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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digitalLEARNING Network

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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.

Inflation forces IIM to hike fees

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November 20, 2014

The premier managment institute, Indian Institute of Management, Ahemedabad has announced an increase in fee structure for the post graduate programmes by 11.5 percent.

As a result the fees for its post graduate programme (PGP) and PGP-Agribusiness Management (PGP-ABM) will increase from the present Rs. 16.6 lakh to Rs. 18.5 lakh for the course 2015-17. Similarly, fees for its executive programme, PGPX, IIM-A has increased the fees from Rs. 21.5 lakh to Rs. 24 lakh for the batches commencing from April 2015.

IIM management justified the hike on account of inflation. Ashish Nanda, Director, IIM-A said, “We have had no fee hike for the past two years. In these two years, inflation increased at about 10 per cent and also, administrative costs have gone up. As the institute is financially autonomous in its operations, and to maintain our fiscal prudence, we need to increase fees.”

Nanda added that the institution has been providing financial support to the students from economically weaker background. The institute has already disbursed financial aid of Rs. 7.55 crore to 295 students in 2012-13 and Rs. 6.94 crore to 242 students in 2013-14.

The Indian Institute of Management – Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has announced the induction of supernumerary seats for foreign nationals to increase the admission of management students from overseas and to bring in diversity in foreign students. IIM-A has 431 seats for PGP and PGP-ABM courses, while supernumerary seats will be about 10 per cent of the existing seats.

IIM-A Director Ashish Nanda said that the seats for the foreign students will be above the current capacity of foreign students.

Apart from the induction of supernumerary seats, the institute has also decided to change the curriculum of its flagship current post graduate programme (PGP) and PGP-Agribusiness Management (PGP-ABM). A feature of food processing business would be included in ABM programme that would equip students to take up career in food processing sector.

Vijay Paul Sharma, Chairman, PGP-ABM, added that the institute would be including students of non-agriculture background for ABM programme that would result in students becoming more diverse in terms of academic background.

For the first year students, from non-agricultural background, the institute has introduced two new courses – ‘agricultural systems’ and ‘rural social and institutional environment’.

OUP launches interactive English course for school students

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November 20, 2014

Oxford University Press (OUP) has launched ‘Echoes’, a 10-level interactive English course that focuses on everyday communication and aims to develop listening-speaking skills of students across India. This special course was introduced for high-school students keeping in mind how they can use English to benefit their academic, social and career prospects in a global context.

Inclusion of interactive methods and techniques in the course will help students to speak fluently. Audio CDs are part of this course which will also help students gain confidence to face social situations and improve their academic performance.

Teaching pronunciation of words, words stress, sentence stress, pauses in long utterances, intonation are all part of this course.

Apart from Bangalore teachers, teaching faculty from National Public School, Delhi Public School, KLE group of schools and Sindhi High School were also present during the workshop.

OUP Managing Director Ranjan Kaul stated that when it comes to choosing comprehensive course for students of classes 1 to 10, Echoes focuses on enhancing oral communication skills of students. Kaul added, providing quality material to meet the requirements of both the teachers and learners is their first priority.

Heralding A Digital Revolution :: November 2014

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November 20, 2014

Guest Editorial

Preparing India for the Future

Editorial

Shaping India, Shaping the Future

Cover Story

Heralding a Digital Revolution

Towards new-age Kerala

Heading towards Modernisation

Advertorial

Development Initiatives: The Pathway to ‘Skill India’

Exploring the possibilities with Online Education

Leader Speak

‘I expect wonders over the next three years’

‘Education policy needs structural changes’

‘Capacity building of teachers needs top priority’

‘Increasing GER without Employability Unwise’

‘Motivated Teachers are what We Lack’

‘Digital India should begin with higher education’

‘Technology a key Enabler’

Higher Education

India’s Achilles’ Heel

Corporate

Opportunities Galore

Industry Speak

‘Resistance to change and mindsets key roadblocks’

Breaking Digital Barriers

‘Document security a global issue’

‘Skill Development is not aspirational’

‘Digital India needs Champions to Drive it Forward’

Execution is the key

Company Profile

Bringing World-Class Education to India

Special Feature Pre Schools

Who’s minding my baby?

‘No clear policy for standalone preschools’

‘Future holds tenfold growth in the organised sector’

World Class Education for Kids

‘Parenting is becoming more outsourced’

Structured approach to learning concepts

‘Preschools should not be Regulated’

Making Learning a Pleasure

‘Venture Capital Funds should be seen with Caution’

‘Child is the Centre of our Universe’

The ‘play way’ to education

‘Aim to reach small towns of India’

‘Regulations should not Act as a Disincentive’

‘SMARTKiDZ Perfect for My Mission’

Lead Feature

Providing Holistic Development

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November 20, 2014

Genesis of the Group
SMARTKiDZ is a chain of Preschools, incorporated in the month of January 2008 and is an ISO 9001: 2008 certified company by TUV of Germany. It is a Hyderabad’s based organisation, hence we established franchisees initially in Hyderabad and gradually expanded all over South. Today we have 100+ franchisees across South and 185+ franchisees pan India. The main motive of the organization is to provide best educational experience and quality to the children.

School’s Philosophy
Every child is a unique individual and they develop at a different pace. Children should learn in a safe, child centered environment through exploration and a variety of open ended activities. We ensure that the children learn in an friendly envirnoment where they develop social, physical, emotional, spiritual and intellectual skills to meet the challenges ahead.

Year of Inception: January 2008

CEO: Mr. A. S. Ganesh

Age: 53

Educational and professional background:
Mr. A. S. Ganesh, is a Science Graduate and Post Graduate in Business Management. His last assignment in India was with a multinational oil company as an Asst. Vice President. He has an overall work experience of over 25 years in India and abroad in the field of sales & marketing. He has also worked as a marketing consultant for an NGO.

Head Office & Address:
Smartkidz Educare India Pvt. Ltd
Plot No. 97, Phase I, Gunrock Enclave, Near Mudford, Secunderabad – 500009.
Contact No: 040-27498117 / 118

USP of the Group:
The USP of SMARTKiDZ is the methodology and the curriculum that we follow. The curriculum is designed by keeping in mind the syllabus for CBSE, ICSE and SSC curriculum. This would ease the process of admission of the child for higher classes. The curriculum is followed uniformly in all our schools which would be helpful for the inter-school transfer across any state. The other unique offer from Smartkidz is that we provide value based education which is part of our curriculum.

Funding Source: Own

Is any VC or private equity involved: NO

How many franchisees are under you? 185+

Expansion programme:
Today we have 185+ franchisees in 13 states i.e. Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Pondicherry, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat & New Delhi. Every year there has been a tremendous growth by making our presence in new States. We had been growing at 40 – 50 per cent per annum. We plan to make our presence in all the remaining states also.

New Education Verticals: Taken over and existing formal school

Requirements for taking up franchisee with your group:
Area: 2000 sq ft & above
Investment capacity: Rs. 7 – 10 lakh
Aspiring individuals having flair for kids and a burning desire to be an entrepreneur

Deliverables for the Franchisee owner:
Training – An intensive training is provided to the center head’s and the teachers which help them to carry out their day to day activities. They are also trained on the curriculum, events & celebrations. Positive Parenting Workshops are conducted for effective rearing of the child.

Marketing– Pan India advertisement support including all the designs are provided to the Franchisees along with the guidance for carrying out the marketing activities.

Ongoing – Support for the complete school set up, technical support and day to day support for the smooth running of the school successfully.

Branding – We carry out different activities for branding like news paper advertisements, online marketing ( SEO – for Google search), magazine advertisements, etc.

Website: www.smartkidzindia.com

‘SMARTKiDZ Perfect for My Mission’

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November 20, 2014

Excellent curriculum, efficient management and the right ideologies are what attracted C Gayathri Jitendra to SMARTKiDZ. Five years as Center Head of the Bachupally franchise, she says she is proud to be part of this thorough and professional early childhood educator

Why did you get into preschool education?
Education is my passion. As I saw my children growing, I learnt many things myself. Their inquisitiveness made me realise that with little guidance, they could do wonders. With this inspiration, I thought of running a preschool where I can help and guide other children in the right direction and in turn, help the nation by nurturing future ambassadors. I believe a preschool is the only place where we can give the right morals, values and make children aware of traditions and culture from an early age. I believe one must have a strong foundation for a long-lasting impression.

Why Smartkidz?
I found SMARTKiDZ perfect for my mission as it is managed by efficient and capable directors. The quality of education and the ideologies are very well-suited for training preschool children.

What is the amount you invested?
The amount invested has been spread across couple of years. As it stands, school has become capable of handling its routine expenses without any external financial assistance.

What is the royalty paid by you to your franchisor?
A total of 15 per cent royalty is paid by the franchisee with extra service charges. I feel it is reasonable for the quality they provide.

How long have you been with Smartkidz?
I have been working with SMARTKiDZ as Center Head for the last five years and am proud to be part of this thorough and professional early childhood educator.

What is the assistance you get from your franchisor?
SMARTKiDZ provides all guidelines throughout the year which includes training teachers, center head in handling and guiding the tiny tots in a professional way. The training includes personality development, enhancing extra-curricular activities, motor skill development, special care for overactive and differently abled children, organising special events, child care, child safety, and new methods of teaching.

What is the curriculum prescribed by Smartkidz? Are the academic guidelines sufficient? Are you allowed to experiment?
One of the main reasons I choose SMARTKiDZ is for its excellent curriculum. Due to this prescribed curriculum, I have witnessed oustanding performances by children at school. Writing and reading skills have been introduced with easy and playful methods. Many concepts have been introduced through moral stories, pictures flash cards and puppet shows. Practical knowledge is gained trough field trips. Animated audio visual sessions help children learn concepts easily. Focus and concentration of the child is developed through various motor skill development activities. As we all know, every child is different in his/her pace of learning. The curriculum is well designed to bring all the aspects of early childhood education. New technologies, teaching methodologies and creative ideas are encouraged to promote positive outcomes to their learning and behaviour.n

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