Artificial Intelligence (AI) should be leveraged to develop quality solutions at large scale in the sectors like education, health, agriculture, infrastructure and mobility in smart cities, said Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant.
According to a paper titled National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence, “AI for All will aim at enhancing and empowering human capabilities to address the challenges of access, affordability, shortage and inconsistency of skilled expertise.”
Aiming to put AI to use for all and across sectors, the Aayog has identified barriers that need to be addressed to achieve success in the use of AI. These barriers include lack of expertise in research and application of AI, absence of enabling data ecosystem, high resource cost and low awareness, privacy and security issues and absence of collaborative approach to adoption and application of AI.
The Aayog has also proposed to establish Centre of Research Excellence (CORE) recognising the importance of research and its commercial adoption in success of AI. The centre will focus on developing better understanding of existing core research.
Besides, it has proposed setting up of International Centres of Transformational AI with a mandate to develop and deploy application-based research in collaboration with private players.
Alankit Group, a conglomerate of 12 companies, is into diversified activities like Financial Services, e-Governance, Insurance and Health Care verticals. The company envisions to be a leading solution provider in the sectors says Ankit Agarwal, Managing Director, Alankit Limited, in conversation with Elets News Network (ENN).
What inspired launching of this company?
Ankit Agarwal, Managing Director, Alankit Limited
Alankit, the leading service provider, is a twodecade old conglomerate operating in sectors like e-Governance, Financial Services, Healthcare and Insurance Broking. The idea behind launching the company was to provide multiple service offerings under one umbrella by making the processes simpler, faster and hassle-free for all. The company was started with the vision of being a unique and quality service provider in the sectors it serve with emphasis on customer satisfaction along with supporting the Government initiatives. The company aims to take its vision forward by supporting the “Digital India” initiative and developing online solutions for different kind of services in these sectors.
Please describe about the innovations by Alankit in last two years to improve its products and remain ahead of its competitors.
In last two years, Alankit has introduced various new product lines and solutions to boost its market penetration and stay ahead of competitors. Some of the ground-breaking innovative softwares, introduced and developed by Alankit to take the digitisation campaign further, are Alankit GST Muneemji – A secure cloud-based solution for all GST compliances; Alankit GST Saarthi – Point-of- Sale (POS) device for small business enterprises; E-Raahi – first-of-its-kind e-Way bill software and various service specific Mobile Apps among others. The idea is to digitise and simplify the procedures for the masses.
What are the major products of the organisation and how they are helpingin improving the education sector?
Being the National Distributor for Entrust Datacard Printers, Alankit facilitates the distribution of millions of corporate ID, health cards, voter ID cards and Aadhaar cards besides accomplishing a tremendous sale of printers in last few years. Printers act as system integrators that can analyse and provide easy customisation to avoid any duplication of ID Cards in schools, limiting the chances of any kind of fraud.
What is your vision for upcoming years?
Alankit’s vision for upcoming years is to excel as a leading service provider in the verticals it operates in, facilitating convenience for the people as well as the Government. The company is all set to come up with a more refined version in coming months with an aim to increase the turnover to a new record high. For this, we are taking several initiatives to benefit all stakeholders and encouraging our workforce to contribute more towards the overall growth of the organisation.
Which are the futuristic ways that companies like Alankit can look forward to contribute towards education sector?
The education sector is poised to witness a major growth in the coming years and with the rate economy is growing and technology is advancing, there is a lot that can be accomplished by companies like Alankit in future. We can come up with new solutions to simplify the procedures such as form filling and submission for school admissions and many others. Moreover, we are also trying to introduce advanced level tools to ensure safety and security of school kids.
Gender inequality is treated as a punishable offence as per laws of most of the countries. It is important for parents and teachers to make the children sensitive towards the other gender, writes Hema Kalakoti, Principal, APS Academy, Lucknow, for Elets News Network (ENN).
Hema Kalakoti, Principal, APS Academy, Lucknow
Gender inequality refers to unequal treatment or perceptions of individuals based on their gender. It arises from differences in socially constructed gender roles. Gender systems are often dichotomous and hierarchical, gender binary systems may reflect the inequalities that manifest in numerous dimensions of daily life. Discrimination based on gender is a common civil rights violation that takes many forms including sexual harassment, pregnancy –discrimination, unequal pay for women who do the same jobs as men and discrimination in employment and education.T o overcome gender inequality we need to have gender sensitive society.
What is Gender Sensitivity?
Gender awareness is more analytical and critical since it clarifies issues about gender disparities and gender issues. It pertains to one’s effort to show how gender shapes the role of women and men in society including their role in development and how it affects relations between them. Our education system needs to be gender sensitive and gender friendly. One of the best possible strategies to minimise gender discrimination in society is to promote gender awareness at all levels of society.
Gender Issues In Homes
We can promote gender awareness in parents by
School-parent partnership needs to be strengthened to identify gender issues in homes
Promoting girl education in rural areas
NGOs awareness training and counseling
Parents should be advised to treat both their sons and daughters as equals. Instead of telling their daughters to behave properly, mothers should teach their sons to respect all women as equal. It is important that children should grow up seeing women in their homes being respected by the men in the family. All household females should stop telling the young girls of their families that they need to learn how to cook, serve the husband and in-laws, and always adjust. And whatever else says to make a growing girl feel like she has less access to choice of freedom than her male counterpart.
Gender Sensitivity in Schools
Schools can play an important role in inculcating gender sensitivity in etiquettes and manners of students. It is necessary to create a gender responsive school in which the academic, social and physical environment and its surrounding community take into account the specific needs of girls and boys. A detailed action plan with a definite road map is required in the school curriculum to achieve gender equality.
Gender Sensitivity among Teachers
Teachers play a very important role in the early upbringing of a child. Their idea and beliefs can change the thought processes of young children. Children in the formative years easily nurture values and virtues taught to them. Gender sensitivity training should be mandatory for teachers. The training will enable them to disseminate the desirable attitude based on mutual respect and trust between girls and boys.
We all know that the teachers sometimes “inadvertently” make disparaging remarks about capabilities or characteristics of either gender, so we need to cope with knowledge, attitude, skills and methodologies that promote gender equality.
With growing concern over the lack of gender sensitization among youth, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has developed “a kit on gender sensitivity” for teachers to enable them to ensure unbiased participation of both boys and girls in the learning process.
Gender Sensitive Classrooms
Classrooms need to be gender sensitive. We have to take care of few do’s and don’ts for making classroom interaction gender sensitive.
Encourage both males and females to be class leaders (perhaps one of each sex). Appoint two monitors in each classroom, a boy and a girl
Address and call on girls and boys equally. Do not segregate boys and girls in the classroom in primary classes
Make mixes groups for group activities and games
Try to ‘switch role’ for breaking down gender barriers and stereotyping of gender roles
Make both boys and girls share activities like cleaning, moving furniture, to the chalkboard during a lesson.
Plan and conduct activities that give opportunity to all children accepting one another as equals.
Gender Sensitivity in Curriculum and text
Academic contents with lessons on gender sensitivity and moral traditions will unconsciously mould the character of the tender mind. It is time to transform all text reading materials and books which should be free of notion of gender equality as bias is embedded in textbooks and lessons. In this connection, our government has started taking initiatives regarding gender concerns have been included in the curriculum and in the textbooks drawn up by the National Council of Educational Research and Training(NCERT). (Views expressed by author are personal).
Seth M R Jaipuria Schools aim to develop scientific temper, modern outlook, and love for culture, heritage and traditions, besides imparting the best academic education to its students, says Kanak Gupta, Vice President, Seth M R Jaipuria Schools, in an interview with Elets News Network (ENN).
What teaching methodologies Jaipuria School has adopted to be at par with global education scenario?
Kanak Gupta, Vice President, Seth M R Jaipuria Schools
Our vision is to make quality private education available to students across towns and cities in India. For far too long, quality institutions have been concentrated only in metropolitan cities and a few state capitals. This must change. Whenever we start a new educational institution, our focus is on how we can give a differentiated learning experience to the student. We strongly believe that education has to be learner centric and participative. Our focus is on research, benchmarking best practices world-wide and learning from our functioning 21 schools as well. Holistic development of the student, including focus on values is the key. We have a strong belief in teacher development and learning as the path to success for any educational institution. We provide multiple training opportunities to 2,500+ educationists associated with us in school and outside it on pedagogy and subject knowledge. Moreover, we provide them with new teaching ideas for every topic in the syllabus through around 1,00,000 lesson plans developed by us.
How important is development of critical thinking for student learning?
The greatest challenge is to change mindsets of teachers, administrators and parents towards a new, open and participative learning culture. The most important skill in today’s world is the ability to learn itself. We try to inculcate selflearning in our students, and try to make them self-motivated from a very young age. In today’s world no success is possible without the ability to work with people and in teams. This requires empathy and listening skills. It gives not only a pathway to success but also makes one a better human being, who understands and helps people around himself or herself.
As classroom teaching has evolved over time, what is technology’s role in improving the teaching-learning process?
We strongly believe technology can be an enabler, not the end-all and be-all of the teaching-learning process. Technology has to be integrated in the learning cycle and we must empower teachers and students to use it well. Flipped classroom, multimedia, peer learning, et al are strengthened through technology.
How does the Group aim to develop students’ latent creative potential?
The world is changing at a very rapid pace. We can’t even imagine the types of careers or lives our students of today would be having in 15-20 years. As an educationist, it is important that we keep pace with the changing world around us. Creativity can’t be taught in a traditional classroom setting. It is developed through practice. From a primary level, the school should make students participate and take responsibility both within and outside the classroom.
Higher education enhances the bandwidth of information and depth of processing the information for skillful application of the knowledge, writes Shishir Jaipuria, Chairman, Seth Anandram Jaipuria Education Society, for Elets News Network (ENN).
The word ‘education’ implies such a wide connotation and is perhaps not amenable to a single definition acceptable to all.
Shishir Jaipuria, Chairman, Seth Anandram Jaipuria Education Society
Oxford dictionary, however, gives a very concise and succinct version and that is ‘the process of teaching and learning’. We could take certain liberties with this word and expand the definition to include process of learning, understanding and applying new information for leading a better quality of life.
The objective is to bring a positive change for communicating with each other, and creating a better and more informed society.
The process at primary education level is meant to develop curiosity to explore and discover the material environment, and make sense out of it, first hand. The Secondary and Higher Secondary education is designed to expedite the process of discovery by feeding information on what has been already discovered by others, and yet leave a sense of inquisitiveness for further exploration and creative discovery. Vocational education for becoming economically independent is an integral part of School Education.
Higher education or what is popularly called college education is meant for probing into different branches of knowledge to gain deeper understanding of the subject of interest. At a higher level, the questions for exploration get deeper and become a source for creation of new knowledge by learning what is not known till then.
The learning goes beyond understanding the physical information to a philosophical realm. Higher education at the highest level is essentially a philosophical exploration of universal principles using mathematics or meditation. There is not much scope at this level for use of innovation for learning even in mathematics, for computers cannot generate new mathematics but can only process faster what is already known. That is why no computer on earth has been able to take us beyond the theorems developed by a Ramanujam or Einstein.
The content for Higher Education has two dimensions. At the core, there is dated Knowledge which is essentially information validated by philosophical research methods at certain point of time in history. The knowledge that has remained valid for a long time gets constantly challenged by new explorations and discoveries, and updated overages out of philosophical exploration and validation of new knowledge.
New technology has a limited impact on the content of Knowledge but can have a telling impact on the pace of learning the content as well as the application. Innovation in higher education will thus have to be understood with reference to the process of learning, or the process of acquiring existing knowledge and developing skill competence for using the knowledge for value creation.
The introduction of digital culture brought forth the first landmark innovation in the field of education. The invention of pocket calculator and personal computers heralded the first major innovation. The software revolution bringing spreadsheets and power point to classrooms was the next big innovation in learning.
A combination of hardware and software revolution started with the innovation in gaming technology and development of simulators for making learning easy for pilots and factory workers engaged in high-risk or hazardous work processes. Robots had come to replace men in factories, taking over monotonous and difficult manual labour requiring skill precision. But to think of application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotics in Education was a little far-fetched. It is not so now.
The application of AI for making ball by ball analysis, synthesising the data, discovering patterns of behaviour of the player in Cricket, and making analysis and recommendations available on real-time basis for the next player going to the crease, is a classic example of what AI can do in education tomorrow.
The student and teacher’s behaviour in class can be analysed in minute detail to predict the outcome of the teaching-learning process, after each session. Questions in a quiz competition randomly generated by the computer, raises the difficulty levels through the process of screening upward, using artificial intelligence for learning and tasking.
“Out of all the emerging technologies, I believe that Artificial Intelligence is the one with the greatest potential for impact on the world of education…,” writes Lasse Rouhiainen, in a book titled, “The Future of Higher Education; How Emerging Technologies will Change Education Forever” (2016).
E-learning Apps and MOOCs are already flooding the Internet. The students’ addiction to mobile handsets have made it a ‘no brainer’ to push a substantial part of educational contents to the mobile phones and use the class room time for clarifications and greater student engagement using blended learning methods. Immersive technologies shall be increasingly useful for enhancing learning with virtual and augmented reality.
There is an interesting paradigm that is visible in the application of new technology that is quite useful for education. The new technology gets applied first for extremely high budget movies, and then gets into business application for making tons of money, and finally gets integrated with education.
Talking about Higher Education in the Age of AI, Joseph E. Aoun introduces a new word – HUMANICS, in his book “ROBOT-PROOF” (MIT 2017), as a new learning model. Writing about the positive side of ‘Machine Learning’, he says, “In many ways the new technologies are an astonishing boon for humanity, giving us the power to mitigate poverty, hunger, and disease”.
Aoun writes further, “The robot-proof model of higher education is not concerned solely with topping up student’s minds with high octane facts. Rather it refits their mental engines, calibrating them with a creative mindset and the mental elasticity to invent, discover, or otherwise produce something society deems valuable”.
Lot of people are afraid of machines today. They think, machines are getting very intelligent and smart and would take away all the jobs from people, not just the manual hardworking jobs at the factory shop floor variety. Thinking jobs are also going away to robots as we are entering the most advanced generation of machines in history. Under these circumstances how can human beings preserve their unique identity and existence in the economic world? This will be possible by discovering and reinforcing some of the unique traits that human beings can only have and which no robot can emulate – traits like ‘creativity’ and ‘flexibility’, suggests Aoun.
Knowledge alone is not sufficient for the work tomorrow, but the cognitive capacities are necessary. Humanics is a future discipline for learning and it is not about content but is about cognitive aspects of learning from data, technology and humanities, all put together.
Lastly, machines can improve efficiency and productivity, but education covers a wide spectrum of transactional behaviour. Innovations in valueeducation, other important aspects of human development and interpersonal relationships are as important and deserve equal attention.
A modern school needs to do much more than ensuring good marks on a sheet, which is the minimum responsibility of a school. The education must nurture a good human being equipped with broad range of capabilities, says Dr Jagdish Gandhi, Founder-Manager, City Montessori School (CMS), Lucknow, in conversation with Arpit Gupta of Elets News Network (ENN).
City Montessori School (CMS), Lucknow is a renowned name of school education sector in the country. How this journey started and with what mission?
Dr Jagdish Gandhi, Founder-Manager, City Montessori School (CMS), Lucknow
The vision of City Montessori School (CMS) keeps it distinct from other schools of the country. We at CMS take into account the three realities of a human being: material, human, and divine. These realities help students to be balanced human beings in their life ahead. A balanced person achieves great success and can grow up to any extent in life.
At CMS, we also inculcate “Decision Making” among students for choosing global professions or positions. It has been done through sending our students to various schools abroad and to global conferences. We also organise “Chief Justices Conference” in the school where the Chief Justices and Judges from across the globe participate and interact with our students. So, at CMS, we do not focus only on the material education but we also broaden students’ thinking.
Our results in board and other exams are the best in India. Various renowned newspapers have covered us on the lines of – “Lucknow Emerging as a Quality Education Hub” mentioning CMS among the Top 10 schools of the country. Out of the Top 10 schools of India, five are City Montessori Schools. The reason behind this is school’s focus on “Divine Education” and on “Human Education” along with “Material Education”. Our “Human Education” helps children to be a contributing member for the family, society and the world.
At CMS, daily prayer-assemblies are planned to be spiritually nourishing. The integration of all-religion prayers before the commencement of every event is an innovative way to teach children to embrace diversity and create awareness of and reverence for all religions.
Other than that, we have several international activities (28) in which students from across the globe participate. As many as 64 students from our school are going to perform Yoga at the UN and also going to visit the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Along with nurturing global thought process among students, what kind of technological innovations have been adopted by CMS for holistic development of students?
One of the most significant innovations adopted in CMS is the use of white board i.e. every class in CMS is smart class. The CMS has over 4,500 computers to make students tech-savvy.
We are also using technology to handle one of the prime concerns of parents i.e. security. Our all the campuses are under CCTV surveillance to keep an eye on every students and avoid any mishappening. Along with that we also conduct seminars and conferences on road safety.
The curriculum for every school affiliated to a board is same, still CMS performs better than other schools, what are the reasons behind that?
We, rather than forcing students to study, develop an encouraging atmosphere to develop the habit of self-study among them. The encouraging and competitive atmosphere helps them to excel in their studies. For example, we have selected a team of five-six students for participation in an international mathematics competition. The team was selected after conducting various tests and quizzes between the six sections of a class. Such activities make student competitive and motivate them for self study.
We also encourage students by awarding them for their performance in any of the international or national level competition. Recently, we awarded Rs 50,000 each to our three students for getting selected in IBT.
Moreover, three CMS students have secured first position at the All-India ISC (Class XII) merit list this year and been awarded cash prize of Rs 1,00,000 each.
At CMS, daily prayer-assemblies are planned to be spiritually nourishing. The integration of all-religion prayers before the commencement of every event is an innovative way to teach children to embrace diversity and create awareness of and reverence for all religions.
A large number of students get selected in exams like JEE Main, NEET, UPSC and many others from CMS every year, to whom would you like to give credit for this achievement?
City Montessori School is among the schools from where a large number of students get selected for various exams every year. Recently our eight students were selected for Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana, a scholarship programme funded by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. These are due to the combined efforts of everyone. The school management has a very small role in that but the principals, teachers, students and parents contribute significantly in any such achievement.
Principals motivate teachers; teachers motivate students and counsel their parents by visiting their homes, as a result parents also motivate their wards to excel in any competition. For every teacher, “Home Visit” of at least five students every month is necessary. They have been given additional benefits for this other than the salary. The main objective of these home visits is to tell parents about encouraging students for studies and to encourage parents to avoid scolding and beating.
What are your plans?
Starting from one branch in 1959, the City Montessori School now has 18 campuses and more than 4,500 staff educating over 55,000 students in Lucknow. Currently, we don’t have any expansion plans. We aim to provide a joyful learning environment that empowers primary-school aged children and develops their self-confidence and competency in the core subjects. CMS seeks to create a stimulating learning environment that supports to enhance the learning capabilities of a child.
Digital Learning is a combination of technology, digital content and instructions. On one hand, it helps teachers to deliver the content effectively and on the other, it facilitates how students receive content, says Dr Archana Thakur, Joint Secretary, University Grants Commission (UGC), in an interview with Poulami Chakravorty of Elets News Network (ENN).
What are the various initiatives UGC is planning in upcoming months?
Dr Archana Thakur, Joint Secretary, University Grants Commission (UGC)
As far as digital initiatives are concerned, we have launched “e-PG Pathshala” for 77 postgraduate subjects. We also have come up with Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) for postgraduate courses available on the SWAYAM platform. In another initiative, we have come up with SWAYAMPRABHA — an online platform to host MOOCs.
One of the major breakthroughs in the digital world of education is that all the scholarships to the students will now be transferred online which earlier used to be sent through cheques causing numerous irregularities. Now, the money is transferred immediately and there is no middle-man.
Other than that we have also started using software like “Skype” to connect with the offices in other parts of the country and conduct meetings with the officials there. What measures should be taken by the government for skilling students as well as teachers to impart quality education? Now, the call of the day is to shift from brick and mortar classrooms to MOOCs. In remote parts of our country, where the teachers or students are not equipped with skills related to computers or mobile applications, getting them trained in these skills will help them to have world class education while sitting at home through the computers or their mobile phones. The Government of India is taking lot of initiatives to train teachers online to impart education digitally to students even in the remotest part of the country.
Digitisation is not going to prohibit face-toface interaction of students and teachers. Digitisation is an additional tool to help improve the teacher student interaction and education system.
How important is to skill teachers for developing a better educational ecosystem in the country?
Teachers are the architects of future of children, a country’s most important asset, so skill training of teachers is very important. Teachers’ training in their respective subjects and on their students’ well being, moral education, value, ethics, and other cultural areas, is necessary to make them well equipped for imparting quality education to students. Teachers’ training is also important not only to make them expert in their respective subjects but also to make them ethical and gender sensitive for girls as well as for boys. It helps teachers to be role model of their students.
What initiatives should be taken by the Central Government to improve the education system of every State?
The role of State Governments is much more important than that of the Central Government as the Centre brings a law or Act in any field but implementation part is on the State leadership. The States in India need to equip themselves with the right tools and values to improve the education system even in the remotest corners.
Are there any negative impacts due to digitisation of education?
Every initiative has two aspects right and wrong. It is up to us how we look at it. Digitalisation of education is helping the sector positively. Orthodox system or teachers still consider digitisation bad for education, as they say that it has killed the creativity of teachers and students as everything is available online. It is important to be in sync with the rapidly changing world. The need of the hour is to understand students’ requirements and digitisation is helping in that. Digitisation is not going to prohibit face-to-face interaction of students and teachers. Digitisation is an additional tool to help improve the teacherstudent interaction and education system.
What is the role of corporate to improve the country’s education system?
Corporate are doing a great job as far as improvement in education sector is concerned. Corporate are coming up with new learning solutions, smart classrooms and mobile applications for easy yet better learning processes. Various educational institutes are also tying up with these corporate for implementing their solutions. It is helping the institutes to adopt the latest practices and innovate the learning process positively.
One of the major breakthroughs in the digital world of education is that all the scholarships to the students will now be transferred online which earlier used to be sent through cheques causing numerous irregularities.
What are the steps taken by the government to improve the education in north eastern region of the country?
The north eastern region is very important and the Government through its initiatives like MOOCs and other digital platforms is trying to bring the region to mainstream.
How was your experience at 7th HE HR Summit Pune of Elets?
It was a great experience as educationists from state universities, private universities and other higher educational institutes from across the country came and shared their experiences of digital learning. They also explained about the use of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), flipped classroom, digitisation and smart classroom. Various companies showcased their sophisticated software for digitised educational content to be used by students on their mobile phones.
Atal Innovation Mission, through its initiatives, is helping schools to nurture creativity among their students and also supporting incubators to help youth in becoming job creators, says R Ramanan, Mission Director – Atal Innovation Mission, Additional Secretary, NITI Aayog, Government of India, in an interview with Poulami Chakravorty of Elets News network (ENN).
Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) has two core functions – Entrepreneurship promotion and Innovation promotion. Please describe in brief.
R Ramanan, Mission Director – Atal Innovation Mission, Additional Secretary, NITI Aayog, Government of India
The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) is a flagship initiative of Indian Government under NITI Aayog to promote innovation and entrepreneurship across the country. AIM will achieve its objective by adopting a holistic framework of creating, nurturing and supporting an innovative ecosystem at various levels such as schools, universities, small and medium industries, corporate, NGOs and research institutions.
What changes are required in our present education system (higher and school) to make youth innovative and skilled?
India is going to be the youngest country by 2020 with 64% of population in the working age group. We have around 1.5 million schools with over 150 million students enrolled in them and more than 750 universities and over 35,000 colleges across the country. It is important to nurture youth as job creators rather than being job seekers through these institutions. Reforms in the education system should therefore be both incremental and disruptive to enable the same. Some of the changes needed in our present education system are:
Enabling access to good quality yet affordable school education in remote districts of the country leveraging digital technologies and digital transformations
Regular updation of curriculum and learning methodologies to remain in sync with the rapidly changing science, technology and business landscape globally
Nurturing innovation and problem solving among school and university students
Resolving the issue of quality teachers and improving the student-teacher ratio through reforms that would create, attract and retain high quality teachers and also incentivise them to teach even in the remotest parts of the country
Reducing student drop-outs especially girls in rural areas by incentivising education and making parents aware about the importance of education for their wards
Emphasis on improving the mathematical and analytical skills at the student level and encourage awareness on social problems and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Ensuring practical tinkering/training in a fun filled learning environment so that theoretical knowledge help students enhance their innovative capabilities
Till date, 2,441 schools have already been selected for ATL Grants and by the end of 2018 over 5,000 schools are expected to be operational with Atal Tinkering Labs, covering every district of the country.
To foster curiosity, creativity and imagination in young minds, Atal Tinkering Laboratories were established by AIM. What are prominent features of ATL?
At school level, Atal Innovation Mission is setting up state-of-the-art Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) across the country. This is one of the most novel initiatives in our present education system and in the world considering its size and scale. ATLs are dedicated innovation workspaces of 1,200- 1,500 square feet where Do-It-Yourself (DIY) kits on latest technologies like 3D Printers, Robotics, Internet of Things (IOT), Miniaturised electronics are installed. These labs are established with support from Government for students of Grade VI to Grade XII to learn and develop innovative solutions using these technologies.
Till date, 2,441 schools have already been selected for ATL Grants and by the end of 2018 over 5,000 schools are expected to be operational with Atal Tinkering Labs, covering almost every district of the country.
In line with its objective, ATL programme is also conducting various activities to engage students and teachers to identify problems and develop innovative solutions leveraging the technologies available at ATLs. Every school should appoint an ATL in-charge and mentors to ATL students.
Atal Innovation Tinkering challenges are also held in schools by AIM every month to ensure students’ active involvement in creating innovative solutions to problems in their community and in the country.
Recently, ATAL Tinkering Marathon was organised in which over 35,000 students participated and over 650 best innovation entries were submitted for evaluation. 14 April, 2018 celebrated as ATL Community Day which witnessed the participation of over 50,000 children of who 25,000 were from the non ATL schools. The objective behind ATL Community Day was to spread awareness on ATL technology driven innovations among students and schools.
The Atal Tinkering Labs have created enthusiasm among students. A Balanced Score Card based approach has been designed to monitor and measure the outcomes of ATLs.
India is going to be the youngest country by 2020 with 64% of population in the working age group. We have around 1.5 million schools with over 150 million students enrolled in them, more than 750 universities and over 35,000 colleges.
Other than education, what are the areas AIM is working in to bring innovative transformation? Please share details of Government, public and private organisations, AIM has collaborated with in this regard.
At the university, NGO, SME and Corporate industry levels, AIM is setting up world-class Atal Incubators (AICs) that would trigger and support successful growth of sustainable startups from every state of the country. AIM is also providing support to existing incubators to scale up their operations.
AIM is providing grant of up to Rs 10 crore to successful applicants for setting up Greenfield incubators or scaling up existing ones. The idea is that every one of the 110 named smart cities of India and the top 5-10 educational/ industrial institutions of every state should aspire to have a world class incubator leading their students to create new start-ups. Till date, 19 Atal Incubators are operational. By the end of 2018-19, we would have 50+ Atal Incubators operational. AIM is also encouraging Women led incubators and entrepreneurial startups.
To promote product specific innovations with social/economic impact, AIM will be launching Atal New India Challenges in specific areas and sectors of national importance such as Renewable Energies, Energy Storage, Climatesmart precision agriculture, Universal drinking water, Swaach Bharat, Transportation, Education, Healthcare using Robotic, IOT technologies, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Augmented and Virtual reality, Battery Technologies etc. Most of these areas are in line with the priorities recommended by the recently released Economic Survey of India 2017-18. The first set of 17 Atal New India Challenges (ANIC) has been launched on 26 April, 2018.
How the Indo Israel Startup contest is supposed to boost the startup culture and innovation in India? What is the role of Israel in it?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Israel in July 2017 to mark 25 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. India counts Israel among its important innovation partners. The need to rely on science, technology, innovation, and higher technical education to overcome developmental challenges is common to both India and Israel. These domains also bring together the creative energy and ideas of the highly skilled youth and entrepreneurs of the two countries.
Please share the future initiatives and schemes under Atal Innovation Mission.
AIM is also envisaged as an organisation that would play an instrumental role in alignment of innovation policies between central, state and sectoral innovation schemes. Long term goals of AIM include establishment and promotion of Small Business Innovation Research and Development at national level (AIM SBIR) for the SME/MSME/start-ups, and rejuvenating Science and Technology innovations in major research institutions of the country like Council of Scientific Industrial Research (CSIR), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) aligned to national socio-economic needs.
Various initiatives have been taken in Rampur district to improve enrollment and attendance of students in schools and regularity of teachers along with schools’ infrastructure, says Mahendra Bahadur Singh, District Magistrate, Rampur, Government of Uttar Pradesh, in conversation with Arpit Gupta of Elets News Network (ENN).
What are the various initiatives taken by you to improve the education sector in Rampur?
Mahendra Bahadur Singh, District Magistrate, Rampur, Government of Uttar Pradesh
When I joined as a District Magistrate in Rampur, I initiated the campaign “Swachh Rampur, Sundar Rampur” with an aim to create awareness about hygiene and cleanliness. Subsequently, all Gram Panchayats were instructed to renovate government schools’ building with neat and clean premises. Moreover, I also felt the need of motivating teachers to ensure regular classes and improved attendance of students in class. Along with that I ensured that teachers should not be suspended for small errors to avoid their demoralisation. I initiated a doorto- door movement for students’ registration and attendance and created WhatsApp groups of school teachers and government officials in the education department to manage the same. Minimum 60 per cent attendance target was given to each school. The idea was to seek feedback from the people why they are reluctant to send their wards to schools. Those who did outstanding work, were praised on the groups. It helped creating a positive environment in the district and conducting regular classes in the schools.
To impart quality education, we have to create good environment and infrastructure in the schools. Uniform and stationary should be distributed to teachers.
What efforts are being made by the district administration to improve the education system?
We have started sudden inspection of government schools twice in a month to understand the problems with on the spot solutions and also rewarding the schools and teachers for their extraordinary job. Besides, weekly random inspections are also being carried out by Sub- Divisional Magistrate (SDM) and Tehsildar. They also take feedbacks from teachers.
The district administration is also working on upgradation of schools through 14th finance commission funds. We are also trying to develop software like ECI but due to lack of technical expertise, it couldn’t happen so far.
What changes have you seen in the mindset of people so far?
There are many examples. Primary school in Lalpur Kala (Saidnagar block) has been given a look and feel of Express train to attract students. According to the principal of the school Shabnam Aara, the on-roll students have increased up to 162, out of which 40 students have been added recently after the renovation of the school building. The school also organises competition, activities and programmes like that of any convent school.
Primary and Junior High School, Krishna Nagar, Bilaspur (Rampur) has become a role model for others. It has 162 students in junior section and 290 students in the primary section. There are nine teachers and two mentors to teach the students. This became possible following the sincere efforts made by Principal (Junior) Hariram Divakar and Principal (Primary) Archana Pandey.
Besides, the primary school in Alinagar Jagir village is at par with private schools in terms of infrastructure after its renovation happened due to sincere efforts of the village head (Gram Pradhan).
As a public servant, what changes would you like to see in the current education system of India?
We should utilise at least 50 per cent funds allocated for education in the budget under the 14th Finance Commission. More enrollment and attendance of students will motivate teachers leading to better teaching-learning processes. Performance based incentives should be given to teachers to encourage them for continuing the good work. Incentives may be in the form of monetary benefits or choice transfer/posting.
My wish is to start evening classes for the students in Panchayat Bhavan. I will try to introduce the concept at panchayat level in Rampur and invite teachers to volunteer for the same.
To impart quality education, we have to create good environment and infrastructure in the schools. Uniform and stationary should be distributed to teachers.
The district administration is also working on upgradation of schools through 14th finance commission funds. We are also trying to develop software like ECI but due to lack of technical expertise, it couldn’t happen so far.
Please describe about coaching education model adopted in Banda. How is it helpful for the students?
It was a wonderful model. When I was posted at Banda as the district magistrate, I initiated to renovate the government library. The objective was to create a 24×7 self-study room for the students who are preparing for competitive exams but cannot afford fee of coaching centres. With the help of my wife and Akanksha committee, an NGO working for the welfare of children, the basic amenities were ensured. I motivated students and created awareness through social media about using the library. Within four months, regular attendance of students in the library was around 80. It was a successful initiative because we used to have a weekly interaction. Students were free to meet me anytime and discuss their problems.
People also came forward for the cause and contributed chairs, audio system etc. Teachers were taking classes voluntarily and conducting group discussion. It was under constant monitoring by my wife and Akanksha committee members.
You are quite active on social media. How does it help you connect with the public?
Social media is a revolutionary medium for registering one’s complaints/suggestions to the right person. I handle my all social media accounts on my own i.e. Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter. Whenever there is any complaint from public, I take quick action by forwarding it to the concerned authority and doing follow ups. Usually, the complaints are related to electricity department, Municipal Corporation, Tehsil etc. Social media also allows us to showcase our good work and appreciate others.
As education takes a central role in individuals’ lives in modern times, every State and country has to view its economic growth through doors of education. Shradha Agarwal of Elets News Network (ENN) takes a look at Uttar Pradesh’s Government Schools with this perspective.
School education forms the core of all the actions we take. Good education empowers us, making us strong to take care of ourselves in any situation. It is so rightly said that the educated person has the ability to differentiate between the right and wrong. Thus, it is the foremost responsibility of our governments to educate the children in the best possible way.
The Government schools are meant to fulfill this requirement, taking education to every household and enabling a brighter tomorrow for all.
It is important in the Indian set up that the drivers of change in the education sector should be the government schools. Aiming this, the Uttar Pradesh government is all set to have 5,000 government- run English medium UP Government Schools: Ray of Hope and Learning for All primary schools. These schools are expected to commence soon.
Uttar Pradesh has started to revamp the school education by improving infrastructure for the school students as well as for the academic staff. The government has acknowledged the fact that the school education is the critical strategic investment and has given it the status of vital infrastructure project.
The State government has announced that the 19,000 Madarasas that are registered under the Madarasa Board in the State of Uttar Pradesh will also have NCERT books and the mandatory subjects like English, Maths and Science. The government has also suggested that books of various subjects, except English and Hindi, will be made available in Urdu.
Real education enhances the dignity of a human being and increases his or her self respect. If only the real sense of education could be realised by each individual and carried forward in every field of human activity, the world will be so much a better place to live in, former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam once said.
The government plan is to launch the CBSE pattern in the education system of Uttar Pradesh. The course introduced from 2018 onwards will have 70% syllabus from NCERT and the remaining 30% from the local volumes like the local history, geography of the State.
The government also increased the number of teachers to enhance the quality of education at the elementary level. The teachers have started taking classes and outsourcing of teaching activities has been curbed drastically. There has been a drastic increase in the number of enrollment which has gone up to 10 lakhs, which displays that children have returned to the schools.
The government is providing free books to students along with shoes and socks, encouraging the students to attend school. This has encouraged parents to send their wards to school and study instead of putting the children to work.
Leaders in the Uttar Pradesh government are taking serious steps for improving the conditions of schools, where they want to impart such education which will boost employment for future generation. The government is also working towards creating such an education system in which the students and the faculty members build a disciplined and a corruption free society in the future.
Initiatives like “School Chalo Abhiyan” and “Khoob Padho Aage Badho” have been taken by the government to ensure children attend schools. Students are also provided free uniform to – motivate and encourage them to attend school. This step has also influenced parents to send their children to school.
The Government has come up with ideas where skill development has been made part of the curriculum. This is a vital part of the education system as this is the part of the holistic development of students.
Vision
The government of Uttar Pradesh aims to develop world class skilled workforce, which should be able to get better employment opportunities in the future. They are focussing on creating skilled individuals which starts from the primary education.
Flexible education should be the need of the hour, which has been acknowledged by the leaders of the State. Flexible education serves the students’ needs and this, in turn, helps students to continue their studies. With the flexible education plan parents too encourage children to pursue studies.
The Government has come up with ideas where skill development has been made part of the curriculum. This is a vital part of the education system as this is the part of the holistic development of students. The holistic development ensures literacy, life skills and great employment opportunities.
The policymakers have acknowledged the fact that most of the students quit their studies due to lack of funds. Addressing this challenge, the government has ensured that the studies of students will not discontinue in case of lack of funds. This policy has been welcomed by parents and the educational community as this was the major reason for the students to discontinue their studies.
Education of girl child has also been taken into account. The Government has also launched various schemes under which education for the girl child has been made affordable and mandatory.
There are 1,23,540 schools in Uttar Pradesh. This consists of pre-primary schools, elementary schools, primary schools, secondary schools, and senior secondary schools.
The leaders aim to make India a knowledge superpower by providing its students various skills and knowledge. Our political leaders wish to abolish the deficiency of skilled manpower in diverse fields of science, technology, academics and other industries. In fact, parents have insisted that their children should attend school even if they have to sit on the floor.
