AICTE: Revising Curriculum in Tune with Changing Technologies

Interviews

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September 3, 2019

AICTE has revised the technical and higher education curriculum by involving experts from academia and industry. In the new curriculum, new areas like Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT), Machine Learning, Cloud Computing, Block Chain, Robotics, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, etc have also been incorporated, says Prof Anil D Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, All India Council For Technical Education (AICTE) in an interview with Elets News Network (ENN).

With New Education Policy likely to be released in some time, how it will help in strengthening and improving the higher and technical education in India.

The policy itself will not improve the higher and technical education but its implementation will do. Therefore, the threadbare discussion on the entire policy and its implementation scheme will certainly make vibrant higher education system in our country.

It is important to facilitate learning through experiments. What are AICTE’s plans in this regard?

Learning through experiments or experiential learning is very important, not only in technical education but in every field. Earlier, the emphasis was not there but the New Education Policy talks about it in a significant manner. Experiential learning is not a new concept. From Gurukul system of old times and from ancient universities, it has been retracted back in the modern era to experience the real time challenges in any sector. If we talk about Unnat Bharat Abhiyan, people visit a village and experience the problems and try to solve them.

Similarly, internship in any industry helps students in observing what exactly happens there and learn outside of classroom through variety of activities. Under Such programmes, students experience a phenomenon and learn from it. This is what has been promoted in the New Education Policy.

For teachers, it is challenging to update themselves in tune with the changing technologies, how AICTE is helping them to overcome the same?

AICTE has revised its curriculum by involving experts from academia and industry. Once the curriculum is revised, new areas like Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Machine Learning, Digital technologies, Cloud Computing, Block Chain, Robotics, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and Data Analytics have been incorporated into it. The new curriculum will also help teachers to update with latest skills and inculcate new traits. There are two ways to do it, first that we run courses and where faculty can come and get themselves abreast with the new knowledge.

Second, through our Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) platform; it will help faculty to learn from the comfort of their homes. It is also significant to create a habit of constant, continuous learning – lifelong learning. This is what we want to bring in our faculty.

How incubators are encouraging student for entrepreneurship? What is the role of AICTE in it?

Incubators were earlier considered as different entity, where people from outside the academic institutes were ready to help in developing entrepreneurship and start-ups. But today, large number of incubators has come into existence in the Universities and Institutes.

Also Read: AICTE plans training of tech faculty mandatory

AICTE’s role is how to promote entrepreneurship while students are graduating, not after completing their course. We have instructed institutes to encourage their students for the courses that will empower them to be entrepreneurs. And also create incubators, accelerators and support system in terms of entrepreneurship cell, innovation cell where students will start working right from their first year. So by the time they will graduate, instead of seeking jobs, they will be able to create jobs for others.

With fresh graduates lacking the relevant practical knowledge, how does the curriculum can be corrected for more exposure and industry engagement?

Mandatory industry training during a course will allow students to experience the industry life during their graduation. So, it is either three summer vacations of two months each or it will be one full semester where they will go to industry and learn those practices. Moreover, the industry problems given by industry for the students’ projects in their undergraduate studies will also be helpful. All this will nurture capable practical engineers in the future.

What message would you like to give to our youth?

Many a time’s people think that demand for engineers is declining. But, I am giving assurance that world is so large and there are ample opportunities present. Because engineering education is one where you methodically study physics, chemistry and math on one side, lot of hands on wherein you learn many things – experiments, critical thinking, analytical ability, mathematical ability which will help in any domain you go outside later.

Secondly, India due to its demographic dividend, the entire world which is aging, there are enough opportunities for jobs not only in India but the rest of the world. Within the country, whether it is Skill India, Make in India, Swachh Bharat, Digital India or Unnat Bharat Abhiyan; every activity of the Government has potential for engineers to play an important role.

Punjab govt to save students from fraud agents, plans to set up a foreign education cell

By

Reetika Bose

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September 3, 2019

In a recent development, The Punjab Employment Generation Department will soon set up a special cell for the students to study abroad. This step was taken after they received several complaints of frauds by the greedy travel agents.

Commenting on the new move, Punjab Employment Generation Minister Charanjit Singh Channi said, “We have paid Rs 50 lakh in fee to the Union government for registering the department as an agent for sending the youth abroad for jobs.”

With states like Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Telangana sending are sending the youth abroad for work, it is time for Punjab to make such a move.

Channi acknowledged that the youth wanting to go abroad for studies and work were being duped by unscrupulous travel agents and several complaints had been received in this regard.

“There is no doubt that youngsters are being duped and to end this loot, the government itself is coming up as a player,” added Channi.

Speaking on the special cell for students wanting to study abroad, the minister said, “It will have a tie-up with foreign institutes. This will not only save students from frauds but also help them financially as the commission which foreign institutes pay to the agents would be returned to them.”

Regarding the student’s exploitation, Channi said that on an average fee of Rs 14 lakh taken from a student for studying abroad, travel agents get 30 per cent commission.

“We will give this commission back to students, which will save Rs 3 to Rs 4 lakh for them,” Channi added on the same.

JEE Main Paper 2020: Major changes in exam pattern announced

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digitalLEARNING Network

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September 3, 2019

The National Testing Agency (NTA) has introduced numerous changes in the JEE Main paper pattern from this year onwards, in terms of number of questions, total marks, marking procedure and tie-resolving norms. The papers will also have numerical based answers.

The B.Tech paper of JEE Main paper will have 75 questions. The question paper has been shortened by 15 questions and 60 marks, though the weightage per question remains the same.

Till now, the entire question paper pattern was MCQ (Multiple Choice Questions) based, but this stands changed now. This section will have 15 questions wherein 5 each will be from Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics. The candidates “will have answer to be filled as numerical value” read the exam notification. The rest of the questions will be MCQ based only.

For every wrong answer, the MCQs will have negative marking; however, questions other than MCQs will not have negative marking.

Architecture (B.Arch) paper will now have 77 questions instead of 81. Drawing Test will have two questions with a total of 100 marks instead of 70. Total marks for (B.Arch) would be 400.

The planning paper (B. Planning) would comprise of 100 questions with maximum marks of 400. In addition to Mathematics and Aptitude Test, the paper will carry 25 planning based objective questions.

The agency also informed about the changes in tie-resolving norms wherein from this year onwards, lesser the number of negative responses, higher the chances of the candidate scoring a good rank in case of a tie. Also from now, age criteria will be followed simultaneously with mathematics score, chemistry score, and physics score. In a case where all the above rules fail to resolve the tie, candidates older in age will be ranked higher.

Notification for JEE Main 2020 has been announced and the registration process is in full swing. The exam is conducted twice a year. The exam date has been set between January 6 – January 11 and April 3 – April 9 this year. The National Testing Agency (NTA) will be conducting the exam for the second consecutive year.

GATE 2020: IIT Delhi begins application process; know the details

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digitalLEARNING Network

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September 3, 2019

GATE 2020 | The application process for GATE 2020 has been started w.e.f. today, i.e., September 3, 2019. IIT Delhi, which is the conducting body for the GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering), has activated the online registration process for the examination.

Candidates who are intending to appear in the examination can submit the application form by September 24, 2019. The exam will be conducted on February 1, 2, 8 and 9, 2020. For more information, candidates can refer to the official information brochure, which has been already released by the GATE.

Gate 2020: Steps to register

1. Visit the GATE official website: gate.iitd.ac.in
2. Click on the link that reads, “GATE Online Application Portal is live. Click here to Apply”
3. A new web page will open, where you can fill your registration details.
4. Use your registration id to Sign-in
5. Fill the Online Application Form. Note down the Registration No./Application No
6. Upload scanned images of your latest photograph and signatures
7. Pay the application fee

GATE 2020: Fee details

Candidates will need to pay Rs 1500 while submitting the application form. Post the deadline, i.e. Sep 24, 2019 the fees will be hiked to Rs 2000. For females and the reserved category applicants the exam fees for GATE 2020 is Rs 750. If applied after the deadline, the fees will be doubled to Rs 1500.

Gate 2020: Documents and information required while filling application form

1. Personal details: name, date of birth, mobile no, parent’s name, parent’s mobile no, etc.
2. Communication address, including pin code
3. Eligibility degree details
4. College name and address with PIN code
5. GATE paper (subject)
6. Choice of GATE examination cities
7. Scanned copy of reservation certificate (if applied)
8. Scanned copy disability certificate (if applied)
9. Scanned photograph and signatures
10. Scanned copy of degrees

Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) is an examination conducted jointly by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore and the seven Indian Institutes of Technology (at Bombay, Delhi, Guwahati, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras and Roorkee) on behalf of the National Coordination Board (NCB)-GATE, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India.

Safari Kid International Preschools: Nurturing the Overall Development of Kids

Article

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digitalLEARNING Network

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September 3, 2019

Jitendra Karsan, Chief Executive Officer, Safari Kid

With increasing double income households, preschools and day cares are no longer a luxury or an option, but rather a necessity for parents today. In such a scenario, parents look for the best and safest space for their children. Touted to be a Rs. 3,500 crore industry in India, pre-schools are abundant in every city today. However, it is crucial how parents choose the best pre-school that facilitates growth for their children.

A good preschool provides a strong foundation for learning, both socially and academically. Quality is at the core of success for any business to run. It runs truer in the pre-school space as it is primarily linked with young children. The first few years of their lives become the foundational blocks for the kind of growth they have.

Safari Kid International Preschool is a global brand in the preschool space, with over 50 centres across 7 countries. They offer young minds the platform to grow and learn in every sphere of development. The preschool strongly believes that the best approach to early years’ learning is to combine free and structured play in beautiful and engaging learning environments with an education programme that facilitates development across multiple areas.

Also Read: Aiming for Holistic Development of Every Child

Safari Kid believes that every child is different, and their learning curves are equally unique. Upholding this thought, the preschool is known for its customisation and ability to interact with children using their respective interest areas and skills. The core of Safari Kid lies at four Cs – Customisation, Curriculum, Care and Communication; which forms their strong pedagogical path. Children are most susceptible to forming their understanding of the world in the first five years of their lives, and it is important that preschools provide consistent services across their centres to run standardised best practices.

All of their centres are created to be sensory-rich learning environments. The set-up is not like a usual preschool, but instead a lot more fluid in the way children interact with peers and teachers or the way they learn concepts in their day-to-day life. Their staff is trained for more than 100 hours by their international curriculum management that sets the benchmark for all their centres. This global curriculum has proven to be more effective when children from Safari Kid and other peers were evaluated. One of the most unique features is also our power to customise curriculum and the overall experience based on the child’s requirement and skills.

Language is given utmost importance at Safari Kid with focus on developing each child’s linguistic skills by including local languages as well as English and Spanish. The school believes that play is the best way to learn advanced concepts in language and math which is the reason students of Safari Kid are two grade levels ahead of their peers when they leave for primary school.

The Safari Kid Ethos

Care: Children are brought up in a secure and warm environment to stimulate effective nourishment and development in the early years.

Customisation: Each child develops at a different pace. Their effective programmes are customised based on what a child needs.

Curriculum: Children are taught through a combination of play, explorative learning and a structured approach to academics.

Communication: Parents are partners with Safari Kid in the early childhood journey of their children. Effective communication with parents is the key to the overall development of the child.

UK Vice-Chancellors in capital city to explore possibilities in higher education

Higher Education

By

Reetika Bose

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September 3, 2019

In order to seek opportunities in the higher education sector with the Indian government and future collaborations with stakeholders and institutes, Vice Chancellors from top 20 universities in the United Kingdom are on a visit to New Delhi.

Steered by the British Council, the meeting is part of a higher education-focused bilateral programme – UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI).

“Through the VC delegation, UK Universities aim to work closely with Indian stakeholders in the higher education sector to further strengthen the relationship and identify shared priorities for future collaboration,” Sir Steve Smith, Chair, Universities UK International said.

“We aim to closely understand the vision and priority areas of the Indian central government, state governments and the higher education institutes to assess the role UK universities and the country more widely can play to achieve India’s goals in the context of the draft New Education Policy,” he said.

Also, in order to bring out areas of mutual interest, the visit also marks the deliberation of the UK Chancellors with key Indian stakeholders from the government, universities and relevant bodies.

“The internationalisation agenda is critical to both nations and the delegation’s discussions with the Indian stakeholders will focus on outcomes related to three key areas – internationalisation of higher education institutions, research collaborations and student mobility in both directions between our countries,” Director North, British Council India”, Tom Birtwistle said.

UKIERI is India’s first bilateral research programme that enable the governments of both the countries and their universities, to work hand in hand in the higher education segment.

Rethinking Education: Robots become teachers in a school in Bengaluru

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digitalLEARNING Network

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September 2, 2019

A school in Bengaluru introduced humanoid robots to teach and interact with students just like regular teachers do, giving way to Disruptive Technologies and Artificial Intelligence into classrooms.

“Our robots impart lessons daily in five subjects to about 300 students in Classes 7-9 in four sections by turns. They also interact with them and respond to questions in the subjects,” Indus International School’s Chief Design Officer, Vignesh Rao, told a news agency.

“We have programmed the interactive robots to answer questions students frequently ask on the subjects and related to them. With AI in play, the robots can respond to questions and doubts of our wards after a lesson is taught,” said Rao.

“The AI-enabled robots teach lessons in Biology, Chemistry, Geography, History, and Physics to Classes 7-9. As per the Collaborative Learning Model (CLM), the man-machine team, comprising a teacher, students, and the robot, collaborate in the classroom to deliver a lesson. The teacher collaborates with the robot and brings out the key concepts, relevance, and application of the lesson being taught,” said Rao, who also heads the project.

The three robots each weighing 45 kgs have been designed from light-weight 3D-printed materials with imported smart servo motors by Rao and his 17-member team. These robots mimic human-like gestures while teaching students.

“It has taken our team nearly two years to design and develop these robots with software, hardware, and AI to make them teaching assistants and allowing the human teacher to be more relevant in the classroom so that they can focus on the child and not the subject alone,” Rao added.

The team comprises of teachers in – programmers, graphic designers, content developers, and hardware engineers. They did not involve any manufacturer but had sourced software components and hardware to assemble the robots in-house for Rs 8 Lakhs each.

“The response of students to a robot teaching them is positive and encouraging. They feel the collaboration between a human teacher and a robot enhances learning. It makes the human teacher focus on the child and personalises learning,” Indus Trust Chief Executive Lt. General (retd) Arjun Ray told a news agency.

In an unprecedented move, the school has plans to roll out more such humanoid robots for more classes and subjects. The school is also working on applying for an international patent to protect the intellectual property of the Eagle 2.0 version of the humanoid robots.

“The CLM purpose is to make human teachers more creative in the education sector. Robots will not replace their human counterparts but will work collaboratively with teachers as a tool or assistant to enhance the learning experience for the students in the classroom,” added Lt. General Ray.

The Indus Trust has a wide reach presence across the country with 14 educational institutions which include three top-ranked K-12 international day-cum-boarding schools, eight early learning centres, Indus School of Leadership, Indus Training and Research Institute, and Indus International Community Schools in Bengaluru and Belagavi in Karnataka, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Pune.

CA Examinations registration date extended for Jammu & Kashmir candidates

Higher Education

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digitalLEARNING Network

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September 2, 2019

In the wake of the disruption of the internet, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) extended the date of registration for candidates in Jammu & Kashmir only. Candidates appearing for the CA examination can now register for the same till September 15, 2019. Candidates belonging to other parts of the country will be required to register on or before September 7, 2019.

A notification released by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) read, “In view of the disruption of internet facility in Jammu & Kashmir and the consequent hardships caused to students in filing examination application form, the last date for submission of exam application forms for appearing in the CA exams to be held in the month of November 2019 for candidates residing in the Jammu & Kashmir stands extended upto 15th September, 2019.”

The CA exams are to be conducted at 209 centres nationwide and five centres abroad namely Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Doha, Muscat, and Kathmandu.

This year, the CA examination for the Foundation, Intermediate and Final Courses, is scheduled to be conducted in November. The examination will be held along with various post qualification course exams such as International Trade Laws and World Trade Organisation Part 1, Insurance and Risk Management Technical, and International Taxation – Assessment exam.

Maharashtra Government’s Tribal School to switch to English Medium Education

Government News

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digitalLEARNING Network

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August 31, 2019

Tribal Development Minister Ashok Uikey on Friday said that the government-run ashram schools for tribal children in the state of Maharashtra will turn to English medium schools. This will be a phased procedure wherein the ashram shalas (schools) will be converted into English medium schools to impart better educational opportunities to tribal children in the rural part of Maharashtra, he said.

“In the first phase, 50 government-run run ashram shalas will be converted into English medium schools and the admission will be given for Standard I. The admission will also be given to students from Standard VI during the academic session 2019-20,” Uikey said.

The government has planned to appoint qualified teachers from reputed private schools meeting the requirements of the project, Uikey added.

Presently, the Tribal Development Department is running 502 ashram schools in Marathi medium under the curriculum laid down by the Maharashtra State Education Board.

The Minister said, “Ashram shalas having better infrastructure such as buildings, hostels, electricity, playgrounds, libraries, laboratories, and computer centres, among others, will be considered for English switchover.”

“Subjects like maths and science will be taught in both Marathi and English from Standard VI onwards in these schools”, he added.

Uikey highlighted that English medium teaching will allow tribal students from remote villages to pursue a career in engineering, medical and other technical education streams.

Delhi Govt plans to extend free coaching scheme to OBC and General Category students

Government News

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digitalLEARNING Network

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August 31, 2019

Delhi Government is planning to extend the free coaching scheme to needy students from General Category and Other Backward Classes (OBC). The decision has come in wake of the success of government’s free coaching scheme ‘Jai Bhim Mukhyamantri Pratibha Vikas Yojana’.

Notably, thirty-five underprivileged students, who were given the free coaching under the scheme, have qualified for the JEE Main and NEET this year. Besides, five of them have secured a seat in top technical and medical institutions like; IIT-Delhi , Lady Hardinge College, Netaji Subhash Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University and National Institute of Technology Delhi.

Social Welfare Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam, in conversation with a leading news agency, informed about the government’s decision to extend the free coaching to needy students hailing from OBC and general category.

“At present, selected students are availing free coaching for four months. The Delhi government bears all expenses, up to Rs. 50,000 per student. We are considering increasing this amount to Rs. 1.5 lakh and the course duration to 12 months,” Gautam further briefed.

Interestingly, out of the 107 students, who were given free coaching under the scheme for engineering and medical entrance exams, 13 have cracked the JEE Main whereas 22 have successfully cleared the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET).

The scheme, which was launched by the AAP Government last year, witnessed the enrollment of 4,953 students for availing coaching for various exams. The students also enrolled for coaching for the exams like UPSC, SSC, banks, Railway Recruitment Board, Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board and insurance companies in 2018-19.

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