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400 laid off by education firm Vedantu amid startup slump

Vedantu

Internet mentoring organization Vedantu has laid off in excess of 400 representatives or around 7% of its labour force as Indian new businesses, across areas, are under a slump. CEO Vamsi Krishna in an email that was additionally posted on the organization site, said, “Out of 5,900 Vedas, 424 of our kindred colleagues, for example around 7% of our organization, will leave behind us. This has been a very troublesome call to make. It is one of my hardest choices.”

“The Battle in Europe, looming downturn fears, and Fed rate revenue climbs have prompted inflationary tensions with huge amendment in stocks around the world and in India too. Considering this climate, capital will be scant for impending quarters. With COVID tailwinds subsiding, schools and disconnected models opening up, the hyper development of 9X, Vedantu experienced during the most recent 2 years will likewise get directed,” he added.

Supported by Tiger Global, Vedantu was last esteemed at $1 billion. The lay-offs come in the midst of a recession in India’s new businesses, which raised a record $35 billion in new assets in 2021. It presently faces a unique climate, as corporate administration concerns pose a potential threat for financial backers provoking another vulnerability in worldwide business sectors.

Unacademy to offer offline classes at its learning centres

unacademy

Edtech platform Unacademy will soon be venturing into the offline learning space by setting up learning centres for physical classes pan India. The learning centres will provide coaching for National Eligibility Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET-UG), Indian Institute of Technology Joint Entrance Exam (IIT JEE) and foundation (Class IX-XII) course categories. The first learning centre will be operational in Kota sometime next month. After the launch of the first offline learning touchpoint, other similar centres will be operational in Jaipur, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Patna, Pune and Delhi.

The new venture entails to bring top educators, pedagogy and study material curated by India’s best educators, in-person mentorship and doubt solving, regular parent-educator sessions and a flagship offline learning experience with high-tech infrastructure to enrolled learners. Along with offline classes, the learners will get access to on-ground counsellors, a state-of-the-art library and brand merchandise at the centre. Besides, Unacademy has decided to conduct a national scholarship-admission test for batch enrolments owing to a high demand for offline classes from learners. High ranking learners will be eligible for scholarships for the offline courses. Around 15,000 learners across all the learning centres will be enrolled on the first offline batch.

Gaurav Munjal, co-founder and CEO, Unacademy Group, said, “Our experiential touchpoints have seen tremendous response from learners, many of whom have also expressed the need for in-person learning from the best educators. With Unacademy Centres we will bring the best of Unacademy — India’s top Educators, best-in-class technology and product, and state-of-the-art infrastructure for our Learners.”

Experience Personalised Learning with SpeEdLabs Online Learning Platform

vivek

How did you come up with the idea for SpeEdLabs?

With rote learning being dominant, there was no sufficient practice for students in the topics they were lagging in. Due to lack of identification of a student’s strengths and weakness, there were multiple gaps in the practice process. And hence, the idea of SpeEdLabs was born – to have a personalised solution for every student, whether bright or average-scoring students. No tutor was giving students everyday feedback on their practices or assessments. We wanted to bridge these gaps and the idea of SpeEdLabs was incepted.

Lectures, self-study/ practice and assessments done in the right proportion is the key.

How do you plan to expand in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities as many students are coming from these locations?

We are already spread across 300 cities in the country and we are partnering with coaching centres who believe in us. Also, we are looking at establishing alliances with schools.

· Launching hindi curriculum on the app for 9 states- Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Bihar, UP, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh. In these states, almost 85% students opt for Hindi-medium learning in state board schools.

· Increasing product basket graduation and post-grad levels. We are expanding this to non-science streams like law, commerce and liberal arts to cover a wide number of students and help deliver our products to help a wide reach of students.

What is the function of the teacher in practise learning?

Teachers have the most critical function. With SpeEdLabs, teachers are enabled to Teach, Connect and Engage better with students through the analytics and detailed statistics the platform provides on the gaps and weaknesses in concepts of each student. Through customised worksheets and tests, students can streamline practice for students and help them turn their weaknesses into strengths.

Do you believe that such a practice platform has the potential to threaten traditional coaching institutions?

We don’t threaten anyone in the ecosystem. We are here to ENABLE and EMPOWER.

Unlike the conventional setup where teachers’ grading, analysing students’ performance and other administrative tasks of recording attendance take a bulk of their effort and time away, SpeEdLabs provides a platform that brings the focus back on pure teaching, and are time consuming. SpeEdLabs app is a platform that merges effectiveness of traditional teacher-classroom learning methods with the efficiency of a Fully stacked AI-enabled practice platform.

Built by teachers who understand the nuances and what it takes to boost performance, the app can be used and the learning suites can be customised by schools, coaching academies, tuition centres and individual tutors. By helping to deliver lectures via LIVE optionality to enable practice and finally testing, the app helps navigate the entire learning journey of any student. It is designed for teachers to manage multiple batches seamlessly, create tests for students at the click of a button and focus on refining and personalising their own teaching styles.

How can SpeEdLabs help tutors and teachers adjust to new technology?

There are core concept notes for every chapter or areas of inquiry, based on which there are practice papers and tests created by the platform. The app assesses and records objective and subjective assignments and automatically generates reports on a student’s strong and weaker points that they need to focus on to upgrade their learning. Such insights and aid on the administrative side such as attendance, total exams and much more helps teachers as well as academy heads to plan how to modify their teaching styles as per students’ requirements.

Further, the platform also effectively takes care of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) of the educational institutes with AI-enabled functions working on accounting, resource management and organisation of several other touchpoints. The coaching or educational institutes’ teaching strategies and unique lecture style remain the core and the main driver of students’ success whilst SpeEdLabs focus on providing the technology & analytical ecosystem which helps ensure progress tracking of each student in the academy.

Do you believe practice platforms have helped your students gain better knowledge of subjects? How has this been achieved?

Yes. The practice platform has tremendously helped students improve their study stem.

Students have significantly improved their understanding of a subject in depth as a result of the practise platform. Providing a platform for children that refines their abilities is the cornerstone of our approach. Having tutors available 24 hours a day is also an advantage; unlike in an offline setting, they have a wealth of innovative resources and are available to answer questions at any time. Continuous testing and analysis of each topic aids students in gaining a deeper understanding of the concepts. Self-assessments on a regular basis enable students to undertake self-analysis, which provides insight into their own comprehension and can aid in the discovery of knowledge gaps. Students are encouraged to evaluate their own learning and knowledge levels, as well as their own competences and performance, in order to develop into self-regulated learners as a result of this method of learning. Due to the world’s ever-changing dynamics, such self-assessment skills would be incredibly beneficial, particularly in their professional lives.

Vivek Varshney, Founder, SpeEdLabs

STEMROBO establishes innovation laboratories in over 1800 schools pan India

STEMROBO

Educational technology company STEMROBO founded in 2015 by Anurag Gupta and Rajeev Tiwari, aims to promote and instil coding in both urban and rural areas of the country and has established innovation laboratories in over 1800 schools across India. Also, they have established over ten robotics laboratories in India and work with over ten lakh kids and teachers to foster and promote innovation and creativity in students from kindergarten to grade twelve.

The founders added that the goal is to embed curiosity, creativity, and imagination in young brains, as well as inculcate creative skill sets including design mindset, computational thinking, adaptive learning, and physical computing. In a recent endeavour to bring coding and artificial intelligence to the country’s grassroots level, the corporation is providing coding training to over 6,000 girl students at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in the country’s rural areas, reported

As per the founders of this programme, they are working on real-world issue statements, assisting them in becoming problem solvers by learning Artificial Intelligence ideas through Python. The initiative’s goal is to transform youngsters from passive consumers of technology to active creators. Women are set to become key players in the coding business, as coding is already being taught in schools across the country.

GNIOT hosts tablet distribution ceremony in Uttar Pradesh today

GNIOT

Greater Noida Institute of Technology (GNIOT) is hosting a tablet distribution ceremony for final year engineering students today, under the Uttar Pradesh Free Tablet Yojana, an effort of the state government under the Digishakti Yojana. Hon’ Shri Kapil Dev Agrawal Ji, Minister of State of the Ministry of Vocational Education and Skill Development of Uttar Pradesh is the Guest of Honour for the event.

The tablet distribution ceremony is an initiative by the Government to encourage the growth of technology among the future generation of the country and help them become more confident and aware of ongoing digital innovations in the world.

CPGET becomes flexible: brings in major changes

CPGET

The Council of Higher Education (TSCHE) has arranged a meeting with the Vice Chancellors (VCs) of various universities across the state of Telangana to undertake several key decisions. It was announced on this occasion that several changes are being made in the Common PG Entrance Test system to be conducted this year (2022). PG Admissions in Arts and Political Science courses are offered to students of any degree. As usual, this year too, the Common PG Entrance Test (TS CPGET 2022) will beCPGET becomes flexible: brings in major changes handed over to Osmania University (OU). The Telangana Common PG Entrance Test notification will be released later this month. The Board of Higher Education has decided to cancel the colleges and courses which have registered zero admissions for this (2022-23) academic year. VCs are advised that if there are less than 15 students enrolled in one course, they should be given the opportunity to transfer to other courses or do so at a distance.

IIT Guwahati launches school of Health Sciences and Technology

IIT-Guwahati gate

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati plans to offer courses in health science soon, under its newly launched the ‘Jyoti and Bhupat Mehta School of Health Sciences and Technology.’  This is being set-up under a partnership between the IIT and the Mehta Family Foundation (MFF), Houston, Texas, USA. The medical school will foster cutting-edge research and innovation, establish new standards of pedagogy and hands-on training methods in the areas related to the health sciences, create a niche of startups and MSMEs who will provide evidence-based affordable healthcare technologies and promote state-of-art biomedical and public health education, claims the IIT.

Speaking about the event, Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser, Government of India, said “At this juncture, I can clearly foresee that the School of Health Sciences and Technology would host a number of modern academic curricula, centers of excellence, incubators, and research laboratories for the advancements in multi-disciplinary research and education, which is presently needed in the country.” In the meantime, the Jyoti and Bhupat Mehta School of Health Sciences and Technology has launched a new Master’s and PhD programmes in Health Sciences and Technology from this academic year. The first batch of 20 M.Tech students in the stream of Biomedical Science and Engineering will be admitted to IIT Guwahati through GATE 2022.

Stressing on the initiatives to be taken up by the New Centre, Prof. T. G. Sitharam, Director, IIT Guwahati, said that as part of the initiative, the joint team will inculcate cutting-edge education and research in the areas related to therapeutics, diagnostics, prosthesis, implantation, bioinformatics, molecular biology, regenerative medicine, stem cells, public health, and health data analytics, among many others.

Veranda launches a comprehensive learning platform Veranda Acacia

veranda

Veranda Learning Solutions Limited has announced the launch of a comprehensive learning platform Veranda Acacia aiming to bridge the workplace-ready IT skills gap in India. It has signed up with its first set of delivery centres across 25 locations. The Acacia Phase 1 programs for Full Stack Web Development, Cloud and DevOps, as well as Data Science, are aligned to competency standards established by SSC NASSCOM in partnership with the industry and approved by the Government of India. IT-ITES Sector Skills Council NASSCOM is the national standard-setting body for IT Skills set up under the aegis of the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and the Ministry of Skills Development & Entrepreneurship of the Government of India. These programs are based on an outcome-oriented approach entailing to focus on enhancing the learners’ employability quotient.

Acacia programs (career tracks) are aligned to the current and emerging needs of the skilled workforce in IT industries, based on regular interactions with partner organisations, to provide with industry ready graduates. These career tracks are offered to undergraduate and post-graduate students, both at Acacia’s Delivery Partner Centres and in institutional campuses. A total of six career tracks are offered, three each in Phase 1 and Phase 2, namely Full Stack Web Development, Cloud and DevOps, Data Science, Cybersecurity, Mobile App Development, and Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.

Talking about the launch, Kalpathi S. Suresh, Chairman cum Executive Director, Veranda Learning Solutions, said, “All our programs are outcome-driven and with Veranda Acacia we aim to bridge the current skilled workforce gap in the tech sector. We will deliver high-quality, affordable, and experienced instructor-led courses across tier 2 and tier 3 towns to enable learners to quickly integrate within the industry in the coming 12 months. We are committed to investing in People, Product, and Performance for providing students with sustained career excellence. We are working with several tech companies to provide them with a skilled workforce that can assist them in achieving their growth trajectories.”

Nidhi Chibber gets appointed as the CBSE chairperson

Nidhi Chibber

Senior bureaucrat Nidhi Chibber has been appointed as the chairperson of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in the wake of senior-level bureaucratic rearrangement effected by the Centre. Chibber, a 1994 batch IAS officer of Chhattisgarh cadre, is currently Additional Secretary, Ministry of Heavy Industries. In an order issued by the Personnel Ministry, Nidhi Chhibber is being appointed as the Chairperson of CBSE in the rank and pay of Additional Secretary to the Government of India. Chhibber has done MA in History and has also obtained LLB degree. Apart from this, she has pursued PG Diploma in Intellectual Property Rights.

Apeejay Education and AWS announce National Education Policy Accelerator Program (NEPAP)

Apeejay Education and AWS

Apeejay Education, an academic institution in India established for more than 50 years, and Amazon Web Services (AWS), an Amazon.com company, today announced the launch of the National Education Policy Accelerator Program (NEPAP), an initiative to enable academic institutions in India to align with the technology requirements documented in the Government’s National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020). This is the first program in India to support the technology transformation of education institutions as per the NEP 2020.

The NEP 2020 aims to strengthen India’s education sector that directly contributes to the country’s growth and development, demonstrating the need to integrate technology in education to improve learning and teaching at all levels. The accelerator program will address two key tenets of the NEP 2020 – on the extensive use of technology in teaching, learning, education planning, and management; and in the creation of open, interoperable, evolvable, public digital infrastructure in the education sector to support multiple platforms and point solutions. The accelerator program will guide academic institutions on multiple aspects of the NEP 2020. It will support academic institutions by conducting digital innovation workshops to focus on identifying and prioritizing unique challenges of the academic institutions, and co-building solutions or proof-of-concepts (POCs) using technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). AWS will drive these workshops based on the Amazon Working Backwards innovation methodology, which uses design thinking to identify and define a customer-focused problem or opportunity and develop prototypes.

“Academic institutions in India need to reach the digital maturity advised by the NEP 2020, and take advantage of the latest technologies to modernize their systems, address evolving learner expectations and demands, and achieve operating cost savings,” said Aditya Berlia, co–promoter, Apeejay Education. He adds, “There is a clear need today to help institutions identify and define problem statements, develop digital solutions, test their efficacies in fail-safe environments, and scale the solutions for the benefit of the education sector.”

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