Lok Sabha Discusses Setting up Another Central University in Bihar

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November 26, 2014

With the Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2014, introduced in August, the Lok Sabha held discussion for a bill to set up another central university in Bihar.

This new central university has been named after Mahatma Gandhi and would come up at Motihari in East Champaran as this was the place where he experimented with the idea of ‘Satyagrah’ during the ‘neel andolan’ (indigo movement) in 1917. This university would have its jurisdiction in north of river Ganges in Bihar.

The bill also proposes to rename the existing central university located in Gaya as ‘Central University of South Bihar’. Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, who had made efforts for getting another central university in Bihar, said the central government’s decision to have the new university and to name it after Mahatma Gandhi is historic.

Also present during the discussion was Nagendra Kumar Pradhan (BJD) who drew attention to lack of faculty members at Odisha’s central university. Likewise, BJP member, Ashwani Kumar Choubey asked for the revival of Vikramshila University. S S Ahluwalia (BJP) urged the government to look at setting up a university in Darjeeling and Rajendra Agrawal (BJP) demanded that Meerut University should be given the status of a central university.

Allow Girls to Use Library: HC tells AMU

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November 26, 2014

The Allahabad High Court has ordered authorities at the Aligarh Muslim University to allow girls full access to its central library.

The move comes on the heels of Vice-Chancellor (VC) Lt Gen Zameer Uddin Shah having triggered a controversy by saying that granting access to undergraduate girls would invite “four times more boys” to the Maulana Azad Library.

Union HRD minister Smriti Irani had termed the VC’s remark as an insult to women. Minority Affairs minister Najma Heptulla and Congress leader Rashid Alvi too condemned the statement.

However, Lt Gen Zameer Uddin Shah later clarified that his statement was misinterpreted and sensationalised. The High Court issued notice amid reports of the university bowing down to massive pressure and informing the HRD ministry that a request by the Women’s College students to access the central library is under consideration.

The Women’s College Students Union president Gulfiza Khan suggested that instead of imposing restrictions on girls, the college authorities should introduce safety measures. After the issue triggered a national debate, the Women’s College Students’ Union and the AMU Students’ Union held a joint protest march on campus against the media for its “biased” reporting on this matter and asked the HRD ministry to stay away from the issue.

Govt withdraws Higher Education & Research Bill

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November 26, 2014

HRD minister Smriti Irani has withdrawn the bill from Rajya Sabha which was aimed at creating a separate supreme body in the higher education sector while subsuming existing regulatory bodies like University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE).

The Higher Education and Research Bill was introduced by the UPA government in Rajya Sabha in 2011 by then HRD minister Kapil Sibal but failed to reach an agreement as several parties raised objections to the provisions of the legislation. The bill had sought to establish a National Commission for Higher Education and Research, with the mandate to determine, coordinate, maintain and promote standards of higher education and research other than agricultural education and minimum standards of medical education.

The withdrawal of The Higher Education and Research Bill, 2011, was cleared by Union Cabinet in September keeping in mind the objections of the Parliamentary Panel to various provisions of the legislation.

Listing their objections in 2011, the Parliamentary Standing Committee in its report stated that the HRD ministry had not consulted state governments while drafting this Bill. It was recommended that state governments should be included in formulation of any policy on higher education. Moreover, it had also opposed the proposal to scrap UGC, AICTE and other regulators. The bill also faced heat for impeding the federal structure of the country as it sought to give all powers to the commission when decisions regarding education are controlled by the state as well as the Centre.

To Regulate or Not to Regulate?

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November 25, 2014

The Delhi High Court’s latest directive on playschools in the national capital has once again underlined the absence of guidelines and regulation in the booming pre-school sector. In a rap to the Delhi government for having failed to ensure 25 per cent reservation to poor children in play schools running on land allotted at concessional rates, the Delhi High Court has now directed the Directorate of Education (DoE) to ensure that all schools, which have been allotted land, abide by the provision.

Pre-schools, until now, had managed to escape the provisions of the Right To Education Act (RTE). Under the RTE Act, it is not mandatory for the state to provide for the care of the children until the age of 6 years when most social, emotional and cognitive skills are formed. The Act states: “Provision for early childhood care and education to children below the age of six years — The State shall endeavour to provide early childhood care and education for all children until they complete the age of six years.”

While this directive heeds well for inclusion in early childhood education, more crucially, it also paves way for regulation in the hitherto unregulated sector. The need for regulating the pre-school sector stems from their mushrooming in the metros and tier II and tier III cities. Research reports estimate that the preschool business is expected to touch Rs. 13,300 crore by 2015-16, out of which branded preschools are expected to contribute about Rs 4,500 crore. Similarly, the number of preschools in India will reach the 33,000 mark by the end of 2015, reporting a growth of 26 per cent annually.

Even more notable is the fact that the organised sector comprises 17 per cent of the industry, with the penetration rate expected to rise to 25 per cent by 2015, due to the rapid growth of preschools in Tier-III and Tier-IV cities. It is in this backdrop that exercising control over preschools becomes both a challenge and a necessity. Pre-schools today exist in abundance and their number is only growing. With no rules in place to set up and run a pre-school, it does not take much investment and trained resource for doing so. As a result, these so-called schools can be found anywhere from verandahs to terraces to backyards and one-room sets. Quality of education and safety for the children enrolled here (between two and six years – the most crucial stage of for a child’s development) is not paid much heed.

The court directive, experts believe, now puts the onus of regulating the pre-school sector on the government. Though land has not been given to all existing pre-schools at concessional rates, the government cannot afford to frame different policies for different schools (who have received land at a concession and those who have not). As a consequence, the pre-schools sector could soon see some regulation. We believe it’s about time.

DigitalLEARNING IMPACT

In the November issue of digitalLEARNING, we had argued that in view of the flourishing pre-school sector across cities and towns of India, they need to be regulated. As part of the special feature on pre- schools, we also spoke to different stakeholders to get their views on regulating this burgeoning sector. (Read full story here)

Most believe that there was need for pre-schools to be regulated, till the point that it does not act as a disincentive.The HC directive may have stopped short of addressing the larger issue of regulation; it is a much-needed beginning in the direction nevertheless. Tell us what you feel on the matter. We look forward to your views and suggestions.

NSDC, DU Collaborate for Skilling Undergraduate Students

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November 25, 2014

Enhanced employment opportunities may soon be on the cards for 4 lakh undergraduate students at Delhi University. The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and DU have joined hands to introduce skill-based training programmes to improve their employability in the increasingly competitive market.

NSDC and DU have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to bring skill-based training for the undergraduate students in DU, including the School of Open Learning (SOL) and Non-Collegiate Women’s Education Board (NCWEB). The MoU was signed by Dilip Chenoy, Managing Director & CEO, NSDC and Dr. Tarun, Registrar, University of Delhi.

This programme would include systematic training, certificates of competency, and placement assistance. The programmes offered will be aligned to Qualification Packs (QP) and National Occupational Standards (NOS) developed by NSDC through Sector Skill Councils. The skills provided during the training will be measured by facilitating employment to the students post achieving certification.

The students will be given a choice to select any one skill-based course from the identified sectors in addition to the regular academic subjects. This course will be a part of applied course offered to the students and will be integrated into the time table of the participating colleges.

Post achieving certification, NSDC will ensure that its Sector Skill Councils and Training Partners who will be participating in the implementation of the program agree to 70 percent post training placement of students desiring the same.

Commenting on the partnership, Dilip Chenoy said, “The University of Delhi is one of the premier universities in the country known for its standards of education and research. NSDC is pleased and honoured to partner with DU in this initiative. This is a big opportunity for students who wish to supplement their theoretical knowledge with practical hands-on training that will improve their employability in the increasingly competitive job market in the country and transform their lives.”

With mutual understanding between DU and NSDC, up to 6 sectors per college will be introduced initially which include IT/ITES, BFSI, telecom, healthcare, automotive and media & entertainment. DU will create awareness among the students to promote and encourage enrolment in skill based courses by sharing information on its website, mass e-mailing students and actively promoting it on other social media platforms.

Every student will be awarded a joint certificate on successfully undergoing assessment as per the guidelines issued by DU and NSDC. Prior to the start of a new academic year, DU and NSDC will jointly review introducing new sectors and courses based on the demand of the industry.

Deloitte ranks Edureka as India’s Fastest Growing Technology Company

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November 24, 2014

Kapil Tyagi, Chief Product Officer & Co-founder, Edureka

Edureka (Brain 4ce Education Solutions Pvt. Ltd.) has been declared the fastest growing technology companies in India in a ranking of the 50 fastest growing technology companies in India. The Deloitte Technology Fast 50 India 2014 has ranked Edureka on top of the list based on percentage revenue growth over three years. Edureka grew at a whopping 2768 per cent in the past three years.

The Technology Fast 50 India program, which was launched in 2005, and celebrating its Tenth anniversary this year, is conducted by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Private Limited (DTTIPL), and is part of a truly integrated Asia Pacific program recognizing the India’s fastest growing and most dynamic technology companies (public and private companies) and includes all areas of technology – from internet to biotechnology, from medical and scientific to computers/hardware. The program recognizes the fastest growing technology companies in India based on their percentage revenue growth over the past three financial years.

Lovleen Bhatia, Edureka’s CEO & Co-Founder, has credited this achievement to the company’s innovative course delivery model, professional relationship with their customers and a dedicated and diligent team. “Edureka is delighted to have received the award. This recognition certainly would further motivate our team’s aim to extend a highly professional online alternate education platform for learners globally,” he said.

Edureka was founded by two ex-Infosys employees & IIT alumni – Lovleen Bhatia and Kapil Tyagi and is among the fastest growing online education platforms offering live instructor led technology and business courses to professionals and students across the globe. With a dropout rate of only 10% and huge student market base in India, USA, UK and Australia, Edureka plans to offer 100 courses in multiple niche domains by end of 2014.

Private Schools: Boon or Bane?

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November 22, 2014

The New Year is around the corner. However, for most parents, the revelry is short-lived more than often. The primary reason behind this phenomenon is the list of worries that bother them regarding their child’s well being. On top of this list are the issues revolving around the availability, accessibility and affordability of quality education for their kids. Though the government schools have, to a large extent, tried and managed to address the issue of affordability, there are huge gaps when it comes to the issue of access and quality. This is where private initiatives, missionaries, philanthropic bodies and civil society organisations have, over the years, contributed their bit.

There is no denying the fact that the private school revolution has gripped India for decades now. However, there are questions that remain about their ability and success in imparting education the way it is meant to be. There are ample examples of private schools having turned into profit milking machines. Exorbitant fee structures and lack of focus on academic excellence and character building have raised doubts over the efficacy and credibility of these schools.

One may tend to brush these issues aside in view of lack of options, but these issues merit our undivided attention and deliberation. School education is one of the most crucial years that determine the future of children and the impact they are likely to have on the future of the nation and society.

Private schools have emerged out of the failure of the government to address the huge demand for education in the country. There is no denying that most of these schools have done a good job while keeping their moral fabric intact. Discipline, individual attention and a safe environment have also been their merits. However, in the changing contours of the global knowledge society, one is tempted to ask where it is leading us.

Sample the following:

UNESCO estimates 1 billion people are still likely to be extremely poor in 2015 and globally 57.8 million children are still out of primary school.

India has managed a literacy rate of 74.04 per cent as against 64.8 per cent in the previous census operations in 2001. This however does not imply that all of them have attended school.

According to one estimate, 4 per cent of India’s children never start school, about 58 per cent complete primary education and 90 per cent don’t finish school.

UNESCO estimates India needs 4 million teachers to keep children in classrooms

Numerous other reports have pointed that much of emerging India can’t read or do maths and that going to school is not same as learning.

At the primary and secondary level, India has a large private school system complementing the government run schools, with 29 per cent of students receiving private education in the 6 to 14 age group.

So, the question is – where are we, as a nation, heading? Have lack of options molded our minds to an extent that we oversee follies? Or, have private schools actually managed to provide for the quality of education that children need to be future ready? What is your take? Share it with us and let people know what you feel about this crucial issue. We look forward to your views.

Is E-learning the Future of Education?

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November 21, 2014

In the past few years, there has been a huge surge in interest and adoption of online education. Undeniably, one of the main contributors in increasing this adoption has been the emergence of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) through companies like Coursera, EdX, Udacity and others. The numbers can help us understand how there has been a tectonic shift in acceptance and pervasiveness of these platforms. Coursera alone has over 9 million learners from over 190 countries. Outside US, the maximum number of sign-ups is from India, China and other developing countries.

While this is nothing short of a ‘revolution’ in education, it will be false to conclude that online education has been a recent phenomenon. Right from the early days of Internet, the potential of using it as a medium to teach and learn had been debated and tinkered with, but never were such results achieved. While there could be a lot of factors at play, a couple of them played a very key role and hence, deserve special mention. Firstly, evolution of technology has been a great enabler in the way learning content gets created, captured, curated and distributed. The barriers of cost and effort have been brought down and this has made online education scalable and successful. Secondly, as consumers, our comfort and propensity to interact with digital content, whether through videos, webinars, audio or text, has increased significantly over the past 6-8 years. Inadvertently, this has made us, as learners, comfortable with and adaptive to digitised learning content.

Though there can be no debate on how online education has reached hitherto unknown scale and unexplored territory, predictions of online education replacing schools, colleges or universities seem to be unfounded. It is important to understand and acknowledge that there is a new way to teach and learn – through the power of Internet and mobile. But what we have achieved today is only in terms of using technology to connect a massively distributed set of learners with teachers. It definitely does not mean that we have perfected the art/science of teaching, for there is a lot more to high quality education than just creation and distribution of learning content. Cardinal aspects of learning in a classroom such as peer interaction, academic rigor, effective collaboration, credible evaluation form an indelible part of one’s learning experience and need to be successfully replicated online.

While there are some very bright and promising startups working towards solving some of these aforementioned challenges, we are far away from figuring out what works best. Many of the globally reputed universities are employing a blended approach in executive education wherein candidates can access content and learn at their own convenience using Internet as a medium but also attend periodic (few days a month) sessions in classroom where the other aspects of learning are addressed. This approach ensures that every learner goes through a controlled and standardised learning experience, as opposed to learning outcomes being staggered and heavily dependent on the individual herself.

Educators and institutions need to look at online education as an opportunity rather than a challenge to their existence. High quality institutions have prevailed and will continue to do so while the mediocre ones will wither away as has always been the case. The MOOCs revolution has proved that there is a huge world of learners out there who are ready and willing to invest time, resources and effort to learn. The success and scale that you, as an educational institution or educator, can achieve through embracing the online medium is largely dependent on your ability to design and implement a high quality learning experience. It is imperative to realise that transposing all that happens in a classroom environment on an ‘as-is’ basis is not going to work. Employing a new medium for a dispersed audience needs a critical redesign of instruction, pedagogy and interaction. While the opportunity is immense, there is significant effort that educational institutions need to put in to ensure successful outcomes. And if it is any sort of inspiration, it may be worthwhile to note that the universities that are leading this ‘revolution in education’ are the ones with hallowed history and impermeable legacy – Harvard, Stanford, MIT among others. There can be no more portent an indicator of the times that are to come.

While there are many ideas around online education being experimented world over, there are some very promising concepts that could contribute towards a more empowered learning experience. Social learning, gamification and peer evaluation have demonstrated some success and may soon find their way into how courses and programmes are taught online. Another potential game changer could be mobile learning and given the impending 4G rollout in India, it will be interesting to see how things pan out in this regard. All in all, we are still in early days of online education and this opportunity will evolve, albeit at a much rapid pace than ever before.

The opportunity in terms of what technology can do for education and the promise it holds is undeniable. It is not uncommon to come across passionate debates on how the evolution and prevalence of online learning will challenge the hegemony of legacy brick and mortar institutions built over decades and centuries. However, it is important to not reduce this significant development into a trivial debate of ‘us vs them’. If online education has to have a long-term bearing and high quality impact, it has to begin with supplementing classroom learning, growing in scale and constantly evolving in the process.

– Hari Nair

The author is an Associate Director at Great Lakes ELearning, the online learning platform of Great Lakes Institute of Management, where he has been developing innovative online programs for over two years.

e-Libraries, Wi-Fi Enabled Classrooms in India soon

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November 20, 2014

Higher education in India could get the desired fillip through emphatic usage of technology and coming together of industry, government and academia, experts suggest. If government efforts go well, students across India may soon have access to a massive national e-library and Wi-Fi enabled classrooms in schools. Shedding light on government’s ICT commitment, Amita Sharma, Advisor, Ministry of Human Resource Development, has said that work towards building a massive national e-library and providing Wi-Fi connectivity in classrooms has already been initiated.

According to her, the government is also working on creating MOOCs content under the Swayam platform. “Work is under progress and students will soon be able to log into the web and access free content created by our own premier institutes,” she informed, adding that IIT Bombay had already signed an agreement with Edex to take this forward.

“While the government is taking aggressive initiatives to improve the scenario of higher education in the country, close collaboration with the industry should also be encouraged to build world-class academic institutions to nurture Indian students and attract global talent,” said Dr. R. Chidambaram, Principal Scientific Advisor, Government of India.

He was speaking at a session on ‘Technology, Excellence & Innovation in Education in higher education’ during the Indo-US Technology Summit 2014 organised jointly by the Confederation of Indian Industry, the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India and the US Department of State.

While talking about the emerging technologies, which hold the potential of revolutionising the higher education system, he listed some key classroom breakthroughs like cloud computing, mobile learning, tablet computing, MOOCs, open content, learning analytics, gamification, 3-D printing, virtual and remote labs and wearable technology. In his closing remarks, he said that technology-driven higher education was a must to help drive the vision of creating a ‘knowledge economy’.

The session was also attended by Dr. Robin Angotti, Associate Professor of Mathematics Education, University of Washington, who focussed on the need to usher thoughtful innovation in present day classrooms. Prof. Sandeep Sancheti, Vice-Chancellor, Manipal University, Jaipur, also shared his personal experience how new IT-driven tools in the classroom helped him convert an extremely complicated subject like Electromagnetic Theory into an engaging area of interest.

Despite the massive usage of technology to transform higher education in India, there are a number of aspects limiting its access and adaptability. Highlighting some of these, Dr. Dinesh Awasthi, Director, Entrepreneurship Development Institute, said that bandwidth, affordability and most importantly barriers of language were some key areas that could be addressed through technology. Another challenge being faced by the students was the inappropriate student-professor ratio, pointed out Mr. Sankaran Raghunathan, Staff Representative for India, Broward College. He said that the issue of demand and scalability could be addressed by introducing software-driven learning tools that can enhance the reach and bridge the time zone and geographical differences.

While higher education in India called for extensive use of technology, the role of educator also needs to be revisited, said Vinnie Jauhari, Director, Education Academy, Microsoft USA. There is a need to inculcate the new-age professional competencies like critical thinking, team work, attention to detail, problem solving, teamwork with the help of technological integration, she added. However, irrespective of the many challenges, Indian students comprise a large under graduate population in world’s top 200 universities. Given the enormous repository of domestic talent, the academic system should focus on research and innovation, which if backed by strong industry involvement can bring Indian students to the forefront and make them globally competitive, said Prof. Swapan Bhattacharya, Director, NIT Surathkal.

German envoy meets RSS leaders over language row

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November 20, 2014

The ongoing row over replacing Sanskrit with German as a third language in Kendriya Vidyalayas seems not to be ending anywhere soon as German Ambassador to India, Michael Steiner met with the members of the Sanskrit Shikshak Sangh (SSS) to resolve the matter. The Sangh has the solid backing of top Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan (RSS) ideologue Dinanath Batra, who was also present during the discussion.

Mr Steiner’s meeting with Dinanath Batra comes soon after PM Narendra Modi assured German Chancellor Angela Merkel he would look into her concerns over the decision of SSS who had earlier moved to the Delhi High Court against the move to introduce German as third language.

Dinanath Batra, who famously forced Penguin India to withdraw American scholar Wendy Doniger’s book “The Hindus: An Alternative History”. He is currently preparing a “blueprint” for “Indianising” the education system and liberating it from the clutches of western education.

The German delegation sought more cooperation for promotion of the two languages with Steiner proposing a conference for promotion of German and Sanskrit for fostering closer cultural ties, to which both sides agreed.

Expressing his views on promoting both Sanskrit and German languages, Stiener said, “I visited the Sanskrit Sansthan to express solidarity with Sanskrit language with which we have common roots.”

Sanskrit Sansthan officials explained to the German side that the agreement signed between India and Germany in 2011 for teaching German as a third language in KVs was due for renewal, but the government had not agreed to it.

Moreover, the MoU – signed between Goethe Institute Max Muller Bhavan, Delhi, and Kendriya Vidhlayas in 2011 – violated the three language policy as enunciated in the National Policy on Education, 1968, and National Curriculum Framework 2005.

Germans were told that the HRD Ministry had not approved the MoU. The German side agreed that things should happen as per Indian laws and sought more cultural exchanges between German and Sanskrit scholars for closer ties between the two sides to which the Sansthan members agreed.

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