Country’s most decorated Delhi University has begun the admission procedure for the 2020-21 academic year. To provide smooth sailing, the university has asked the state board across the country including the CBSE to share the links of the class 12 results for the online document verification process.
The university has been providing access to the CBSE results for many years. The university will check the authenticity of the mark sheets of the applicants claiming to have passed from CBSE affiliated schools.
Along with the CBSE, two other boards which are NIOS and Jammu and Kashmir State Board have agreed to share the class 12 result links with the university.
The university has decided to carry out forensic verification of certificates and mark sheets submitted by the students for all the departments. The decision of Forensic Verification was taken keeping in mind the ‘Ankit Baisoya’ controversy. In 2018, the university cancelled the admission of Baisoya, a former DUSU president, after his documents were found to be forged.
The last date to submit the Delhi University online applications is July 4, 2020. Candidates who wish to apply for the Undergraduate and postgraduate courses offered by the university can visit the official website of the board to apply.
Providing huge relief to students, BSE Telangana Board has declared TS SSC Results 2020 for Class 10 students. Earlier, the govt has cancelled the Class 10 exams. Telengana SSC Results 2020 have been announced for all the students as Marks Memo by the BSE Telangana.
Students can check their results on official website i.e. bse.telangana.gov.in.
For 2020 session, the TS SSC Exam 2020 was deeply impacted due to the Coronavirus pandemic. The exam was scheduled to be held from 23rd March to 6th April 2020, and was postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.
Taking into account the COVID-19 situation, the SSC Exams for Telangana Board were cancelled by the state government.
The official website is crashed due to high traffic. Hence, students are advised to keep patience. The website will soon open so that they can check their TS SSC results 2020 Manabadi. Besides, the Telangana Class 10 results will be declared based on internal assessment.
SSVM has created well- planned home engagement modules and online classes for all subjects, says Dr Manimekalai Mohan, Managing Trustee, SSVM Institutions with a conversation with Elets News Network (ENN).
Amid COVID- 19 outbreak, SSVM has begun the new academic session as scheduled, albeit digitally. The school started resorting to online classes, assignments and live courses for middle school, secondary and senior secondary students. Many tools and techniques are being used by teachers, such as live classes with students in attendance, recorded lectures, online worksheets, app updates. SSVM shares productive activities for students of Kindergarten to grade VII, which involve authentic educational online links, daily tips, fun quizzes based on vocabulary and mental Mathematics.
SSVM has created well- planned home engagement modules and online classes for all subjects. Students between grades one and seven are engaged with hands-on activities. Live lessons for grades X and XII commenced from the fourth week of March. After successful implementation, the live classes started for grades VIII, IX & XI and have fetched good results with positive feedback. The school conducted trial sessions and launched the teacher-student model in sizeable ratio. Teachers are keeping track of daily attendance, classwork, homework and assessment. The existing school app portal and class groups are being used to share worksheets, activities and fun games with students at all levels. Students used this opportunity to connect online, and clarify doubts, interact with teachers, access resources shared by the teacher during individual sessions.
SSVM students are following a daily timetable of three to five hours of home study according to their class levels. The time frame includes enhancing practical communication skills, experiential learning, and doing activities designed as self-learning lessons, webinars and assignments posted on learning portals. Online learning is the better way to educate learners, who otherwise would have suffered immensely because of the mandatory closure of schools to maintain social distancing because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
With this increased focus on digital learning, students will be accessing subject-related content online.
Why Online Classes?
• To offer highly effective as well as a relaxed learning environment
• Parents get a chance to observe the child’s home-learning process.
• To offer complimentary interactive reinforcements that allow students to study and work at their own pace.
• To provide flexible but systematic scheduling.
• Available in any location, with an internet connection; students can attend using their devices (e.g., computers, tablets, etc.)
• Direct teacher and parent feedback.
• Parents become mentors at home for students and monitor them and get them complete the work assigned to them.
• Teachers and parents work hand-in-hand toward every child’s progressive learning journey.
At SSVM, we believe that nothing should disrupt education. So, we decided to initiate by leveraging technology to transform our teaching learning process and provide continuous learning to our students. Faith and comradeship — the keystone of our educational ethos — and the strong parental partnership has enabled us to help the students to learn online during the COVID-19 lockdown.”- adds Dr Manimekalai Mohan, the Managing Trustee, SSVM Institutions, Coimbatore & Mettupalayam.
To conclude, the biggest priority for school and parents is keeping students safe against COVID-19 but not away from learning. Hence these online classes provide every student with a continuous learning process.
The change makers in this whole scenario are none other than teachers who were branded as Naïve digital Zombies by the whole Society, their quickness in adapting themselves to this new medium or platform is certainly commendable says Dr. K. Lakshmi Rao, Academic Director, Jain Group of Schools, Hyderabad in a conversation with Elets News Network (ENN).
Change is constant !!
This adage is heartily absorbed by the Jain Group of Schools, without an iota of hesitation or delay. Thus, though the Schools have shut down physically, the learning never ceased ! The reason being the belief in the new adage “ Survival of the Quickest “!
The smooth transition from physical classes to virtual classes became possible in our institutions due to the core philosophy of investing on the human resources. The teacher training being the crucial element in this new era, we have prepared our teachers well in advance, though it is an unexpected crisis. In fact, JGI has adapted to integration of technology since 2007. Now the platform has been moved from digital interactive boards to Google Classrooms, Google hangouts or ZOOM meeting rooms. Whatever may be the platforms chosen the learners are connected instantly as early as 23rd of March. The change makers in this whole scenario are none other than teachers who were branded as Naïve digital Zombies by the whole Society, their quickness in adapting themselves to this new medium or platform is certainly commendable. This adaptability of our teachers proves their quest for learners, irrespective of the location they are in Thus changing the norms of classroom Pedagogy and Heutagogy to Andragogy , which focuses on self-directed learning -a key skill in 21st c and need of the hour.
My teachers have not only learnt to develop essential skills of lockdown and virtual classrooms but also percolated down to their learners. The students started developing self-directed learning which made them assimilate the information shared by the teachers and there by applying them in day to day operations.
The best part is when no one thought of engaging Toddlers our teachers have engaged them online by conducting Gross motor and fine motor activities, art and craft, rhymes and so on with less stress on academics. Kudos to teachers as well as Parents for engaging kids below 5 years productively online for almost a month.
How was it Possible?
We followed 5 P formula.
• Identified safe Platform in addition to planning and understanding the learners.
• All the stake holders were prepared well to get adapted to this change. Teachers were attending virtual conferences parallelly while conducting virtual classes to their learners , Parents were informed and students were guided well.
• Practice sessions were conducted to teachers and constant rehearsals were organized to ensure seamless implementation of online classes.
• The relentless Practice with a cognizance for perfection made us absorb the system well to perform conducting the online classes uninterruptedly.
• Partnership between parents and school is crucial to make the learning more effective, hence we created broadcast groups through what’s app and E-mail to strengthen the communication through newsletters .The learning objectives and outcomes were shared wit parents and children well in advance to ensure proper guidance from the parents. Various mediums like voice messages,video& audio clippings were shared with all Parents to increase the bond between Parents and School as at this time of lockdown the contribution of parents is crucial in any child’s learning.
Thanks to COVID-19 for making us unlearn, learn and relearn !!The school is now prepared for the new norm of redefining the school schedule as curricular activities are designed and scheduled as per the convenience and pace of the learners and also working on the online assessments to ensure continuous learning among all learners with a philosophy of “No child is left behind”.
In the wake of an unprecedented lockdown period, the educational system is moving online as far as possible, turning classrooms into online spaces and teachers into virtual educators. Various authorities in their respective domains and realms, at the higher educational institutions or at the school level, have been proposing the setting up of virtual classrooms for e-learning. Here is a detail analysis by Pankaj Samantray of Elets News Network (ENN).
I t’s been unprecedented times across the globe. The novel Coronavirus or Covid-19 has changed how millions around the globe are educated. The spread and the fear of infection, of Coronavirus has shut down almost all educational institutions.
In the wake of an unprecedented lockdown period, the educational system is moving online as far as possible, turning classrooms into online spaces and teachers into virtual educators. Various authorities in their respective domains and realms, at the higher educational institutions or at the school level, have been proposing the setting up of virtual classrooms for e-learning. The institutions are gearing up for remote learning for students.
The new paradigm shift in education approaches have not only narrowed down equality gaps but also introduced new solutions for education and innovation in the sector. Many schools and universities throughout the country are attempting to provide some form of virtual learning with the help of virtual teachers and virtual platforms available.
COVID-19 has forced both K-12 and higher education institutions to close their doors to prevent the spread of the virus. These risk-control decisions have led millions of students into temporary ‘home-schooling’ situations globally. These changes have certainly caused a degree of inconvenience, but they have also prompted new examples of educational innovation. The curriculum tools of online education and the infrastructure to communicate with students remotely are playing a crucial role in connecting students amidst the closures.
With this unexpected pandemic, institutions and schools have taken an online verge. However, the shift to online learning could be challenging for everyone. Though the direct interaction of students & teachers can’t be replaced, still in order to motivate the online classes, teachers are leaving no stone unturned to ensure joy, warmth, and humor teacher-to-student interaction. They are trying to make it more engaging through the implementation of live lecturing, video chatting and messaging with multiple students.
However, the efforts to create a classroom environment simply cannot compete with the real thing. Moreover, the more optimistic side is that everybody is stuck at home, which is allowing us to think about personalized learning fluidly In fact, due to online classes conducted through different platforms, all the students are now in the front allowing teachers to be even more attentive towards the needs of the students. It has also made students explore more learning platforms and execute ideas that they have never tried before.
In fact, the lockdown situation would have proven to be very boring had there been no E-learning for these young minds. The virtual platforms have enabled teachers to at the very least start the syllabus & cover the course structure so that students learning don’t suffer. The online classroom platform has maintained the regularity of the learning schedule among students. The teachers are steadily working to adapt and make learning fun, effective and imperative through virtual classes. Also, there is nothing like face to face interactions, and engagement through sharing life’s lessons and creative ideas, brainstorming sessions, coupled with funny anecdotes inside the classroom.
The steps which schools can take to make studies of students will not suffer in the crisis:
Introducing online classes:
Schools can introduce online modules and classes for important subjects like Maths and Science. This will enable students to learn and relearn the basic equation.
Providing online as well as offline notes:
To ensure proper learning, the schools must sharing study plans and notes to the children of each class both offline and online. Students can utilise their time at home, learn and practice as per the progress in the notes.
Rearrange academic holidays to adjust school curriculum:
Once the school re-opens, the schools will have to plan to cut out on holidays through the academic year and adjust for the lost school classes. By reducing the length of summer vacation and adjusting it with classes will spare some time for students and they’ll get enough time to prepare.
Extra classes to make for the lost class time:
As and when the schools reopen, they’ll create a period subject wise timeline for each subject, so that they can provide extra classes to students and ensure that the syllabus is completed.
Assigning class mentors:
The schools must align mentors who will personally speak with the students and their parents and advise them on what to study and how to initiate preparing for the initial chapters seating at home.
Quarantine activities for learning and fun:
While the students are at home, the teachers can assign students activities that will engage them at home. This activity based learning can become a part of the curriculum and will help students cover a few topics even without coming to school.
Cancel the internal exams:
Schools may choose to cover more classes and focus on covering the curriculum and to achieve the same, they may reduce the number of internal or external exams.
We have three challenges- When do we start, who do we bring in and safety measures. Teaching aspect is not worrying but transaction can be an issue. Parents are not in a hurry to send their children back to schools. It’s a great opportunity for teachers to use technology says, Surabhi Goel, CEO, Aditya Birla Education Academy, Aditya Birla World Academy, Mumbai.
We have started new lesson plan. Training teachers and grooming parents and students to take online classes is also important. Safety and health, human touch, and communication is the need of the hour. Preparing logistics will also be important. Staggered classes and times are working on. Teachers are coming up with new ideas to keep students busy. We need to plan out everything before moving forward says, Pratima Sinha, CEO, DSR Educational Society.
Are we analyzing the outcomes of content which is provided to students. We are waiting for new norms from govt in the education sector to revive. Our focus must be, how can we engage the children and teach meaningful stuff. We need to provide application learning to kids says Kavitha Jain, CEO, MDN Edify Education, Hyderabad.
One of the biggest challenge is to provide online education in rural India. There will be apprehensions in the mind of parents over safety, when the schools will be reopened. We are facing a financial crisis as these are challenging times for all of us. Schools in USA and Canada are getting closed. Even, Canada is looking for alternative way of teaching says, Skand Bali, Principal, The Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet, Hyderabad.
There are two major challenges firstly, how to keep the students occupied and secondly, how to keep our teachers keep motivated in this crisis as we don’t know when this will end. It will be huge challenge for new schools also says, Shilpa Potnis, President, Birla Open Minds Group of Schools.
The crisis is here to stay as there is no vaccine for the virus. Lockdown will be the new normal for students. We should cut down on academics and try to develop life skills within a child. We must invest in the non-academic syllabus for students. Students must ready to cope with the new world post-COVID says, Sandeep Goenka, Founder Trustee, C.P. Goenka International School & Yogesh Patel – SVIS Kandivali, Mumbai.
We were not ready for such crisis. Preschools were not ready to deal with online education and teachers were not ready to take online classes. We must start engaging sessions for kids. The villages are getting ready to accept online education. The engagement is important for children not the content says, Pritam Kumar Agrawal, Founder & Director, Hello Kids.
In classroom it just teachers and students, but in virtual classes parents are part of it. We can provide K-studies to our children. For small children, we have storytelling sessions. The parent are connected with teachers in very way as all the assessments, home tasks, report cards are shared with them. It’s a two-way road for both parents and teachers, says Dr. Monalisa Bal, Chairperson, KiiT International School.
There are three phases of education Teaching, learning and assessments. Let the children learn what they have never learnt in this lockdown. Parents are always the first teachers and teachers are second. Now, it’s time we can change our roles. With lockdown, the child is missing connect as he feels lonely at home. We must create an environment for children where he can learn new things. says Dr. Jagpreet Singh, former Headmaster, The Punjab Public School, Nabha.
To students engage during the lockdown, Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, through social media launched an online yoga quiz competition organised by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).
The Union HRD Minister said that the objective of this competition is to create awareness and to motivate children to acquire comprehensive information from authentic sources on different yogic practices.
The multi-dimensional initiative has been undertaken to promote the integration of ‘Yoga’ in the school curriculum, a statement from the ministry said.
The competition opens for all students of classes 6 to 12 across the country. The competition aims at developing deep understanding and motivate children.
The questions for the competition, which are of multiple choice type; will also be available in audio format to enable active participation of students with special needs.
The questions will be available both in Hindi and English, and a child can opt for appropriate language. The quiz will be open for one month, starting June 21, 2020 and will close on July 20, midnight, 2020.
Certificate of merit shall be issued to 100 top scorers. NCERT has developed the text on yoga for healthy living for upper primary to secondary stages. Children are being guided by their teachers and parents at home to do yogic practices along with physical exercises based on alternative academic calendar developed for different stages of school education.
Due to the Covid-19 outbreak universities and other tertiary education institutions in 190 countries and communities are closed, affecting over 230 million students. While many institutions moved their classes to online and distance education platforms, many others struggled. In some places, this lack of preparedness resulted in delays in moving the courses online; in others, governments have halted higher education completely for an indefinite period of time.
Distance learning has been on the rise for the past several years, even prior to the outbreak of COVID-19.
Virtual degree programs may become the new normal or at least a component of the new normal in the aftermath of the pandemic. Virtual degree programs are becoming more commonplace, particularly at the graduate level where many students may already have careers and families and are thus far less likely to be able to uproot themselves to attend an on-campus program.
Higher education is very likely to emerge from this pandemic a changed industry. The crisis shines a light on both the necessity of distance learning, as well as on the challenges that still must be overcome in order to accelerate adoption. Higher education institutions would do well to pay attention to the lessons this crisis presents, and plan for a future that puts digital innovation at the forefront.
Keeping the various challenges for higher education in view, Elets Technomedia and digitalLEARNING Magazine organized “Higher & Technical Education Virtual Conclave, West India”. Many eminent speakers from government and private institutions took part in the conclave.
During the inaugural session, Dr Ravi Gupta, CEO and Editor-in- chief of Elets Technomedia welcomed all the speakers. The session was inaugurated by Dr Shuchi Sharma, Higher and Technical Education secretary, Govt of Rajasthan. She hailed Elets Technomedia for organizing such a conclave in this Corona pandemic. She even said the conclave is first of its own kind in Higher Education. She said “We need to look into the fundamentals of the education sector. We have to think about solutions in the sector. Education is really meant for liberation but we have taken it for livelihood. Education is one of the basic needs after food, shelter and clothes. We have started a programme named ‘Anandam’, which is joy of giving. It’s a part of the curriculum in Rajasthan higher education.”
She even said E-content is necessary as students can study through them anytime. She even said all the e-content must be in vernacular languages so that most of the students can get benefit from them.
Supreeth Nagaraju, Head- Education, Digital Media, Adobe India & South Asia said “The situation has challenged everyone in the society. Now, it’s not learning, it’s mentoring, we learn a lot from each other. Around 30 pc of our population is under 30-years-old. They are using mobile phones to learn new things. Students are learning in a different way.”
He also said online medium has become an important source for education.
Due to lack of infrastructure and resources many students were not able to study but with internet mode lakhs of students are able to take advantage of education, he added.
Content democratization is the main issue, the visual medium is largest content consumed. Language is a huge barrier which needs to addressed, he added.
Hemant Sahal, Founder & CEO, CollPoll gave a presentation on “Campus Automation for Safe Campuses in Post-COVID19 Era.” He emphasized on the usage of technology in the education sector.
Abhishek Ballabh, Co-Founder, ExtraaEdge gave a presentation on “Admission 2020 – Innovations & Future in the times of Covid-19”. He said best institutes are re-inventing in two core areas. Ways of admission in universities will need a strategy change. We help teams with admission in higher education.
The first panel discussed on “Virtual is the New Normal: Preparing the Future Institutes”.
Prof. V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice-Chancellor, Somaiya Vidyavihar University, Maharashtra said “Only 3 pc students complete online classes. This is an opportunity to transform our education sector. Still, we don’t offer one-degree course online. We need to have a subject and disciplinary pedagogy for the education sector.”
On use of technology, he said technology can be used a supplement not compliment. The physical classroom cannot be replaced by virtual ones. We have to make use to technology to the best, headed.
Dr Mahendra Sharma, Pro-Chancellor and Director General, Ganpat University, Gujarat said “The crisis has created Coronazation of higher education. Universities migrated to online classes in no time. We have adopted virtual classes, virtual labs, virtual teachers, and virtual schools. We have conducted virtual exams to ensure our calendar continues. With virtual classes, there is no backbencher. “
He also said there are many questions arising in this epidemic. The students’ and parents roles will increase and teachers will act as mentors.
Dr S Sundar Manoharan, Director General, Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, Gujarat said “Virtual is a staggering proposition. Several collaborations are happening because of COVID-19. No amount of learning will replace a teacher as nothing can replace the physical classrooms. The COVID has created an unprecedented halt in the sector.”
He also urged to find positives from the epidemic. This should not stagger the education process. Higher Education will come in a very new way.
Dr Niranjan Hiranandani, Provost, HSNC University & President Nardeco, Co – founder & MD, Hiranandani group Mumbai, Maharashtra said “Physical classroom pedagogy is far more superior. But, the learning pedagogy is changing a lot as COVID crisis has shown it. The pedagogy will change, the quiz and cartoon methods will also change. “
He also emphasized on education for all post-COVID. Can we build lifelong learning institutions and can we have education for all, these are the questions we must ask. The physical classrooms will always be there. The COVID will open new dimensions for the education sector, he added.
Disruption in new learning, space is coming up. Continuous learning will be the new thing. The challenges are many and availability of technology is huge and we must use it wisely, he added.
Prof Dr Mangesh T Karad, Executive President, MIT-ADT University, Pune said “The virtual will be the new normal for classrooms. Numbers of universities are on verge of offering degrees through online courses. Virtual is the new realty and we must adopt the next best practice. There will be a disruption in the education sector. Virtual schools will be also the new normal and need to change the perspective.”
There will be more transparency in the education sector. Technology will be the utmost important thing in the sector. The govt has to adopt new policies and change the norms. Technology is for humanity and to adopt next and best practice, he added.
We need to develop our schools and colleges to prepare our students for the future, he added.
Hemant Sahal, Founder & CEO, CollPoll said “Institutions must focus on the quality of education provided during the online classes. The quality of teaching has improved a lot. Technology will play an important role to help students grow beyond marks. The competition is increasing as more universities are coming up.”
He also hoped that online degrees will be very soon a reality for students.
Avinash Johri, Associate Director, MAXHUB gave a presentation on use of technology in schools and higher educational institutions.
The second panel discussed “Tackling the Innovation in Admission, Enrolment, Assessment & Accreditation”.
Prof Dr M.M. Salunkhe, Vice-Chancellor, Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University, Maharashtra said “We should communicate to students in this crisis. Online exams will be the new normal in next few days. In the future, institutions have to provide online programmes. We have to select online programmes very carefully. Quality of education is the important thing which we must follow.”
Dr Anup K Singh, Director General, Nirma University, Gujarat said “The technology is a savior in this crisis. Firstly, we should identify which technology is good, secondly, is it user friendly and thirdly, the maintenance cost must be low. We have invested lot in hardware. We are available for parents and made interactions seamless for them.”
He also said “It will be difficult for institutions to manage the courses in this crisis. We have divided the curriculum. The Online part will be covered in August and September and rest in October, November and December. “
He also said there will be jobs in new sectors in coming days as traditional ways are going to be changed a lot.
Prof (Dr) Navin Sheth, Vice-Chancellor, Gujarat Technological University, Gujarat said “Around 17,000 teachers have adopted the new online teaching. There are huge crisis with students in exams. We have maintained all the norms given by the govt to conduct the online exams. We have resolved the exam issues which many are facing. The admission will be a huge challenge for colleges as mobility of students has been restricted. There is a huge paradigm shift in education. “
The online classes and exams will be the new norm in coming days and institutions have to adopt the new way of learning, he added.
Prof Rao Bhamidimarri, President, Institute of Advanced Research, Gujarat said “We have also adopted online teaching with lockdown announced. We have conducted an online survey and most of the students wanted to come back to campuses. Online systems have their limitations. We have to lot of things to catch up.”
He also said “We will address many challenges in coming days over the safety of students. The feedback to students is most important. We are trying to adopt new technologies. “
Bharat Agarwal, President, Vishwakarma University, Maharashtra said “The pandemic has created a new dimension for education sector. Admissions and enrollments will be huge affected. The entire system has been shifted to online. There will be more and more online things coming up, so we need to document all the things. “
The higher education has been reshaped. It has been sacrosanct as the fun and collaborative part is lost during the online classes, he added.
In the afternoon, the panel discussion was conducted on “Technology Penetration: Advancing Education & Employability”.
Dr Kartik Jain, Provost, Swarrnim Startup & Innovation University, Gujarat said “We need to improve the mind-set of students and parents over online education. There are three layers of students and we need to address their issues. Technology can be used for development of students.”
The mind- set of parents is very important to use technology in Higher Education in future. There is a digital divide in urban and rural India and govt need to address it, he added.
Dr Ashwini Kumar Sharma, Pro-Chancellor, Vijay Bhoomi University, Maharashtra and Ex DG, NIELIT, MeitY, GoI said “India has got youngest population and we must use it to our potential. We cannot compare ourselves with other countries over basic tools. Online assessment is a major challenge as many of the subjects cannot be done online. We must use blockchain technology to understand the progress of students.”
He also said there is no substitute to personal touch of teachers and technology cannot provide empathy to them.
We must use Artificial Intelligence in our education sector. We need change in policy change to grow in education, he added.
Supreeth Nagaraju, Head – Education, Digital Media Adobe India & South Asia said “We need a clear road map for content creation. Technology penetration has got larger thing. Social education has got bigger thing. There are three sector, Urban, rurban and rural. The Rurban part is more developed.”
Technology is not the solution for all the issues. Blended learning will be the new normal in coming days, he added.
Prof Prabhat Ranjan, Vice-Chancellor, DY Patil International University and Former ED –TIFAC said “We will be optimizing personal education. The COVID has given a push to the use of technology in education. Language is a barrier, which technology can penetrate in a country like India. We need to reach out to large number of students. “
Over role of teachers he said “The role of teachers are changing; it’s like mentoring to students. We need to identify the strength of the child. We need to convert the classrooms to keep students in virtual classes. “
Prof Dr Venkatesh A. Raikar, Vice-Chancellor, Sanjay Ghodawat University, Maharashtra said “We should educate students to have medium-sized gadgets. We must understand the effectiveness of e-content which is provided to students. These days students are bombarded with huge e-content. Universities have to adopt the change to survive. We must focus on online internships in this epidemic. Through online mode, we can get access of education from the best in the industry.”
He also said teachers have to be trained to provide online classes to students.
Dr B B Ahuja, Director, College Of Engineering, Maharashtra said “Industries are looking for skill sets. The industry is very ruthless and it needs jack of all trades. We must prepare our students for the future. We need to change our mind-set of teachers and students. We need to change our exam systems also. Blended learning is the need of the hour. We are in a digital age.”
He also said things are changing very drastically and we need to provide every possible help to students.
In the evening the panel discussed on “Mental & Social Wellbeing of Students, Teachers & Parents during COVID19 crisis”
Dr Rajan Saxena, Former Vice Chancellor, SVKM’s NMIMS University, Mumbai said “There is an element of uncertainty. There are times, when students share things with teachers. We need to address their issues and make them emotionally strong. The teacher must focus on the positive side of the student rather than the negative one. We need to bring best resources to the classroom. The value of degree today has to be re-imagined.”
He also said social distancing is not social isolation in this crisis.
Dr Parag Sanghani, Provost, P P Savani University, Gujarat said “The epidemic has a huge impact on education sector. There are job losses and economic setbacks. The situation is very grim. These days’ students are more connected and we must not relate online classes to mental illness. Most of the students are lacking emotional strengths. We need to provide the right kind of counseling to the youth”.
Dr Neha Patel, Director, Som-Lalit Education and Research Foundation, Gujarat said “There are many students who are mentally weak. Students need emotional mentoring as they are trying many things in their lives. There is a change in dynamics witnessed in the sector. We started a mentor-mentee programme for students. We have been learning a lot of new things in this pandemic.”
She emphasized on providing proper mental health care facilities to students.
Dr Bigyan Prakash Verma, Director, SIES College of Management, Navi Mumbai said “Things will be normal in coming days. Students are under stress but there are many new opportunities coming up. Many firms are coming up with new jobs. Every student has some kind of talent and we need to bring it out through mentoring. It’s time students must be mentored time and again.”
The last panel discussed on “New Vision for Higher Education in Large, Well Resourced Multi-disciplinary Institutes.”
Dr Akhil Shahani, Managing Director, The Shahani Group, Maharashtra said “The is a digital divide is witnessed across the sector. We need to shift to flip classroom mode. The biggest barrier is to shift teachers from the traditional mode of teaching to digital mode. Teachers can be seen as mentors. Students must understand to work 24/7, with the help of technology. We must understand students to learn in their own way.”
Every year there will be disruptions, we need to tackle it, he added.
Dr Sunil Shukla, Director-General Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, Ahmedabad, Gujarat said “The institutions must review the types of progarmmes they offer to students. Technology has come as a rescue for all universities. Over 1.5 million students have not seen their campuses from the last three months. There is huge mental stress among the students. There will be a huge impact as admissions and enrollments will be affected.”
There will be a qualitative difference between both virtual and physical classrooms. There will be certain apprehensions. The learning behavior will also change, he added.
Every epidemic has an opportunity and this has taught us many a lesson, he said.
Dr Ravi Joshi, Director, Planning and Development, JSPM Group of Institutes, Pune, Maharashtra said “There will be academic challenges as from teaching it will be self-learning process. There will be a social challenge as students might not travel to bigger cities. There will be administrative challenges for institutions. We are preparing our campus for students, post-COVID.
The online classes cannot replace the physical ones. Almost 60 pc of classes will be offline when things will be normal, he added.
Dr Sayalee Gankar, Vice-Chancellor, DY Patil University, Talegaon, Pune said “There are challenges including academic, administrative and placement. There will be an issue of mobility of students post COVID-19. Online and classroom education has different flavours. There is a paradigm shift witnessed in the sector. We must focus to engage the students during the virtual classes.”
We have tied up with Coursera for online classes. MOOCS, MPTL are available for students. Faculty members and students are in one platform, he added.
Dr Sameer S Sahasrabudhe, Director, EMRC Pune said “Teachers must focus to curate not only the creation of content. Teachers can keep videos short and insert reflection spots to engage students. Provide diverse resources to carter to different students and feedback is also important. There must be experience interaction with teachers and students.”
He also said it’s a phase and will pass. We all need to work together to deal this crisis.
In the wake of rising Coronavirus epidemic across the country, HRD Ministry may announce important decision about holding of the pending CBSE Board Exam 2020. The ministry may announce a uniform grading system for students.
Although the HRD Ministry has not formally announced any decision, but there are speculations that the pending exams might be cancelled. A uniform grading system based on internal assessment being implemented for all students across India.
The Supreme Court, while hearing a petition filed by parents, had asked CBSEand HRD Ministry to come-up with a final decision about the upcoming board exams and also inform the court about how it plans to hold them.
Although there has been no official announcement, reports have hinted that the HRD Ministry officials have been working on a uniform grading system that can be implemented across the country for the pending board exams.
The grading system will consider marks scored by a student in internal assessment to announce the final year results and promote students to next grade or prepare them for admission to higher education institutions.
The exams are stalled due to the Coronavirus epidemic across the country.
To provide help to students, National Testing Agency (NTA) has launched the Hindi tests feature on National Tests Abhyas mobile app. The mobile app was announced by Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’.
The Union HRD Minister said that the competitive exam students preferring Hindi can now practice on their mobile devices with Hindi mock tests released on the National Test Abhyas smartphone app by NTA. The NTA last month had launched its ‘Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered smartphone app’.
The app is to help engineering and medical aspirants to prepare for their exams either JEE or NEET from the safety of their homes.
“More than 16.5 lakhs tests have been given by students on this app, and more than 9.56 lakh students have downloaded the App,” for entrance exams including JEE Main, NEET”, said the statement from the ministry of HRD.
The NTA will be releasing one new test in Hindi on the app every day which students can download and attempt. A list of daily tests for exams like JEE, NEET and other exams will be added soon to help students practice.
The national level entrance examinations JEE and NEET will now be conducted in July 2020 keeping in mind the guidelines to be followed due to the ongoing COVID 19 situation in the country.
अब हिंदी भाषा के छात्र अपनी तैयारी में हिंदी प्रैक्टिस पेपर्स का फायदा उठा पाएंगे और भावी परीक्षाओं में उत्कृष्ट प्रदर्शन करेंगे ।
AI पर आधारित इस ऐप का मुख्य उद्देश्य अपने घर में रहते हुए JEE और NEET की प्रतियोगी परीक्षाओं की तैयारी में छात्रों की मदद करना है ।@HRDMinistry
— Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (@DrRPNishank) June 21, 2020
The need of the hour is to overcome the grave challenge by containing and then eliminating the coronavirus for which the medical professionals, scientists and the entire government machinery are totally focused on says Prof M.N.Navale, Founder President of Sinhgad Technical Education Society, Pune in a conversation with Elets News Network (ENN).
Promptly, responding to the national emergency to control the Coronavirus outbreak Sinhgad Institutes, Pune allocated four hostels from their Vadgaon Campus and two hostels from Kondhwa Campus at Pune. There is also a dedicated parking lot to serve this purpose. The hostels were cleaned up in compliance with the stringent requirements, before being re-purposed into government quarantine facilities for suspected cases of Coronavirus. The need of the hour is to overcome the grave challenge by containing and then eliminating the coronavirus for which the medical professionals, scientists and the entire government machinery are totally focused on. The best solution is social distancing and to quarantine the people who could be suspected to have the disease. To do this, the government requires as much quarantine facilities as possible across the country.
Contributing his mite to this great cause and lauding the efforts of the doctors, nurses, all health care workers, sanitation workers, media personnel, journalists at the forefront updating on the situation from time to time to ensure availability of credible news, Prof. M.N. Navale, the Founder President of Sinhgad Technical Education Society, says that giving the hostel facilities for quarantine is not just national service but service to humanity.
Government has initiated these measures to ensure sufficient quarantine facilities under any given situation. Today, not only our beloved country, but the entire world is under threat. Even the most developed nations in the world are reeling under the threat of corona notwithstanding the best of facilities available with them. The Indian culture of self-discipline, our life values to live frugally will help us to maintain social distancing and break the spread of coronavirus. We, all of us, need to stay safe and healthy taking all the required precautions as directed by the government authorities”.
