EduMentum, an incubator plays a crucial role transforming education sector

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July 12, 2021

With a shared vision to transform the education landscape across contexts in India, nine early-stage nonprofit organizations have joined the 5th cohort of EduMentum, an incubation program by Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiative in association with Mantra4Change. Since its inception in 2017, EduMentum has incubated 32 organizations working to improve the quality of education across 18 states in India. These organizations work with under-resourced schools and communities that are either marginalized or come from low-income backgrounds.

Mr. S.D. Shibulal, who co-founded Infosys in 1981 and was a member of the Board of Infosys and CEO & MD between 2011 and 2014 and currently serves as Permanent Trustee, The Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiatives said, “India aims to reach its 4th Sustainable Development Goal and make Quality education a reality for its millions of students by 2030. India has 220 million school-going children who will join the workforce by the year 2025. Large scale systemic transformation of the education system is an important step towards achieving the above goal and enhancing economic growth. An incubator like EduMentum plays a crucial role in developing entrepreneurship in the area of systemic education transformation”

Also read: Digital Literacy Transforming Education System Globally

Permanent Trustee, The Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiatives said, “India aims to reach its 4th Sustainable Development Goal and make Quality education a reality for its millions of students by 2030. India has 220 million school-going children who will join the workforce by the year 2025. Large scale systemic transformation of the education system is an important step towards achieving the above goal and enhancing economic growth. An incubator like EduMentum plays a crucial role in developing entrepreneurship in the area of systemic education transformation”

The 5th Cohort of EduMentum brings together organizations for six different states of India. These organizations are:

Pencilbricks Foundation – Karnataka & Maharashtra
Kalpakta Foundation – Maharashtra
Ashayen – Odisha
Community 1st Foundation – Maharashtra
Samavesh Trust – Gujarat
Sushakti – Haryana
Neev Shikshan Sanstha – Gujarat
Better Education Lifestyle and Environment Foundation (BELiEF) – Maharashtra
India Foundation for Education and Transformation (IFET) – Arunachal Pradesh

Launched in September 2017, EduMentum is a 3-year program that focuses on empowering local change leaders across the country who aim to transform education and design interventions that address the scale and scope of India’s education system. With over 1.5 million schools across 29 states, the need to enable social entrepreneurs to transform the education landscape in India and ensure that every child receives quality education is urgent and essential – this gave birth to the idea of EduMentum.

EduMentum offers seed funding of up to Rs 7.5 Lakhs per annum along with a series of intensive, knowledge and capacity-building workshops for incubatees in collaboration with an eclectic mentor panel. It would also provide a network and connect to the right ecosystem for the organizations to flourish. The program aims to successfully incubate 50 organizations working in different parts of the country by 2025.

Prof. (Dr.) Nupur Prakash takes charge as VC of The NorthCap University

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digitalLEARNING Network

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July 12, 2021

The NorthCap University announced on Monday the appointment of Prof. (Dr.) Nupur Prakash as its Vice-Chancellor.

Prior to joining The NorthCap University, she served as the Vice-Chancellor of Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women, Principal of Indira Gandhi Institute of Technology, Dean, School of Engineering and Technology and Dean, School of IT, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University.

Speaking to reporters, Prof. (Dr.) Nupur Prakash said, “I am excited to be associated with an acclaimed institution which has a long tradition of academic excellence. I look forward to working with the talented and dedicated faculty and staff at The NorthCap University to steer the university towards greater excellence.”

In her role, she will head all academic schools and departments and chair the Board of Management, the Academic Council, and all other statutory bodies.

She earned her Bachelor’s in Electronics and Communication Engineering and Master’s in Computer Science and Technology from IIT Roorkee, where she received the Chancellor’s Medal. She did her Ph.D. in artificial intelligence from Punjab University. She has published and presented more than 100 research papers and articles in national and international journals and conferences. She has been a strong propagator of STEM education for girls and has won many accolades including the “Inspiring Women Edu-leader” in 2014, 22nd Devang Mehta Business School Award for “Outstanding Contribution to Education” and several other laurels. With her sound technical background in technology, she will be at the forefront of driving innovation at The NorthCap University and facilitate its transformation to a digital-first university matching global standards.

Edtech startup Birla Brainiacs plans to raise $10 million from investors

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digitalLEARNING Network

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July 12, 2021

The Edtech startup Birla Brainiacs plans to raise $10 million in order to hire 1500 teachers in the next two years. This is an external round of funding and the company is in talks with the investors, the founder, Nirvaan Birla told a daily news portal recently.

The e-learning startup, which was launched last year in April, is a collaborative learning app for imparting teaching and learning in Mathematics, Science and English for Classes 1to 12.

Also read: Edtech startup Teachmint raises $20 million capital for growth

The company will hire teachers to expand the business and to meet the requirements. The focus of the platform is not limited to the school curriculum; it also offers courses on software coding, mental ability, vedic math, competitive exam preparations (IIT/medical), etc.

India’s education sector is poised to grow from the current $117 billion to $225 billion by financial year 2025.

Puducherry schools will reopen from July 16

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July 12, 2021

Puducherry is ready to reopen schools from July 16 onwards. The COVID 19 cases are taking a downward graph after the governments have made follow strict covid protocols.

Puducherry schools will reopen from Friday after a long break of over nine months due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Directorate of School Education has released a statement of reopening schools, including privately managed institutions on Monday.

Also read: Puducherry starts free breakfast scheme for school students

The classes from 9 to 12 standards are expected to be opened in the union territory. The Chief Minister of the Union Territory, N Rangaswamy made the announcement on Sunday. The schools will have to follow strict Covid protocols to keep things at order.

Edtech company WhiteHat Jr Announces ‘CreatorSpace: Mission Mars’ for young learners

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July 10, 2021

Leading EdTech company WhiteHat Jr announced the launch of an exciting virtual event ‘CreatorSpace: Mission Mars’, the third such event in the series on Open Learning Events – Global Experts for Young Learners.

The event offers students a rare opportunity to engage and learn about outer space directly from an astrophysicist.

The ‘CreatorSpace: Mission Mars’ will be held on 10 July 2021 at 7:30 pm IST / 10:00 am EDT. It will be open to all young learners between 6-18 years of age. Trupti Mukker, Head of Customer Experience, WhiteHat Jr said, “Outer space has always inspired a sense of wonder amongst children and we want to feed this curiosity further by helping them understand various aspects of space. CreatorSpace: Mission Mars is an incredible opportunity for children and parents to meet and interact with key experts who can help them understand the infinite beyond a little better.”

‘CreatorSpace: Mission Mars’ is a part of WhiteHat Jr’s flagship virtual interactive learning series titled CreatorSpace which addresses an exciting new topic each month with the help of world-renowned experts. Earlier editions of the event have seen students engaging with global STEM leaders in the areas of Math, Coding, Satellite and Gaming. ‘CreatorSpace: Mission Mars’ is the third such event in the series, the earlier two editions of which saw participation from 50,000 and 60,000 students, parents and teachers respectively.

The CreatorSpace: Mission Mars event will feature interactive sessions by:

An astrophysicist, a NASA Living With a Star – Jack Eddy Postdoctoral Fellow, working to demystify the sun and solar system and a Professor of Astronomy working with the Institute of Astronomy and National Astronomical Observatory at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. He will be conducting a hands-on session with access to streaming of an exclusive video showcasing various space missions undertaken to explore the infinite beyond.

VP Coding and New Initiatives at WhiteHat Jr, will host a session focusing on tips and tricks required to succeed in the Mission Mars Coding Hackathon.

Bihar Board reopens registration window for Class 10 and 12 exams

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July 10, 2021

The Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) has reopened the registration process for Class 10 and Class 12 exams for 2022. The board said the students who were unable to submit applications for the exams, may now submit the exam forms between July 9 and 15.

The form can be submitted online and other details are available on the official website of the board. The application window is activated now.The Matric exam registration fee for regular students is Rs 220 and the fee for regular Inter students is Rs 370.

The deadline for submitting applications for Class 11 has also been extended. Applications through the Online Facilitation System for Students (OFSS) will now end on July 18.

OFSS is a centralised registration portal for admission to intermediate Class 11 and degree programs in Bihar. This is the second time that the Bihar board has extended the application deadline.

However, the schools and colleges in Bihar are expected to reopen with 50% attendance.

Announcing the reopening of educational institutions, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said special arrangements will be made for vaccinating adult students, teachers and staff of educational institutions.

Gujarat to Reopen Schools for Class 12 and Colleges in July

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July 10, 2021

After reviewing the COVID scenario in the state of Gujarat, the government is planning to reopen schools and colleges from July 15 onwards. Schools will resume Class 12 regular schooling and colleges are expected to start classes for undergraduate and postgraduate programs.

Only 50 per cent of students will be allowed to attend campuses. Students can attend physical classes on a voluntary basis. Attendance will not be mandatory, as per guidelines.

“We have decided to reopen the education institutions from July 15 in a phased manner with 50% strength initially. All COVID-19 norms will be enforced by the schools and colleges who reopen their classes,” a state government release said.

Also read: Gujarat passes bill sanctioning 7 new private universities

Schools and colleges will have to follow strict COVID-19 guidelines and follow the standard operating principles including mandatory masks, social distancing, sanitization among others.

PM Modi interacts virtually with tech institute heads on Friday

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July 10, 2021

On Friday, the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, interacted with 106 centrally-funded technical institutions (CFTIs) including 23 IITs, 31 NITs, and 25 IIITs.In the virtual meeting, Modi emphasized the importance of offering technical education in other vernacular languages.

The interaction focused and addressed the challenges that occurred due to COVID pandemic. It also laid emphasis on research and development (R&D) carried out by the CFTIs in the last two years for the country’s development and growth.

Dharmendra Pradhan, the new Union Education Minister, started his first day in the education ministry by talking to the tech institute heads. He later tweeted that his ministry was “committed to making students and youth the primary stakeholders in propelling India towards an equitable knowledge society.”

The new education minister will now focus on the National Education Policy (NEP)and time-bound implementation of it.Taking charge with his ministry, Pradhan along with his three junior ministers, Annapurna Devi, Subhas Sarkar and Rajkumar Ranjan Singh reviewed the NEP.

Pradhan also holds a portfolio of skill development and entrepreneurship.

Edtech startup Teachmint raises $20 million capital for growth

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July 9, 2021

Bengaluru-based e-learning platform, Teachmint, raised $20 million in a Pre-Series B round led by Learn Capital with participation from CM Ventures on Thursday. The company has already raised a capital of $16 million in May, which was its Series A funding round from Learn Capital, CM Ventures, Light Speed, and Better Capital.

Speaking on the new development, Mihir Gupta, Co-founder and CEO at Teachmint said, “It has been truly humbling to see the widespread adoption of Teachmint by teachers and students across India. With our platform usage growing 25x over the last quarter, we are becoming the default teaching application in India and the largest live teaching platform globally, outside China.”

The company stated that this round of funding will go towards development of live teaching technology and the enhancement of its product. The funding will also fuel Teachmint’s expansion into newer markets and the hiring of skilled talent.

Also read: Ed Tech startup SpEd@home raises $300K initial funding

Teachmint is a mobile and video-first teaching platform built exclusively to help teachers digitise their classrooms.

Edtech company SkillEnable nurtures Data Scientists

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July 9, 2021

To bridge the demand-supply gap of industry-ready candidates with relevant skill sets in the Data Science industry, SkillEnable, an employability-based edtech company, has adopted a uniquely helpful fee payment structure that helps the students to pursue the course they’re interested in, without worrying about paying the fees upfront.

SkillEnable charges fees via ISA (Income Sharing Agreement), which provides a solution to the huge upfront fee risk/stress that students usually face. The organization believes in investing in its candidates and charges them only if they get placed after completing the course. The fee is charged as a certain percentage of the salary only after the candidates get placed and start earning a sustainable amount of income.

According to MarketsAndMarkets.com, the Data Science market, which stood at USD 37.9 billion in 2019 is estimated to reach USD 140.9 billion by 2024, at a robust CAGR of 30.0%.

Besides ISA, SkillEnable boasts some other extraordinary features that have been put in place to find, select, and nurture the best data scientists in the country.

Also read: Edtech firm upGrad to spend $250 million on mergers and acquisitions

For instance, the organization offers tailor-made courses structured to meet specific industry needs, and unlike many institutions that focus on providing a degree only, SkillEnable focuses on enhancing the employability of the candidates to ensure that they hit the ground running when they enter the job market.

Speaking about the organization’s journey so far, Mr. Nirpeksh Kumbhat, Founder and CEO, SkillEnable said, “When I studied the state of the Indian higher education sector, I noticed that there was a massive gap in what was being taught in colleges and what the employers were looking for. Moreover, there was a severe lack of awareness among the students. They didn’t know of any opportunities out there. They didn’t know which course or stream they should opt for. Even if they did, they faced limited access to quality education, and financial issues held them back from progressing in their career. So in a nutshell, even though the job openings were available, the candidates were not skilled enough to fill those positions. Thus, in a bid to address all these issues collectively and give our young generation a better future, SkillEnable was born.”

“So far, we’re only providing Data Science courses but we’ll soon be incorporating more courses in its portfolio, and expanding to different domains that have asymmetric demand and supply,” he further added.

SkillEnable provides 100% live online courses, which facilitate instant doubt resolution, which is not possible in pre-recorded classes. It adopts a student-centric approach where learning is personalized, engaging, competency-based, and not restricted to the classroom.

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