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Jnana Sangama initiative strengthens Higher Education in Karnataka

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

Bharat Lal Meena, making a mark as the Managing Director of KPTCL by initiating ICT projects in Karnataka, is now on a new mission of making ICT an efficient tool for Learning, Governance and Academic activities as the Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Education (Higher Education), Government of Karnataka. He shares with T Radhakrishna and Sudheer Goutham of Elets News Network (ENN) about the Department’s mandate, initiatives, action plans, challenges in implementing ICT and more

Describe the Education Department’s mandate and its objectives. Who are your key stakeholders? The mandate is to make quality education affordable and accessible to all sections of students. The department deals with Higher Education i.e., college, universities and technical education. Its objectives are:’

Development of undergraduate and postgraduate education; v Increasing access to Higher Education;
Development of infrastructure in Government colleges;
Maintaining high standards of education in colleges.
The key stakeholders are students, faculty, administration, parents and people in general.

What systems and processes have you used to ensure the effective running of the department’s functions? In which functions, do you use ICT and how?

The history of implementation of ICT in universities/colleges was poor till mid-2015. Basic computing was available in each office or institution, but office automation did not exist. The day-to-day functions of Higher Education were not connected in real-time IT environment. However, the potential for using ICT in the Higher Education is enormous. ICT is very useful tool for Learning, Governance and Academic activities.

In the absence of systems and processes, monitoring is a challenge. So is data sharing. There was low priority for collating and updating data. Cyber security and information overload are some other concerns. Going forward, the Education Department is seeing a massive ICT implementation to bring in digitization in Higher Education.

While office automation is one aspect of it, there are a host of other student-centric initiatives. After I had joined the department about 15 months ago (in February 2015), I studied the situation and in Higher Education to bring in productivity, accountability and transparency in the day-to-day functions. As part of this, I travelled to all the universities and held meetings with officers concerned and later called for presentations on best practices in Higher Education. Data sharing must be linked with critical areas like approval, renewal, grants, etc. Finally, we came out with a roadmap for ICT initiatives after elaborate discussions with internal stakeholders.

Explain your 100-point ICT plan for your Department’s improvement.

The Department has prepared a roadmap for ICT initiatives to facilitate ease of administration and academic reach for students in universities and colleges. The programme aims to provide end to end digital solution from admission to completion of education, covering all functions of the Department and its stakeholders.

The 100-point table is nothing but an action plan for each requirement of the Department’s functions. Of them, 15 ICT initiatives and solutions are related to Administration; 22 exclusively for Universities; six exclusively for Colleges; 15 for Colleges and Polytechnics; 12 for Universities and Colleges; and 30 for Universities, Colleges and Polytechnics. The action plan has mapped the entire functions of key stakeholders – Students, Faculty and Administration, and feedback mechanism to Parents.

There is a need for synergy of data exchange of different portals such as AISHE, UGC, AICTE, NAAC, NBA, DISE, MCA, etc. ICT initiatives in higher education need to be encouraged. Scalable and robust ERP – type ICT solutions could be developed and made available to all states by MHRD, based on the Karnataka model

What is the status on ICT initiatives? What is the main aim of ‘Jnana Sangama’?

We have tested ICT initiatives on a pilot basis with the support of National Informatics Centre (NIC) and adopted most of the initiatives in a holistic manner. All the initiatives are interconnected. Software is freely available to all institutions. The Department has set June 1, 2016 for completing 100 percent ICT implementation.

On November 6, 2015, the department launched ‘Jnana Sangama’ (Convergence of Knowledge), an ICT enabled programme in the presence of TB Jayachandra, Minister of Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Higher Education and Vice Chancellors of Universities. It is aimed at digitization of Higher Education institutions in the State. This ICT initiative is the ‘Smart Karnataka Education Yardstick’ (Smart-KEY), designed for digitizing most of the teaching materials in public and private domain throughout the State.

Through Jnana Sangama, the Higher Education system in Karnataka – 50 Universities, 2992 undergraduate and postgraduate Colleges, 305 Polytechnic Colleges, and 207 Engineering Colleges will get a major boost.

Highlight Student-Centric initiatives.

Major thrust will be given to make the processes of entire pre and post-exam and admission, online. The Department will introduce online application and admission process for undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Digital attendance registration, inter-university information highway, and online affiliation process are on the anvil. While some of these are partially implemented this year, the Department is looking at full-scale implementation from the next academic year. The Department will make the entire admission process online, including the application process. This will be implemented across all Government aided and unaided institutions for undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Not every student can secure admission in top colleges. However, on this account alone, students should not miss out on quality education. This is the principle with which e-content sharing is being implemented. To begin with, 22 top colleges have been selected to record their lectures and share teaching aids with other institutions. The department has signed MoUs with private universities for sharing e-content, including video classes.

The Department of Higher Education, Government of Karnataka has prepared a roadmap for ICT initiatives to facilitate ease of administration and academic reach for students in universities and colleges. The programme aims to provide end to end digital solution from admission to completion of education, covering all functions of the department and its stakeholders

Do you have any suggestions to Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD)?

There is a need for the synergy of Data exchange of different portals such as AISHE, UGC, AICTE, NAAC, NBA, DISE, MCA, etc. ICT initiatives in Higher Education need to be encouraged. Scalable and robust ERP type ICT solutions could be developed and made available to all states by MHRD, based on Karnataka model. Quarterly National level workshops in different regions be held for sharing best practices and case studies be undertaken and sponsored. Financial support be extended for reforms-linked activities and annual awards and incentives to innovative initiatives in states should be taken up.

Indian education sector gets richer with 6 new IITs

By
digitalLEARNING Network
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The year 2016 seems to be a good year for the student community. Recently, the Union Cabinet has given its consent to amend The Institutes of Technology Act, 1961 for incorporation of new IITs at Tirupati (AP), Palakkad (Kerala), Dharwar (Karnataka), Bhilai (Chhattisgarh), Goa, Jammu (Jammu and Kashmir). Moreover, as reported earlier, there has been the conversion of ISM, Dhanbad to an IIT under the law.

Therefore, technically the country gets 6 new IITs, plus one elevation of an already existing veteran to the IIT level. The Cabinet also approved introduction of a bill—the National Institutes of Technology, Science Education and Research (Amendment) Bill, 2016 for inclusion of the NIT, Andhra Pradesh in its first schedule, which was by far registered as a Society under the Andhra Pradesh Societies Registration Act, 2001

The proposed amendments to the NITSER Act, 2007 will ensure a high level of public accountability and increased participation of the stakeholders in the administration and academic activities of the Institute.

HRD Ministry gets New Education Policy, prepared by Subramanian committee

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

The long awaited Education Policy of India has been submitted to the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry by the T.S.R. Subramanian committee, which had been entrusted with preparing a new education policy.

With the new education policy, being released after a gap of almost three decades, it is being hoped that the Indian education system, which has undoubtedly grown in proportion but lacks in quality, would get a new direction.

Till now, the HRD ministry has not revealed the content of the report. However, it is believed to have provided solutions to several challenges in the education sector, like:

  • Quality in both school and Higher Education

  • Employability challenge

  • Regulation of private education

  • Internationalisation of education

  • Restructuring of education regulators like University Grants Commission and All India Council of Technical Education.

The report will be evaluated by the HRD ministry and put for “public views” before a final draft is prepared.

ISM Dhanbad gets much-awaited IIT status

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

After a long wait, Indian School of Mines (ISM), Dhanbad gets the IIT status. In  a recent development, the Union cabinet nods positively to give IIT status to the institute.

Welcoming the decision of the Central Government and HRD Ministry in particular, ISM Registrar, Col (Retd) MK Singh said that the Prime Minister has fulfilled his election promises of elevating the institution.

ISM had been fighting for an IIT tag since 2013.

The IIT tag was very necessary for this institute in order to get more research funds from the government, better placement and better international collaborations.

A street protest was undertaken by the students last year for the delay in implementation of this decision.

Over one thousand students had demonstrated at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi in 2013 and got huge support from the political leaders, especially MPs across the country.

The institute was formally opened on December 9, 1926, by Lord Irwin, the then Viceroy of India to address the need for trained manpower related to mining activities in the country with disciplines of Mining and Applied Geology.

Earlier on April 8, Union HRD minister Smriti Irani on her visit to ISM had assured students an IIT tag would be announced soon.

Students to get cautious as the Capital City tops the list of fake boards and degrees

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

With the admission season round the corner,  all students must be under stress. However, Delhi students are sure to get double worried as, according to the National Institute of Open Schooling, it has been concluded that the Capital City has the most number of bogus school education boards and universities in India. Such bogus institutes dish out fake degrees and certificates to hundreds of unsuspecting students each year.

It is well known that every year, thousands of students who fail to get admission in the top colleges of Delhi, start looking for options in other institutes.

The National Institute of Open Schooling, an approved education board under the Union human resource development (HRD) ministry, has come out with a list of 47 fake boards on its website, of which 21 are in Delhi.  Moreover, according to the prospectus of the Indira Gandhi National Open University , out of the 74 fake boards listed in 2016, 44 are in Delhi.

In addition to this, a report by University Grants Commission (UGC) stated Delhi as having the second-highest number of fake universities in the country.

There is worst to come- the HRD ministry doesn’t maintain any data on fake boards. There is no central law or authority to define fake or unrecognised boards, but some boards have not been recognised by State Governments or the Ministry of Human Resource Development. These come under the category of fake board.

So students passing from such boards don’t get admission in colleges and face an uncertain future.

 

Introducing new age learning in a small town

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

It is an undeniable fact that children in big cities and those in small towns deserve the same quality of education. But running a new age private school in a small town in India is equivalent to organizing a professional league football match in an ice skating rink where the players would skid and slide more than run or field a goal. These school leaders have taken the initiative to set up schools in the hinterland with a vision to provide new age education to the children there. But in this process these entities face their own set of challenges which they have to circumvent on their own with little help from the state education department.

Education leaders in the hinterland in the process of introducing new age education is pushed to the wall by local politics and society mores that pressurize the school in favour of ‘doing things the way they have always been done’ and that anything new and modern is suspicious and unsuitable. The illogical demands for more home work, zero perception about concept learning, no tolerance for activities writing them off as waste of time, and falling back on the rote memory system of learning keeps coming back much to the disappointment of the school leaders.

These schools are working in an educational environment where there are not enough qualified teachers to provide a true specialist in every subject. Moreover, the loss of one teacher through relocation or government placement can leave a hole that is extremely hard to fill. It is most common that school leaders employ staff that are not optimum for their jobs but instead represent the best available in the locality at that time. Teacher skilling and up-skilling is an issue due to lack of professional resources and therefore the school has to opt for trainers from the cities.

With power outages and erratic internet connectivity these schools which are trying to provide to their students an environment conducive to digital learning are unable to harness the full potential of their intentions for the children. Salient features which are common to all city schools like a wi-fi campus and digital classrooms become a struggle in the small towns.

Geographic remoteness is difficult to cover with internet, Skype of video conferencing and the schools that have set up operations in the remote areas cannot participate in large established inter-school activities and events. These isolated schools and educators simply do not have the opportunity to develop the professional connections and develop relations with larger school groups where there is an opportunity for peer learning and sharing of ideas.

It is also irrefutable that the government schools or the government sponsored schools have not been able to provide quality education to the children. So the author feels that education provided by these new age schools would really help to mainstream the children of the small towns and that these entities could perform miracles with little governmental support. They have already traversed and reached out to the children in smaller towns with high quality education, crossed the barricades of parental disdain of the modern ways of teaching and learning, a little more ironing out and these institutions would be ready to make a difference to the education environment in their areas.

The author of this piece, Rupamala Singh, had given up a corporate job to establish a secondary school, Hayde Heritage Academy, with her husband, Lt Col Kunwar Ajay Singh, a retired army officer in Kotdwara, a foothill town in Uttarakhand.

Scope of Technical Education on the Increase with more schools included in the School Reform Plan

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

Keeping an account of the importance of technical and vocational education, the Education Ministry would be granting permission to new schools to include these as part of its School Sector Reform Plan. The Reform Plan aims to provide various skill-based training to students so that they can join the work market after completion of their school education.

Going ahead, Education Department, recently granted permission to 139 schools in 202 constituencies of 74 districts to impart technical and vocational education from Grade IX.

Total of five subjects- Civil engineering, Computer engineering, Electrical engineering, Plant science and Animal science are taught in the domains of Technical and Vocational education.

While students from the general stream study eight subjects with a total of 800 marks, those in the technical stream study various subjects carrying a total of 1,000 marks.

The Ministry of Education had introduced technical and vocational subjects in 99 schools in 71 districts in April 2013. The first batch of students  from these institutes, recently appeared in the Grade XI board examinations.

Navneet Education with its new TVC for ‘Art of being Smart’

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

To reinforce the attributes of the brand, Navneet Education Ltd has adopted a 360-degree integrated marketing campaign, which includes a new TVC as well as extensive digital activations, targeting the brand’s core target audience.

In today’s digital day and age, students spend a lot of time on social media. It  plays a very important medium used by the youth to communicate. The new campaign taps into this element which has become an integral part of the lives of the young generation.

The campaign shows how students in a college are initially unhappy by the ban imposed on access to social media use in the college. But with smart thinking, and using the Youva range of stationery as a tool, they come up with an idea which allows them to have the same social media experience, even when they are not online. They stay within the boundaries, yet they don’t stop having fun. The entire stationery range of Youva allows them to come out winners. Even the principal (who was the one to impose the ban) acknowledges their smart thinking.

Along with this, Navneet Education Ltd has announced the launch of its new stationery brand for paper and non-paper stationery vertical – Youva- The Art of Being Smart.

Under the paper stationery category, Youva will include long books, note books, drawing books, practical books, casebound books, scrap/project books, craft papers, paper rolls. While the non-paper segment will comprise of pencils, erasers, sharpeners, geometry boxes, rulers, crayons, oil pastels, plastic crayons, synthetic & white glue. Youva branded products under both the categories will be available across India at all leading book and stationery stores.

Results are out, Now the Next step- ‘Education loans’

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

Now, as the school board exams are out, it is time for the high fliers to plan out for their future. It is time to decide whether the future education should be in arts, science, commerce, engineering or medical within the country or they see better educational opportunities in abroad.

However, the cost of education is increasing every year.  Under such circumstances, studying overseas, be it U.S. or Europe, may be as good as building a castle with ivory.

Under such circumstances, monetary constraint do come in the way in order to pursue your dream career. Therefore, the best option is to avail an education loan from any gazetted lender, which may be a bank or a non-banking finance company (NBFC).

Some of the points to be kept in mind while considering education loan can be as follows:

Tenure of repayment:  It is always advisable for students and parents to select an education loan with longer repayment tenure so that they have to repay smaller EMIs periodically.

Take maximum loan:  As much as 100 percent of the cost of education should be availed which should be inclusive of  tuition expenses, living expenses and overhead expenses such as the cost of traveling, purchasing the laptop, equipment, and books.

Margin money requirements:  Generally any loan requires margin money but some lenders don’t require any margin money, which helps get up to 100 percent of the total cost of education. Lower margin money ensures less financial stress.

Gazetted lenders should be explored: Income tax benefit should be availed while taking education loans. However, this is available only if taken from banks or few private sector lenders.

MOOC Score to Count towards College Degrees

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

Taking a step more towards the Digital India mission, the BJP Government is all set to  make Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) count towards the college degree. Till now, the MOOCs had no scores for any degrees.

In a recent development, it was agreed as by the University Grants Commission that the scores achieved in official online courses would be added in the total marks scored in a degree and transfer credits for them.

This move has been done to mainstream online courses and increase their acceptability and credibility in the Indian higher education system.  Moreover, it will also allow students from different institutions to take up courses which may not be available at their institute and get credit marks for them.  However, one condition is that the online courses must be one of the 400 plus courses on offer through the government-backed massive open online course (MOOC) platform SWAYAM .

Online courses are so far only seen as complementary skillsets acquired by an enthusiastic student but they do not in any way reflect in the student’s marksheet or enhance his overall score. UGC will soon notify setting up of a standing committee for SWAYAM courses and a national MOOCs coordinator that will coordinate with all universities and institutions on the MOOCs on offer.

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