I have just been to Buckingham Palace and accepted His Majesty The King’s invitation to form a government in his name.

It is only right to explain why I am standing here as your new Prime Minister.

Right now our country is facing a profound economic crisis.

The aftermath of Covid still lingers.

Putin’s war in Ukraine has destabilised energy markets and supply chains the world over.

I want to pay tribute to my predecessor Liz Truss, she was not wrong to want to improve growth in this country, it is a noble aim.

And I admired her restlessness to create change.

But some mistakes were made.

Not borne of ill will or bad intentions. Quite the opposite, in fact. But mistakes nonetheless.

And I have been elected as leader of my party, and your Prime Minister, in part, to fix them.

And that work begins immediately.

I will place economic stability and confidence at the heart of this government’s agenda.

This will mean difficult decisions to come.

But you saw me during Covid, doing everything I could, to protect people and businesses, with schemes like furlough.

There are always limits, more so now than ever, but I promise you this

I will bring that same compassion to the challenges we face today.

The government I lead will not leave the next generation, your children and grandchildren, with a debt to settle that we were too weak to pay ourselves.

I will unite our country, not with words, but with action.

I will work day in and day out to deliver for you.

This government will have integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level.

Trust is earned. And I will earn yours.

I will always be grateful to Boris Johnson for his incredible achievements as Prime Minister, and I treasure his warmth and generosity of spirit.

And I know he would agree that the mandate my party earned in 2019 is not the sole property of any one individual, it is a mandate that belongs to and unites all of us.

And the heart of that mandate is our manifesto.

I will deliver on its promise.

A stronger NHS.

Better schools.

Safer streets.

Control of our borders.

Protecting our environment.

Supporting our armed forces.

Levelling up and building an economy that embraces the opportunities of Brexit, where businesses invest, innovate, and create jobs.

I understand how difficult this moment is.

After the billions of pounds it cost us to combat Covid, after all the dislocation that caused in the midst of a terrible war that must be seen successfully to its conclusions I fully appreciate how hard things are.

And I understand too that I have work to do to restore trust after all that has happened.

All I can say is that I am not daunted. I know the high office I have accepted and I hope to live up to its demands.

But when the opportunity to serve comes along, you cannot question the moment, only your willingness.

So I stand here before you ready to lead our country into the future.

To put your needs above politics.

To reach out and build a government that represents the very best traditions of my party.

Together we can achieve incredible things.

We will create a future worthy of the sacrifices so many have made and fill tomorrow, and everyday thereafter with hope.

Thank you.

Image Source: NBC News

The post Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s statement appeared first on Higher Education Plus.

In a statement from university officials, it stated that the proposed draft has been uploaded on the university’s website and a Google form link window to submit the responses will remain open till January 31.

The official statement also mentioned that the draft UGCF is being circulated among the stakeholders’ students, recruiters, parents and academicians through a Google form. However, on the flip side, the fourth time revised template has already garnered a massive criticism by a large number of the teaching fraternity.

The academic council member of the university, Mithuraaj Dhusiya, stated that the draft before being issued was not discussed in the university’s Academic Council meeting and it wildly exploits the course structure curriculum of universities. Superficial changes to the draft will not blanket the looming problem of unemployment pervading in the country.

Another academician from the university stated that the latest scheme will downgrade the weightage system related to the number of hours and credits from six to four, which is unacceptable because it diminishes the value of key courses for students, is academically not viable and also lessen the workload of teachers, resulting in job losses and will be damaging to the teaching-learning system.

The post Delhi University seeks response on its newly designed Undergraduate Curriculum Framework 2022 appeared first on Higher Education Plus.

In conversation with Tom Gifford, Assistant Director, International Recruitment, within the Experience, Operations portfolio at RMIT University

How learning programming/ Python is important for any career in the post-COVID-19 times?

One of the prevalent impact of lockdown due to the COVID-19 outbreak is the faster embracing of technology across the globe. The pandemic has made everyone realize the shifting nature of jobs and that technology is the future. This turnaround of events will lead to a sharper rise in the demand for digital skills moving forward. The future of jobs would involve Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Big Data, Data Science, Data analytics, automation and more technologies in one way or the other.

In my view, for aspirants/ students, this lockdown period has presented an opportunity to choose and learn from the plethora of tech programmes and learn the tech skills they want. Python has been observed as a popular programming language among students during this phase and it will continue to gain further momentum. With an introduction to Python, students can start building the base for data science, analytics and machine learning. Moreover, this programming language is very user friendly. A student with knowledge and hands-on experience in Python gets a head-start for his/her career in computer science, gaming and information technology.

Why is it imperative to introduce programming to every student at the school level itself? How soon a student (which class) can be introduced to the subject?

In my opinion, everyone should learn programming predominantly school students. Programming aids students learn to analyse, think critically and creatively solve problems. Understanding computers and learning the basics of programming would help students to grow an appreciation for how things work.

More importantly, they will learn while learning programming, the essential life skills besides the tech skills. They will learn to think and solve problems in a logical and creative manner. Students would also learn to nosedive but at the same time acquire the ability to spring back post failures. Making mistakes serves as breaks for gaining wisdom.

Students starting from early years should start getting an introduction to the programming language. In India, both CBSE and ICSE boards have announced programming as a part of their computer science course as optional, for most schools. We are ensuing to a point where everything, every job would amalgamate into Computer Science and IT across fields to realize the next level of excellence. Picking up programming skills early on will only help students, at a later stage.

What are the new-age career prospects for students after pursuing a course in programming/ Python course?

The demand and application of programming/ python are anticipated to fast-track in the times to come. A course in programming/ Python would expose to abundant new-age career avenues as a Software Developer, Data Scientist, Data Analyst, Big data, Machine learning, Automation, Networking and more. Though attaining the right skills from a good educational institution would be crucial to an affluent career.

How getting international exposure will add value to students’ education and career path?

Studying in a foreign institution is excellent to expand your horizons for both personal growth and professional development. International exposure allows getting to ascertain new things, learning in a dynamic environment where a student acquires better cultural consciousness and understanding of peer students coming from different nations. Learners who study abroad display initiative, the desire to learn and the courage to enter into the unfamiliar terrain. This way a student can develop advanced social skills as well. International student exchange is not just about academic learning but the growth of life skills that goes a long way in an ever more globalized world aiding to build a generation of more leaders and innovators. I believe that getting international exposure is becoming a necessity for resolving grander problems in the world. Businesses across the globe too favour hiring candidates with international experience. The more experience you have abroad, the more you can assist a company to magnify its reach worldwide.

What is the idea behind introducing the GES programme? How is it different from other similar programmes/workshops offered during this COVID era, as every academic institution is proposing something similar either with nominal fees or free of cost?

In this swiftly moving world, it is vital to prepare students for the future of what’s next in computer science, gaming and information technology at a young age. We wanted to provide students with the taste of skills and experience that the industry needs through our special Global Extension Studies (GES) programme. This is an introductory-level programming principles, design and development course in Python. We envisioned delivering experiential learning with hands-on experience through the GES programme.

It is a world-first IT course giving Indian school students a passageway to programming, equips them for careers in IT in the Post COVID-19 World. To save their time and money on undergraduate studies, RMIT University would provide students with one subject of credit towards Bachelor degrees in Computer Science and Information Technology at the University.

Students aiming to build a career in the IT field and high achieving students can look forward to a completion certificate, scholarships with a maximum of 20% waiver on tuition fee to study at RMIT University, along with potential internship opportunities and selection for summer school programmes in India.

In programming, live experiences in a computer lab make sense. How did you manage to deliver 100% learning to the students? What were your success factors?

During these extraordinary times, we had to embrace ourselves to deliver an authentic programming experience to our students using a multitude of remote learning environments. The primary tool we used is an interactive textbook on the trinket platform. This is a novel approach in remotely teaching programming where students can experiment with all programming exercises within the textbook which can be remotely accessible from the web browser. This obliterated the need for any software installed on students’ computers. Moreover, we integrated this interactive textbook within our Learning Management System (LMS) and Collaborative Learning Platform, creating it a one-stop learning environment. This way students were able to experience an authentic learning environment as if they were studying together with an instructor in a traditional laboratory setup.

We have received encouraging feedback from students and a high completion rate of these unrestrained programs.

The post Demand of python is anticipated to fast-track in future: Tom Gifford appeared first on Higher Education Plus.

In conversation with Om Narayan, Head- Enterprise Business Solutions and Academia Relations, Mytat

How is Mytat aiming to contribute to workforce transformation in rural India? Have you started any initiatives?

India has very vast and diverse geography as well as population. India presented some of the world’s best education initiatives and outputs, however, resource crunch and accessibility to the training/ workforce transformation resources are still the major issues. To add, scarcity of credible internship opportunities even after being mandated by relevant bodies like MoHRD, NSDC, MoRD, MoUD, and bodies like AICTE, DGT, NSDC, poses a big challenge in the career path of youths. A huge struggle to gain applied knowledge for students has been observed. The issue of students failing to secure a job even after campus selections or internships led to the genesis of thought to build Mytat back in 2015. Mytat has been in beta use for the past 2-3 years and so far, has reached out to 50,000 candidates across India and helped placed over 1700 students. Recently, we have signed partnerships in Rajasthan with various higher education institutions and will be reaching out to 50,000 candidates in the next one year.

MYTAT has been developed to help students to identify their skill gaps, practice employability related assessments as per industry standards and join live and current theme/technology / problem-based projects that are mentored by industry experienced professionals with a pre and post skill assessment process.

We followed this approach for helping students in the rural rungs of the country earlier however, as the same problem is observed with candidates in urban cities as well, we are reaching out to students across demographics at one go.

How technology can help revive the traditional skill assessment/ SWOT analysis for students?

Traditional assessments were limited to a set of aptitude, functional tests or personality assessment and with a very limited fresher intake. With technological advancement, organizations have started focusing on a 360-degree talent assessment approach, thus, witnessing a shift in the recruitment/ talent acquisition process. A candidate is now being tested basis a series of assessments that are an amalgamation of aptitude, psychometric, coding/technical/non-technical, soft skills, MCQs, Subjective, simulation-based or hackathons, communication skill test– audio, and written etc. Employers use these assessments to take a view on each candidature to determine their long association and success potential in that role.

With technology disrupting the traditional assessments methods, students can benefit not only from skill acquisition initiatives but would also receive insight into their competitiveness in the talent market. This understanding helps him/her make an informed career decision.

How technology can be used to enhance the employability of students, making the platform accessible and scalable across India?

We all are aware that organizations are concentrated in limited cities and so are the professionals. It is impossible to burden organizations to enable students with credible project exposure. Therefore – it is now a necessity to ensure that such opportunities are accessible online during their education or training period, under a professional mentor.

With repetitive project exposure students not only get familiarised with technology but also acclimatise themselves to the process of problem-solving, teamwork and interpersonal relations. Therefore, it is a complete transitional experience for them while they are still on campus.

Technological learning and skill assessment platforms are the way forward. With low-cost data packages, basic laptop and mobile phones. Simple device agnostics, platforms are putting efforts to become scalable while providing easy access to students even in the rural rungs of India.

What are some of the USPs of Mytat and Lrnable vis-a-vis benefits to users?

Mytat has been in a unique position playing a critical role of connecting academia, students and industry. MYTAT’s robust AI/ML-powered assessment engine is being used by the top employer brands across the country.

Our assessment platforms help students to understand their employability and skill gaps. Students can further benefit from the self-paced and gamified learning backed by the inbuilt assessments to gauge their progress. The platform provides access to unlimited practice assessments with unique features of tracking previous scores, mistakes and practising further. These are necessary to acquire the desired technical, soft and new-age skills which are a pre-requisite to be job-ready nowadays. Students on the Mytat platform can also take the advantage of getting connected to the industry through internships or working on projects and learn real-time.

For educational institutions, MYTAT can help, gamify their curriculum and learning assessments. This will help raise students’ performance in the same class; section topic may be used for FDP delayering insights and growth. Mytat will also ease the struggle to facilitate credible internship and placements for these institutions.

On the other hand, corporates will get students who would understand processes and technologies, complementing them with good interpersonal skills and therefore presenting a better human resource tapping/retention opportunity which would indirectly save cost hiring and training cost, adding to the corporates’ overall profitability.

Once a candidate gets hired, Lrnable will further use the insights of MYTAT hiring assessments as development initiative input, facilitating timely learning interventions workshops while gauging the effectiveness of programs and continue to support employees at each career stage.

Thus, organisations with a handy skill matrix can take important business decisions at any given time.

The post Traditional assessments were limited to a set of aptitude: Om Narayan appeared first on Higher Education Plus.

By Prerna Jhunjhunwala, Founder, Creative Galileo

Education has undergone a sea change in the last five years. Children between the ages of three and eight years are instinctively tuned to use technology effortlessly. Combining education and entertainment is the most effective means to leverage young kids’ unique curiosity for their overall development.

Indian children have tremendous exposure to app-based education. After the pandemic-induced lockdown, the usage of apps and computers has increased in cities and villages alike. Innovative e-learning apps bring tremendous advantages such as providing quality interaction, reducing the need for rote memorization, 24 x 7 availability, fostering systematic learning activity, and bridging communication gaps between parents and teachers.

The Universe of Learning: Changed Forever

The role of entertainment in teaching has always been unmistakable. Through music, drama, songs, and nursery rhymes, we have transferred material knowledge and moral values to generations across centuries.

Today, entertainment in education stands redefined through apps ubiquitously available on Android and iOS devices. The technology-led learn-having-fun strategy is thoroughly engaging and immersive. It encourages children to spend more time learning and leaves them craving for more.

Learning is no longer limited to classroom sessions. Children are already familiar with mobile phones, video games and digital culture. Therefore, introducing them to an e-learning app is the most appropriate way to reinforce concepts while having fun.

Children of the impressionable ages from three years onwards love to discover things on their own. It makes sense to acquire mental and physical skills by presenting virtual stories, quizzes, can-do-it videos, and games to explore their world. This age-specific, child-sensitive strategy brings in higher confidence to face challenges in society as they learn to collaborate and achieve goals. One critical aspect to keep in mind is that the content must be safe for children to remain unsupervised while using the apps.

Kids have a fertile imagination. With creative learning, we can boost their cognitive skills. Children seem to understand visual data more than long grey text. In an interactive game experience, they recognize words and concepts through games. They easily recall and emulate the characters that they interact with on the apps.

This makes boring lessons easy and fun. Kids remember the words, numbers, plants, animals, shapes, and figures along with the essence of the story. They place each of these in the natural setting and relate to them in the real world. The use of elements such as images, sounds, and animations helps target the senses better and stimulates diverse types of learning among kids.

Learning apps serve as a crucial element of reinforcement for little minds to absorb knowledge. Compelling storytelling eliminates the burden of serious studies and helps to build easy recall. Entertainment apps have the power and versatility to create a fun learning experience.

Games like chess and robotics may sound like adult intellectual games, but we have seen kids pick up such complex games and activities with ease. Likewise, constructive thinking, problem-solving, pattern recognition, retention, and curiosity are just some of the facets of brain development that get a great push through edutainment.

In Conclusion

Technology-enabled learning disrupts the traditional sage-on-the-stage role of the teacher. It takes it closer to the oft-touted facilitator’ role in its real sense, many decades after the term found its way into the jargon of pedagogical philosophy. The ‘Connected World’ allows for technology-mediated globalization of education where governments, private players, and societies try to reconcile the blurred borders of entertainment and education. From music, drama, songs, and nursery rhymes, we have travelled far into the domains of virtual reality and augmented reality.

We still struggle to resolve the long-standing ‘education is not fun enough—entertainment is not serious enough’ debates. However, edutainment asserts itself as a profound enabler of learning. The versatile mobile and web apps can weave learning and gaming seamlessly into a single fabric on the warp and weft enabled by digital technology. Game developers, teachers, and students together create content and experiences. Collaborative creation and collaborative consumption have become native to the new paradigm of gaming and learning, like never before.

True globalization is in the offing. Digital technology facilitates the new edutainment model that makes learning fun and is the true leveller of all socio-economic barriers. It makes learning accessible to all.

The post Edutainment: A profound enabler of learning and equal opportunity appeared first on Higher Education Plus.

In conversation with Varun Kohli, Co-Founder, Coding Blocks

1. What is your perspective of coding and the importance of teaching programming?

Coding is the most desired skill of the 21st century. Considered as one of the highest paying and stable careers, traditionally Coding was opted by many students at College level. There exists a general perception that coding is the forte of the ‘Gifted learners’ and cannot be taken up by average students.

Before anything else, we need to address what is Coding and how does one start learning it. Well, simply put, Coding is a way to make software and hardware act upon your instructions. There is a particular way to do this and learning that way is learning to code. It is naturally logical in nature, and hence learning to code teaches good logical ability to learners. In addition, it teaches how to solve a problem by breaking its complexity to a simpler structure and making deductions from it.

2. What are the advantages of programming?

Coding is a boon for students as it will help them enhance logical thinking and problem solving from an earlier stage. Coding and programming are game changers in the education system. We will see a new generation that will be using analytical thinking to solve problems. In India, it is the perfect time to teach the children about new age learning which will help them tremendously both in the jobs sector as well as in Entrepreneurship.

3. What is the current status of programming in India?

Programming in India is typically opted by students at the higher education level- colleges, universities and the like. Even here, the syllabus of universities or colleges are in urgent need of an overhaul as the current syllabi presents a big challenge to students who need extra hand holding to make sure they are able to clear the placement drives of good tech companies. The key to success is to be aligned with the industry needs at all times. Students need to brace themselves with latest tech stacks and keep practicing Coding problems on a regular basis. Participation in community and Open Source are also good means to stay aligned.

4. What can be done to make the situation better? How will it help the IT industry?

Students need to understand that what they learn in college might not be enough and they need to keep themselves aligned with the needs of the IT industry. Practice is the key to success and learning the latest stacks is always beneficial.

The Covid pandemic has evolved the IT industry and it is now functioning well in the Remote working scenario. Well trained, industry aligned students will help the IT industry align easily to Remote protocol and will help students in bagging better opportunities and packages.

5. Tell us more about Coding Blocks Junior- a new initiative offering free courses in coding?

Coding Blocks Junior is one of the first initiatives in India to provide free Coding courses in Visual programming, Python, Web development and Robotics to school students across India and abroad.

Coding Blocks Junior has superb mentors, well researched content and all programs on Coding Blocks Junior are Certificate programs. There is no fee for doing the course from Coding Blocks Junior.

Coding Blocks Junior is the long awaited dream of our founder, Manmohan Gupta, an IIT Delhi alumni who believes that Coding should be imparted to all students at the school level.

The post Coding enhances logical thinking: Varun Kohli appeared first on Higher Education Plus.

In conversation with Dr.Mukesh Kwatra, Founder, Smiling Tree

What is the roadmap ahead for Smiling Tree?

Smiling Tree, over the last nine years has carried out hundreds of plantation drives, anti-plastic drives and spreading awareness to protect the environment. The sapling planted in 2012 is now a grown-up plant. And we together strive to make the plant grow into a giant tree.

A big number of like minded green warriors are involved with the Smiling Tree. Together the aim is to keep on planting trees, spreading awareness about environmental sustainability, making people aware of harms and alternatives to plastic in daily lives, how to lead an eco-friendly life, educating children at a young age about the above causes, educating the farmer community of India about the climate smart way of agriculture, and so on. Smiling Tre…

How does your work benefit society?

This question can be answered by any person living in a polluted environment, especially people living in places like Delhi, which is one of the most polluted cities of the world.

Who doesn’t want to breathe in clean air, who doesn’t want a pollution free environment, who doesn’t want to save his or her generations from the disastrous effects of climate change, who doesn’t want to have a chemical free food diet, who doesn’t want that the natural resources are always available in abundance?

Smiling Tree’s efforts are to make all the above things positively possible for the society.

How did you become interested in Environmental work?

Well, the credit goes surely to my son Nirbhay, who ignited the spark through his green initiative Smiling Tree.

I, like most of us, was so engrossed in my daily routines, busy life and was oblivious of how we humans are blindfolded to the depleting resources around and degradation of Earth.

I realized that a huge effort is required and that made me study more and more, how and what is to be done to take care of our environment and make Earth a better place. I do understand that what I am doing would be like a drop in the ocean, but as Mother Teresa said, ‘Even the ocean would be less without that missing drop’!

How Development and growing forestation can go hand in hand?

Development can go hand with forestation or more aptly described, with Nature. This is possible if the stairs leading to development are in conjunction with the environment, that’s exactly what we call is “Sustainable Development”. It implies meeting the needs of the present using the natural resources, without compromising the ability and availability of the resources for future generations to meet their needs. If there is a lack of coordination between these two factors, it would be an unsustainable approach and as a result we harm the environment.

How can we teach children environmental protection from a young age?

This is something I have been strongly advocating for quite some time. Children are the future, and that is precisely the reason why they need to be educated at a tender age so that they grow up to lead a sustainable and eco-friendly life.

There should be a compulsory Environment class in the curriculum in schools, with interesting kids’ friendly activities to involve them and evolve them. In fact, at junior levels, a monthly activity should be planned with parents as accomplices. The idea is to make it a family endeavour. If the child carries forward what he does at school, at home too, then that would surely make a strong foundation.

As an environmentalist which area you are more concerned about?

This is hard to answer. To a true environmentalist, any issue which is harmful for the environment, is of concern. More or less is not to be considered.

Myself and Smiling Tree strives and will keep on striving for the Environment benefit at large. Be it climate change, deforestation, unsustainable use of natural resources, use of plastics, gas emissions, fossil fuels burning, or any other issues, all are of concern.

We aim to make our Earth green and will always give our best for that.

When was the smiling tree launched? What was the idea behind the launch of the smiling tree?

‘SMILING TREE’ is a green initiative started by my son Nirbhay Kwatra in 2012. He was at that moment a 10-year Modern School student who had a savor for our home, our planet, Earth. His vision was to seek and garner support of people from all walks of life to form a significant ‘green collective’ and plant trees in abundance besides spreading awareness to inculcate habits of using clean, renewable energy in our daily lives and furthering green cover.

As a momentous ‘first step’ a ‘SMILING TREE GO GREEN WALK’ was organized on the 15th of January,2012 at Lodi Gardens, Delhi. The event was a great success thanks to an overwhelming and ardent response from the masses. People from all age groups were not only inquisitive about the cause but were very ‘appreciative’ too. They were surprised to notice a young ten-year-old kid having such awareness and zest for a clean and green environment.

I have been supporting Nirbhay throughout and now as he is busy with his studies and career development, I have taken over the initiative to carry on the good work.

In one statement, what message do you have to the coming generation?

The following verses from one of my poems would be my message for coming generations –

Let’s reinvent our lives or Earth will pause,

We will adapt and adopt, it’s a green cause.

Sustainable living and deforestation tamed,

May the Earth know that we have changed.

The post Development can go hand with forestation: Dr.Mukesh Kwatra appeared first on Higher Education Plus.

By Pravin V Patil, Chief Executive Officer – Centre for Industry-Academia Partnerships, MIT World Peace University (MIT-WPU)

Some universities are introducing programs in collaboration with tech giants such as, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). These partnerships ensure that the course curriculum is designed by the corporate and senior executives from the industry also conduct expert lectures for specialized courses where they have a proven industry niche.

Introduction

A recent survey, known as the Annual Employability Survey 2019 report by a leading assessment research organization, observes that 80% of Indian engineers are a mismatch for most jobs in the knowledge economy and only 2.5% of them possess tech skills in Artificial Intelligence (AI) that the industry requires. This is not only true for the engineering discipline in India but also holds true for across all the academic specializations and branches. It further highlights the huge industry-academia gap that remains to be filled in the Indian education ecosystem.

Bridging Industry-Academia Gaps

To bridge this gap, it is important to align the curriculum to industry trends and make it industry-centric. Universities and colleges must collaborate with the industry to ensure their curriculum is frequently updated after taking and implementing their concrete feedback. The good news is that a few universities are driving industry-academia collaborations along with corporates, which is paving the way for a revamped curriculum. This is especially true for popular programs such as, BTech where new courses in Artificial Intelligence and IIoT are being introduced to ensure industry-relevant skillsets are instilled in students within their academic degrees.

Some universities are walking the extra mile and even introducing university programs in collaboration with tech giants such as, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). These partnerships ensure that the course curriculum is designed by the corporate and they even conduct training sessions for the faculty members. In some cases, senior executives from the industry also conduct expert lectures for specialized courses where they have a proven industry niche. Students are exposed to emerging topics such as, Analytics, Machine Learning, Cloud Computing, Internet of Things, etc. to make them industry-ready at the end of four years of study. Periodic progress assessments of the students are also taken.

Multi-Disciplinary Approach in Education

Apart from an industry-centric approach, universities must also adapt to a multi-disciplinary approach in education. This means that students must be given the option to explore and study courses from different disciplines. Dual specializations and degrees that allow for a major and a minor will instill a multi-disciplinary approach in thinking and problem-solving, which are important skillsets from an industry point of view. This is increasingly becoming important today as the entire technology sector has already been disrupted a few times in the last few years and will continue in the same path.

Starting Early with Career Grooming

Another important aspect of grooming industry-ready professionals is nurturing students at an early stage. While most universities do help students with their final placements in their last year of study, it is also important to conduct career counselling sessions as well as sessions that will prepare students for competitive job interviews, group discussions and entrance exams.

Students must be encouraged to participate in an exhaustive process during their academic programs, which includes aptitude tests, group discussions, personal interviews, resume building, presentation skills, etc. to upgrade their skills and be prepared to successfully face the highly competitive placement process at the university. This will help them to meet the competitive edge and hone the skill-sets of students by identifying their weak areas at an early stage and providing them the necessary well-structured grooming from their first year of degree.

Nurturing the Leaders of Tomorrow

It is my firm belief that to create a new generation of industry-ready, dynamic leaders of tomorrow, instilling a holistic, value-based education should start at an early age. Education should not just be limited to the classroom but should also revolve around the holistic development of students, which includes Peace Studies as well as the pursuit of Science and Spirituality along with an emphasis on research and innovation. This holistic approach in education will shape our students and equip them with not only academic competence but will also ensure an overall personality development that will drive them to meet the challenges of the future.

The post Nurturing Industry-Ready Professionals appeared first on Higher Education Plus.

By Pankaj Agarwal, Founder &CEO, TagHive

On the 1st of February, the country rose to the much awaited announcement of the annual budget for the year.

To the relief of some and the dismay of others, the numbers were proposed and the budget was executed, leaving plenty of room for debate and conversation. While we would like to discuss the budgetary impact in various sectors, we reserve our attention to the most important conversation at hand : what does the 2021 budget mean for the education sector?

Economic experts have previously fixed the desired government spending on education at 6% of the total GDP. The Economic Survey 20-21, revealed that government expenditure on education had stagnated at 2.8% from 2014-2019 with a promising hike in 20-21 to 3.5%. The new budget reveals a further 6% decline of funds allocated towards education. On a related, but side note, the National Education Policy (NEP) of 2020, proposed the need to progressively double budgetary allotment for a period of at least ten years from 2021.

With so many dynamics at play, educators across the country were left with conflicting opinions about the UB education allotment.

Kiran Bhatty of Centre for Policy Research expressed deep concern for the state of education in an article published by the Wire. The policy expert who specialises in elementary education, stated that, “ The budget 2021 utterly disregards the education catastrophe inflicted by Covid-19”.

With millions of Indian children forced out of schools during the pandemic due to the digital divide, she expressed remorse that the government didn’t provide enough to rehabilitate them through much needed stimulus packages. She also called out the government’s lack of proposal  to keep schools safe post pandemic. “As the demand for education from all quarters has increased, the state’s commitment has correspondingly shrunk”, she opined.

The Controller General of Accounts reported that out of the total budget allocation in 20-21, only 41% had been spent, highlighting poor utilization of resources. Experts who share Bhatty’s sentiments cite the need for accountability to make precious public money available where it is needed the most.

Provita Kundu of the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability, remarked that the budget is only one aspect of the problem. How much of it we spend, where does the remaining money go, are all questions she urges Public Interest Litigators to actively pursue. In an article with Down to Earth, she also addressed the intersection between the proposed budget and the NEP.  “This would be the proper time to constitute the inclusion funds recommended within the National Education Policy, 2020”, she remarks.

However, there are others who lauded the government’s otherwise perceived shoestring education budget, as a welcome need of the hour.

Professor (Dr) Atmanand, director of Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, called the budget an execution of clear vision. With the budget proposing the adoption of 15,000 schools to run the pilot model under the latest NEP guidelines, Professor stated that it is the most financially viable option given the pandemic. He is of the opinion that it is a smart move to empower 15,000 schools to then onboard and mentor the others as the need emerges. In an article with  BW Education, he called public attention to the proposed central university in Leh, citing it as an example of providing access to information and opportunity even in the remotest parts of the country.

An ex TFI alumni and program coordinator, who wished to remain anonymous, remarked that critics of the Union Budget are not driven by reason but by defiance. NC said, “The pandemic has been a tough time for everybody with job losses and food security taking center stage. When there was no revenue going into the government coffers for an entire year, where should the government scrap up the money to increase expenditure as such?”, she posed.

She acknowledges that there may be flaws in the budget but that doesn’t divert her attention away from the good that UB 21 has proposed. “This tight budget is what is actually needed to foster a more stringent but much needed regulation in the education sector.” She says that with no money and opportunity to waste, this year could earmark the beginning on an education journey driven by purpose over financial gains. “With economic welfare being the way it is, educators across the country will also be held at higher levels of accountability since the government will be forced to weed out underperforming and expensive man-power.”

We also have a third category of observers who are using the budget as an opportunity to manufacture NEP compliant education products. Our company, TagHive is one such, that has risen to the demands expressed by critics and supporters of the budget alike.

With more and more emphasis on the need for equitable technology as per the NEP guidelines, we see absolute value in catering our AI powered classroom solution, Class Saathi, to government education projects. Having already partnered with the Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh governments, we have every reason to believe that our cost effective product will help education goals limber through all perceived budgetary constraints.

All said and done, the criticisms or applause for the budget 2021-2022 are largely premised on assumptions. The education budget will open up more scope for dialogue once it has been executed and analysed. Till then policy hawkers, economists and supporters can only assume from a reasonable distance what the implications of this year’s education budget could really mean.

The post One education fund allotment, opinions many: Union Budget 2021 appeared first on Higher Education Plus.

What is your opinion about the budget 2021?

The Union Budget 2021-22 has tremendous potential to uplift the effectiveness of India’s schooling systems. Its initiative to establish 750 Eklavya model residential schools will work towards making education more accessible and affordable and features like the National Digital Educational Architecture and skilling initiatives will help support learners while they prepare for the future. Its greatest strength lies in the policies to raise the standard of pedagogies and scale-up higher education through the National Education Policy.

I believe the future of schools do not lie in a brick-and-mortar style of learning with fixed-age classrooms, that board examinations should be dropped or based on open-book/open-Google examinations to force a change in the approach to teaching and learning. So, the lower allocation, as compared to the last two years, and the diminutive policies attributed to digital and online education is concerning. However, overall, the budget definitely stands to bring a much-needed change for schooling institutions, teachers, and learners.

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