As we at Elets get together to witness the 5th annual edition of the World Education Summit (WES), I am taken back into time to the year 2011 when the first edition of the summit was graced by none other than late Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. A true patron of education, the presence of Dr Kalam had indeed been an enlightening, showing us the way to continue our efforts in the field of education. Acknowledging the work Elets is doing in the field of education, Dr Kalam had lauded our efforts and platform.
WES has grown in stature in the last few years with growing participation not only from within the country but across the globe too. This year, the 5th edition of WES is seeing participation from Australia, Oman, Canada, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Dubai along with 170 leading school Principals, 60 Vice Chancellors of Universities, 50 Directors of Engineering Colleges and more than 25 Government Functionaries.
The journey in the last four years has seen the education sector undergo a paradigm shift. As we discuss and deliberate on the growing trends and technologies shaping the education sector, Elets and digitalLearning magazine has been doing its bit in bridging the divide between the key stakeholders and also providing an elaborate platform for the industry and the academia to connect and converge.
WES 2015 aims to make the summit more than an event by building a strong community around it and providing various business and networking opportunities for the government, education leaders, private sector & civil society organisations. Knowledge sharing collaboration within the country and beyond the Indian soil is integral for the growth of the education sector. And taking forward the objective of knowledge sharing of the digitalLearning magazine, WES will be making its international foray in November 2015. WES Dubai will bring together education stakeholders from across the globe, transcending education barriers.
I hope this two-day summit and deliberations at Delhi will culminate into concrete suggestions that will further transform the education gamut in the country.
There is never a paucity of jobs, it is of skilled workers to do it. Empowering children with skills before they leave the school is now being touted as a solution to assure skilled work force in future besides being called the new building blocks for learning, finds Priya Yadav of Elets News Network (ENN)
I success in life is landing a good job, and the ability to excel in it, the significance of becoming the right candidate can only be overvalued. It takes a skilled employee, to fit into the mould of a desirable job, one needs to possess leadership qualities, be a great team member, a learner and a mentor, one with great emotional intelligence…. the list is endless.
With these and many more demands made of an ideal job candidate, getting a headstart in acquiring skills is now being acknowledged to be of prime importance. Skill education is garnering popularity due to awareness and understanding about the need to develop skills for suitable employment.
Schools are warmly adopting methods that enhance their students’ personality and enable them to become a ‘global citizen’. Krit Serai, Principal, Satluj Public School, Panchkula, says, “The attempt now is to mould the child’s overall personality. Hundred per cent smart classes, use of laptops, tabs ensures that the child is digitally smart but now the focus is to equip children with skills that help them in later life. Our emphasis is especially on proficiency in English that will eventually enhance their professional value. There have been stories recently how professionals are not being able to carry out their jobs so well because of their incompetency in English.”
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is following an international curriculum to make children proficient in English. For this, students take Preliminary English test and Key English Test (KET) exams that are reviewed by international faculty
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is following an international curriculum to make children proficient in English. “For this, students take Preliminary English test and Key English Test (KET) exams that are reviewed by international faculty and KET being Cambridge Key English Test, students get to learn from the best authority on the language,” informs Krit Serai.
Clearly now, the school curriculum is broader in its approach to make a child not just academically strong but also empowered to adapt in a professional environment. “It is imperative now that the children are imparted 21st century skills. Communication skills are most important, so are emotional skills, creative skills – all these are basically life skills. These are embedded into the curriculum from Class VI onwards and are aimed at making a whole- some personality of the child,” feels Jaya Bhardwaj, Principal of Hansraj Public School, Panchkula.
“Even the structure of question papers, students’ assessment is all oriented towards enhancing their personality that would help them in future life,” she adds.
With this early beginning being made to empower the students and ready them for future challenging professional roles, there is an increasing demand for trained teachers who are specialised in dealing with all aspects of child’s personality.
Empowering children with skills
Learning and Innovation Skills
Creativity
Critical thinking and problem solving skills
Communication and collaboration skills
Information literacy
Flexibility and adaptability
Initiative and self-direction
Productivity and accountability
Leadership and responsibility
Education, especially at the school level, when children are at the stage of learning basics in life, is now increasingly getting more oriented towards employing experiential learning methods and impart business skills that help them understand the world of work. It is also the best way to ensure that there are skilled workers available tomorrow to grab the opportunities.
“Not every child is brilliant in academics. His personality might have other capacities that a studious child might lack. Identifying these strengths and weaknesses, giving an environment for every personality to prosper and brighten, is all that school education is about now. Skill education gives children a direction in life. Organising a range of events, involving children in a wide range of activities brings out their other talents and strengths that can be worked on to help prepare them for later life. The idea is to give an impetus and opportunities to explore and better themselves,” says Archana Jain, Principal of DPS, Panipat.
Empowering students with skills enables them to turn their creative ideas into innovations. Orienting school curriculum more and more towards teaching students, life skills is the best investment for preparing a workforce for the future that will fuel the economy. It is little wonder that these skills are now being referred to as the new building blocks for learning.
Directorate of Employment & Training (DET), Government of Gujarat, has embarked on a transformation journey to transform the skill sets in the state, shares Dr Sandhya Bhullar, IAS and Director, Employment & Training, Government of Gujarat
Gujarat has a population of more than six crores and 65 per cent of this population comprises of employable youth. The dropout rate from schools was touching 63 per cent, rendering the drop outs unemployable due to lack of basic skills. The Directorate of Employment and Training (DET), under the department of Labour and Employment, is responsible for boosting employability of the youth of Gujarat and for supporting vocational training needs, which are essential to create a favourable employment climate for the poor, socially backward, residents of remote areas, drop outs and young students.This is achieved through a series of skill-building programmes that are aimed at providing training based on latest industry requirements. Training on various skills is provided through Kaushalya Vardhan Kendras (KVK) and Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs).
Despite the efforts, it was observed that
(a) While training was provided on a constant basis, there was no way to keep the training in sync with the changing trends in the industry as it remained disconnected with the department efforts. This made it difficult for the department tokeep up with the latest industrial trends.
(b) An easier way to manage training modalities of approximately 4.7 lac yearly ITI applications and the services provided through almost 500 KVKs was required.
(c) Prospective trainees required an interface through which interaction with DET could be made smoother with minimal effort investment by the trainees and DET.
(d) Once training was provided, projecting the employability to the right industry vertical was a make or break point of the entire purpose of the department. Until then, this was being done in an unsystematic manner.
Moreover, with no common platform for all stakeholders to come together and participate with a single focus, it was difficult to meet the objectives of the department.
Corrective Measures
Realising the need for enhanced measures to achieve the department’s objective, DET embarked on a comprehensive modernisation strategy of the entire department. The department proposed the creation of an “Industrial Interface Cell” – a platform to enable real time collection and sharing of information of vocational training institutes, courses, skilled labour between skill seekers, job seekers and job providers– and “Admissions Management, Exam Assessment and Control System” – to make admissions and examinations easier, transparent, faster and time bound.
The project actually comprises of three key systems which have helped DET meet its objectives in an efficient and transparent fashion:
Online Admission Management – This system manages admissions processes for all admissions into Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs). Approximately 4.7 lac ITI applications are received on a yearly basis by the department and until this system, the admissions processes was being managed in a decentralised and manual manner at the respective ITIs. Prospective trainees can now apply online from any place in the State irrespective of the ITI they wish to enrol in. Applications are received online by DET and managed centrally until result declaration.
Online Exam Assessment and Control System – This system manages all examination activities such as applications, hall-ticket generation, Question Bank management, Exam Management, Packet Distribution and Collection and Assessment Management. As a result of this, the management of examination is decentralised but the controls over the entire system remains with DET. Exams are managed efficiently and results are also declared faster.
Industry Interface Cell – The Industry Interface Cell, a brainchild of DET, was implemented in the form of an online portal where the industry, the youth seeking skill training and certification, the trainers and the department could come together.
According to Dr Sandhya Bhullar, IAS and Director, Employment & Training, Government of Gujarat, “It is difficult to quantify the return on investment but the returns are clearly visible in terms of the ease with which DET is able to constantly meet its objectives of boosting employment in the state. A visible rise has been observed in the employability ratio because of the sync that exists between the training imparted and the skills required. A better platform now exists between job seekers and providers which have led to more fruitful recruitment for the industry and more opportunities for young job seekers. The efficiency obtained due to these e-governance measures has also left more time to DET employees to focus beyond operations and maintenance.”
The database of trained youth is made available to job providers and industries could put forth their skill requirements thus making it possible to provide training in sync with the latest industry requirements – something which wasn’t possible earlier.
The entire solution is web-enabled and the solution has been deployed in shortest span of 90 days and is being constantly updated with feedback from industries and other stakeholders of this system. Hosted at the data-centre, the entire system is following the work-flow and system management architecture providing check-points and vivid level of the organisation.
Sanjay Prasad, Principal Secretary, Department of Labour and Employment, Government of Gujarat shares, “The improvement in employability led to a better standard of living for people who had little means of livelihood earlier but could now lead their own lives. Their skill levels improved considerably and the employment further motivated them to add value to their skills and consistently improve. The trainees were provided a joint certificate by the industry and DET, which in a way, helped vouch for their skills and further enhanced their employability. Apart from the key outcomes, familiarisation with the industry made trainees more outgoing and helped them build interpersonal skills, which have added another dimension to this initiative.”
He further adds that, “Government of Gujarat has gone a step ahead in directly connecting the youth to the industries enabling them to seek jobs more actively. Further, we have managed to constantly train skilled workforce which closely matches the requirements of the industry thus boosting employability. While training is provided everywhere, the connection developed between the job seekers and the recruiters is what makes the initiative a huge success. This has also strengthened our bond with the industry and thus created another factor which attracts industrial investments into Gujarat. DET also realises the role of technology in achieving operational excellence, and continues to venture on initiatives that can continue to add value to youth from socially backward and poor background. Recently, DET has started providing weekly training through SATCOM to various areas of Gujarat with the help of Bhaskaracharya Institute of Space Applications and Geo-informatics (BISAG) and companies like Maruti Suzuki.”
With such innovative e-Governance initiatives, DET is trying to involve more industries in partnership for starting i-KVKs in the future. The online admission system is a tested and stabilised system. Further, the online examination and control system is going to be expanded to online skill related learning courses with practical training in ITIs and online examination system. Preparation of eLearning material for ITIs and other vocational training courses is being undertaken. For skill certification and vocational training, spreading awareness to end users will be a key part of the project and DET intend to do that through their own TV channel for e-Learning which will be broadcasted through BISAG. The online job portal with two way free communications and matching between job seekers and job providers is being prepared and tested for two districts. This job portal is expected to be launched this year.
“Before the implementation of the system, approximately 2.8 lakh candidates applied for admissions yearly. Post the implementation of the system, in 2013, the number increased to 4.7 lakhs and further went up to 5.4 lakhs in 2014. The State witnessed a clear improvement in the employability ratio for the target audience i.e. the rural masses. It was successfully able to train the unemployed masses and further connect them directly to the industry to seek jobs. Gujarat being the hub of industrial development in India, industries were always on the lookout for semi skilled labour for their workforce”, adds Pankaj Mistry and Manish Dave, Dy. Director, Employment & Training, Government of Gujarat
Our current education management system and administration needs to be streamlined, which is possible with absolute implementation of IT-based solutions. With a view to business with purpose, NYSA has developed a complete Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system that caters to the needs of the students, teachers, institutions and ministries at various levels. Niladri Das, Senior Vice President, NYSA Communications Pvt. Ltd. shares the vision and mission of the company with Elets News Network (ENN)
NYSA is a leading Enterprise Resource Planning service provider. What all its innovations may attract a client to choose the company?
We provide technology-based solutions to various governing bodies, i.e. the Department of Technical Education and private sector, including manufacturing, healthcare, real estate as well as other real time services. Our focus is ‘business with purpose’ for the welfare of society in our country. Keeping in mind the requirements of education sector, we have designed our solutions in a way that it helps ease the process through ERP solutions and Internet. We strive with full potential to offer our customers hassle- free services in the best possible way. This saves one’s efforts, time and cost.
What strategy have you developed and how does it help the education fraternity in a big way?
ERP is the utmost requirement of any educational institute or university to make its work simpler, advanced, error free and efficient. Our process is very transparent. Therefore, we have drastically reduced the burden of RTIs in the departments we are working with. Our solution helps in the overall administration from enrollment of a student to declaration of results of that student. Nowadays, a set of question paper, along with the carbon copy of answer sheet is given to the applicants almost in every examination. Further, to help studentsevaluate their score, we upload the answer sheets online. This system c an be followed at every government institution.
Which all states have you worked with and received a positive response?
We are working with progressive states like Gujarat, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand, etc. The Southern and Western parts of India have acceptance of ERP, but there is a lack of awareness in the Central and Eastern regions. Of late, mindset of people has been changing in the country. As of now, we are providing education solution to more than 500 large and medium sized clients in the Asian region. In Business with purpose addition, we are all set to expand our foothold in the Middle East and African region as well. So far, we have successfully provided our services to Jawahar- lal Nehru University, AIIMS, Maharishi Dayanand University, Punjab Technical University and Al-Falah, etc.
While implementing the ERP solution, how do you cope up with the challenges?
We have an expert team of IT professionals with years of rich experience in the software and education sector to deal with the challenges. The government and people are apprehensive about using technology or adopting new ideas in some of the regions. But, we are committed to make people’s life easier through our solutions at cheaper rates. We work on build-operate transfer (BOT) model. First, we get into the system, study it in detail and then design easier solutions. We handhold the system and our expert sits onsite to educate the end-user on the usage of the solution. The project is for a long duration of minimum two years. We help to streamline the workflow till the time the user feels comfortable to work on the solution. So far, our target was implementing Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in higher education, but now we are about to cater to school education as well. We are working on a model to connect every higher education institution via the common server
“Does your child say he or she hates to go to school? This is because Children are natural learners and do not like to do repeated things, a phenomenon that is related to the academic textbooks. The page number remains same and content never changes, same pictures and illustration for them to see throughout the academic year … quite boring indeed!”
Globus Infocom Limited distinguishes itself as a leading manufacturer of innovative products that helps in changing the education system as a whole. After years of research in observing the teaching trends and learning behaviour in education system, Globus has developed a solution that revives the pedagogy and brings back students to school with their complete interest in learning through technologically advanced gadgets.
High definition technology significantly refines the picture quality to produce crisp and clear visuals. With introduction of HD content of a topic, students get mesmerised and become eager to study more about a particular subject. Globus HD Classroom solution includes an interactive whiteboard with ceramic steel surface, multimedia projector, digital podium, interactive pad, visualizer, information kiosk and touch LED display.
Interactive whiteboard with ceramic steel surface gives teacher a pleasure for smooth writing and exceptional erasing capability that even erases ink of white board marker pens with ease. Infrared multi touch technology allows multiple students to collaborate and learn with fun.
Multimedia projector shares content from small screen of a laptop or digital podium to a maximum of 300-inch projection size giving each and every student a high resolution view of the content. With digital podium, teachers can organise presentations and deliver lectures using wireless microphone and speakers. A must have for large classrooms.
Interactive pad gives freedom to teachers, making them mobile and not to be restricted to the board while teaching. They can walk towards any corner of the room or hall and annotate on the interactive whiteboard keeping attention on every child in the classroom.
Touch LED comes in 55 inch to 80 inch of display size to suite accordingly, the area of classroom. It allows multiple users to annotate or collaborate together. It can also display videos and pictures from smart phone or pad wirelessly.
Products constituting HD Classroom solution is designed in a way that matches international quality and have been tested durable to bear the rigors of Indian classroom and climate too. HD classroom solution by Globus Infocom is an Ideal package of latest technology, durability, aesthetics and above all cost effective solutions for schools who aspires to step into the modern era of Hi-Tech digital Learning.
RP Sisodia, Secretary to Government of Andhra Pradesh
In sync with the flagship campaign of the country – ‘Digital India’, the Andhra Pradesh State Government has taken up the challenge to make government schools smarter at par with private technology schools. RP Sisodia, Secretary to Government of Andhra Pradesh (School Education), in conversation with Sudheer Goutham of Elets News Network (ENN) shares the Government’s various initiatives that are set to give fillip in quality of education in the rural areas
RP Sisodia, Secretary to Government of Andhra Pradesh
Can you throw some light on the latest endeavours of the state government in school education?
We are set to introduce the audio-visual, interactive teaching in government schools through multimedia computer- aided smart classes. The smart classroom is a proven mechanism which helps in quality enrichment through technological intervention. This technology driven method would not only make teaching more effective but also make it interesting for the students.
How will the infrastructure and installation for the capacity building system be brought in place?
A Geographic Information System (GIS) has been in the making already, with a central data base centre to be maintained by AP Online administration. AP Online, which maintains the government portals, is a joint venture of the government under PPP mode. Both software and hardware solutions will be provided by AP Online.
What is the status of the initiative and how is it going to be implemented to all the public schools of the State?
Currently, all the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidhyalayas in the State have complete online solutions in place. Starting from real time monitoring of attendance of students and teachers, this system will also help in tracking learning level achievements of the students. Soon, this system will be rolled out in all the government schools. To begin with, smart-class and online education system has been taken up as a pilot project. In the next six months, this will cover 9,000 schools reaching over two lakh students in the rural areas including those in Educationally Backward Blocks (EBB) of the State.
What are the skill development programmes associated with the introduction of this technology intervention system?
Teachers are being provided training to carry their teaching through virtual classes. Among the trained, the best teachers will be chosen to deliver classes online. Such training programmes will help build an e-environment as the teachers being trained will be acting as master trainers, thus helping in producing a larger number of e-learned teaching professionals in the State. AP Government is keen to multiply the number of smart classrooms in the schools.
Can you explain how the issues of school dropouts and decreasing performance level with increasing class standard be addressed?
Besides having a biometric-based attendance system, the online system will provide a broader system to monitor physical presence of students and teachers in state-run schools with the help of ‘live web streaming’ of video or photographs of classrooms.
This way by sitting at one place, we can see that the teacher, who has marked his/her attendance with biometric device anywhere in the State, is present in his assigned classroom at a particular time. This feature will allow us to cross check the attendance reports generated by a biometric device. Keeping an eye on the teachers will help to improve the quality of teaching as well as a classroom environment. Live monitoring will encourage teachers and students to maintain self-discipline and also act as a parameter for attendance.
With an aim to provide education to the doorsteps of deprived, National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) has made it flexible for students to complete their education in the comfort of their home
The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) was started as a project on ‘Open Schooling’ under the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in 1978. It had two objectives and one of them was that the school education in India was too straight jacketing. So, there has to be flexibilities for those who didn’t want to study mathematics or science because they found it going tough as they did not have the aptitude for it. However, they were forced to study and had no option. So, the first objective of NIOS was to give them options. As it would be chaotic if it is done in regular board, so project was set up for NIOS.
The second concern of the Ministry of Human and Resource Development at that time was that there’s a huge resource in our population which has never completed its education due to various reasons. The crux of it all was that people had to engage in economic activities and they had no time to go to school. Girls were kept away from school because of family responsibilities. Since there were so many children to look after, parents were engaged into a manual labour and there had to be someone at home and it ware only the girls who had to forego their education.This was actually affecting the country’s economy.
So, these people had to be educated and there was no other way for them to attend the school and schools were just not able to take them in. The Boards had their own limitations. They had the bylaws which did not permit children beyond 14 years to enter the education system. So, NIOS was the alternative created for the other side of the population to complete their education.
For 10 years it went on as a project, and was very successful. Going for the numbers which enrolled, NIOS was converted into an autonomous body by an active Parliament and became autonomous in 1989. That time it was the National Open School and it took immense hard work to consolidate the presence all over the country.
NIOS has entered into an MoU with 6000 schools, all over the country calling these as their study centres. NIOS also has its presence in the Middle East where a number of NRIs are going for Indian education
Working Model
The basic model on which NIOS worked on is the resource sharing model. What NIOS believe is that there are many schools on the ground which are being set up with the physical infrastructure, which is further determined by some by laws of State Board education or the Central Board of education. All schools are affiliated to Board of education. They laid out the norms for school infrastructure, appointment of staff, qualification of the staff for secondary and senior secondary level, and only then the school is affiliated to the Board
Since these Boards are doing so much of work and have their criteria in place, after 4 o’Clock this infrastructure is used by NIOS to fulfill the educational needs of other people who cannot attend regular schools. NIOS is motivating the teachers to do some voluntary works with very little remuneration to help out that class of learners who cannot go to regular schools but are willing to learn.
NIOS has entered into an MoU with certain schools and call these as their study centres. These are about 6,000 in number all over the country. NIOS also has its presence in the Middle East where lot of NRIs are going for Indian education.
NIOS operates through these study centres. The entire admission process is online. Anyone sitting anywhere can take admission. If someone doesn’t have access to internet, there are study centres with easy access and one can take an offline form and the study centre will put in the information of the candidate online. Admission is given for five years to the students. The students who enrolled with us can give the examination in every six months in any subject the student is learning. At the end of the five years the students have to clear five subjects and the certificate is issued thereafter.
Languages and Mediums
NIOS offers 17 Indian languages at the secondary level, eight languages at the senior secondary level and they have eight mediums at secondary level and six at senior secondary level. Currently, NIOS is focusing on Gujarati medium as there is a huge demand for it at the senior secondary level. There are a lot of students who want to study in vernacular languages and NIOS is facilitating education projects in whatever way they can, to make these youth industry ready.
Open Basic Education
NIOS celebrates Independence Day
The students can write the exam in any language. NIOS is working significantly in the area of Open Basic Education (OBE). It has tied up with NGOs of enrolling the children, educating them and NIOS will also give the course outline to these NGOs. It further gives the guidelines for preparing the question paper to evaluate the competencies of the children. The NGOs evaluate the answer sheets and send the marks to NIOS, on the basis of which it then gives certificates to these children. The certification is done at three levels namely A, B and C level, which is actually equivalent to class III, V and VIII level. Open Basic Education is for 6-14 age group of children. MHRD is going cautious about it because the government has already made a provision through Right to Education Act by which they say that every child of school going age must be in school, irrespective of the class for which the age is suited.
The OBE programme envisages schooling by providing a learning consortium based on graded curriculum ensuring quality of education for children, neoiterates, school drop-outs, left-outs and NFE completers. For implementation of the OBE programme, NIOS has forged a partnership with about 690 agencies providing facilities to them as study centres. The NIOS provides resource support (such as adaptation of NIOS model, curricula, study materials, joint certification, orientation of resource persons and popularisation of OBE to the voluntary agencies and Zila Saksharta Samities for implementation of its OBE programme.
Enrichment is also provided to the learners through the half yearly magazine ‘Open Learning’. The On-Demand Examination System (ODES) is in operation at Secondary and Senior Secondary stage. There is also a provision where learners can take 1 out of 10 vocational subjects at Secondary stage and 1 out of 20 vocational courses at Sr. Secondary stage in combination with academic subjects. Vocational Educational Courses are imparted through a network of Accredited Vocational Institutes for imparting skill – based training to its learners. The existing institutions like, Jan Shikshan Sansthans, Krishi Vigyan Kendras, Schools, Colleges, District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs), Universities, Paramedical Training Centres, NGOs and several other Voluntary agencies are partnering with NIOS in imparting Vocational education.
Adolescence Education Programme (AEP)
AEP is a collaborative programme of NIOS under the MHRDUNFPA supported initiative. National Curriculum Framework (NCF)- 2005, outlines that education should instill ‘independence of thought and action, sensitivity to others’ well-being and feelings, learning to respond to new situations in a flexible and creative manner, predisposition towards participation in democratic processes, and the ability to work towards and contribute to economic processes and social change.’ AEP works in the following areas:
Curricular Intervention Capacity Building Workshops Mitra: The Adolescent Friendly Centre Seminar Summer Internship Programme
Curricular Interventions:One of the major challenges for open and distance education system is to bring the benefit of hidden curricula and the nurturing environment of a school to the learners. The innovative pilot to integrate life skills in selected lessons from Home Science, Social Science, Science and Technology and Languages (Hindi and English) at Secondary level logically concluded in the year 2009. After the overwhelming results of the pilot, the task of integration was extended to the entire curriculum of these subjects. The endeavours of last three years culminated in the publishing of life skills enriched study materials which were made available to the 7,88,347 learners of academic year 2012-13 who will be benefitted through this material. Consistence efforts were made to address the apprehension of the various stakeholders and to enhance capacities of subject coordinators and lesson writers. These initiatives have resulted in a rich resource pool of professionals trained in curricular intervention to further extend this kind of initiatives to other levels. AEP unit also ensured that the Question Banks and Tutor Marked Assignments developed in these five subjects include items that are of higher order thinking skills and test life skills.
Capacity Building Workshops: It is a conceptual approach to development that focuses simultaneously on under- standing the obstacles that inhibit people and organisations from realising their development goals while enhancing the abilities that will allow them to achieve measurable and sustainable results. Three workshops were organised during year 2012-13, one each in Bhubaneswar, Jaipur and Korapur. 125 tutors/coordinators were oriented in these workshops.
Mitra – The Adolescent Friendly Centre:Set up as a pilot intervention in the year 2010 to provide adolescent – friendly space within the NIOS regional centre in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, Mitra addresses the issues and concerns of adolescents with an objective of developing learners’ potential through various strategies of Life Skills Education. Twelve programmes were organised during the year for engaging learners and 744 learners participated in all.
One of the major challenges for open and distance education system is to bring the benefit of hidden curricula and the nurturing environment of a school to the learners
Seminar on Life Skills Integration in Open Schooling: Towards Holistic Education
A two-day seminar Life Skills Integration in open Schooling: Towards Holistic Education, was organised on December 26 and 27, 2012, at the India Habitat Centre. The seminar Chair person was Dr S.S. Jena (Chairman, NIOS) and the seminar Director was Dr. Kuldeep Agarwal (Director, Academic, NIOS).
Summer Internship Programme
Adolescence Education Programme (AEP) at NIOS has been organising the one month Certificate Internship Programme once in a year for last two years. Interns are selected from the people who are nominated by their institutions and colleges and they are also provided with the stipend.
NIOS on Web
Making learning friendly, simple and accessible
Internet and Web Technology have proved effective in the teaching and learning process, especially in the field of Open and Distance Education. Information about NIOS is available on its website www.nios.ac.in
The learning process in NIOS is based on the needs of individual learner and the characteristics of a learning community. Open learning gives the learner control over what, where, when and how they learn. The focus of attention is the learner and the learning process. Elimination of fixed time (daily classes) and a fixed space go in favour of disabled learners and has been proved to be most suitable learning strategies for them.
Being an institution in Open and Distance Learning, ICT is being used as a major strategy towards reaching the unreached and providing the quality support to NIOS learners, especially to persons with disability. The NIOS has its own web portal www.nios.ac.in for dissemination of information and for providing online citizen – centric services as a major initiative of e-Governance. The NIOS online project has brought convenience to its learners, client group, and transparency in the basic operations of NIOS in the area of admission, examination and accreditation and enhanced the quality of the support services to its learners.
The admission process in NIOS is 100 per cent online due to which the content of the NIOS website has to be learner friendly, simple and accessible to learners. The website provides complete information about NIOS with rich content and designed by following the GIGW including guidelines of WCAG.
National Consortium for Open Schooling (NCOS)
The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), which has emerged as the largest Open Schooling system in the world, has a pivotal role to play in the promotion and development of Open Schooling in the country. However, it is not possible for NIOS alone to cater to the needs of all regions of our multilingual and multicultural country (India). The Open Schooling system is required to be promoted and strengthened in all the States of the country to “reach the unreached”. NIOS has, therefore, been pursuing the State Education Departments to set up State Open Schools (SOSs).The NIOS has been providing professional and technical support services to States to set up State Open Schools to cater to the educational requirements of the clientele/students.
With a view to systematise interaction and mutual consultation among the Open Schools at national level (NIOS) and at State level (SOSs), it was considered appropriate to establish a Consortium of Open Schools.
The National Consortium for Open Schooling (NCOS) was launched in September 1997, with a view to facilitate better cooperation, coordination, collaboration and determining standards in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) system at school education level in the country. The Secretariat of NCOS is located in NIOS. In order to meet the educational challenges, the Framework of NCOS has been modified.
COMOSA
The COMOSA is a non-profit, democratic, collaborative and futuristic organisation based on mutual respect and committed to support the efforts of open schooling institutions. The basic objective of the association is to cooperate and collaborate in development, promotion and introduction of innovative, high quality, relevant, equitable, gender-sensitive and cost- effective programmes of school education for sustainable development in commonwealth countries through Open and Distance Learning Mode, and thereby targeting to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) of the United Nations.
The Chairman, National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), India (Dr. S. S. Jena) has been elected as the first Chair- person of the COMOSA in its general Body Meeting held on November 25, 2009. It was also resolved by the members of COMOSA to have its first Secretariat located at NIOS Campus.
Prof. D. B. Gupta from the State Open School, Jammu and Kashmir (India) has been elected as the Treasurer of COMOSA. As resolved by the COMOSA members, a joint account for COMOSA is to be opened in Jammu and Kashmir to be operated by the Chairperson and the Treasurer of the Association. The COMOSA Secretariat is taking necessary action for registration of COMOSA in India as per the law of the country.
Concerned over bridging the gap of skilled labour in the automotive industry, Varun Suri, Expert-ICT enabled Automotive learning concepts, Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions Pvt Ltd laid stress on imparting training to the masses and feels that there is an urgent need to bring in innovative systems into the educational gamut that accelerate learning
AR/VR enabled next generation automotive learning
The automotive industry is one of the key drivers of India’s economy, accounting for around seven per cent of India’s GDP and employing over 19 million people, both directly and indirectly.
Demographically and economically, India’s automotive industry is well-positioned for growth, servicing both domestic demand, and the export market. Also, the auto components engineering and manufacturing industry compliments the entire ecosystem to further accelerate growth.
Due to the above business situation, it is expected that there will be a need of 48 million auto professionals by 2022 to meet the growing demands of the auto industry.
Despite the emphatic stress laid on education and training in India, a shortage of auto industry-ready students still exists. This gap has grown manifold due to the technological ad- vancements in the industry, and persistence of conventional learning tools and methods, therefore failing to bridge this gap.
Although there is a great focus on professional higher education across basic subjects that are needed for conceptual understanding, the application of learning in the real world scenario is still weak. Moreover, the learning content for topics linked to subjects such as automotive electronics is not always updated due to the fast changing technology landscape.
There is an urgent need to bring in innovative systems into the educational gamut that accelerate learning, and enable the automotive learner to be more industry ready. This can only be enabled through a strong industry connect.
As a large automotive industry powerhouse, Bosch in India has already been working with engineering institutions to enable them to accelerate learning. This is done through setting up state of the art automotive labs, offering internships within Bosch, and other such effective mechanisms.
Within Bosch also, traditional learning mechanisms are giving way to a more immersive and collaborative learning environment using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).
Particularly through AR/VR powered learning, the focus is on providing tools which decreases the cognitive load of the students while learning complex systems. This is done by providing modern methods like gamification, interactive virtual 3D models and animations.
To democratise and enable mass consumption –Bosch provides developed solutions on mobile platforms (smartphones).
The automotive domain competence combined with the power of immersive learning technologies (AR/VR) has given birth to the next generation learning programme at Bosch, named as Autocurious. This could be the perfect ingredient to solve the current learning gap in educational institutes.
We believe that this programme has the right content and mechanisms to enable accelerated learning because of the following features:
Latest automotive content from Bosch
Simplified learning of highly complex topics
Tailored to bridge gap between curriculum and industry requirements
Powered via immersive learning technologies such as AR/ VR
Cross-platform compatibility (can be used on a PC, tablet, smartphone)
Connect with us to know more about the Autocurious programme and how it can be enabled in your educational institute.
Sandhya Rani, State Project Director, Andhra Pradesh
To reduce the drop-out ratio at the primary and secondary level, Andhra Pradesh State Government has been making all efforts to improve basic amenities in public schools. Sandhya Rani, State Project Director, Andhra Pradesh, talks to Sudheer Goutham of Elets News Network (ENN) about the online monitoring system to be put up by the AP Government for the Education Mangers across the State to monitor all key education indicators
Sandhya Rani, State Project Director, Andhra Pradesh
How is the compliance of private schools to RTE Act in Andhra Pradesh. What is the progress in the implementation of RTE Act. Can you give numbers?
With regard to the provision of allocating 25 per cent seats in private schools to students from poor and economically weaker sections, Govt.Order.Ms.No.42, School Education, dated 30.07.2010 indicates the fee reimbursable and other conditions. This G.O is challenged in legal courts and further implementation is constrained by the same. Meanwhile, Government of Andhra Pradesh constituted a Committee for recommending fee reimbursable to private schools with regard to 25 per cent seats. The recommendations of the Committee are under examination by the Government.
What are the trends of school drop-outs ever since the RTE Act was introduced in 2009?
Drop-out rates at elementary and secondary stages of education have been declining. However, there is a need for greater progress. The low Net Enrolment Ratio (NER) at the upper primary level and the increasing enrolment gap from elementary to secondary level suggests that although a larger number of children are entering the educational system, a significant proportion of them are not progressing through the system to complete elementary/secondary cycle of education. Drop-out rates among disadvantaged groups, especially for girls from these groups, remain higher than the national average.
AP State Government is in the process of putting in place an online monitoring system for the Education Mangers across the State and monitor all key education indicators – enrolment, drop-out, transition, etc. As part of the focused measures to improve retention in schools of girl children from socially and economically disadvantaged communities, 352 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) are set up in the Educationally Backward Mandals/ Blocks (low female literacy Mandals) to provide residential schools for drop out girls from VI to X Class. About 68,000 girl students are currently pursuing their education in the KGBVs. During the current year, the Government has introduced the English medium education for the KGBV Girl students for their continuity/ retention in the schools.
Keeping in line with the objective of RTE Act, 2009, AP Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) ensures access to all the out of school children, i.e., children never enrolled, children dropped out and for urban deprived children like street children, orphans, rag pickers, children of broken family and children of Sex workers, etc. Quality education is provided through special training centers run under the supervision of regular schools and to track the children enrolled in special training till mainstreaming and thereafter in the school.
Drop-out Rates From 2009-10 To 2014-15- ALL (Recognised Schools)
Sr. No.
Year
Primary Level(I-V)
Elementary
Level (I-VII/VIII)
Secondary Level (1-X)
Boys
Girls
Total
Boys
Girls
Total
Boys
Girls
Total
1
2009-10
9.27
8.58
8.93
20.69
21.38
21.03
49.31
51.08
50.18
2
2010-11
10.56
9.33
9.95
15.35
15.99
15.66
42.95
45.44
44.19
3
2011-12
7.51
7.40
7.45
14.94
14.96
14.95
41.23
42.75
41.98
4
2012-13
5.83
6.34
6.08
20.33
20.42
20.38
32.84
34.00
33.41
5
2013-14
3.16
3.25
3.20
19.37
18.95
19.16
26.20
27.48
26.83
6
2014-15
4.88
4.30
4.60
14.91
16.59
15.74
24.54
25.93
25.23
Note: Dropout Rate at Elementary level for the years 2012-13 and 2013-14 is calculated for classes I- VIII
Lack of basic amenities in public schools including toilets, running water and other infrastructure, many girl students avoid coming to schools or miss classes. The situation continuous to be poor.
The Government of Andhra Pradesh has been making all out effort to improve basic amenities in public schools including toilets, running water and furniture, etc. Under the Swatcch Vidyalaya programme in all schools, one girls toilet and one boys toilet are provided. During the current year, in partnership with Government of India, Public Sector undertaking and Corporates, over 18,000 toilets were constructed/repaired in the State. Of the 47,000 schools, in 3000 (15.67 per cent) schools there is no running water. Alternative arrangements by way of supply through tankers are made by the District Collectors, through local Panchayat & Rural Water & Sanitation Department.
What initiatives are being taken by the State Government to improve literacy in the State?
Various initiatives are taken up for improving literacy in the State, especially of the school age going children –“Badi Piluthondi”(School is calling) campaigns to ensure 100 per cent enrolment of school age going children, provision of infrastructure, school uniforms, text books, Mid-Day meals, etc. Prathibha Awards (Merit Awards) awarded to the meritorious students who excel in the SSC Public Examination with a merit certificate, Memento and a scholarship amount of `20,000 for pursuing Higher Education.
The School Management Committees (SMCs) are in place in all the schools. SMCs provide a platform for parental motivation, participation in the school developmental activities, and directly or indirectly help in sustaining the enrolment and improvement of literacy.
Andhra Pradesh State has achieved significant progress in the last decade with regard to improving the levels of adult literacy among its population. Literacy levels have gone up from 60.47 per cent to 67.41 per cent during this period. However, this is still lower than the National average of 72.98 per cent. Under the Sakshara Bharat programme, Adult Education Centers (AECs) are set up at the Gram Panchayat level to provide institutional, managerial and resource support to literacy and lifelong education at grass root level. The AECs hold literacy classes for non-literates and semi-literate persons, conduct Skill Development Programmes, run libraries and reading rooms, etc.
Gujarat has a population of more than six crores and 65 per cent of this population comprises of employable youth. The dropout rate from schools was touching 63 per cent, rendering the drop outs unemployable due to lack of basic skills. The Directorate of Employment and Training (DET), under the department of Labour and Employment, is responsible for boosting employability of the youth of Gujarat and for supporting vocational training needs, which are essential to create a favourable employment climate for the poor, socially backward, residents of remote areas, drop outs and young students.This is achieved through a series of skill-building programmes that are aimed at providing training based on latest industry requirements. Training on various skills is provided through Kaushalya Vardhan Kendras (KVK) and Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs).
