The new National Education Policy (NEP) was approved by the Union Cabinet and it is the first such policy in the last 34 years. The NEP is ambitious and futuristic in every sense.
A panel headed by ISRO chief K Kasturirangan had submitted a draft NEP in December 2018, which was opened for public feedback after the Lok Sabha election in May 2019. The new NEP will introduce a large number of changes such as ensuring free education for all till the age of 18 with more accessibility to reduce dropouts.
The NEP, 2020 has been lauded by many experts for its futuristic approach.
Rishi Khemka, CEO – ARK Infosolutions, MindBox said “A new milestone, it’s great that our country has finally got a New Education Policy after 34 years! The emphasis is on a multi-disciplinary & holistic education that will empower our 21st Century learners with conceptual understanding, creativity, problem-solving & life skills. Continuous Professional Development opportunities for educators & Technology Integration in pedagogy, content, & assessment will enhance the learning outcomes of students and upskill them for the digital world.
He also said “Edu Policy has a progressive and pragmatic approach, only key is that the policy should be properly and well implemented. We at MindBox welcomes it with open arms and look forward to a powerful era of education.”
It has been just about five months since 11 March 2020 when the World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic. In some quarters this is already seen as a historical divide, BC (before Corona) and AC (after Corona). Across the globe educational systems at all levels have been seriously impacted even in this short span of time. The virus has affected all schools, colleges and universities. By mid-March mostly, these have all been shut: classes have been suspended, examinations, research work and virtually all laboratory experiments have been forced to hit the “pause button”.
Although many Higher Educational Institutions have quickly decided to conduct classes and examinations online, its implementation in the country is not an easy task. Access to smartphones and the internet is still very limited. At the same time, it is undeniable that technology can play a big role in offering alternatives to regular academic activities, so one effect of this pandemic may well be to bring significant changes in the traditional education sector in regards with the use of technology as a tool for learning.
Elets Technomedia and digitalLEARNING Magazine organized ‘Higher and Technical Education Conclave, North India’ to highlight the new innovations and future of higher education in the country. The conclave was graced by eminent speakers from higher education sector.
The inaugural session was conducted on ‘Conductive Policies & Regulatory Frameworks: Current Scenario & Future’. The welcome address was delivered by Dr Ravi Gupta, Editor-in-chief, digitalLEARNING Magazine and CEO, Elets Technomedia Pvt Ltd.
Col Kailash Bansal, Director, All India Council For Technical Education (AICTE) said “More than life, livelihood has got affected due to Corona. Higher Education is hugely impacted as all the things are halted. All the students are stuck and leveraging the usage of digital education. Education is a service not a product. There is a hidden component in the education sector. There are huge education enablers in the sector and they are overtaken by digital platforms. We are forced to adopt the digital usage due to the pandemic.”
He also said “We are working to leverage the online education. AICTE has opened the NEET platforms for many. The SWAYAM MOOCs platform is offering quality content. Funds have been enhanced for the online classes. The approval process has been done online.”
He even said “From next academic year things will not be the same. The lost time will be covered in coming days. We can extend some more number of credits. The fun part is missing from the campuses which are a great stress buster. “
Collaboration is the need of the hour. Internships can be made mandate for students, he added.
Prof K K Agarwal, Chairman, National Board of Aaccreditation (NBA) said “All the schools and colleges delivered the content during the pandemic. Blended mode of learning is very important. Online education can be used as crisis management. We must prepare for any such crisis. Teachers must be empowered to deliver the content. Exams pattern has to be changed. We need to assess the students. “
He also said “We need to provide interdisciplinary subjects for students. Interdisciplinary will be very important in coming days. We need to convert this COVID crisis to opportunity to improve education sector. Universities must provide credits to everything. AI will be the new thing.”
He also said we need to make ourselves very flexible. The COVID-19 has given us opportunity to reformat our education system. Things will take time to come back to normal.”
Hemant Sahal, Founder & CEO, CollPoll gave a brief presentation on “Digital Campus on the Cloud for Education” after the inaugural session.
In another panel Lessons from Edu Leaders – Best practices in ensuring seamless education amid Covid-19
Dr Madhu Chitkara, Pro Chancellor, Chitkara University, Punjab said “Admissions is a challenge for private colleges. These days we have started giving virtual tours of our campuses to students. We have started virtual counselling of students. The situation will not to stay long and in coming days there will be new norms. Things will become normal and admission will start soon.”
She also said “Teaching is always a challenge for teachers. The challenge has increased as parents have reached the classrooms. We are waiting students to come back to campuses.”
Blended learning will be the new normal, she added.
Sahil Aggarwal, Co-Founder & CEO, Rishihood University, Haryana said “Most of our processes have shifted to online from counseling to admissions. We are trying to reach students through online mode. Most of the exams will be taken from home to ensure the safety of students. Some of the programmes will rise in coming days and we have some of them. We are in start-up phase and will continue our plans. We have to work according to the situation.”
Sudhanshu Varma, Chief Operating Officer, Bennett University, Greater Noida said “There are two parts firstly the admission side and secondly, the other side of training, exams, infra etc. We have drawn SOPs for everything in the university. When the university is not running the costs shoot up. “
He also said “The COVID is not a crisis, we have seen worst than this. The exams cannot prove a child is good or bad. The biggest challenge is the delay of state university exams. Parent and child will be the only two who will suffer in this pandemic.”
He also said Times have changed and we need to change with it. With changing times teachers are becoming best communicators.
Kunwar Shekhar Vijendra, Chancellor, Shobhit University, Meerut said “Admissions will happen, this year through online. There is a digital divide not only in India but across the globe. The admissions will be an issue for new institutions. Admissions will be slow in coming days. There will be a change in selection of courses.”
He also said “The only solution of this crisis is handholding. An institution is a complete eco-system. The social angle is also temporary. We need to talk to our parents, society members. Things will become normal. This crisis can be used as opportunity for new experimenting.”
Siddharth Chaturvedi, Executive-Vice President, Aisect Group Universities said “This opportunity has given us to re-image and rejuvenate the Higher Education sector. We deal with 80 pc rural students as there was a short-term response. There were classes happening on Zoom, Google Meet and on other platforms. Assessments have gone online and now classes are shifting to LMS platforms. “
He also said “We must upgrade the studio facility to record the lectures. Blended learning will be a new thing for students. Some of things will change permanently in coming days.”
Over placements, he said there are virtual placements going on.
Prof Prem Vrat, Pro-Chancellor, NorthCap University, Haryana said “We have adapted the online education way before it all started. The core of teaching is teachers and no technology can replace them. The efficiency of teachers and students have surged a lot during the online classes. With online classes you can have any teacher from any part of the world.”
He also said the blending learning is here to stay for long time.
The online selection is very cost effective. The mind-set for distance education has changed a lot in last few months, he added.
Due to the online classes, institutions in far flung areas can get best teachers from any part of the world he added.
Dr Sunil Rai, Vice Chancellor, UPES, Dehradun said “The issues were with mind-set of parents and students and will teachers deliver the lectures on time. We did online exams and internships. The online learning will be here to stay and more efficient. With technology, the classroom has come home. The whole world is a virtual lab for students.”
Online assessments can be used for learning. It can enhance things in coming days, he added.
Prof Vinod Kumar, Vice Chancellor, Jaypee University of Information Technology said “We started online lectures for most of the subjects. Large number of students connected to online classes. Electricity is an issue with most of the students and to negate it we provided them with PPTs. We make smaller groups of students for online classes. We have also conducted MCQs for students.”
He also said “We are using virtual labs with physical ones. We did video recording of labs and our students shared the computers.”
He also said we have conducted online exams and hired a third party to proctor them.
Payal Rajpal, Founder, Hack the Crisis India, South Asia Head Robotex said “We have already seen a spike in usage of technology. The COVID has created an opportunity for experimenting new things. The usage of technology will surge in coming days. Technology has the capacity to ensure the quality of education. The blended approach is already there and it is preparing students for future ready. “
Aman Mittal, Additional Director, Lovely Professional University, Punjab said “We have conducted the exams successfully and the results will be out soon. We have our own LMS system for our students. A lot of AI has been used during the online classes. We have a huge AI data to monitor the progress of students. Blending is the word not online learning.”
Dr DNS Kumar, Vice Chancellor, Ansal University, Haryana said “We focused on alumni and industry friends during the pandemic. We started collaborations to help our students. Students can learn according to their pace during the online classes. Enough material was available for students online. There is a change of mind-set within students. “
It has given new opportunity for students, he added.
Dr RS Bawa, Pro Chancellor, Chandigarh University said “Punjab Chandigarh University has been using blended learning from the beginning. It was a smooth transition. We have also Procter exams for 7000 students. All the tests have been conducted online. Blending learning will be the new norm. We need to empower faculty members during this pandemic.”
We have also started online placement. We can take advantage from this situation and prepare content beyond the syllabus for students, he added.
Dilip Puri, Founder & CEO, Indian School of Hospitality said “Student adaptability to online classes is the main thing in this pandemic. Usage of technology in education was there from day 1. We used our entire campus as one lab. During online classes it is very difficult to assess the outcomes. This has given us an opportunity to study students.”
The boon of Covid is usage of technology. We are trying new things during this lockdown. Blending learning is here to stay, he added.
Amit Attry, Vice President, Marketing & Corporate Relations, Jaipuria Institute of Management, Delhi said “The education system is bit different in India. There will not be any issue with enrollments with universities. There will be many students who will not willing to travel, so we have to thing new ways. Most of the placements were done before the lockdown and we have also placed some during the pandemic. “
He also said “We have started online classes. The COVID has given us a jump to adapt online classes. The reach of internet will take some time. “
Silky Jain, Executive Director, Tula’s Institute, Dehradun said “We have already upgraded our medical facilities and sanitization is going on in our campuses. We have created a taskforce to educate people. We have created SOPs for the campuses. We are hoping for having a good admission session. “
Students initially had issues but now they have adopted the new norm. The internet connectivity is an issue which needs to be addressed, she added.
Amit Phull, Chief Marketing Officer, Ansal University, Haryana said “The whole admission cycle is divided into two cycles- one is pre-exam results and other one is post exams. From March we have to change our strategy for admission. The challenges remain the same for all institutions. This is a challenge for institutions to try something new.”
He also said “We are getting good number of admissions for creative courses. There are new opportunities in education sector. There is a paradigm shift in education sector. There are 40 million students for admissions and we need to use it. This is a wholesome opportunity to cash on.”
Dr Pankaj Sharma, Director- Admissions & Outreach, SRM University, Haryana said “This will be longest admission cycle for students. The govt is doing a lot of thing to negate the effect of corona. We need to involve everyone and execute our plans to fight the pandemic. We will start our classes from next month through online. We will use the technology for our classes.”
Blended learning is here to stay for a longer period, he added.
Ashu Diwan, Head Outreach, BML Munjal University, Haryana said “Going online was not an issue for us. It’s not easy to plan the first batch during the pandemic. We have to cope up with the Corona pandemic. For a student it’s not easy to cope with the changing format. The digital infra is more important in this crisis. It will be a good time for Indian Universities.”
It’s a blessing in disguise for education sector, he added.
The last panel was conducted on “Delivering learning outcomes among students considering Future job skills & emerging trends in higher education”.
Dr Vikas Singh, Executive Director, ITS Education Group, Greater Noida said “Learning depends on the experience of the learner. Now scale and experience can be made interesting. COVID has become a huge accelerator. Faculty members can act as facilitators. Students will start adapting to blending learning. The future universities will be different and they will be driven by collaborations.”
Vishal Sood, Executive Director, Maharishi Markandeshwar (Deemed To Be University), Haryana said “Higher Education needs to focus on industrious rather than syllabus. We need to create an impact with the quality content. We must prepare students to focus on goals. We offer around 200 programmes. It has accelerated the acceptability of technology in the education sector. We have to improve our technological innovations. But, certain things can only be learned in physical classrooms.”
He also said the regulatory body and corporate world must come together. Peer learning is must to provide complete education, he added.
Karan Kumar, Head-IT, OP Jindal Global University, Haryana said “The crux is how to use digital tool to improve digital skills. Online education needs lot of attention from students. It can be a very good supplement. It is important to under the business impact during the initial part of career. “
Prof Sarit K Das, Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar said “The Covid has accelerated the usage of technology. The quality of content is very important during the online classes. We don’t have the means of brining the best teachers as we don’t have a clear mechanism. We must identify good teachers to prepare quality content. We need to focus on quality of content.”
Raghav Gupta, Managing Director – India and APAC – Coursera said “The Covid has accelerated the need of technology in education sector. In India we have grown by 14 pc. The regulator will play an important role across the globe. Around 1.3 million students have been benefitted from the Coursera platform. Blended learning is here to stay for longer period.”
He also said “We will add more 600 MOOCS to platform.”
Atul Khosla, Founder & Pro Vice Chancellor, Shoolini University, HP said “There is academic inflation across the globe. This is an unsustainable world and we need to change the way of the education sector. This will change a lot in coming. We have to prevent the digital divide and bring more learning.”
Prof M.M.Gore, Dean (Planning and Development), MNNIT Allahabad said “Over 60 pc students know their goals. Because of digital platforms lots of barriers have been broken. The students have adapted the online platform very swiftly. The technology will make students smarter.”
Providing relief to students, Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has released UPSC CDS Exam II 2020 notification. The notification is available on the official site of UPSC at upsc.gov.in. The last date to apply for the examination is till August 25, 2020. This recruitment drive will fill up 344 posts under Combined Defence Service in the country.
Verification of eligibility conditions with reference to original documents will be taken up only after the candidate has qualified for interview/Personality Test.
Opening date of application will be August 5, 2020 and closing date will be August 25, 2020.
The UPSC has said Indian Military Academy, Dehradun has 100 Posts, Indian Naval Academy, Ezhimala has 26 Posts, Air Force Academy, Hyderabad has 32 Posts, Officers’ Training Academy, Chennai (Men)has 169 Posts, Officers Training Academy, Chennai (Madras) (Women) has 17 Posts
For I.M.A. and Officers’ Training Academy, Chennai: Candidates should have a degree of a recognised University or equivalent.
For Indian Naval Academy: Candidates should have a degree in Engineering from a recognised University/ Institution.
For Air Force Academy: Candidates should have a degree of a recognised University (with Physics and Mathematics at 10+2 level) or Bachelor of Engineering.
Candidates will have to pay Rs 200/- as application fees. The application fees can be paid either by depositing the money in any Branch of SBI by cash, or by using net banking facility of State Bank of India or by using Visa/Master/Rupay Credit/Debit Card. Female/SC/ST candidates are exempted from payment of fees. For more related details, candidates can visit the official site of UPSC.
To provide boost to the Higher Education, Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal, along with Himachal Pradesh Chief minister Anurag Singh Thakur and Minister of State for Education, Sanjay Dhotre has laid the foundation stone for the Indian Institute of Management, Sirmaur.
The foundation stone was laid at a 210 acre land in Dhaula Kuan, Himachal Pradesh in virtual mode. The camps will be constructed by CPWD with the tender cost of civil works of Rs. 285.66 Crores. Phase 1 of the project is expected to be conducted by June 2022.
IIM Lucknow has been operating IIM Sirmaur from August 2015 as the mentor institution with the commencement of the first batch of 20 students from its temporary campus at Paonta Sahib, Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh.
A permanent campus at Dhaulakuan has been conceived for an approximate student strength of 1170. The union government has also sanctioned an amount of Rs. 531.75 Crore out of the Rs. 392.51 Crore sanctioned for the construction work.
In the online foundation stone laying ceremony, the Education Minister added that the MBA students are future corporate leaders, wealth creators and the responsibility lies on the shoulders of the students to provide the right direction to business and industry to make Atma Nirbhar Bharat according to the vision of the Prime Minister.
The minister further assures the support of the Education Ministry to IIM Sirmaur in establishing its world-class infrastructure, while state education minister Dhotre added that over a period of fewer than five years, IIM Sirmaur has seen the intake of students from 20 to 300 which also points out to the hard work put in by the management, director and the board to steer academic activity in the required direction.
Pradeep Singh is the son of a petrol pump worker who overcame a lot of hardship and limited resources and cracked the IAS exam. The 22-year-old hails from Indore was one of the youngest candidates to appear in UPSC 2018 exams and crack it. His father Manoj Singh originally from the town of Gopalganj in Bihar. Manoj Singh worked as a petrol pump worker and his mother is a housewife.
In the recently released UPSC Civil Services 2019 results, Pradeep shined again, finding a spot at the AIR 26 rank.
Pradeep born in 1996 studied in a CBSE school in Indore and then completed his graduation in B.Com (Hons) from IIPS DAVV. Since a very young age, Pradeep was confident that he wanted to be in administrative service.
He started his UPSC Civil Services preparation and moved to Delhi. To afford his coaching and accommodation, his father had to sell their home and move into rented accommodation. Determined to make the most of his father’s sacrifices and efforts, he focused on cracking the civil services examination. Hard work paid off and he cracked the examination in 2018 and was offered a position in the Indian Revenue Services.
Determined still, he did not give up and continued to strive for a better rank.
To provide more cyber security, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), has cancelled establishment of Centres of Excellence (CoE) in cybersecurity in institutions. These centres were to be established in engineering institutions that were part of the Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme, or TEQIP.
The council has issued a notice, informing of cancellation of the scheme for the establishment of cybersecurity centres.
Earlier, the process of establishment of these centres of excellence was put on hold pending formulation of revised guidelines for procurement, by National Project Implementation Unit (NPIU).
The recent decision is based on the decision taken by the NPIU, where it has finalised the procurement guidelines. As per the revised guidelines use of GeM (Government e-Marketplace) and also CPP (Central Public Procurement) portal is made mandatory for all types of procurement under TEQIP-III.
Based on this decision, the procedure for establishing centres of excellence has been cancelled.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Minister of Education, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has announced that the admission criteria for B.Arch courses has been relaxed. According to his official tweet, since there have been partial cancellations of 12th board exams, the Ministry of Education on the recommendation of Council of Architecture (CoA) have accordingly made the decision.
As per the new relaxation criteria, all candidates who have secured the passing marks in 10+2 level with PCM or 10+3 diploma with Mathematics will be eligible for admissions into the first year of B.Arch 2020-2021.
Previously, for B.Arch admissions, the candidates were expected to have minimum 50% aggregate marks in their qualifying examination along with valid NATA scores for admissions. The relaxation has been introduced to help the students who have faced a crisis in their academics due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Relaxation similar to JEE Main The relaxation of the admission criteria is similar to that of JEE Main, which was announced earlier by Nishank. Therefore, for admissions into B. Arch courses using JEE Main scores, the candidates will not be requiring any other criteria except for passing marks in the qualifying examination.
In view of the ongoing #COVID19 pandemic and the partial cancellation of class XII #exams by several Boards across the country, the Ministry of Education on the recommendations of @CouncilofArchi1 has decided to relax the eligibility for admission to B.Arch. Course for 2020-2021.
— Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (@DrRPNishank) August 4, 2020
In the light of Corona virus pandemic, the University Grants Commissions (UGC) has surged the academic credit limit for the online courses up to 40 per cent. Earlier, it was 20 per cent and now students can pick subjects relevant to their course online using the SWAYAM platform and gain the credits for the same.
The commission has brought in an expert committee which will map the existing courses with the MOOCs which can be constituted for the course. This will also help in identifying areas or subjects for which the MOOCs are not available and create digital content for such courses as well.
The UGC has asked the Higher Education institutes and the top academicians from across the country to develop high-quality MOOSc in the said areas which can be compared to international standards.
In an official notification released by the UGC, it has been stated that with the COVID-19 situation the UGC chairman has formed an Expert Committee to map the existing developed MOOCs and identify gap areas where the courses need to be developed under SWAYAM according to the UGC model CBCS curriculum.
This is being done along with the recently released NEP which suggests setting up an academic bank of credits which will compile the academic credits earned by the students. Degrees from the higher education institutions can be awarded by taking into account the credits earned by the students.
The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Tuesday declared the result of civil services examination 2019. Students can check the results of UPSC provisional appointment list of candidates who have qualified the UPSC civil services 2019 exam online at upsc.gov.in.
Pradeep Singh tops the UPSC exams, followed by Jatin Kishore and Pratibha Verma, who secured second and third ranks in UPSC civil services 2019 exam respectively.
The commission conducts the Civil Services examination every year for selection of candidates to Indian Administrative Service, Indian Foreign Service, Indian Police Service and Other Central Services.
The Civil Services Examination is conducted in two successive stages: 1) Preliminary (objective type) for the selection of candidates for the main examination 2) Civil Services (Main) Examination (written and interview) for the selection of candidates for the various Services and posts announced.
The list has been released on the basis of written examination and personality test of Civil services examination 2019.
Last year, the UPSC on April 5, 2019, declared the civil services exam 2018 results on its official website. In which, Kanishak Kataria topped the exam with 55.3% marks. Followed by Akshat Jain who secured the second position with 53.3% marks. Junaid Ahmad came third with 53.18% marks.
Ken42 is one of the largest ed-tech firms in the country. Within less than a month of launch of its StartNXTIdeathon programme, SuperappKen42 has recorded over 13,000 registrations from students. The ed-tech firm announced the launch for the startup acceleration programme in the beginning of July itself, inviting students to submit their ideas across the country.
Over 30 universities have participated across the country with leading names including IIT Kanpur, Indian School of Business (ISB), IIT Delhi, St. Xaviers Kolkata, Vellore Institute of technology, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology, National Institute of Technology Delhi, IIMT College of Engineering, BITS Pilani, IIT Bhubaneshwar, IIT Varanasi, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Birla Institute of Technology Mesra Ranchi, IIT Jammu.
The entries also include international institutions like RMIT University, Melbourne and James Cook University Singapore International Campus.
Ganesh Raju, Founder & CEO, Ken42 said “We are delighted to receive such an overwhelming response from leading institutions across different cities in India.Thecorepurposeforkickstartingthis6-monthaccelerationprogrammewastoprovide a solid impetus to generate a new wave of future-ready leaders. However, we are hoping to double the amount of entries by the end of the registration period, with more students to share their ground-breaking ideas.”
Ken42 is awarding the Top 3 winners with funding up to Rs 2 crores each, and Rs 10 lakh each to the runners-up as well, along with internship opportunities with leading startups and firms.
Registrations for the StartNXTIdeathon closes on 31st August.
