Education has experienced immense benefits of technology and is poised to scale to a new era of education delivery prompting a digital way of learning, says Fr. Paul Fernandes, S.J., Vice-Chancellor of Xavier University Bhubaneswar, in conversation with ENN

Being a private university, has it been easier for you to adopt digital and campus management solutions compared to central and state universities?
It is relatively faster to take decisions once we are convinced on the efficacy of our initiatives. Since we had the autonomy, I had opportunity and privilege to move this project forward from initial vision to its completion. In July 2013, we were planning for the future of the newly created Xavier University. We looked 5 years ahead and aimed to develop and create the digital university with complete and holistic ICT solutions. Our vision is to provide the best quality of education and we see technology as a key enabler. Our objective was to automate the campus management and learning solutions and we explored potential solutions in the market before zoning in on the HP Education Cloud. We were cautioned about the many risks and hurdles on our path of creating the ICT enabled learning, teaching, campus ERP etc.

How do you see digital solutions impacting the university in terms of learning-teaching methods and campus management?
Digital Solutions offer a better way of engaging with the students and providing a platform enabling holistic learning. Technology is bringing a confluence of content, context and connect to education in a big way. In recent past, education has experienced immense benefits of technology and is poised to scale to a new era of education delivery methodology prompting a digital way of learning. We are mindful of the challenges Indian professional and skilled workforce face in 21st century India and global digitally enabled education and economy.

The concept of Digital India should begin with higher education, especially in the professional institutions like medical, law, engineering, etc., and later enter basic traditional universities and colleges, Prof. S Jeelani, Director, Centre for Distance and Virtual Learning, University of Hyderabad, tells Elets News Network

What are the challenge areas which you think that need to be urgently addressed so as to revamp Indian higher education in general and your state?
In India, many national research institutions are involved in excellent work in various applied aspects like rural development, agriculture, geology, meteorology, telecommunications and other fields. Such institutions may be given degree awarding facility by simplifying procedures of the regulatory bodies so that the available infrastructure, laboratories, library, hostels can help facilitate admission to various career and placement oriented courses.

The challenges include strengthening quality; promoting technology based learning; revision of course syllabi and curriculum; accreditation and offering professional courses like medicine, engineering, pharmacy etc to students through a subsidised fee structure by government and private institutions.

What are the new initiatives which you have taken as the Director? Can you suggest if any of them can be implemented at pan-India level?
Offering joint collaborations with the public institutions and collaborations with industries in offering job oriented courses need to be initiated. Promoting technology based and virtual learning for those who cannot come regularly to the university from rural areas is also required.

There have been suggestions that India needs to address the issue of increasing the gross enrolment ratio from 18 per cent to more than 30 per cent. This calls for substantial investment and a paradigm shift in our education policy. How do you see it?
Increase of course enrolment ratio from 18 per cent to 30 per cent is a major challenge where it needs strengthening of existing 700 universities by means of appointment of faculty, administrative staff, etc., in the available vacancies. Jurisdiction of each state university may be expanded at least for two or three states so that colleges in one state can get affiliation with another university in the neighbouring state. Establishment of common resource centres with all common facilities like virtual classrooms, instruments, laboratory facilities, and seminar and conference halls in each state is also required. We should also look at networking of colleges and universities so the lecture in one university can be shared and viewed by other university students. Increase of student enrolment may be given more emphasis in rural and semi- urban areas where there are more dropouts.

The HRD Minister has recently announced the formulation of a new national education policy. What innovative measures do you advocate to ensure that it translates into quality education for all the Indians?
In India, there are more than 15 regulatory bodies like UGC, AICTE, NCTE, MCI, PCI, NCI, Homeo Council of India, etc. These bodies are independently controlling permissions for establishing various courses like medical, pharmacy, engineering, law, agriculture, homeo, etc. If a university wants to support multiple courses, it has to approach various bodies which is time-taking and has more constraints in getting approvals. In such cases, single regulatory body should be established which will monitor all the programmes. Professional courses have huge demand and should be encouraged. More programmes should be offered through virtual learning, ICT and online programmes.

Private universities should be monitored by the national body for conducting quality standards, examinations reforms, and their revenues through the education so as to control the private universities from getting commercialised by simply distributing degree certificates to students without imparting any practical knowledge. Preparation of a national database for the teaching faculty so that the universities can invite the faculty of other universities for guest lectures and other exchange programmes should also be looked into.

Poor faculty and lack of teachers seem to mar Indian education at the primary, secondary and higher levels. How do you plan to address this challenge at your university?
The faculty at the primary, secondary education levels are better numbered when compared with higher education institutions. Though many people have required qualifications, they have not been considered for faculty as they lack experience and exposure. For example, many members of the non-teaching staff are NET, M.Phil and Ph.D. qualified, but they are not taken as teachers because they don’t have teaching experience. Therefore, for the appointment of the faculty, administrative experience in the academic institutions should be considered as teaching experience, so that the teacher positions in the higher education level can be filled up.

At the primary and secondary levels, state government has taken major responsibility in opening of institutions, appointment of teachers, promotions, etc. Therefore, many of the teachers are appointed by the state government under the scheme Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, etc. In case of higher education, most of the faculty is supported by the Centre only for a period of 5 years and the state governments are not getting any block grant for the appointment of teachers even after five years. The central government should allocate more grants to the state governments for the appointment of teachers and also for the infrastructure facilities in the schools and colleges. Also, the Rashtriya Uccha Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) has only Rs. 22,000 crore. This grant needs to be increased to the tune of Rs. 1,00,000 crore in a plan period.

There is a concerted push from the government towards Digital India’. Are educational institutes geared up to take it on?
The concept of `Digital India’ needs to be promoted in a phased manner. It should begin with higher education, especially in the professional institutions like medical, law, engineering, etc., and later enter the basic traditional universities and colleges as most of our students are still dependent on the traditional system. Institutions may be encouraged to come forward for ‘Digital India’ by providing infrastructure facilities and laptops to the students. All students may be provided tablet PCs.

Innovation and research by universities drive industries and economic growth in many south East Asian eco omies. When can we expect Indian universities transfer knowledge to industry? How is your university engaging industries?
The funding for state and central universities for innovative research needs to be increased as we have nearly 700 universities and only a few of them get innovative research support.

Are the states geared up to make our education system world class?
Many of the state universities are having the shortage of funds. Some state universities are facing shortage of faculty and infrastructure facilities. Syllabus and curriculum of the courses are also outdated. If the above facilities are fulfilled, the university can become world class.

There is good amount of stress from the Prime Minister on skill development vis-a-vis actualising the benefits of India’s demographic dividend. How well are universities geared up to address the mismatch between the industry demands and the students’ skills?
Syllabus and curriculum need to be revised according to the needs of the industry. Starting of new employment oriented and industry oriented courses in institutions are also required.

Lack of teachers is not the problem, says A P Singh, Vice Chancellor, Central University of Rajasthan. In conversation with Elets News Network, he says good and motivated teachers are what universities lack today

What are the challenge areas you think need to be urgently addressed to revamp Indian higher education in general and your state?

Teaching in universities is examination oriented where you memorise things and reproduce them in the examination. It has no relevance to the need of the society/industry. Practical application of the knowledge gained is missing. The challenge is to create job-oriented courses and full weightage should be given to such courses and they should be recognised. For example, a course such as “Master in Car Manufacture” should be created where the student learns all relevant material dealing with manufacturing, marketing, technical skills, hands on with the industry etc., so that he is immediately absorbed in the manufacturing sector and does not have to wait for any training at a later stage.

What are the new initiatives which you have taken as the VC? Can you suggest if any of them can be implemented at pan-India level?

While the teaching faculty is required to teach and guide students and not get involved with administration work, the work of administration is to facilitate the teachers to work and not create hurdles. There should be complete coordination between academic and administration. A nodal committee consisting of members from academic and administration should be formed and meet regularly to set out any bone of contention.

An increase in our gross enrollment ratio calls for substantial investment and a paradigm shift in our education policy. How do you see it?

Education is the key to the success of a country. Increase of gross enrollment number from 18 per cent to 30 per cent is a welcome step. Of course, there are going to be several problems in getting good faculty as well as the financial constraints. However, these should not deter us. Freedom and incentive should be given to teachers to move from one university to another to overcome the difficulty till we are self-sufficient.

Poor faculty and lack of teachers seem to mar Indian education at all levels. How do you plan to address this challenge at your university?

Lack of teachers is not the problem. Good and motivated teachers are what we lack. For this, the selection at the very beginning has to be stringent as one wrong selection has to be tolerated for the next 30 to 35 years. They also give a bad influence to the next generation. After selection, the faculty should be given a free hand to experiment with their ideas and also be accountable and well monitored. Their pay should be lucrative and at the same time, they should be accountable.

There is a concerted push from the government towards ‘Digital India’. Are educational institutes geared up to take it on?

‘Digital India’ is the need of the day and the earlier we accept it, the better it would be. I do agree it is going to be difficult, but that should not deter us, as the best of a person comes only when he faces challenges.

Innovation and research by universities drive industries and economic growth in many South East Asian economies. How is your university engaging industries?

Innovation and research are part and parcel of a university. Many universities have collaborations; MoUs signed with industries and have consultancy services. Our university (Central University of Rajasthan) is just five years old. We have signed MoUs with several universities and the industry. We have facilitated entrepreneurs.

How well are universities geared up to address the mismatch between industry demands and students’ skills?

Skill development is missing from our curriculum and I fully support that a lot has to be done in this direction.

It has been proven conclusively that the government’s administrative machinery does not have any clue about managing institutions of higher learning, says Akshai Aggarwal, Vice Chancellor, Gujarat Technological University. Excerpts from an interaction with ENN

What are the challenge areas which you think that need to be urgently addressed so as to revamp Indian higher education in general and your state?

For SFIs (state funded institutions), the major issues include diversion of money paid by students out of the education system, non-payment of proper salaries to the faculty members and inadequate number of faculty members. For government- owned colleges and grant-inaid colleges, bureaucratic management has led to a total loss of morale, with no focus on organisational objectives. After decades of efforts post independence, it has been proven conclusively that the government’s administrative machinery does not have any clue about managing institutions of higher learning. The only way out is to give complete autonomy to the universities and to hand over the existing governmental colleges to universities as constituent units. The state universities may be declared legally as non-governmental institutions so that courts do not apply the governmental service rules to the faculty members, technical staff and non-teaching support staff. The boards/syndicates of universities may be made accountable like Board of Directors in registered companies. For deemed and other types of private universities, which depend upon the fees of students only, there is no way that they can conduct worldclass research and establish world-class learning systems without government support.

What are the new initiatives you have taken as the Vice Chancellor? Can any of them can be implemented on pan-India level?

Each of the following can be implemented at any university in India, provided the bureaucratic system which has chained the state and central universities can be removed:
Practice-orientation in engineering programmes and immersion studies in non-engineering programmes. For this, we have connected every group of colleges with nearby industrial estates. GTU has formed 25 such groups across the state. Special centralised evaluation and mentoring of Master’s thesis after literature survey and midway through the work on research. Annual centralised evaluation and mentoring of the research work by doctoral students.
Re-development of syllabi for designbased and project-based learning system; design orientation to be embedded into the new syllabi and open-ended problems to be included in the practical work. A strong 6-semester spine of design engineering to be included in the syllabi; seamless integration of design and project in the final year.

There have been suggestions that India needs to address the issue of increasing the gross enrollment ratio from 18 per cent to over 30 per cent. How do you see it?

Increasing GER, without addressing the issue of unemployability of university graduates is an unwise policy. First let us reduce the unemployment and underemployment of graduates. As we start getting results from these policies, then as a second step we may go for further increase of GER.

There is a concerted push from the government towards ‘Digital India’. Are educational institutes geared up to take it on?

Most of the SFIs have not invested in making classrooms digital. In most of the government colleges, even digital projectors and accessories are not used by a majority of faculty members. Very few of the colleges are using Learning Management Systems.

Are the states geared up to make our education system world class?

No. India’s administrative system is not willing to release the higher education system from the crippling chains that it has been bound with from the very beginning of the modern university system in the Indian subcontinent. n

Improving quality of educational interventions entails greater significance in the role of a teacher, believes Prof. M. Aslam, Vice-Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University. In conversation with ENN, he says IGNOU would like to focus on increasing access, equity and quality. Excerpts

Why do we need the Open and Distance Learning (ODL) system in India? Is its target learner different from those in other universities?

The ODL system in the country is aimed to redeem the promise of providing access to higher education to all segments of society. For a majority of Indians in villages and small towns, reaching a centre of higher learning is a challenge and the ODL system has to facilitate access to education. We should not wait for learners to come to seats of learning. Instead, learning seats would have to reach out to them wherever they are. Today, IGNOU as a National Resource Centre for Open and Distance Learning, with international recognition and presence, seeks to provide seamless access to sustainable and learner-centric quality education, skill upgradation and training by using innovative technologies and methodologies.
We cater to a unique type of target learners for our programmes. These include traditional teenage school leavers supported by their families or the state, teens forced into labour market for want of support and are in need of education, new learners who as adults want education/ training for horizontal or vertical mobility on their terms, defense personnel and the digital natives who prefer distance modality to the four-walled regimen. We are the first university in the country may be in the world as well, who made appreciable education interventions initially in Tihar Jail and subsequently in about 94 jails across the country. We provide free education to all the inmates.

Have you promoted any key initiative in reaching the unreached?

IGNOU has been mandated to reach out to the marginalised sections of our society. We have responded to the need to initiate special measures to attract learners from the disadvantaged groups. An estimated 690 Special Study Centres address specific educational needs of disadvantaged learners.

There is a lot of talk around ICT, digital learning etc. Since IGNOU is expected to make maximum use of ICT for teaching and learning, what steps have you taken towards ICT upgradation and outreach?

The university is keen to harness the potential of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for enhancing the teaching-learning process. IGNOU became a pioneer in delivering technological mediated education in South-East Asia. National and international agencies acknowledge the significance and contribution of IGNOU in offering quality education. The UNESCO described IGNOU as a “… living embodiment of inclusive knowledge societies in a globalised world”. The Government of Japan acknowledge the role of IGNOU in the delivery of telecast/broadcast based education by awarding the third Japanese Grant for the project “Strengthening of Electronic Media Production Centre in Indira Gandhi National Open University” with an outlay of 787 million yen. As a result of this, a high definition studio has been made operational recently. Multi-media form an important feature of self-instructional materials offered by IGNOU to distance learners.
IGNOU has 4,375 video programmes and 2,258 audio programmes which supplement the printed course materials. Recently, we launched web-based broadcast & telecast channels for the benefit of its students across the country and abroad, who will now be able to access high quality curriculum based programmes and get an opportunity to interact with subject experts in real time through this new initiative.

Poor faculty and lack of teachers seem to mar Indian education at all levels. How do you plan to address this challenge at your university?

When we talk of improving quality of our educational interventions, role of a teacher assumes great significance. In order to improve quality of education, capacity building of teachers has to receive top priority. There are lakhs who need to be trained. The conventional system of training imposes lot of limitations in terms of number to be covered by training. The ODL system has the capability and capacity to undertake training of in-service teachers covering large numbers without compromising quality. IGNOU has signed MOAs with Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and Sikkim to train about 36,500 inservice teachers. The university has also taken up a project to train about 24,000 in-service teachers, employed by the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan.

There is good amount of stress from the Prime Minister on skill development vis-à-vis actualising the benefits of India’s demographic dividend. How well are universities geared up to address the mismatch between the industry demands and the students’ skills?

I fully agree that skill development in India needs special attention and the Prime Minister had rightly done so. India has set a target of skilling 500 million people by 2022, for which a herculean effort would be required. IGNOU offers several job-oriented programmes in several areas. In particular, I would like to mention about two of them. The first is the Certificate in Motorcycle Service and Repair (CMSR) is aimed towards the structured competency based skill development training for the learners. Any functionally literate person who can read, write and understand and having basic knowledge of motorcycle systems and repair on self-certification basis is eligible for this programme. This is a collaborative project with Hero Motors Limited. The second is Certificate in Bee-Keeping (CIB), which is a skill based programme that requires only an 8th standard qualification.
Consequent upon the Prime Minister’s call of “Skilling India” and in line with the skill development initiatives of MHRD, the university is initiating steps to align some of our existing certificate programmes with the National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF). The university has appointed a task force for paying special attention to programmes and courses in vocational and skill based areas. We are also working on our flagship undergraduate programme (B.A. /B.Com) to blend its curriculum with skill-based component so that along with graduation, the students can have some skill competency certification to enhance their employability.

How do you visualise the future of open & distance learning in higher education in India?

The university stands at the threshold of a future envisaged to provide leadership and direction to the ODL system in the country. This brings with it pride at our notable achievements but great responsibility too. This calls for review, reflection, introspection and appropriate action to enhance quality while maintaining and consolidating our best practices. We would like to dedicate ourselves to focus on increasing access, equity and quality. Although, expansion of activities of the university is an achievement in itself, it is equally important to ensure that we consolidate our efforts and design, develop and deliver ‘quality higher education’. It is only the quality of our educational interventions that will help us to make our presence felt nationally and internationally. The importance of technology enabled education, skill development are other changes that we need to keep pace with and to draw advantages. To achieve above, it is important that distance education system is viewed as synergistic with conventional educational systems. The boundary between conventional face-to-face and Open and Distance Learning (ODL) need to be dismantled such that the two approaches are integrative rather than segregating. Given due and equal recognition, ODL will certainly live up to the country’s expectations of providing quality education to the less privileged, upgrade the skills of the aspiring and provide enrichment opportunities wherever they are in demand. n

Increasing enrollment requires more institutions with quality faculty and infrastructure, says Prof. P P Mathur, Vice Chancellor, Kalinga University. In conversation with Elets News Network, he says India needs structural and operational changes in the education policy

What are the challenge areas you see in revamping Indian higher education in general and in your state?

Currently, higher education system needs to be reviewed seriously in terms of excellence, equity and expansion. At this time, the country is experiencing explosive growth of involvement in higher education as around 35 per cent of the population is in the age group of 15 to 35. In this context, the country faces an increased demand for specialised human resource. In order to accommodate such an increased demand, providing quality education to a large population is a great challenge. Some of the related issues are lack of availability of quality faculty and infrastructure, outdated teaching curriculum and scarcity of financial and other resources. Increasing employment opportunities for the students and creating more avenues through skill-based and value-added training are also required.

What are the new initiatives which you have taken as the Vice Chancellor? Can you suggest if any of them can be implemented at pan-India level?

We have started new initiatives like the involvement of industrial linkages, periodical revision of syllabi, and skill development which have prepared the students to face the current challenges. We have inducted a large number of experts from industry in our academic bodies and have ongoing joint teaching and research programmes.

There have been suggestions that India needs to increase the gross enrollment ratio from 18 per cent to more than 30 per cent. How do you see it?

At this time, we require many more institutions with quality faculty and infrastructure. The country needs substantial higher investment in education and effect structural and operational changes in the education policy. We need to use disruptive processes to achieve it. The country needs more checks and balances in the form of accreditation agencies. Vocational courses, innovation and continuous learning centres need to be promoted. The new education policy should address the question of delivery of quality education to the masses which can only be done by incentivising teachers, providing education through MOOCs and social media.

Poor faculty and lack of teachers seem to mar Indian education at the primary, secondary and higher levels. How do you plan to address this challenge at your university?

The quality of faculty is very im portant for the delivery of quality education in any educational institution. We have been providing faculty development programmes and incentives for higher learning and research activities to our faculty. We are constantly trying to recruit best faculty available and has mechanism of 360 degree feedback. The University is also planning performance based incentives. The performance of teachers has significantly improved after we brought in accountability in the system.

There is a concerted push from the government towards ‘Digital India’. Are educational institutes geared up to take it on?

The country needs to have much more digital penetration in the education system. However, many of the institutions have severe challenges for making it happen. KIIT University is one of a few universities to have computer and Wi-Fi availability to all students and teachers. Learning resources are also available online.

Innovation and research by universities drive industries and economic growth in may Southeast Asian economies. How is your university engaging industries?

KIIT University, in all the areas of instruction, involves industrial participation in various forms. The university has several Centers of Excellence established by various companies in the campus. In addition, industry sponsored seminars, conferences and workshops are regularly conducted. Many industries are being encouraged to suggest training modules for our course curriculum and many members of the faculty have collaborative industry projects. The university also has a Business Incubator, a strong IPR Policy and a Students’ Research Center where several innovations have been done. n

Taking hints from the current government’s enthusiasm to promote online education, and reflecting on the present condition of Indian education system, educationists and dexterous pundits are predicting that the year 2015 will see the heralding of a new era for education in India. Let us analyse the impact that online education will have in shaping the new face of Indian education and how technology can cure the ills that currently plague it?

Infrastructure
India has the third largest base of internet users. Tapping into the power of this digitally literate population, the ailing infrastructural limitations can be easily done away with. A whole college or a school can be easily set up in the cloud, with the help of an online teaching system (like WizIQ). This simple yet revolutionary new practice will change the notion of infrastructure being the primary requirement for quality education. It may be a little difficult to accept it at first, but WizIQ is an online teaching platform which is already questioning the cliché.

Quality of Teachers
For schools facing a shortage of quality teachers, flipped classroom model has a workable solution. Schools on WizIQ have access to the Content Library, which stores media files, documents, presentations, and more, uploaded by the teacher on the cloud. These can be made available to the learners for offline viewing and reviewing. The Virtual Classroom can also be used to make educational videos. These can then be recorded and used as classwork videos. The students can download or view recording of the previous classes. Open resources like YouTube and Khan Academy can be used to build a curriculum for schools with a want of teachers. All that is required is a computer and a working internet connection.

Scalability
Public education in India is undeniably moth-stricken, and has been so for a very long time. As such, penetrating villages becomes a priority for online education. In the past, many initiatives like “each one teach one” failed miserably. But none of these initiatives have ever involved technology. If a dedicated amount of funds is utilised in setting up digital libraries in public as well as municipal schools, learners will have a greater exposure to digital literacy, and hence better education. The possibilities are endless.

Unemployment
A MOOC has the ability to reach thousands, even millions of students at once. It also has the potential to end the problem of unemployment in India. As more and more companies start recognising MOOCs at par with standard degrees, it is quintessential that the government makes MOOCs mandatory for the premier institutes. WizIQ has, in the past, collaborated with the IITs and IIMs to set up highly successful online courses. Not only do these courses make quality education available to the masses, they also promise certificates of completion, which are useful to job aspirants.

WizIQ
WizIQ is an online learning and teaching platform that connects educators and students through its virtual classroom technology and cloud-based learning management system (LMS). WizIQ is a highly scalable solution for both synchronous and asynchronous tutorials and assessments. Used for everything from teaching hybrid courses at major universities to offering one-onone classes across thousands of miles, WizIQ is an incredibly flexible tool for delivering and enhancing any type of training or instruction. .

Future
According to a McKinsey report,
While India scores well on the availability of human and financial capital, it rates poorly on Internet infrastructure, Internet engagement, the ecommerce platform, the ease of Internet entrepreneurship, and the impact of egovernance. On most indicators of the strength of the Internet ecosystem, India ranks in the bottom quartile of our comparison set of 57 countries. Clearly, development of education and the internet ecosystem go hand in hand as their impact on the overall education sector in India is mutually beneficial. WizIQ’s mission of democratizing education falls in complete sync with the present government’s aspirations of developing India’s digital ecosystem for a sustainable and bright future.

For queries, suggestions, feedback or ideas to share, feel free to drop a mail to Kalyan Sarkar, Director, Academic Liaisons, WizIQ.com, at kalyan@ wiziq.com

As the country heads for a digital tomorrow riding the ambitious `100,000 crore ‘Digital India’ programme, it is time to set right all that has plagued every sector. Unlike many flagship schemes announced by successive governments since independence, the Digital India programme in one stroke puts every sector and every Indian as its focus to deliver better services and governance so far denied to them.

As an unbiased and clear-minded chronicler of this revolution waiting to unfold, we are headed for the tenth eIndia Summit (http://eindia.eletsonline.com/2014/), India’s premier ICT event at Kovalam in Kerala this month. To be inaugurated by Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, the two-day event (14-16 November) organised by Elets Technomedia jointly with the Kerala government will see stakeholders in every sector from across the country brainstorm on the way ahead for the Digital India programme. The education track summit will host education policy makers from states and the Centre, vice chancellors from eminent institutions and educators across the country.

Since the inaugural eIndia event in 2005, Elets Technomedia has closely watched and recorded the contemporary India evolve. Thinking ahead, we had strongly advocated the use of information and communication tools in more than half a dozen sectors to create opportunities and improve last mile connectivity in governance, education, health, infrastructure, communication, sustainable enviornment, smart cities and financial inclusion. That was the time when India was gripped by the BPO and call centre phenomenon.

Through the years, we have strived to offer a valuable platform for all like-minded stakeholders to show their achievements, share their success and explore partnerships with others ready to embrace digital solutions. For more than a decade, several thousands of innovators have been honoured by us for their contribution to create a digital India.

Not content being passive observers, we have also acted as an enabler to improve digital ecosystems in India. One instance of our intervention in education is the Global e-Schools and Communities Initiative (GeSCI). Under this initiative, we offered expertise and assistance to the Department of School Education & Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development, in the formulation of the National policy on ICT in School Education. Today, it is heartening to see how ‘Digital India’ has envisaged transforming education.

This issue of digitalLEARNING is a special issue on the ‘Digital India’ programme and has a holistic coverage of interviews beginning with Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to other top policymakers. We have also engaged with leading educators, academics and corporates who offer their perspectives on challenges and opportunities thrown by this ambitious programme. This edition of digitalLEARNING features preschool business in India that cries for immediate attention and regulation.

Let us gather at eIndia 2014 Summit set amid the scenic beaches of Kovalam in Kerala. ‘Digital India’ is not merely a flagship programme. It is the collective conscience of an emerging India to democratise basic needs and opportunities and consequently relegate poverty and enable India to be a global hub for manufacturing, education and health.

Let us leapfrog India from a developing nation into a digital nation. See you at Kovalam!