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Spotlight Haryana — Innovation in Government Schools

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

Haryana shows the way. With the help of technology, state government has taken initiative to change the game of imparting education to the government school students, writes Priya Yadav of Elets News Network ( ENN).

Innovative ways of learning are no longer a reality just for the students of private schools. In a leap, which is expected to vastly benefit thousands of students in government schools in Haryana, the Department of Education has collaborated with the American India Foundation Trust to introduce technology led curriculum in Science and Mathematics.

“Haryana has introduced technologyled curriculum in Science and Mathematics for Grade-9 students in collaboration with the American India Foundation Trust (AIFT),” said P K Das, Additional Chief Secretary, School Education Department, Government of Haryana.

The initiative, which will be implemented in educationally backward blocks of Haryana, is expected to improve both teaching and learning of the two critical subjects. Part of the state wide Quality Improvement Programme, the initiative will be introduced in a phased manner, covering 10 Aarohi Model Schools.

The Principal Secretary said that the Trust will work with teachers in the school and collaborate with Avanti Learning Centres to provide classroom learning materials and teaching practices in Maths and Science.

“The aim is to ensure that students in the Aarohi schools are benefited from “the world’s best teaching methods,” said PK Das. The government is also working towards creating a core of trained teachers who could ensure that the initiative remains sustainable and more teachers can be trained for the same.

The project which gets its donation from AIFT and places no financial burden on the state government is designed in a way that facilitates teachers to focus on improving student’s concepts by using computer-enabled content and advanced pedagogical techniques. It ensures increased participation of both students and teachers.

It is not just this initiative that is promising better learning among government school students in Haryana. Officials claims that the school department is in the process of preparing a framework that will see introduction of activity based learning in government schools. Saturdays will be set aside exclusively for extracurricular activities of the students.

“The idea is to break the tradition of learning by rote,” said PK Das. Children must understand the concepts which are basic and for this experts will be invited to facilitate children in doing so. This will be done through a variety of activities.

Children should be happy in coming to school and not scared. They should enjoy themselves, feels the principal secretary. For this to happen, teachers are being made to attend workshops to introduce better ways of teaching so that children develop an interest in learning rather than learning by rote.

The government is preparing to introduce an activity based learning programme in primary schools in the state as a pilot project. Minimum learning levels for school students have been prepared and the activity based learning targets the children to achieve those levels.

For example, students will be asked to clean the school premises and pick up plastic waste in their village which will inculcate the message that cleanliness needs to be adopted and that plastic is hazardous for the environment. On Saturdays a range of activities will be arranged like music, drills, sports, theatre and talent of children will be polished through these activities.

“There are students who might not be good in academics, but are good in other activities. When grading the personality of the student, these activities should be accounted for. Around 20 different kinds of activities will be started in the schools. Even students who are physically challenged would be involved with sporting activities. The aim is to ensure that all students are involved in activities that they enjoy,” Das said.

Uttar pradesh empowering youth with skills that matter

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

Uttar Pradesh was the first state in India which came up with skill development policy way back in 2013. Since then, the state has undertaken various initiatives in the vocational education and skill development sector. Bhuvnesh Kumar, Secretary, Department of Vocational Education and Skill Development highlights the success story of Uttar Pradesh to Arpit Gupta of the Elets News Network (ENN).

What are the policies and strategies for Vocational Education and Skill Development being followed in Uttar Pradesh?
 The UP Government was the first state government to have announced a policy on Skill Development in July 2013. The government visualised the importance of vocational education as well as the skill development long ago and decided to transform existing skill ecosystem so as to enable youth to choose and acquire skills of his choice and to provide industry skilled manpower as per their requirement. We brought all skill development training programmes running earlier under various ministries of the Government of India and the State Government onto a standard platform under the Uttar Pradesh Skill Development Mission with an objective to synergise efforts and resources.

Uttar Pradesh was first state to formulate “Common Norms” for all schemes by filling gaps existing in different scheme through creating a State Skill Development Fund which was quite a visionary idea. Earlier most of the schemes were being implemented by different departments and they were not in a position to run them in a uniform manner, as required by the industry. Since the training programmes being run under various government schemes were not synchronised with the needs of the industry, it was important to bridge that gap and synchronise them.

We have been able to enroll more than four lakh candidates till now across the state at 2000 training centres established by more than 300 training partners offering more than 634 courses in 52 sectors. Over 3 lakh candidates have been trained and almost one lakh have been placed in various industries. It has been a big achievement towards empowerment of youth.

Which is the target group for the Skill Development Programme?
 The state government stated in the policy that youth of age group of 14-35 will be the target group for skill development.
Various schemes of the Government of India had their own target beneficiaries. So we have ensured that the target beneficiaries required by the Government of India under various schemes come together in a common batch and candidates from different sections of the society join training programme without any hassle. Candidates enrolled in DDUGKY are rural poor, in MSDP from minority communities, in BADP youth of 7 district along Indo-Nepal border in UP, beneficiaries of SDI can be from any section of society while SC/ ST beneficiary are trained in SCA to SCSP. Candidates to be funded by SSDF sit in the same classroom and trained at the same level. Training partners have been given mandate of placing these trained candidates in industry. So this convergence has really helped in forming good quality batches. If you try to form batches from one particular scheme in a limited area, the success rate becomes limited which in turn hamper placement opportunities too.

How the Government is giving a boost to private partners in Vocational Education and Skill Development?
The whole focus was that the training will be done by people who are experts in these fields. Earlier, in the old schemes it was being done by small institutes or NGOs or the small companies. But the focus in UP has been to engage large companies who have the expertise to work in these fields and that is how we started. The focus has been on quality of training which has been ensured by keeping high standards of training infrastructure, trainers, independent assessment and third party monitoring. GPS-enabled biometric devices ensures that students are coming to the classes. The focus also has been on actual hands on training and we have allowed On Job Training (OJTs) also.

How strong is the resource system of the UP government?
 As far as money is concerned, there is no shortage of funds because lot of money is coming from various schemes so that is not the limiting factor at all. We have taken help of the erstwhile all the departments. We have formed DPMU at district level headed by the Collectors/ DM and assisted by Chief Development Officers. All those departments which were running their schemes earlier, their district level officers are also part of this DMPU. They are the ones who are able to mobilise the beneficiaries. We have given two people in every district known as MIS manager cum Counsellor. Their job is not only to manage things but also counsel and bring the candidate for right kind of training. With the kind of targets we are achieving I feel we have sufficient resources and manpower available. There is full support of the Government for strengthening and promoting skill development in the state.

Where does ITI play role in skill development? What is the current situation of ITIs in the state?
Apart from the UPSDM, the department has great focus on the existing ITIs. We have spent almost 2,000 crores in last four years in the ITI system. As soon as we use the word skill development, many a time people talk about only short term courses but if you look at the ITI system, which is formal training system of one year and two years courses, is actually a skill development programme which has been going on since long. We can’t lose sight of it. We had a very strong focus and commitment of the state government again to enhance the ITIs. In a span of less than three years, we have been able to increase capacity of ITIs by 2.5 times. Two and a half years back, the seats which were available in the ITIs were 46,000. This year, admission has taken place in one 1,00,500 seats. Such a huge investment has gone into upgrading existing ITIs and opening of new ITIs. We used to have roughly 200 ITIs and opened 80 new ITIs in the span of four years. Earlier, we used to have ITIs of two, three or four trades but we have standardised them up to minimum 12 trades. So whatever new ITIs we are now opening now have minimum 12 trades. We have introduced smart classrooms in almost all ITIs. We are upgrading the existing classrooms into smart classrooms. We have been able to give two smart classrooms in all the ITIs across the state. Now the number of ITIs has gone up to 267. We have upgraded the old ITIs and given them new buildings. The money has also come from other schemes of the Government of India. We have recruited roughly 2,500 new instructors. The result is almost ready and should be out anytime. We will be able to place so many new instructors in the ITI system to strengthen it. We have converted SCVT courses into NCVT courses in a large number and this process is still on. The upgradation of ITIs have also taken place. We have been able to give more than 100 IT labs and 150 new workshops to these ITIs. This has actually created a huge impetus in the system. We have introduced book bank facility in ITIs. Now we are giving free books to all the students. The moment they get admission into the ITI, they are given free books. We have introduced uniform in all institutes called Dangri. Now every student who enters in machine trades, he gets his uniform on day one. So these endeavours have improved the ITI system and actually benefitted the industry in a big way especially the manufacturing industry. Industry was always looking for good quality trained people and we not only assured but delivered same. We have also given new tools, equipments across these ITIs. So, Vocational Education and Skill Development has been focus area of the state government.

Empowering youth is the whole idea of skill development. UP has a large young population. How do you see it?
 I would say that population is a demographic dividend of the state. One can look large population as the negative thing but for me it is large human resource available in the state for skilling point of view if I can give them right kind of skills. Not only I can give them employment in the state but they can go outside the state or country after acquiring skills, knowledge and attitude.

There is a huge demand of trained manpower across the sectors. Even now we are sending a lot of people outside the State. They are getting employment, good jobs. UPNRI Department has got the license for the overseas recruitment agency and they are in the process of sending these trained people to countries overseas for technical employment. We will be providing them trained candidates required abroad. A lot of private agencies are also taking candidates trained by us. We have been organising the employment fairs (Rojgar Melas) at the division-level. We have been able to conduct roughly 200 fairs till now in various parts of the states. Hon’ble Chief Minister and departmental Minister have participated in a few of them. These are huge success. We are able to rope in all the local companies and sometimes companies from outside also. In every fair, almost thousand candidates are getting placed in different sectors. Thus, creating employment opportunities for the youth has been prime objective of all skilling activities taking place in UP Skill Development Mission and in ITI system of the State.

Telangana enhancing students’ performance through mGovernance

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

After introducing Biometric Machines, CCTV Surveillance and Online Services, the Board of Intermediate Education (BIE) is planning to introduce Mobile Governance for Junior College students in Telangana. Dr A Ashok, Commissioner and Secretary, BIE, Government of Telangana, shares more details about the initiative, in an interview with Sudheer Goutham of Elets News Network (ENN). Excerpts:

How and when was the idea of introducing Biometric Machines conceived? What are your expectations from initiative?
The BIE has recently introduced – Biometric Machines — at all Government-run Junior Colleges in Telangana. Its primary objective is to ensure the attendance of principals, teaching and non-teaching staff and students.This will enhance the overall performance of the education system.

Biometric Machines, which will hold the key in bringing discipline in attendance, will act as an effective tool for monitoring. We are getting reports regularly based on the biometric system.

We have found that many students join college for availing scholarships and other benefits being offered by the Government but they show little interest in attending classes, which is sacrosanct of the students. The new system is also used for monitoring mid-day meal scheme which is extended to Junior Colleges in the State. Today, education in junior colleges is free. The Government will provide resources such as admission, free text books and food at the colleges.

Our expectations from introduction of the Biometric Machines is to enhance the attendance. This will help in accountability and self-discipline among the principals, teaching and non-teaching staff and students. In this way, biometrics is extremely useful both in helping college management feel secure and in eliminating user time theft, as it relies on personal characteristics that vary between individuals. The wide variety of easy to use terminals ensures that biometrics is a smart (and cool) solution when deciding what kind of time and attendance system. There are 3000 junior colleges in Telangana.

What is the status of the project?
All Government Junior Colleges are equipped with Biometric Machines. At least 60% of Private Junior Colleges are also covered so far. Plans are on to make the use of Biometric Machines as mandatory. We are getting good reports from these colleges. These reports will help the BIE in improving the efficiency in all aspects of functions of these colleges. We found IT is a great enabler and facilitator in bringing efficiency in education.

The BIE has used CCTV surveillance for examinations. How was the experience?
The usage of CCTV surveillance for examinations was very useful. It has helped in managing the examinations and its conduct smoothly. We have tested the CCTV surveillance on pilot basis. We shall continue to use the same in the future examinations as well.

What is your take on online services? Where do you stand in this?
 Under Digital Telangana’s initiative, we introduced 15 online services and 7 college services for benefit of the students. I am happy to inform you that the Board of Intermediate Education has received Best Government Initiative Award for its online services.

What are your plans for Mobile Governance?
We are planning to introduce Mobile Governance for Students, making them as Smart Students.

All our services – 15 online and 7 college services – will be soon available through Mobile. Students can able to download their resources, including certificates and mark sheets without visiting their colleges. This Mobile Governance will enhance the standards and excellence in services.

Jharkhand — The Next Big Stop for Education Investment

By
Akash
-
Dr Ravi Gupta
Dr Ravi Gupta, Editior-in-Chief, Digital Learning Magazine and CEO, Elets Technomedia Pvt Ltd
Dr Ravi Gupta Editor-in-Chief Ravi.Gupta@elets.in
Dr Ravi Gupta
Editor-in-Chief
Ravi.Gupta@elets.in

Be it school, higher, technical education or skill development, Jharkhand is trying its best to restructure the infrastructure and attract investment. Under the leadership of new Chief Minister Raghubar Das, the state is leaving no stone unturned to overcome problems related to the education scenario and trying to move ahead in higher education and skill development.

Offering incentives to private university stakeholders, framing conducive policies for attracting investments, implementing tech enabled programs for imparting quality education—all these are steps to the right direction.

At this juncture, Elets Technomedia, in association with the State Government of Jharkhand is organising timely Education & Skill Summit 2016 in Ranchi on 21 October 2016. A special issue of digitalLearning magazine has been brought out during the conference. This issue carries the interview of Chief Minister of Jharkhand and key policy makers of the state, dealing with the education sector and it has tried to put forth their visionary thoughts to the readers of this magazine.

On the other hand, Education & Skill Summit Jharkhand 2016 special issue of digitalLearning has also tried to highlight the views of National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) for providing quality skill development programmes, opinion of the private university and educational organisation stakeholders and also highlighted case studies from the states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, and Karnataka.

Hope you will enjoy reading the special issue!

41 Indians among Cambridge School’s global toppers

By
Akash
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cambridge-schools-global-toppers

41 Indian students are among the global toppers in examinations conducted by the Cambridge International School. Out of these candidates, nine students were from Delhi. To recognize the outstanding academic achievements of the toppers, “Outstanding Cambridge Learner certificate” will be issued to them, stated by the Cambridge International Examinations (CIE).

CIE’s regional director for South Asia, Ruchira Ghosh said,  “It’s a pleasure to see learners across India successfully exhibit their passion to succeed. Their outstanding results in the Cambridge Examinations are a proof of the dedication and commitment of their teachers and the constant support from their family and friends,“ said Ruchira Ghosh,.

CIE conducted a examination series of Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE), Cambridge International AS Level and Cambridge International A Level in November 2015, March 2016 and June 2016 respectively. The 41 students are among the students who have secured the highest marks in a range of individual subjects in the examination series. Besides this there are 101 Indian students who topped in the country across these qualifications.

“Cambridge qualifications are highly regarded the world over. Students and parents feel that the demands of Cambridge have made students more analytical and innovative. In the last decade, Indian universities have also begun to understand and appreciate the unique skill sets these students bring with them,“ said Amit Mishra, Principal of the DPS International School, Saket.

Nasscom and GTU signed MoU

By
Akash
-

Nasscom and Gujarat Technological University (GTU) have announced signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop long-term strategies and action plan in education sector. Both the organisations will work together to enhance academic and intellectual interaction relating to technical and professional academic domains.

Under the MoU, both the organisations agreed to enter into partnership for joint research and consultancy, workshops, seminars, conferences, training, publications and exchange of resource persons.

J C Lilani, in-charge Registrar of GTU and Chetan Samant, Regional Head, West Region & Executive Director, IT-ITeS Sector Skills Council of NASSCOM signed the MoU at Gandhinagar during the inaugural session of International Conclave on Higher Education: Quality, Governance & Innovation.

According to the MoU, both organisations will promote joint research projects related to Engineering and Technological Sciences, exchange of faculty, guest lectures and research and skills training resource persons for skill training. Nasscom and GTU, both the organisations will permit the use of equipment and resources for joint research, education and skill development.

ICA Edu Skills invests in 3Dexter to provide 3D printing solutions for schools

By
Akash
-

ICA Edu Skills has recently invested $ 1,50,000 in a Delhi-based educational technology company 3Dexter to offer 3D printing solution to schools. 3Dexter is an Edtech start-up involved in 3D printing of educational material for Schools and has developed and aligned its technology with CBSE, ICSE and IB curricula.

Speaking of the company’s investment in the educational technology space, Dr. Narendra Kumar Shyamsukha, Founder Chairman, ICA Edu Skills said, “We are living in a fast- changing technological world. Investment in technology is the need of the hour. If India wants to move up in the comity of nations, we need to improve our educational infrastructure, and technology is its most important component, today. Technological upgradation needs our immediate attention. We are happy to invest in this sector. We understand the national vision of ‘Skill India’ and ‘Digital India.’”Shantanu Kwatra, Founder Director, 3Dexter added, “We are thrilled to work with ICA Edu Skills on our mission of upgrading technology. The way we have developed this curriculum in sync with leading school boards like CBSE, ICSE and IB, helps us integrate this technology at the grass root level and introduce futuristic skills to students. Our plan is simple: add dimensions to learning to empower schools and to support the budding generation of new change makers and innovators to visualize, design and create.”

This is the third such investment ICA Edu Skills’ has made in the last one year. Earlier this year, it invested in Jaipur-based mobile app solution, Myly that act as a communication tool between school and parents and includes communication related to homework, exam, results, timetable, GPS tracking and fee payment. The company has also invested in Open Door Education, a Pune-based assessment solution for schools. OPENDOOR EDUCATION provides Class 4-9 assessment on Math and Science along with data analytics to identify and improve chapter wise learning.

ICA Edu Skills one of India’s leading vocational training and placement institutes in the field of Computerised Accounting. Dr. Narendra Shyamsukha founded the company in 1999 to promote educational technology. ICA has 100+ centres, 30+ placement offices and trains and places 75000+ candidates annually. The company was the recipient of the National Educational Excellence Award 2016. It also got the Best Vocational Training Institute in India by Asia Education Summit and Awards.

‘UNO Learn’, a digital skill development platform launched

By
Akash
-

PositiveShift has launched UNO Learn, a digital platform to offer top-rated skill development courses from leading Industry expert and top global universities. PositiveShift International, is an emerging company in the Learning & Skill Development segment, has launched web, mobile & Digital TV version of the skill development platform.

UNO Learn has signed up with five Global Institutes – Masachussets Institute of Technology (MIT), Open University UK, Saylor Academy USA, Future Learn (UK), ZTE University (Taiwan). Along with the universities, 11 domain expert instructors with huge number of followers are also on this platform.

Courses related to Design, Technology, Business, Finance, Entrepreneurship, Big Data, Digital Marketing, Spoken English, Accounting, Web development, CCNA, CCNP, A+, Networking and Business planning will be available o this platform. The ones who will complete any course on UNO Learn will earn certificates signed by the Industry expert.

Candidates, with a monthly subscription of Rs 500, will have access to the entire library of premium courses and certifications including career service whereas candidates with free subscription will have access to more than 1200+ sponsored courses.

Vijay Ketan Mitra, Founder & CEO, PositiveShift International says, “At UNO-Learn our goal is to enable individual skill enrichment ‘anything, anytime, anywhere’ in a short, sweet and impactful manner.”

“The company has invested close to 1.2 crores so far. This expenditure has happened for – platform development, course acquisition, and strategic tie-ups besides business development & marketing efforts”, Vijay further added.

Centre mulls ranking states on education

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

Narendra Modi government is reportedly working on plans to rank the states based on their performance in education sector i.e. from results of learning to quality of school infrastructure.

The move is intended to instill a competitive spirit among the states and encourage them to improve quality of education that their students receive, according to government officials.

The other measures to be considered while according ranking to respective school will include — how well schools are using their resources, the innovative projects undertaken by their educational institutions and research outcomes.

NITI Aayog, the central government’s policy think tank , in collaboration with the HRD ministry, is working on the index the states will be ranked on.

The index is likely to be launched in a couple of months.

“The Niti Aayog and the PMO (Prime Minister’s Office) are very interested in such an index,” a media report quoted one of the experts consulted by NITI Aayog as saying.

Earlier this month, NITI Aayog chief executive Amitabh Kant indicated such rankings are in the works.
Speaking during an event in the national capital, Kant said the quality of education needs to be improved. “We are focusing on learning outcomes.”

“We are going to make states compete on the quality of education and learning outcomes.”
He said the government had consulted several top educationists across the world.

Stating that the central government intended to support the states, he said, however, it wasn’t clear what the support would entail and if it would cause changes in the funding mechanism for education.

It may be noted India has one of world’s largest education systems with nearly 330 million students in schools and colleges. The country has over 1.4 million schools, nearly 45,000 colleges and around 720 universities.

Several studies have shown the quality of education remains a challenge from the primary to territory level.
As a premier think-tank of the government of India, the NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) provides critical knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurial support to the country.

Delhi government teachers to get tablets soon

By
Akash
-

The Delhi government is all set to provide tablets to schoolteachers in government schools by the yea -end to use for non-academic works like attendance and tabulation of marks.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who also holds the education portfolio, has directed the officials to prepare a proposal to buy around 50,000 tablets for teachers and principals of the 1,024 government schools of the city.

The distribution of tablets may start in two months, sources said, adding it will cost the extra financial burden Rs 50 crore to Delhi government.

Atishi Marlena, advisor, Delhi Education Department, said, “School teachers have had a long standing demand for technological intervention to reduce their burden.

“We will be giving tablets to all teachers, including about 15,000 guest teachers and principals. To start with, they can take attendance on it and if a child is absent, a message will automatically be sent to the parent. Subsequently, we will add more apps to it,” she said.

From March 2017, the education department is hoping that teachers will be able to tabulate marks and may generate report cards on the tabs.

“Eventually, we also want to provide teacher training material on the tabs. However, we will roll this out gradually. The government will be giving a data package as well, depending on how much data we think will be required for official work,” she added.

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