Sudhir Singh, Co-founder and Managing Director, Marg CompuSoft Pvt Ltd
Being in the domain for two decades, we always understand things from the customer’s perspective. This has helped us to create simple and easy GST offering that can create EASE to adopt, says Sudhir Singh, Co-founder and Managing Director, Marg CompuSoft Pvt Ltd, in conversation with Elets News Network (ENN).
What specialised GST Solution are you providing?
We kept this as a design principle while building GST. Our offerings are 100% GST-compliant and built to help small entrepreneurs and businesses to become GST compliant from day one.
Apart from pharmaceutical Industry Marg is providing customised solution to jewellery industry, bars and restaurants and others, can you elaborate on this?
As a legacy we’ve always believed in uniqueness of each trade operations. The same needs to be addressed with specific solution. This design principle helped us to build trade specific solution that can address dynamic segment like Pharma, Jewllery, Bar and Restaurants.
To give an insight of Marg jewellery Software, it is easy to maintain different inventories for precious metal or stone. Moreover, there is a provision in which jeweller can set different price rate for different customers, metals or stones which he can update with a single key while billing which helps in saving time. We’ve always created the benefits that will get easily adopted by different trade and it will add up to their business productivity, the same has been done in these three trades also.
It’s been a month since the Government of India launched GST, how do you see the current GST scenario? Has the nation adopted the “one nation-one tax” well?
Yes. We do agree there were teething issues across small businesses and MSMSs. However, these are expected ones as GST is a big change and it’s having confusion only because of less knowledge transfer across.
We’ve always created the benefits that will get easily adopted by different trade and it will add up to their business productivity, the same has been done in these three trades also.
We are proud to say that MargERP is the first product in GST automation space that has completed 100% customers to GST within 14 days since the latter came into existence. Most of our clients appreciated the effort we took for keeping their business continuity going.
We see it as a positive move, while also calculating various challenges ahead in terms of trained manpower and short-term inflationary pressures. The GST in the long-run is believed to boost GDP, simplify trade and generate more jobs.
What is the purpose of ERP Solutions of Marg?
The ERP solutions of Marg helps to automate and integrate critical processes ensuring to track all the entries thus, reduces duplication. In GST, businesses are expected to adopt e-filing for GST tax compliance. Marg ERP solutions will help in equipping your business with an automation software to address this challenge thereby making your task relatively easier and hassle-free.
What new softwares are you planning to launch soon (for education sector)?
We have plan to push MargERP retail software as it is the software which is helping to create employment in huge no’s in all part of country. We are already penetrating the institute, academies and education domain with our comprehensive ERP Solution.
An Education Brief by Cambridge International Examinations Technology in classrooms is nothing new. But the exponential growth and importance of digital devices – especially in the past decade – has made it a much more common part of the learning experience in India.
As technology has progressed in leaps and bounds, the curriculum, schools and teachers have all had to keep pace. In the recent years, reference to ‘Digital Technology in the Classroom’ (DTC) can be taken to mean digital processing systems that encourage active learning, knowledge construction, inquiry, and exploration on the part of the learners, and which allow for remote communication as well as data sharing to take place between teachers and/or learners in different physical classroom locations.
Students also use apps to support their learning – for example, to track their favourite insects, learn more about them and share the information online with classmates as part of a science project.
The potential benefits of DTC are that it can foster dialogic and emancipatory practice. Dialogic practice is that in which students are active, engaged and empowered participants in a conversation from which learning emerges.
Digital technology can often be exciting for learners and offers a potentially more engaging alternative, it can enhance and transform the learning process for students
For example, learners working on a Maths modelling programme can start to have conversations about what they see on a computer screen without having to rely on terminology that they may not yet have (look at ‘that’, what happens if you do ‘this’?). The teacher can then add the appropriate language into the conversation as the project develops.
Emancipatory practice is about something in which an individual student’s ideas go beyond the learning prescribed by the teacher/syllabus as they draw on knowledge gained outside formal education to construct understanding.
For example, in music lessons’ learners can use their own knowledge and expertise of playing instruments or using technology to construct their own recording environments (perhaps using their mobile phone). They can then bring in ideas that they have created at home or in instrumental music lessons.
Terms associated with digital technologies in the classroom that you should know:
Digital technology can often also be exciting for learners and offers a potentially more engaging alternative. At the same time, it is important to be aware that some learners may be less confident in learning with digital technologies and steps need to be taken to ensure equality, and safety, of access.
It is also imperative that teachers make the best use of technology in the classroom by developing their awareness of a range of digital technologies and considering carefully both how and why they can be used to support students’ learning.
Technology can be used to both enhance and transform the learning process, but the tools which are being substituted and augmented by technology should be chosen carefully so that they’re not an afterthought: they must be integral to the task.
Infusing digital technology in classrooms aims to prepare students for the future workforce – for jobs that will likely involve technologies and require the types of skills that are being taught alongside how the technology is used.
For example, instead of writing an essay by hand, learners type it on a computer and teachers add comments in that document before emailing it back to the learner. To further transform this process, the learner could be asked to upload the essay to a learning portal or intranet platform for open learning so that other learners can comment on the essay. Taking this a step further still, a teacher could then set a task based on that essay topic, which asks learners to develop digital responses to the same topic – perhaps in image, video or audio format.
DTC fosters active learning; it enhances understanding and helps learners to excel both in the classroom and the exam hall. Infusing digital technology in classrooms aims to prepare students for the future workforce – for jobs that will likely involve technologies and require the types of skills that are being taught alongside how the technology is used.
Whether problem solving, thinking critically or creatively, or collaborating – these are all skills that the 21st century increasingly demands to succeed in life. By embracing DTC, teachers are setting their learners on the right path for getting in to college and university, and getting on in life.
The Andhra Pradesh government has planned to issue health cards to the school students which will have information about their medical history.
The scheme is expected to be launched in Bheemili constituency by Andhra’s Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister, Ganta Srinivasa Rao on the pilot basis.
In its first phase, 33,000 students in government schools in Bheemili will be a part of this scheme. The health cards will be given to the students or parents and healthcare teams will maintain the record.
The medical teams will visit all the schools in order to carry out the preliminary tests to ascertain the existing clinical conditions in students as a part of the scheme.
The Government of India, to create employment opportunities for the youth who enter the job market every year, is going to accelerate its initiative to skill youth in different trades and develop entrepreneurial skills in them.
The new Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan said, his priority would be to create an ecosystem of jobs.
“Every year one million youth come in the job market. Our effort will be to coordinate with the state governments and other agencies to find employment avenues for them,” he said.
After coming to power in 2014, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government has created a new ministry for coordination of all skill development efforts. The ministry aims to bridge the gap between demand and supply of skilled manpower and to build the vocational and technical training framework and skill up- gradation, he said.
He said his job would be to skill youth on a large scale with speed.
“We will increase the pace and take forward the work already done (under Rajiv Pratap Rudy),” he said.
Pradhan who took over as a Cabinet Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas in the latest reshuffle has also given an additional charge of Skill Development Ministry. He said, real-time data would be used to map sector-wise employment opportunities.
The NITI Aayog has suggested to waive the fee for those students of Madrasa who opt for National Institute of Open Schooling exams.
With stress on “continued efforts” for modernising minority community through educational empowerment, the policy think-tank has made the aforementioned recommendations along with others in its ‘Three-Year Action Agenda, 2017-18 to 2019-20’, released recently. The aayog has also recommended the Government to make “continued efforts” for modernisation of Madrasas through curricular reforms and by providing facilities such as computers, labs, libraries, among others.
Madrasa is an Arabic word for an institute that provides education, either religious or mainstream.
Muslims are the largest religious minority community in the country. According to the agenda and various other reports, the community is behind others in terms of economic, health and education parameters.
“Continued efforts should be made to modernise them (madrasas) through curricular reforms and provision of facilities (e.g. computers, labs, libraries). A fee-waiver could also be considered for Madrasa students opting for examinations conducted by the National Institute of Open Schooling,” the Aayog said in the agenda.
The government think-tank said there were a “large number of madrasas” in the country although the exact numbers are unclear.
In other reforms, the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs has already announced its plans to offer mid-day meal along with building toilets in one lakh Madrasas which impart mainstream education, including that of science.
Ryan Pinto, CEO, Ryan International Group of Institutions
The recent decade has seen innumerous columns in the media on the topic future of education. From top universities and the World Economic Forum — all have started assuming a more active role in either critiquing or redefining what education should be like in the future, writes Ryan Pinto, CEO, Ryan International Group of Institutions for Elets News Network (ENN).
In the Indian context, the whole ‘ed-tech’ (education technology) space is exploding with new ventures/apps being launched almost on a daily basis.
A big dilemma faced by the education sector is that most of the children who are now entering schools may work in jobs that do not exist today. So how does one build ‘adaptability’ in the students?
While it is almost impossible to predict what the future will be, some broad strokes can be predicated.
Impact of Technology
In many ways, this is now visible that it is absolutely impossible to escape from the interference of technology in the education sector. Technology has the power to completely transform education, which can of course be both good and not so good.
One of the key impacts of technology has been that memorising facts is no longer important, with Google being there for instant answers.
Application of knowledge is therefore becoming more important. This has an immediate implication on professional development of teachers as now the student’s universe is not limited to what teachers know. This is no longe the case. In many instances, the child has more resources available than the teacher does.
The shift from subject teaching will happen in the new future. In Finland, the schools have moved away from subjects to project based teaching
Technology has impacted the entire teachinglearning process right from assessments (becoming easier to create tests, get data and analyse), lesson plans (they are digitised, therefore easy to share), classroom experience (has transformed from ‘chalk and talk’ to ‘guide by side’), and textbooks (now digitised and enriched). Adaptive learning is now a reality. This and many more developments will create new paradigms in education.
Technology (or the lack of it) can create big divides between the haves and have-nots and this gap could keep getting wider. That is the not so good that have been mentioned earlier.
Schools will have to understand these new paradigms and then leverage them for the benefit of students and improved learning outcomes. This is however easier to say than being done.
Shift in pedagogy/curriculum Already the so called 21st Century skills of creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, communication, problem solving (also called SEL – social emotional learning) etc are becoming the most talked about things and many progressive schools like Ryan have integrated them into the curriculum. The shift from subject teaching will happen in the new future. In Finland, the schools have moved away from subjects to project based teaching.
Ability to apply knowledge will become more critical than rote learning. The entire syllabus and learning resources can now be made available either online or on a small Micro SD card. Children will have these resources readily available 24/7. The focus will be on what they do with it.
Teaching will thus morph into facilitation and this has already begun. Teachers will need to guide the students through the maze of resources which are out there. Hopefully, students will be more engaged with their learning. Teachers’ roles are shifting from owners of information to facilitators and guides to learning.
“Flipped classroom” and other learning models will become more prominent
Transformation of schools Schools in their current form of classrooms, chairs, desks will give way to more collaborative learning spaces. In an extreme sense, the concept of a school itself could change. We are already seeing this with the international curriculum schools where there is a lot of fluidity in the classroom environment. Mutli-age classes are a reality, where learners will be grouped more by interests or intellect, rather than their age group. With concepts like “flipped learning”, schools will cater to the social needs of children and children will do most of their learning at home. Virtual reality is still in early stages but even now it is possible for a child to be physically at home and be “present” in school. Taking this one step further and carrying it to Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) – imagine thousands of virtual classes going on at various locations in the world. A child could join any of those virtually. Children (even adults) can learn what they want, when they want and how they want.
One of the biggest issues with today’s education systems is that it is a “one size fits all” method. A class of 30 – 40 students has children with various learning styles but with just one teacher. Kids with learning challenges are clearly at a disadvantage.
Custom Learning
One of the biggest issues with today’s education system is that it is a “one size fits all” method. A class of 30 – 40 students has children with various learning styles but with just one teacher. Kids with learning challenges are clearly at a disadvantage.
Now with technology, this can be addressed quite well. With the rise of computer-based assistive technologies like adaptive learning, text-to-speech, virtual reality, augmented reality, predictive spellers, artificial intelligence etc, the entire process of teaching-learning can be customised even to the level of an individual. Still early days for this, but the technology is developing fast.
Even introvert students will be able to participate in class. When we implemented BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) in our schools we were pleasantly surprised to notice that many students, who were otherwise quiet in class became a lot more active in the class and opened up considerably. It was interesting to see them blossoming in the classroom.
Adaptive learning engines will help reinforce concepts and help children learn at their own pace. Gamification, which is an emerging trend, will create higher engagement with concepts and make learning more interactive and fun. Artificial intelligence will clearly make its presence felt in numerous areas. Personal robot teachers are no longer in the realms of science fiction and are a reality.
In the end, it is very difficult to predict the future. Who knew even 10 years ago that driverless cars would be a reality? We should be ready to embrace technology, use it in a relevant manner and as effectively as possible to enrich the teaching-learning experience of our students.
We are living in an age where technology has impacted every part of our lives, hiring a taxi to banking services are at our finger tips and connected to the cloud. Mohammed Ghouse, DGM- Business, Cybernetyx, explores products that will improve knowledge sharing, presentation and teaching for Elets News Network (ENN).
We are living in an age where technology has impacted every part of our lives, hiring a taxi to banking services are at our finger tips and connected to the cloud. Mohammed Ghouse, DGM- Business, Cybernetyx, explores products that will improve knowledge sharing, presentation and teaching for Elets News Network (ENN).
The latest innovations and improved learning experience take Human-Computer Interface (HCI) to new levels. We believe that it is time for the educational institutions to move beyond the traditional point-click-touch Interactive whiteboards (IWBs) and adapt to the ecosystem of advanced AI-powered interactive computing educational tools.
With the last nine years of experience in developing cutting-edge interactive technology powering interactive projection offerings from the display industry’s biggest names such as NEC, ViewSonic, Sony and others, with deployment in 100s of thousands of units worldwide, Cybernetyx has poured in the research into developing one of our new products, EyeRIS X.
EyeRIS X is the first product in the industry to combine the power of Artificial Intelligence with Interactive Computing to create a first-of-its-kind interactive whiteboard/projection solution with its own computing core and custom-designed Operating System (O/S). Not only EyeRIS X can track a large whiteboard or a wall using machine learning with computer vision and convert it into a tablet-like touch surface, but also can run full interactive knowledge sharing, teaching, presenting and learning applications on its own, without a need of connecting any external computer or device.
We believe that a product like EyeRIS X has the potential to revolutionise the classroom. It will be a breeze for teachers to use as they will be free from carrying laptop or struggle with classroom PC and plethora of everdisconnecting-connecting cables. EyeRIS X is especially designed for interactivity (and beyond) in classroom from an elite educators’ perspective.
The product comes with host of other features which will help the educators in teaching and the management in adapting the technologies at an optimum cost. Simply put, just the freedom of not purchasing and maintaining a separate powerguzzling computer with all the different wirings etc. itself shaves off about INR 25,000.00 or more from the overall budget requirements.
The another power of interactivity is in its ability to turn learning from a passive into an active one. Students devote far more of their attention to subject matter, are considerably less likely to be distracted, but do so willingly because they find the entire process substantially more enjoyable. But at the same, we need teachers to remain focused on the topic not on tools to further improvise this experience.
We believe that a product like EyeRIS X has the potential to revolutionise the classroom. It will be a breeze for teachers to use as they will be free from carrying laptop or struggle with classroom PC and plethora of everdisconnectingconnecting cables.
Cybernetyx has designed the EyeRIS X O/S keeping the same in mind and it helps you make learning an active experience and a collaborative one as well wherein the learning approach can be adjusted. Instead of creating fixed e-learning programs , interactivity shapes personalization as educators offer variety of examples with the help of powerfull UI design. Due to a custom kernel, EyeRIS X O/S is also maintenance-light and virus/malware-free which reduces the downtime in the classrooms by several magnitudes.
All these years we have experienced the Interactivity its time to move beyond and the way forward is with AI-powered tools which can understand and process Natural Language. We have been talking about how a classroom can move beyond four walls with interactivity but it’s time to choose what we see beyond these walls. Which platform( as many knowledge / learning portals search engines are available ) to choose and are the search results curated and filtered based on user behaviour? EyeRIS X is powered with built-in Wi-Fi connectivity and has free access to MyCloud, Cybernetyx’s very own Cloud-based content search and filtering tool.
This expands the sheer amount of content available to you for free endlessly. The contribution of EyeRIS X can be remarkable in different environments for communicating ideas clearly and interactively like never experienced in the classroom before. We look forward to continuing our success story by empowering you with the best interactive computing tools ever available.
Apar Technologies have been promoted by Apar Industries (www.apar.com), a US$ 900 million group listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), and Basil Capital Partners (www.basilpartners.com), a Private Equity Fund that invests only in niche IT Services companies. The company is headquartered in Singapore with offices across Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, US, UAE and India offshore facilities in Noida, Bengaluru and Mumbai.
The company focuses on:
• Working with enterprises to transform their existing business to a Digital business
• Helping emerging companies to convert their disruptive ideas into Digital business reality – rapidly using an agile approach across Applications, Infrastructure, IT & Information Security.
• In the area of digital business transformation of applications, our key strength lies in the areas of
• Social Collaboration – incorporating the ease of use and intuitiveness of Social Media tools to enterprise applications.
• Enterprise Mobility (& IoT) – extending enterprise applications, seamlessly, to smart phones, tablets and wearables • BusinessAnalytics – leverage existing DW & BI tools for enterprise benefit
• Enterprise Cloud adoption for contemporary enterprise applications and Cloud-based DevOps for minimizing Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and maximizing ROI.
Be it developing Value-added Solutions over partner platforms or delivering customized solutions to enterprises, we deliver business value in the most cost-effective manner, without compromising the big picture of the Digital Economy – secure, scalable solutions.
Be it developing Value-added Solutions over partner platforms or delivering customized solutions to enterprises, we deliver business value in the most cost-effective manner
End-to-end Coverage of Enterprise IT Landscape With over 2,200 employees, we offer our services / solutions around the following models, based on client situations and requirements.
Dr Manjula Pooja Shroff, MD and CEO, Kalorex Group
The advanced technology is changing how the young India is applying geometric formulas or balancing chemical equations. Some of the best minds in the education sector believe that the use of technology in classroom is necessary as we prepare our students for the global economy, writes Dr Manjula Pooja Shroff, MD and CEO, Kalorex Group for Elets News Network (ENN).
T he world today is witnessing disruptions that are impacting various aspects of the economies of the nations. We see emergence of many unique business models riding on the back of innovations. ‘Uberisation’ of the world, as we may call it, has been a revolutionary idea. The AirBnB concept has captured the interest of tourists all across the globe and has had deeply impacted the hospitality industry. The social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc, are influencing politics and businesses equally.
Besides this, Artificial Intelligence in the form of robots is likely to be a reality in the future classrooms. Drone technology is another matter that education will have to deal with and harness to imbibe in everyday living.
In this view, the out-of-box thinking and the ability to address the needs of the consumers in unexpected ways have now become all the more important for businesses today. Since education is expected to help develop these new skill sets, these technological changes will have a direct impact in the way education is being delivered.
The age of startups has led to emergence of young entrepreneurs who have the ability to take risks unabashedly and also face their failures fearlessly, encouraging hundreds of others to follow them. These ideas are increasingly receiving encouragement in the realms of conventional education now.
India is modernising at a fast pace. Modernisation has touched not just urban centres but also small towns and villages. Technology is aiding farmers positively and improving their yield.
India is also experiencing these revolutionary changes and is trying to keep up with the momentum. While in the developed world, the educational reforms have kept pace with the changing needs, India too is feeling the need to fill the gaps between education and industry. While reforms in the old education systems are being brought about, science and technology is racing ahead with boundless energy and challenging the brightest of minds.
India is modernising at a fast pace. Modernisation has touched not just urban centres but also small towns and villages. Technology is aiding farmers positively and improving their yield. Many institutes are offering futuristic courses for modernisation of Indian agriculture. The next decade, it seems, will witness a generational shift in technology to fill the existing gaps.
Education is creating the necessary environment for the development of a futureready workforce that can get the benefits from ICT infrastructure.
With the Internet having far bigger access to influence than teachers, EdTech is taking the front seat, taking India’s education story one step forward, writes Jairaj Bhattacharya, Founder & MD- CG Slate (ConveGenius Group).
As with most of the sectors, technology has pervaded the education space, thus, challenging traditional structures and service delivery pipelines that had begun to edge on the cosy and comfortable, hence, stifling the possibility of spurring innovation without a substantial overhaul of the existing mindset.
With the Information and Communication Technology boom, the first challenge that looked to be addressed was the unavailability of quality educational content, which also led to the streamlining of the delivery of such content, effectively reducing, and more clearly defining the role of the teacher, who had now become more of a facilitator.
The Smart Class model was a notable innovation in this phase, and EduComp, a major player. Due to low penetration of ICT infrastructure in the country, the cost for setting up a smart classroom was, till a few years ago, prohibitively expensive. Also, the maintenance of such infrastructure was not a cakewalk. Even now, only the biggest names invest in such technology, but they have proven to be very effective.
The second major innovation phase was spurred on by data and analytics. With the ability to assess performance in an unbiased and convenient manner, assessments became technology-intensive.
Even after the 2nd phase, the dependence on infrastructure, primarily desktop computers and reasonably quick internet, led to such interventions being inherent for ones at the top of the socioeconomic pyramid. This is what the current phase looks to solve.
The major innovation in our phase is adaptive learning algorithms using advanced machine learning techniques, to create a self-learning environment using strong feedback loops.
We are in the third phase of innovation, facilitated by the profusion of mobile devices and 2G/3G connectivity across the country, bringing to mind a popular tagline ‘Kar lo duniya mutthi mein’ (The world, in your palm) by Reliance Telecom. Indeed, the world is now at one’s fingertips.
It presents other players in EdTech space an opportunity for a substantial contribution in ameliorating quality and affordable access to education for end-user be it child, school or learning centre.
Stronger encryption capabilities and cheaper flash memory-based devices, such as pen-drives and SD Cards, have obliterated the need for fast and stable internet connections, and high associated costs, to access high quality learning content. Data syncing and analysis, however, are still internetdependent, but are minimal due to the stronger processing powers of mobile devices at present.
Also, education on personalised devices, such as tablets and smartphones, is an immense opportunity to personalise education for the enduser. The major innovation in our phase is adaptive learning algorithms using advanced machine learning techniques, to create a self-learning environment using strong feedback loops
For larger organisations which have chosen to digitise their data, decision-making capabilities have improved manifold. These include high-end schools, and large NGOs. A robust and unbiased data collection system at the field level, linked to an MIS system, ensures that the upper echelons in an organisation are sufficiently informed about ground realities, and help them take major steps in improving the performance of their.
Jairaj Bhattacharya, is the Founder & MD- CG Slate (ConveGenius Group) Visit www.cgslate.com for more details.
