Nagar (Malerkotla), The Town School (Malerkotla) and K.V. Barnala was given the Swachh Vidyala were awarded in overall category of secondary schools of rural areas.

While Government Senior Secondary School Model Town Patiala, SGRM Government Girls Senior Secondary School Zira (Ferozepur), B.V.M. Kichlu Nagar Ludhiana and Government Senior Secondary School Boys Amloh (Fatehgarh Sahib) were felicitated with the Swachh Vidyala award under overall category of secondary schools of urban areas.

Apart from this, six schools were also awarded under various sub-categories. These schools included Government Middle School Kingra for Capacity Building and Behaviour Change, Sacred Heart School Dosanjh Road Moga for preparedness and response to cope with Covid-19 pandemic, Sita Grammar School Malerkotla for hand washing hygiene, SGRM Government Girls Senior Secondary School m Zira (Ferozepur) for maintaining good environment and better water supply and efficient use, Government Middle School Kingra (Faridkot) for better hygiene in toilets.

Metaverse meets Education: Transformation beyond traditional trajectory

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Sheeba Chauhan, Senior Sub Editor

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October 12, 2022

Leaving the monotonous physical world and entering into enthralling virtual space, seems fascinating! The world that is right now in its infancy phase is bringing the most flexible and ineffable application of virtual reality. A cosmos, full of wonders, creativity, independence, and virtuality. But technically the metaverse is an idea that has been around for a while: A 1992 novel, Snowcrash, by science fiction author Neal Stephenson, also shared a virtual world that could exist alongside our physical one. Today, that very vision is taking shape as a highly immersive version of the internet.

Metaverse is an 8 trillion market today. As the pandemic has opened doors for tech adoption, many other technologies are also flurrying their space in the most unutterable manner. The base privilege that is swaying the consumers of the metaverse is autonomy and control, and the amazing conversion of space from a 2D graphic to a 3D space is also gaining the most of the attraction. Also, the boom took place, as it offered a lot of fortune to developers, service providers, platform enablers, etc. From virtual shopping malls to product launches, it presents ample possibilities in terms of innovation, opportunities, and creativity.

A rendezvous with Metaverse

Most of the populace get introduced to ‘Metaverse’ when the most popular social media giant Facebook (earlier name) renamed itself to ‘Meta’ earlier this year– It was an effort to usher metaverse, a new world built in virtual reality. Retail giants, like Walmart and Nike, are already preparing to create NFTs and cryptocurrencies in order to explore the Metaverse. Gen Z is very familiar with the virtual experience, making the metaverse a good fit for young consumers.

While the metaverse is already swaying an immense industry approach, some Design professionals are also on the way to discovering the tremendous utility of metaverse instead of their day-to-day practice of working in the physical realm. Gloria Maria, a Milan-based fashion curator, took a spree to explore the opportunities in the metaverse and came up with the idea of launching the firstever magazine in the metaverse. “If there is space for art, music, and fashion, there should also be space for journalism in the incredible world of metaverse”, she said while launching ‘ RED EYE – Metaverse born magazine.’

Not just that, a lot of other industries like education, e-commerce, real estate, gaming, and more have forayed into the most fascinating world of the metaverse. It is the future of retail, innovation & consumerism, and but obvious the most successful application of AI and immersive reality.

Metverse meets Education

Nobody imagined the omnipresence of technology and education simultaneously. Educators were settled with picking up a book and teaching, but the trajectory changed almost overnight. However, before covid, it was almost impossible to imagine evolving the education space with virtual reality and its application metaverse.

This is clear – Metaverse has the potential to make education more accessible, entertaining, and interactive than it has ever been. Moreover, it is already going on an envisioned trajectory. Many Indian institutes have already started experimenting with the possibilities. Quite a few schools & institutes in Delhi NCR have launched virtual labs with the help of virtual and augmented reality. Recently, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), India’s core education board, even collaborated with social media giant Meta to explore the use of metaverse in education and training. Dr. Biswajit Saha, Director, training and skill education, CBSE said, “By empowering students through immersive technologies like AR and VR, skilling on metaverse can make our workforce creator and producer oriented.”

Edtech companies are also jumping onto this opportunity to maintain a competitive edge. According to a few industry experts, metaverse is a novel way of learner-centric approach and may allow students to create their own classroom space and can also learn while interacting with teachers and students abroad. Bringing these immersive technologies into learning environments will promote the growth of children through multi modal learning. It would also widen students’ horizons, introducing them to lifestyles and cultures beyond their own.

Another possible usage can be attending multiple events in virtual space both by students and teachers irrespective of their geographical locations. They can have their virtual avatars to represent themselves, they can talk, question, answer, and all of that will be very much like the brick and mortar classrooms. The idea of learning in the presence of a teacher is also retained in the metaverse. In fact, it views the teacher as the main proponent of instruction, learning, and teaching.

Studies also show that students today are more interested in interactive learning and the metaverse is a step higher for the same. It is very much a physical classroom but with a virtual avatar.

Looking through the lens of industry

The industry has a lot to say in the newly formed $8 trillion market, which is continuously bullish for more. To get a viewpoint of the same, we talked to a few of the industry’s people. And this is what they had to say:

Ranga Jagannath, Senior Director, Agora said, “Despite being in its infancy, technology titans, gaming behemoths, and others are building their virtual worlds or metaverses.

We see exciting metaverse use cases emerge in the education sector now. A significant impact that metaverse can have on education is changing learning outcomes by enabling interactive and immersive experiences that permit teachers and students to discover new approaches to teaching processes and information sharing.

As the metaverse gains traction, it will be necessary for developers to build robust platforms that can support this innovative technology. A Real-time Engagement (RTE) platform bridges the gap between limitless virtual and physical worlds, delivering metaverse connectivity from one-to-one to one-to-many using any device. RTE solutions provide the building blocks to create branded virtual worlds at any scale, with a diverse toolset that works reliably across the globe. In the future, with such practices, virtual 3D classrooms, virtual campus activities, and simulating real-life situations are some ways in which we can expect the metaverse to redefine education.”

Chander Damodaran, CTO – Cloud Engineering, Brillio said, “The rapid adoption of digital across industry segments further fuelled by the pandemic has seen a significantly large cross-section of enterprises embarking on their digital transformation journey with an emphasis on digital experiences anywhere, anytime across digital channels. The education sector has specifically seen very quick adoption of the digital medium. With the rapid unfolding of the metaverse, the arena to learn, train and upskill is wide open. There will be changes in working styles, operations, training, and so on to meet the demand of the next-gen workplace.”

“Convergence of virtually enhanced physical and digital reality is no longer limited to gaming, Opportunity to level up people skills with compelling, connected, and immersive experiences that translate to experiential training has led to an increased adoption of #metaverse by the education sector and this will further make way to the ‘forever learner’ in the coming years. This would mean an updated practice of learning that focuses on workplace skills, new reality skills, and cognitive skills”, he concluded.

Rise of metaverse – Peril or promise?

As technology application in education is still in its early stages, a major challenge is infrastructure and enabling it for normal users. On the other hand, people are still wondering how to make the best use of it due to accessibility issues. Though education institutions and Edtech companies are leveraging the metaverse in education to remove distance and physical barriers from learning, the application understanding is making it difficult for normal beings to adapt to it.

Apart from the myriad world of opportunities it offers, it is also evident that it is somehow depleting the in-depth tradition of learning. Edutainment (Education + Entertainment) is a good way of going forward, but some students are focussing more on the entertainment part rather than education.

As technology is still flourishing, glitches and flaws are a part of the journey. The bewildered stage is paving the path for innovation, the entire education ecosystem is looking up to the trajectory it can offer to the already evolving paradigm.

The evolving role of edtech in higher education: The future of learning & skilling

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digitalLEARNING Network

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October 12, 2022

The global need for skilled workers who are adept at transdisciplinary learning will shift toward upskilling and reskilling. Many low-skilled jobs may be automated as a result of the development of big data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. As a result, there will be a growing demand for skilled workers, particularly those with backgrounds in mathematics, computer science, and data science as well as multidisciplinary skills in the natural and social sciences as well as the humanities. Another change in the future would be to imagine a system of education with roots in Indian culture that directly contributes to making India a knowledge society. All of this is intended to be realised through a restructuring of the school curriculum that is in line with the needs of students at various stages of their development. In order to provide a comprehensive, purposeful, and skill oriented education that instills in young people a sense of usefulness and responsibility as well as essential 21st-century skills, CBSE has started offering about 40 courses at the Senior Secondary level, including courses on Artificial Intelligence, Information Technology, and Design Thinking. Future programmes like the Online Entrepreneurship Program and the AI Curriculum can create a large pool of imaginative and analytical thinkers who possess the necessary abilities and attitudes to help India achieve inclusive economic growth and social development. Here is an exclusive conversation from the panel discussion at the World Education Summit organised by Elets Technomedia. Edited excerpts:

Deepak Singh, Commissioner, Department of Higher Education, Government of Madhya Pradesh, said, “The modern era is an era of technology. The future of education is in digital learning, and emerging technologies will make it possible. NEP itself encourages the use of technology and the government of Madhya Pradesh is working on it.”

Madhya Pradesh has the highest population of tribals, and the challenge for tribal people is internet connectivity. The students of the rural areas are unable to take online classes due to connectivity issues. Therefore, we have started smart classes and virtual classrooms for these students, he concluded.

Shrikant Sinha, CEO, Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge (TASK), Telangana,
said, “There are no skills that are given to students today. The industry doesn’t employ
people on the definition of Screwdriver while they have to use it while working. Skills
are needed to be integrated with the education system itself.”

Most of the faculty members are not coming from the education industry, thus we have recently signed up with HSEA ( Hyderabad software and enterprise association) to start a 3 weeks program by the name “faculty immersive experience”, he stated at the end.

Amit Mahensaria, CEO, upGrad Campus said, “In Edtech, Ed comes before technology. In Edtech technology should complement education, unlike other sectors. At upGrad, we focus dedicatedly on how to measure the learning outcomes & how can we use technology to enhance these learnings. Tech should enable better dissemination, better delivery. ”

K. Lalhmingliana, Director, Department of Labour Employment, Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (LESDE), Government of Mizoram said, “Pandemic has changed the entire learning ecosystem. There are a lot of learning apps available, but the question is, are these really content worthy.”

Now we are dealing with edTech education for future learning and skilling. Due to poor connectivity, it is affecting the whole ecosystem of the education industry, he concluded.

Prof. B P Veerabhadrappa, Vice-Chancellor, Kuvempu University, Shivamogga, Karnataka said, “Interdisciplinary or Multidisciplinary is a handicap to education ecosystem. It will be very difficult for the principal or vice-chancellor to create such infrastructure if only one student chooses physics or astronomy. A bigger thought is needed to resolve such issues.”

In all the universities of Karnataka, all the Vice-Chancellors are finding it very difficult to have a person who can be able to have the expertise in teaching Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, he mentioned further.

Dr. Nitin Rane, Vice-Chancellor, Avantika University, Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, said that, “If we consider post and pre-pandemic situation, teacher’s role is very important in both the situations. While technology aspect coming into the picture post-pandemic has introduced many benefits to the industry.”

“There are some changes that need to be made in the teaching pedagogy like we need to focus on project-based learning, we need to have some kind of block study pattern, and we need to make changes in the assessment and evaluation system where we can assist the students on regular basis”, he concluded.

Perils & promises of hybrid learning in higher education

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digitalLEARNING Network

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October 12, 2022

Perils & promises of hybrid learning in higher education

The concept that knocked on our doors post-pandemic, is getting traction in all directions of education now. As the hybrid model is very new to adapt, educators are exploring the perils and promises that it offers. Some of the major edtechs also forayed into offline institutions to adapt to the hybrid model as the way forward. With the rise in technology, schools are also very much on the way to adapting the hybrid model. Recently, UGC also announced that e-degrees are at par with offline degrees and this will boost the adoption of online and hybrid models in the higher education segment at a rapid pace.

With every change that happens, there are definitely going to be some consequences. The continuous change in the education system in terms of the hybrid model, adapting to digital tools, etc poses quite a few perils and promises in the shifting paradigm of education. Here is an exclusive conversation from the panel discussion that happened recently at the World Education Summit organised by Elets Technomedia. Edited excerpts:

Anurag Reddy, Procurement Analytics Manager, Caterpillar Inc. said, “The benefits of online learning is, even a person who is unable to spare time from his/ her lifestyle can do it in the comfort of their homes. Leaving your jobs, or joining an institution for learning is not possible after a certain age because of the burden of responsibilities you have, so online learning is best option in such instances’’.

“According to a survey conducted in 2021, pre-pandemic only 8 per cent of students could attend online education and the number can only go up to 12 per cent during the pandemic”, said Dr. G. Sugumar, Vice Chancellor, Tamil Nadu.

The pandemic has brought an education emergency in the country not only for rural areas but also for urban areas and we are talking about creating this huge infrastructure for Hybrid Learning, it is going to be challenging with the present infrastructure available, Dr. Sugumar further added.

K Narasimha Nakshathri, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Bharatiya Engineering Science and Technology Innovation University (BEST), Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh said, “The education system is going to be online and with multimedia technology even for higher education but there is a difficulty for faculty who are not yet equipped well with the emerging technology.”

Even if they get equipped, a section of the rural areas will never afford these amenities, which is the drawback that needs to be worked on, K Narasimha further added.

Prof. Rajesh Kumar, Professor and Principal, Osmania University, Hyderabad, Telangana said, “Nowadays, through hybrid learning, we can reach anywhere all over the world. We can teach many countries at a single time. Hybrid learning has become the new era of education, with the option of both online & offline learning, everything has become easy.”

Dr. Divya Nalla, Director, Nalla Malla Reddy Engineering College, Hyderabad, Telangana said, “Today we are talking about hybrid learning which is a combination of both online and offline modes. Students can only consume content through online learning but teachers are very prominent when they need to apply these learnings practically for the enhancement of their industry skills.”

Shrihari Prakash Honwad, Senior Academician and Former Vice Chancellor at several universities said, “During the pandemic, we only tried to recreate classrooms through online methods and that was a bad implementation of classroom learning. As in brick and mortar, at least teachers have a 160-degree vision of its class, and reducing it to just small screens was perilous.”

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