Preschool is one of the most lucrative segments of the Indian education market and is flourishing, unfortunately, sans regulation. Stakeholders are almost unanimous in calling for proper guidelines and procedures to regulate this segment. Nidhi Sharma of ENN reads the tea leaves

Jaya, Ekta and Abha (names changed) were housewives in the middle class locality of Mayur Vihar in East Delhi till a few years ago. Not any more. The trio is laughing their way to the bank every month. There are no bounds to their joy. The reason for their joy? The three of them have started preschools for tiny tots in DDA flats at their ground floor residence, with the verandah converted into a playground. Interestingly, the three schools started by these new enterpreneuers are closely located within 200 meters of each other!

This phenomenon is not limited to Mayur Vihar or Delhi. Preschools continue to mushroom across the metros, tier II and tier III cities. It can also be started in the house one lives and can manage to keep clean and decorated. The factors driving such an unprecedented growth can be attributed to rapid urbanisation, parents’ rising aspirations for quality education (English Convent education), improved affordability and more women joining the workforce.

For the uninitiated, preschools are a part of the non-formal education system. Emerging as a lucrative business for everybody, it is known by various names such as creche, nursery, kindergarten, home-based child care system, preparatory schools and nursery schools. The age for admission to these schools typically ranges between two and six years – the most crucial stage of for a child’s development.

Regardless of its spread and rising demand, the preschool sector operates without any formal guidelines. This means there are no rules on minimum age for admission, teacher-child ratio, curriculum, trained staff, sanitation and safety and security measures. As a consequence, monitoring of these schools has become difficult. This has placed the kids at the receiving end with maltreatment and even sexual assault.

Sample the following:
January 2014: Srinivas, 25, a bus driver at a preschool in Bangalore was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a two-and-a-half year old girl.

September 2014: A two-and-a-half year old child was repeatedly abused by Amit Kumar (22), a security guard-cum-help, who looked after the children in the absence of women staff at a playschool in Rohini, New Delhi.

October 2014: A 3-year old nursery student was allegedly sexually abused by office assistant Gundappa, 45, inside her class in Bangalore.

Low entry barriers, minimal investment and absence of regulations to oversee the preschool segment have attracted huge interest in this segment. No prior permission or licensing is needed and there is full freedom for promoters to design and develop learning programmes.

The preschool business operates in both the unorganised sector and by corporate. Some of the big businesses in India include Tree House, Bachpan, Euro Kids, Shemrock, Kangaroo Kids, Podar Jumbo Kids, Jumbo, Little Millenium, Apple Kids, Time Kids etc.

According to a Crisil research report, 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, another report estimates that 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.

Key Risks
• Increasing incidents of child abuse
• Exhorbitant fees
• No prior permission or licensing required to start these schools
• Quality of education or activities varies from institute to institute
• Curriculum needs to be streamlined
• Maintaining a proper teacher-child ratio, engagement of trained staff

Yet, the preschool industry is in its nascent stage in India with around 1.1 per cent enrolment as compared to France or Scotland where enrolment is 100 per cent.

According to leading research firm Gyan Research and Analytics Pvt. Ltd., 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. In this background, exercising any control over the preschools for quality assessment to regulate the standards of preschool education is a huge challenge.

Time and again, whenever stories of sexual assult are flashed by 24X7 electronic media, it manges to momentarily stir the nation’s collective conscience. Stakeholders equally voice their concern for the need for formulating guidelines focusing on minimum age for admission, teacher-child ratio, curriculum, trained staff, safety and security measures and monitoring of these schools. At all other times, it is seldom taken seriously.

Experts also estimate 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. In this background, exercising any control over preschools for quality assessment to regulate the standards of preschool education is a huge challenge.

Of course, regulation is needed but it should not create Inspector raj and an avenue for extra income for those monitoring the sector. Raman Bajaj, Managing Director – Educomp Childcare Pvt. Ltd says, “Regulation is not necessarily a bad thing, but what we need is correct, meaningful and easily implementable regulation”.

“Regulations should not act as a disincentive…” he adds.

A S Ganesh, Founder & Managing Director, SMARTKiDZ Educare India Pvt Ltd. also believes that preschools should be regulated. “Running a preschool business in India provides the freedom to design and adapt the curriculum and has resulted in a lot of variation in the learning programmes.”

However, Ganesh acknowledges, there has been no system designed to measure the quality and output of the education programmes that have been designed for these tiny tots. Similarly, there are no parameters for the admission criteria for these schools. Thus, kids enter schools from various socio-economic backgrounds, study in varied education patterns and enter primary schools with a variation in knowledge and understanding.”

Parameters that measure the efficiency and effectiveness of the early education imparted in preschools should be in place, he argues. “This quality assessment helps safeguard early education and helps in regulating the standards of preschool education. By doing so, the unbranded schools which follow little or no norms will be stopped, he says.”

Even as educators debate over what should govern the preschool business-government regulations or peer assessment or self-governance, the business of preschools will only grow in coming years. Vittal Bhandary, Managing Director, Learning Edge India, has a different take on the issue of regulation. “Branded preschools have their own way of regulating safety, hygiene, sanitation, curriculum delivery and teachers training. These are part of our policies and we have a robust team to audit this from time to time,” he says. His fear is somewhat different. “The moment these regulations go to a government body, it can lead to a lot of corruption,” he argues.

To say that the preschool market in India is flourishing and rapidly expanding would be to stress the obvious. Fuelled by increased investments by existing companies and expansion into smaller towns and cities of India, the preschool segment is expected to generate revenues of US $3.24 billion by 2017. No wonder, several global preschool chains are eyeing business opportunities in the country. Latest in the list is UK-based Modern Montessori International (MMI) Group which is in plans to expand its reach in India by doubling preschool teacher training centres and franchisees for running kindergarten classes through major corporations. Having first forayed into the Indian market in early 2003, the group estimates a demand for 1,00,000 such educationists over the next 10 years.

Even as preschool businesses helps its owners and franchisee owners fulfil their own entrepreneurial aspirations, achieve higher profits every year, it would serve all the stakeholders better if the sector is regulated.

HCL Learning is a leader in offering digital interactive learning content. Leveraging cutting edge technology and global expertise, HCL offers customized content repository that caters to the K12 students’ learning needs. The content is designed and developed by HCL Learning Development Centre and certified by Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. HCL Learning with its flagship interactive learning solution – DigiSchool, has built an enviable track record of reaching out to more than 3,500 schools in India & abroad and empowering over 3.5 million students. HCL Learning has strengthened its presence across regions by developing innovative, high quality, world-class differentiated content solution.

Product Categories
• Educational Content and Curriculum – Multi Media / 3D Content Business Highlights
• A part of $6 Bn HCL group
• Present across 3500 schools in India and abroad
• Services support with a reach in more than 5000 towns & 720 direct support touch points across India
• Empanelled by CBSE to impart CCE Trainings to the teachers in Indian and many other countries
• Conferred with many international and national awards

DigiSchool USPs
• High Quality Content
• Comprehensive coverage of content across K-12 segment mapped to CBSE/ICSE/Various state/ International boards
• Content owned & created by DSIR certified HCL Learning Development Centre
• Designed using EER [Engage – Explore – Reinforce] instructional model
• Age appropriate content strategy
• Content certified by Consulting club of IIM, Indore for making significant positive impact on teachinglearning process

Power to User
• Digischool gives the freedom to users to create their own questions, assessments and lesson plans in an intuitive, easy to use manner

Fabulous Features
• Interactive tools covering each of the stages of a teaching-learning cycle
• Demonstrate using Interactive Virtual Labs, Simulations, Math Xplorer, Map Xplorer, Diagram Xplorer, Math formula builder
• Engage using Concept Summary, Interactive Activities
• Enable using Assets Library
• Evaluate through Test, Quizzes, Question Bank and Worksheets

Digital India is a great way forward, says Ratnesh Kumar Jha, Managing Director of Cambridge University Press. In conversation with ENN, he says that the programme will change the way India will look from the next decade

What should be the new strategy for India given your own stint in IT, telecom, education solutions and now publishing? Given India’s vast geography, technology plays an important role in terms of addressing the reach and capacity building. Education done through technology with the world class content will help build capacity and solution for last mile connectivity. That is where we should be going and a lot of tone for that is being set. It is very positive to be part of that tone right now as an enabler.

What will make Digital India successful? It leverages on strength today. Without education, demographic dividend which we have envisioned for ourselves looks very difficult.

Cambridge in India now is 100 per cent Cambridge. What is the way forward? India’s story is close to the Cambridge story. Now, across the verticals we work in-academics, K12, English learning, teaching etc, – we are engaged in building capacity and in creating new opportunities. We are engaged in helping India build its capacity in world class content, pedagogical intervention and creating more jobs by creating new solutions for skill building at the basic level. This is how Cambridge University Press plans to go forward and it is very exciting.

Several global IT and education solution firms are eyeing opportunities in India. ‘Digital India’ programme is very encouraging and empowers India. So can we support and complement the whole initiative? Yes, we are equipped to help India to realise it.

What does Digital India mean to you? It means democratising basic needs for every Indian. It solves the problem of a student in a village in Bihar or Kerala or Nagaland who aspires to be part of growing India and dream to study in Cambridge University. Why should he not? If Digital India is disseminated and executed as envisioned by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it is a great way forward for India and change the way India looks from the next decade.

Do you see any roadblocks in Digital India implementation? Execution is the key. It needs to have consistency. It should not be caught in Centre-state issues. Then, we are talking about higher storages, building broadband, rich content. How do we build that kind of massive infrastructure unless you don’t take global players together who have been engaged over the years in such interventions? It will be very difficult.

Is momentum building up among corporates to contribute to Digital India? Absolutely, it is nice to see people talking about a mix of books with digital resources. It is a very welcome change. It is the right moment. Digital India has been launched at a time when it has maximum reason to be a great success.

But digital solutions are costly and targets private institutions. It could be true of large technology companies. But CUP is pervasive and we are there in schools, colleges and universities across the country.

Since you interact with many educators, tell us what is hampering adoption of digital solutions in schools and colleges? It is too early to make that statement if they are resisting any change. They are positive about it. But there are peripheral issues. For the first time, Government of India is talking about the bandwidth being built to connect colleges and universities. That is a basic infrastructure issue. Then the debate is over the device and content and how the device should be in terms of consumption. There is a huge amount of learning which needs to be done. What is important is creating an enabling environment rather than pushing people.

Education will be one of the prime beneficiaries of Digital India, says Edutech CEO Shameema Parveen in an interview to Elets News Network

Edutech was established in 1991 in Dubai. Could you briefly tell us about the journey to improve the learning and teaching curriculum in Dubai and other places?
As Edutech marches towards our twenty- fifth year, it has been a transformative experience for us to evolve with the changes in the learning and teaching space. ASF Karim and I started Edutech in Dubai when we felt there that Middle East education sector was at the crossroads of modernisation. Instead of reinventing the wheel, we felt we should use some of the best practices and proven technologies used around the world. We identified that technology based learning is what we stand for and still continue to focus on that niche perhaps in a holistic manner.

With higher education institutions realising a change in educational approach was required to build self learning and critical thinking skills in students, Edutech was involved in resourcing hands-on learning through engineering labs and technology based learning centres in education and corporate sectors. We soon became part of many nationwide initiatives in the UAE, Oman and Saudi Arabia. While continuing to cater to the expanding education sector, we served a lifelong learning market by also servicing corporates like oil and gas and the banking sector which had challenges to implement sustained and qualitative training programmes.

We noticed that hardware and analogue based learning technologies were soon making way for digital and software based learning tools like online learning platforms, Online examination systems, digital language labs etc. Also, we saw that library and information services were moving online for access to information. So, Edutech acquired those capabilities and offerings and was the preferred vendor for holistic learning solutions in the region.

We have a transformational impact on the region’s education and training space covering seven countries and over 2,00,000 users.

“Digital India and several other projects and initiatives are well thought out and I am optimistic of them improving the Indian education sector”

How vibrant is the role of education solution firms in improving the education system in India?
In a diverse country with the world’s largest number of schools and second largest world population, we would need all possible support available to improve the education system in the country. This includes government initiatives, education institutions, academicians and educationalists, teachers and students, trade bodies and, more importantly, education solution firms like Edutech can act as the greatest catalyst in this process. Having exposure to various countries where technology and best practices have improved their education systems, we at Edutech and several other firms in this space can add value by creating referral models and success stories that government and private educational institutions can replicate and scale.

We, at Edutech, are proud to be part of several such initiatives like implementing online learning management, STEM and robotics, e-learning, scientific and technical Labs, and online examinations in India since late nineties. Adoption was a challenge those days but due to our constant thought leadership and awareness, we were able to bring in more users over time. Now, with government mandate to have better connectivity at grassroot level across villages and cities in India, it can enable a big leap in the way instruction and content and information is delivered and consumed in the education sector across India.

Edutech is part of various government initiatives to improvise quality of education in India like TEQUIP, MODROB, FIST and several skill development initiatives of corporate and industry consortia.

How have educational institutions received these solutions for better teaching-learning outcomes?
Edutech has been constantly spreading awareness on ICT in education, When we started our India operations in 1999, perhaps we were too ahead of the curve mostly because of the awareness and lack of resources and infrastructure. Now, with better infrastructure coming in place and government initiatives and educational institutions competing for creating a better ‘Education Experience’ to the students, we are on the right track.

When we first did the national level Robotics championship in 2003, we managed to create good awareness on STEM and Robotics in education. We saw international schools and students with exposure to western world participate. Now, after 10 years, we see thousands of students in cities and towns across India adopt concepts of hands-on STEM and enquiry based learning.

Likewise, online examinations were increasingly used by large IT firms with challenges in scale and qualitative assessment roll now. Now, schools, corporates and higher education are open to digital learning and examinations. Affordability and availability of computing devises, ease of use and awareness we create help these practices grow. I feel the growth for next 10 years will be far more rapid and exponential.

Several global education solution firms are eyeing India. How is Edutech geared up for the challenge?
Edutech has walked the talk in this space. We are one firm which has successfully implemented various learning and educational technologies in India. Now, when the market is ready for next wave of adoption, education industry is looking at credible partners with local presence and history of delivery. With over fifteen years in India and seven offices across India and hundreds of employees, I strongly feel education sector and institutions need reliable partners beyond short-term profit motives.

The Digital India programme is now on ground. What, according to you, will it take to make this programme successful?
Technology is an enabler. We need clear champions with clear mandate, resources and accountability to drive these projects forward. This includes the customer – vendors such as Edutech and end users to make this whole practice sustainable.

What impact do you see on education?
Education will be one of the prime beneficiaries of Digital India. We have been a proponent since we started in 1991. It will lend a lot of reach and quality to the learning and teaching process. For example, this world fosters greater voice and data connectivity to tier 2 and 3 towns and rural India where we need quality education the most. It is also part of effective nation building exercise. Likewise, more accessibility to user- friendly computing devices will help students access content and teachers from across the country and even across the globe. Effective school and education management policies and process could also be enforced by the system.

What is a practical timeframe that we should look at before we call it a success?
There are various phases we have to go through. We need to realise that there is no other option other than to adopt digitisation and the use of ICT in learning whereever applicable. We are never talking of replacing the importance of conventional teaching, but building in greater qualitative process and access to good teaching and pedagogy.

How do you see the accessibility and affordability of education solutions?
India’s volume-centric business can be a misnomer. I feel we need to have volume-based business models in place that are a win-win than skewed towards the product and service providers or the customers. Let me explain . Several projects are executed with low price models of future forecasted volume scales that never materialise for various factors of execution and systemic issues. In such cases, vendors are left with unviable business models that affect the quality and execution of the project. We have to realise that for any project to be successful, service providers need to be profitable enough to have good delivery systems in place. Else, the complete project suffers.

We feel projects with clear milestones and attached volumes should be sustainable on its on rather than tapping to the forecasted volume models with successful emphasis on successful completion making them eligible for higher volumes that follow.

Do you think education policy makers and administrators are taking long to adopt to digital solution in their educational institutions?
The answer is more than yes and no. There could be projects that were not executed well earlier and the sheer diversity of the country and its decision making structures could delay the process. There were several initiatives as early as 10 years back that are still on-going. Digital India and several other projects and initiatives are well thought out and I am optimistic of these improving education sector in India eventually.

The opportunity in the skills space is huge and there is a lot that is required and at a much faster pace to keep India’s demographic dividend from turning into a demographic disaster, says Kamini Prasad, COO, Centum Learning. Excerpts from an interaction with Parimal Peeyush of ENN

Having carried out skill development activities in several countries, how do you gauge your experience in India?
My first reaction is that it has been mixed. And it has been mix of a whole lot of things. One is that the skill industry is still in its formative stage. I am sure you have heard that it is not aspirational to be in skills and there is a lot of social stigma attached to it, which is why people are not coming forward to do skill programmes. The government needs to come up with a lot of schemes and incentives to get people on to the skilling boat. It is an environment where things are developing at the moment. Where on one hand, we need to have the parents convinced about the opportunities, credibility or the benefits of the skilling programme and on the other, we need to have candidates aspiring for such programmes. Then you have the industry that needs to recruit these people coming out of the skilling exercises taken up either by the government or the private sector. There is still a lot of work going on in terms of the government having set up sector skill councils. 31 have been set up. But all this will take time. Is it that people who passed out from the STAR scheme, the skilling programme, were absorbed by the relevant industries? No is the answer. Therefore, it is a journey where the programmes that were conducted were very much backed by the industry. Yet, the industry needs to come forward and embrace these candidates.

The push for skilling is there right from the top. Yet, the recognition for skilling programmes does not exist within the industry.Where is the gap?
It’s a good question and this is the reason I said that the experience is mixed. It is in all stages that we need to reach a level of maturity as a country. As a large organisation in this space and being more conscious of the qualitative aspects required to skill people, perhaps we are ahead. But I am talking of the country at large. So where does the gap lie? Initially, when these vocational programmes were launched, the industry was not taken into confidence. The gap was between the academia and the industry. Unless the two talk, where will the common path come from? Now there has been a beginning to rectify the issues that were there by bringing in the sector skill councils which comprises of the industry people. They sit together and decide that if these are the job roles for which we need people, what it is that they need to know. This is the reason that the National Occupation Standards are being defined and the training is built around it. But again, these are all in the initial stages and it will take some time before they reach even some level of acceptability.

“We have been empanelled with the AICTE for the last two and a half years and with the CBSE for two years. But beyond empanelment, the last mile is just not working out”

We talk about the demographic dividend and competing with China. Do you believe we have missed the bus in terms of skill development?
I would like to answer this question slightly differently. Around this, there are definitely two very clear schools of thought. One says China has gone ahead, so on and so forth. Call me a nationalist, an optimist or whatever you want, but the systems that prevail in the two countries are very different. One is clear mandate and the other is a democracy. In democracy, you cannot have that rapid a pace of development as you can have in that kind of a system. In our system, all parties, the people, parents, industry, need to agree. There are the pros and cons of this kind of a system but this is what we have to live with. Have we missed the bus? No. having said that, the opportunity is huge and there is a lot that is required and at a much faster pace to at least make it a demographic dividend and not a demographic disaster.

The pace is essential because skill development is not aspirational. We don’t find people queuing up for skills programmes. You have to catch them, convince them, put them through the classes and put them through jobs. That is the kind of scenario. Here, the government support becomes critical at the moment. Perhaps, with time, we would reach a stage where skills would become aspirational. Lot of awareness needs to be spread across this. It is not that there is a dearth of jobs – they may not be exactly for the population at large – but that’s the reason we see the emphasis on building the manufacturing sector and the construction industry which are large employers. So, awareness is first, government support is second, third is having the industry and academia come together. That journey has to be expedited. Fourth, we cannot wait for people to finish their class twelfth and graduation and then say, now let’s do vocational training. Vocational has to be as important as science, arts and commerce. The government has announced it to be equivalent of that. So there is a Bachelor of Vocation that has been announced but where has it been implemented? It has been a couple of years that Delhi University announced it. At the school level, they have the NSQF (National Skills Qualification Framework) level 1 to 10 and are trying to bring parity with formal education and also bring in vertical mobility. A person who did ITI could never do masters because he was not considered a graduate. There was no migration from vocational to formal. Today, with the NSQF, that first step has been taken. If you ask us, we have been empanelled with the AICTE for the last two and a half years; we have been with the CBSE for two years. But beyond empanelment, the last mile is just not working out. This is driven by the MHRD and the state governments that take the initiative. In these state government schools, we have Himachal running the NSQF programme, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and we are part of these.

“Skilling should begin in class III itself, though the government scheme does not talk about it. If you start appreciating your competencies early in life, you don’t have this clash of what I should and what I should not”

Can you elaborate on your involvement in these training programmes?
We are in schools in these states. The funding is done by the HRD ministry and the state government and it basically says that as we move up the levels, the vocational quotient in terms of curriculum keeps growing and the academic content decreasing. We are conducting training programmes for class IX, X, XI and XII. For class IX , what we do is that the academic portion is taken care of by the school. For vocational, we have our own teachers who provide training and all the practical application that is required because vocational is all about practice and not about theory. Students in class IX need to have the exposure and experience to relate to what is being taught. The final exam is being conducted by the school and the board.

How do you ensure the follow-up?
We have our teachers who are stationed there at these schools. We are present in 69 schools in Himachal and we have a teacher everywhere. These teachers stay at the school, come to the school every day, work there along with the candidate, we also have a lab that is established. Every month, there is a guest speaker who comes and interacts with these students. The basic factor is not just technical skills. It’s about life skills as well. We know of various examples of people who did tremendously well academically but were unable to find jobs because they didn’t have the social and life skills that are required. So, programmes that we are talking of in vocational are a combination of technical, life skills, IT and language at some places. So, we continue with them and it is not left to the schools to manage.

How long have you been doing this with the state governments?
Two years.

So, the actual outcome will be visible after two years, since you have begun in class IX?
No, we have started this in class IX and XI. If you ask me, this should begin in class III itself, though the government scheme does not talk about it. If you start appreciating your abilities and competencies early in life, then you don’t have this clash of what I should and what I should not. It does not say that if I have taken a vocational programme in, say retail or automobile or heatlhcare, I need to remain in that domain for the rest of my life. That’s where vertical mobility helps. I could be a class XII in automobile and then I decide to get into commerce, I still have a path to get into a B.Com. That vertical mobility has been established by policy. Implementation has started but it needs to be accelerated to reach the numbers that we are talking of.

Institutions today have also started to talk about skill development. Do you see that push in their formal curriculum?
There are a few colleges that have adopted it. I know a few that have these skill programmes being run by various skills institutes. It s not that skills programmes have come up today. I consider NIT a pioneer in this area. People would do graduation and along with it, do IT, but graduation was a must. If you are not a graduate, you end up with no job. Now what the government is saying is that you can merge it together, where formal education and vocational education come under one roof. Coming back to your question, higher education institutions, I would say, are doing it in pockets. There is a lot to be desired. Pune University, for example, has mandated that all the candidates across all its colleges need to go through vocational programmes for being employable. They are starting with the post-graduate level. NSDC is driving the programme and we have joined hands with them. But the pace here is what is critical.

Can this push for vocational education result in candidates losing academic excellence?
If I am an excellent welder, does it make me less qualified than another graduate? In my field, I am number one and I have the capability to earn huge amounts. Look at Germany, Australia and countries that have skills in place. In UK, a plumber gets more than an engineer.

But their systems have been entirely different.
Correct. And I have been there for decades. So we get the advantage of picking up experience from all these countries and make a jumpstart. But the jumpstart has to be further pushed faster to take it forward. But your question was whether the candidate needs academic excellence or not.

Since that is what the Indian parent and society recognises.
You are right. And this needs to change. I believe that the level 1 to 10 (of NSQF) will perhaps bring that change. What it means that you can become a graduate, a post-graduate and even a Ph.D in vocational. So you have the academic excellence along with vocational skills. They are not divorced. With the NSQF, this recognition for prior learning (RPL), if I have been a mechanic for 5 or 10 years, I can give various tests and become Level 1, 2, 3 – equivalent to graduation, post-graduation and Ph.D. The stature changes as it is not the same as being an illiterate mechanic but a Ph.D.

So, will a mechanic who may be an 8th dropout, but goes through this training, get employment and the remuneration that someone with formal education would? Would an Audi hire him?
Why not? Provided he gets the requisite vocational qualification.

How long do think that will take?
I shared the example of we being empanelled with the AICTE and CBSE for the past two to two and a half years and nothing has taken off. We keep chasing them. People are interested because they see the benefit. It is a journey that the country will have to go through.

The problem of document security is global and not limited to India alone. Our approach, however, is completely skewed and current solutions are nowhere close to solving the problem, says Subramanian Narayanaswamy, Managing Director of TRS Forms and Services, in an interaction with ENN

TRS has been projected as an innovative technology-based solution provider in the education vertical. How do you view it?
TRS is among the pioneers in technology solution providers in the education space in India. TRS works as an end-toend solution provider in data scanning, imaging and software solutions. We stand apart from other players because of our advanced and innovative technology solutions. Currently, TRS is a leading ITES provider that focusses on data-centric technology solutions for the education and government sector.

TRS is strongly focussed on research, innovation, developing and providing technology solutions rather than selling products. TRS has a strong resident IP with a completely indigenously developed multifarious product portfolio.

You say that TRS products and solutions are unique and innovative and that is the reason for your success so far. Can you substantiate this statement?
I am very passionate about technology and that is the reason for having an R&D division in TRS. I can proudly say that TRS is the only SME in India in this vertical to have a full-fledged R&D division which even big corporates do not have. Roughly, around 10 per cent of our turnover is being spent on R&D and that is paying dividends now. This has led to the introduction of automated solutions in the examination process. Today, we are proud to say that such a process is being widely used by the universities and education boards all over India. Some outstanding products which are the result of our R&D are FireEye (Automatic Dummy Numbering), eSekure (Ultimate Document Security), eMarquer (On Screen Marking), eXtractpro (OMR Software) and TRS Smart Scanner (OMR Hybrid Scanner).

“When a person with a good aptitude for work has full belief in his leader, only then will he perform. It becomes easy for the leader to guide him properly and extract the best out of him.”

Which of your products would you prefer to choose and why?
Undoubtedly my choice would be eSekure. This is a global product. The best part is that this solution is not restricted to any particular vertical. In my view, eSekure is a simple but powerful solution combined with lesser cost. That makes this product a customers’ delight since they spend less but get more than what they want. It does not require any investment at all from the customer’s side. It makes any document 100 per cent secure, tamper-proof and also provides instantaneous verification possible even on mobile. Introducing eSekure on certificates and transcripts will add credibility to the university/institution.

What in your opinion makes eSekure an outstanding product?
The logic that has been used to devise this solution is unique and has not been tried by anybody so far. At first glance, some people write it off as any other QR Code product. Some even claim that they have already introduced this process on their certificates. Once they understand the eSekure process, then they accept the uniqueness of this solution. There are alternative methods like eTranscript or Central Repository or QR Code which has been tried world over. eSekure is the only solution which is simple, powerful and most importantly, cost effective. We have successfully implemented the same in a few prestigious universities in India. Tell us about your other products Fire- Eye and eMarquer

FireEye, the flagship product of TRS was introduced in 2011. This is the product which brought TRS into the lime light amongst the Universities and School Boards. This is the product which made everybody to accept that only TRS can provide innovative and unique technology based solutions. FireEye, again an outcome of TRS R&D, has been registered for patent. FireEye is used for automatic dummy numbering on answer booklet and data capturing. This has brought an end to the manual numbering and data entry along with the related serious manual errors. Now the process has become fast and accurate. With the results coming on time without any issue, the student community will have more faith on the university/ institution and on the examination process as a whole.

eMarquer is the On Screen Marking (OSM) software for the essay type of examinations. Again, TRS has been the first Indian company to come out with this solution. This process involves digitisation of the answer booklets and makes the images available for valuation online or in the Lan network for the valuators to work on the screen. TRS has introduced digitisation process both with cutting and without cutting of the answer booklet. The process as such has many advantages compared to the manual evaluation. This solution is still in the infant stage and a few universities and school boards have tried so far.

What is your business vision and how are you charting the plans to achieve it?
I always believe that there is no shortcut or substitute for hard work. If you are one among the crowd, then you have no sense of achievement and spend most of the time fighting for your share in the market. I do not like to compete but always interested in creating competition. This is possible only if we have a unique product or solution which is required by the customer. By doing this, we have the early bird advantage. Since I am involved in continuous R&D, I always try to be one step ahead of others. My vision is always to put my footprint on whatever I do. Always try to be unique and not compromise on quality.

How do you approach leadership?
A leader should be a person who has good domain knowledge and wants to really lead his team. He must be good in communication. He must not differentiate or be biased with the subordinates. I believe in giving responsibility with accountability to my subordinates. I will give moral support and also guide them whenever they require my help. Give them good training on their job before giving the responsibility. Constantly update them on the current technology and encourage them to use the latest technology and improve their skill and productivity. When a person with a good aptitude for work has full belief in his leader, only then will he perform. It becomes easy for the leader to guide him properly and extract the best out of him.

How do you maintain the balance between your personal and business life?
In the initial days, it was difficult to balance personal life and business life. I had to sacrifice lot of things in the personal life for the sake of achieving big in business. In the past 4 to 5 years, I have created and trained a second line of managers who now take care of day to day activities of the business and allow me to concentrate on my favourite R&D. Hence, now I am able to share my time judiciously between personal and business. In situations where both clashed, I decide based on the situation and priority.

What qualities do you think are important to make a successful entrepreneur?
Any work you do, do it with joy and enthusiasm. Grab any opportunity that comes across. Prepare well and give 200 per cent to execute the job well. Success will automatically come.

In a short span of 5 years, NComputing has deployed over 13 lakh seats in India and shared computing devices in over 50,000 government schools across the country. Excerpts from an interaction with Manish Sharma, VP – Asia Pacific, NComputing Inc

How does NComputing help in making the country digitalised?
NComputing tries to spread the benefits to millions of students and the underprivileged workforce across the world that do not have the privilege of access to computers due to budget constraints faced by organisations and institutions. There are schools located in the rural areas of the country where they find it difficult to access the technology they require for making the school digitalised. NComputing has reached them and has helped in setting up a computing infrastructure at a much lower price.

NComputing has been the enabler for providing computing/digital access to millions of people – not only in India, but also globally. With its array of affordable desktop virtualisation (also called shared computing) solutions, the company is working closely with the central government, majority of the state governments, and with many nongovernment agencies in the country to enable digitisation in the country by making computing solutions available at the most economical price point so that the benefits of computing reach far and wide.

Please give us a business overview of NComputing, its offerings for various sectors, revenues and performance.
NComputing’s mission is to enable everyone in the world to have access to computing at an affordable cost. The NComputing solution is based on a simple fact: today’s PCs are so powerful that the vast majority of applications only use a small fraction of the computer’s capacity. NComputing’s virtualisation software and hardware tap this unused capacity so that it can be simultaneously shared by multiple users. Over a million NComputing seats have been sold to thousands of organisations to slash their computing costs by as much as 70 per cent and electric consumption by 90 per cent.

In the education sector, every subsegment (primary, secondary, college, university, training centres) needs to have computer labs or computers in classrooms so that students can learn about computers and learn their subjects on the computer through e-learning programmes (for example, english, science, math). Pretty much all educational institutions have limited funds for computer equipment. We enable them to use their existing budget and stretch it so that they can double or triple the number of students who can have computer access for the same cost.

In the business sector, there are many small and medium businesses that also have limited funds and watch every rupee of spending. Since most business users only use the computer for accounts, web or other low-intensity work, they use at most 5 per cent of the PC’s power. We enable them to share that computer’s excess capacity with many more users. They also like NComputing because they have to maintain far fewer PCs than before. In government, we provide affordable computing for government offices (municipal, state, central) in urban as well as rural areas. In addition to government offices, NComputing is also a great fit for community computing centres and e-governance projects.

How does NComputing make computing accessible and affordable?
In a short span of 5 years alone, NComputing has deployed over 13 lakh seats in India, which is helping in transforming the lives of over 2 crore users in the country, daily. These 13 lakh seats comprise 5 lakh seats under government education (through various projects), 4 lakh seats in private education including schools, colleges, training centres, universities, etc; and another 4 lakh seats in SMBs and enterprises – these mostly focussed at verticals like manufacturing, service oriented organisations. The NComputing solutions are built specifically to break the price barrier, and have a unique way to enable computing access for people from different customer segments at a fraction of the cost of the traditional all-PC set up. While initially it was difficult for people to break away from the conventional/traditional way of computing, over time, as they realised the value that a revolutionary technology such as NComputing can deliver at half (or even lesser) the cost of the traditional computing set up. Its adoption across domains and verticals such as education, business, government, manufacturing, banking and finance, retail, and so on, has grown dramatically.

Please elaborate on your solutions for schools. How many countries have adopted them so far? How have these schools benefitted from these solutions?
There are a million public schools in India, and the vast majority of them cannot afford to provide their students with a sufficient number of computers. Our solution enables a school to set up a 40- seat computer lab for less than the cost of 10 standalone PCs. We are growing rapidly worldwide, mostly in developing nations like India. Over the next 5 years, the growth of computing will be in the emerging markets and underserved markets. Emerging markets are wellknown – these are the countries where PC penetration is still less than 300 per 1,000 population. What is also interesting (and often overlooked) are what we call “underserved” markets. So, there is still a large need for additional computing – if only the cost was more affordable. So, we see tremendous opportunity to bring affordable computing to the next billion people around the world. All the state governments are increasing the budget for the computer education. Their aim is to give computer education from the school level itself.

What are your views and perspective on the current demand for your product in the Indian market?
NComputing is an ideal product for the Indian market, making computing simpler, affordable and extremely energy efficient. The value the product can deliver is being understood by the government as well. Over 15 state governments have either deployed or are seriously evaluating this technology for their various projects. India is a huge potential market for NComputing and therefore it is a focussed country for the company. We are investing in teams and strengthening our channel and support network to service the rapidly growing customer base.

From your global experience of digitisation what are the biggest and immediate roadblocks that you foresee in the implementation of India’s ambitious ‘Digital India’ programme?
In India, the key challenges in achieving 100 per cent computer digitisation include limited funds for setting up and managing IT infrastructure, limited staff, acute power shortage; dependence on power backup systems and related costs; poor connectivity due to location in remote areas, and so on. Considering this scenario, ‘Making India Digital’ programme is a great way to develop the digital backbone of the country. There is no denying the fact that facilitating more and more computing access can go a long way in enabling digitisation of an economy, especially when it comes to emerging economies. This is true for India also. Hence, there is a great need to create a strong pool of computer literate people who will take India to the next level. The Indian government has been playing its part in enabling the spread of ICT in the country. However, leaving everything to the government is perhaps not the right approach; private sector also must support the government and play its part in making this endeavour successful. NComputing’s initiative to make computing affordable has also been a step in the same direction

What is relevant to students will be the guiding factor for institutions, believes Lux Rao, CTO – Technology Services, HP India Sales. In conversation with ENN, he emphasises on the importance of connecting with the student community on a plane that resonates with their learning priorities

How is the confluence of the four forces – cloud, mobility, big data and social media – creating a robust network for better solutions in education vertical?In this context, how do you see HP’s role in bringing a paradigm shift in education sector in India?
The confluence of the four forces namely cloud, mobility, big data and social media has democratised technology in a big way. As it has for businesses, this confluence of technologies has also touched the education domain in an unprecedented manner enabling content and context to a connected institute. At HP, we believe that this disruptive change enables great automation for the education sector; be it for experiential learning for the student or comprehensive tools for better managing the school, college or university.

When was HP Education Cloud launched? How successful has it been leveraging the massive opportunities in India?
HP Education Cloud was soft launched 3 months ago and has seen quick successes in schools and colleges across the country. Simplicity of use, single unified portal, subscription-based billing and service standards have been the driving factors. We are now looking at an aggressive GTM to reach out to schools and colleges across the country.

As several global firms are eyeing the Indian education market, what is the business strategy for IT leaders like HP in view of the ‘Digital India’ programme?
We believe that students should be engaged with learning tools that leverage emerging technologies such as Cloud, Mobility and MOOCs that provide an experiential training to students and skill seekers. This will create a new generation of digital natives who are conversant and prepared for the challenges of the increasingly pervasive digital-powered economies around the world. This will enhance the collective learning index (as opposed to studying for marks) and increase the employability factor.

Has HP done any impact assessment after its solutions been implemented in educational institutions in India? If so what are the insights?
While there are obvious gains on productivity and operational efficiencies by way of streamlined workflows on processes such as admissions, examinations, HR, finance et al, the biggest impact is in terms of the learning quotient for students. Initial pilots that were carried out indicated a 49 per cent higher test scores over just 2-3 months for the test group that were provided the tools vis-à-vis the group that were not provided the tools.

As HP has massive global presence, has it been easy to get a breakthrough in educational institutions in India?
The education segment has nascent opportunities for integrated solutions. HP Future school, as envisioned 3 years ago, has been the bulwark of these developments. This is a pioneering effort and the concept of a single stop learning-automation solution is unprecedented. We are putting in efforts to pursue the future school vision and solutions such as Education Cloud, VideoBook, SIMS (Student Information Management Solution) are the first tangible results of our program. We have several innovative solutions and enhancements planned in our roadmap for the education segment in India.

The Digital India programme is now on ground. What, according to you, will it take to make this programme successful?
Our Future School vision resonates very well with the Digital India objectives and we are confident that our solutions will provide impetus for skill building initiatives.

What are the roadblocks that you see in this process as things unfold?
Resistance to change and mindsets are the key roadblocks. We are confident that the gains experienced by early adopters will be the motivating factor for mass scale adoption. We are also working on driving awareness around education technology & technology for education that would provide a framework for accelerating the technology adoption.

Do you think there is a need for a paradigm shift in educational institutions for better teachinglearning outcomes and skill development?
It is important to connect with the generation in a way that is reflective of their learning behavior. For instance, the current student community can be classified as digital natives that are at home with Cloud and mobile Apps (although they may not know it consciously).

We believe that connecting in a way that makes learning a fun experience is the best approach. For instance, HP VideoBook is a solution that aggregates the best of videos from across the globe and provides relevant snippets of information. This enhances learning and provides a holistic view of concepts. This makes learning a very enjoyable experience.

How do you see the accessibility and affordability of education solutions offered by IT giants such as HP as many of these are targeted towards public and private schools and private universities?
Technology has made it possible to provide global standard tools at affordable rates. What was hitherto available only to elite institutions can now be implemented on Opex models. Institutions such as Xavier University have fully leveraged tools such as HP Education Cloud to create a Digital University that stays relevant to the student communities with a slew of learning tools whilst having a campus ERP that covers the gamut of automation needs of a university.

Do IT firms see a volume business in state-run educational institutions?
Yes and concurrent technologies namely cloud et al make it very viable to address the needs of the volume business. Technology is a great equaliser and democratisation of technology tools via cloud makes it possible to have global grade solutions at affordable rates.

Do you think education policy makers and administrators are taking long to adopt to digital solutions in their educational institutions?
The availability of affordable Internet, cloud based technologies, enabling and empowering policies and willing institutions has created the perfect environment. Hitherto, one or the other factors were short and hence resulted in rather slow adoptions but the current context is optimal.

Is it lack of finance or mindset that hampers digitisation of educational institutions in India?
It is a combination of both factors. While the mindset itself is a transient factor, it is important that technology providers ‘right-price’ their solutions and offer excellent value to stay relevant to the education domain. Solutions that are being offered on pay-per-use model (read Opex model) that can scale as needed are very attractive to institutions as typically they need low/no upfront investments (read Capex).

Most current solutions are built on archaic technology frameworks and are woefully out-of-context with the current generation. It is important to connect with the student community on a plane that resonates with their learning priorities and that will be one of key factors in driving adoption. In short, what is relevant to students will be the guiding factor for institutions.

The challenges and opportunities that India’s potential digital revolution will present are enormous. There is immense hope and hype around the ambitious Digital India programme. The journey has just begun. Elets News Network reads the fine print

The announcement of the Digital India programme has been received with a lot of enthusiasm from the Indian corporate sector. For long, we have been listening and discussing the impact that technological interventions can bring to the education sector in India. News revolving developments was also limited to politicians, academicians and the industry recognising the merits of technology. However, never before had there been such a clear and visible push towards digitisation from the corridors of power.

The time for hesitation is over. The time now is to act. The announceament of the Digital India programme has triggered a lot of hope about the boost the corporate sector will get. Opportunities will be huge.

In a favourable scenario such as this, the engagement between the private sector and the government is only set to grow. One of the primary reasons behind this will be the government’s inability to meet the demands of higher education with limited public resources. One challenge that India faces at this point of time is heightening its funding for promoting research and improving quality. The participation of the corporate sector towards this end will be crucial. The government mechanism for funding and assistance is limited to maintenance and salaries. This approach does not manage to look into curriculum and quality improvement. This is one crucial area that the corporate sector can be roped in for participation.

India still lives in its villages. The quality of education in the rural areas and the interiors need utmost attention. Though recent times have seen interest by start-ups to cater to this section, private investment in this area has been negligent. Private universities have managed to fill this void to some extent. However, the impact towards improving the quality, access and affordability has not been addressed. Neglecting villages and tier II and tier III cities will fail India’s future both in terms of education and the Digital India programme.

Skill development is another area that India needs to urgently build. Time and again, we hear of India’s demographic dividend in the coming years and how India needs to take urgent steps to bridge the gap between the knowledge and skills quotient of university graduates and the demands of the industry. India needs to develop a skilled workforce if it has to claim its rightful place in future world order. Things, as they stand today, are worrying. Reports after report have pointed to the unemployability factor among young graduates and post-graduates and this will be one area where all eyes will be on us.

In India, we breed a habit of blaming the government for all ills that plague our nation and society. The corporate sector and the government need to work hand in hand if India has to overcome issues plaguing the development of our education sector.

Emerging Opportunities
> Indian education industry is growing at an average CAGR of 14 per cent
> The size of business was $50 billion in 2011
> Expected to reach $87 billion by the year end
> Higher education poised for a growth of 18% per year till 2020
> India’s economy is expected to grow at a fast pace
> India has the opportunity to become a prominent R&D destination