India, the worlds second most populous country with approximately 1.2 billion people of which close to 50 percent are under the age of 25, is truly a ‘young nation. It is well recognised that she needs to focus on training her youth to reap the demographic dividends. This accords humongous opportunity for the education sector in the country.
During the early years of ones organisational life, it is but natural to assume that every problem can be fixed by an appropriately designed incentive plan.
The rapid growth in internet, mobile and cloud technologies in the past decade has touched every aspect of human life including learning and education. eLearning has been around for quite some time now and as its popularity continues to grow within the educational sector, its capabilities are also growing along with it. Computers are becoming increasingly essential as educational tools and technologies are becoming more portable and cost-effective. Another eLearning technique that is fast gaining popularity is mobile learning.
The coming decade will witness phenomenal change and disruption in the field of higher education. As academicians, while our focus has been intense on the quality and delivery aspects of education, I feel it is technology that will be the great disruptor of how we teach and measure the outcomes of that teaching. One clear area of evolution I see for schools will be a shift of focus from 'marks based' academic curriculum to 'life based' overall development. Institutions may talk a lot about it these days but do very little – however, this will change gradually but surely.
According to a recent report by networking solutions giant Cisco, the Internet user base in India is expected to more than double to 526 million by 2018. Companies such as Amazon, Zomato, Flipkart, Quikr, Facebook and Whatsapp are all gearing up to catch the eyeballs of these 526 million of which over 200 million are expected to be school and college students.
As anyone who has lined up all night in the cold for the latest Smartphone will tell you, keeping up with technology isnt easy, but with many HR departments considering more responsibility for resourcing, it is essential to stay abreast with the numerous recruiting channels, tools and technologies that have came forth in recent years.
A key purpose of schooling is to acclimatise children to the present environment and prepare them for the future. In that construct, education is evolving on the continuum of bridging the present to the future.
The present generation strongly believes that it is fair to be paid as per performance but also that there is no justification for non-performance. With an apparent drastic change in business and technology, the manner in which organizations manage their compensations has also metamorphosed. Now no longer can an employee relax on his office chair with a certainty of getting handsomely paid without delivering expected results. We live in a world which is information and technology driven therefore paper performance management and merit systems are of reduced significance, only clearly evident efforts which contribute to organizations growth can expect to be rewarded.
Dr. Maria Montessori, founder of ‘The Montessori Method, was the first woman physician to graduate from the University of Rome, and soon opened a child care centre for slum children. The Montessori Method is based on her below listed observations:
Hiring good employees into your company is only half the battle won; keeping them there is the other half. Once you have hired good employees, you will need to put a little work into keeping them happy. Retention of best employees is very important for the long term health and success of your company's business. Many bosses or managers accept the fact that if the right employees are retained they ensure customer satisfaction, product sales, satisfied co-workers, effective succession planning and deeply embedded organisational knowledge and learning.
Global Talent Management is crucial in todays scenario as it helps foster business performance and aids in the alignment of a companys strategy with its vision, mission, values, and the way it develops and manages its people. Due to the foreseen talent shortages, management of a talent holds significance in an organization. Since the demand for talent always exceeds the supply for the same, effective talent management has a huge impact on the growth of the multinational organizations.
A new hire, a seasoned and experienced professional, an intern or a contractual employee - across all these categories, employee roles and responsibilities differ significantly. However, what remains common for all employees is the "Human Touch” rendered by different organisations through their well structured phases of engagement and grooming which gives Talent Management a whole new meaning.
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has— anthropologistMargaret Mead(1901-78)
The Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (aka RTE Act) became law on April 1, 2010. But two years on, there's confusion confounded relating to the implementation of the Act, in particular about giving effect to s.12 (1) (c) which makes it mandatory for all private schools to reserve a 25 percent quota in class I or preschool, if any, for children belonging to weaker section and disadvantaged group in the neighbourhood and provide free and compulsory education till its completion”. The confusion persists despite the Supreme Court upholding this provision on April 12, 2012 in Society for Unaided Private Schools of Rajasthan vs. Union of India (Writ Petition (c) No. 95 of 2010), with questions being raised about who classifies disadvantaged children in the neighbourhood and the quantum of tuition fees reimbursed to private schools by the state government under s.12 (2).
Shweta Sastri is executive director of the Bangalore-based K-12 co-educational day/boarding Canadian International School (CIS, estb.1996), ranked among Indias Top 20 and Karnatakas Top 5 international schools in the EducationWorld India School Rankings 2012. With an aggregate enrolment of 480 students (70 percent are children of expatriates), CIS was the garden citys first education institution to launch the International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma programme. It also offers curriculums of the North American (Ontario) ministry of education and Cambridge International Examination (CIE), UK.
The Asia-Pacific region encompasses some of the richest and poorest nations on Earth, as well as the largest and some of the smallest. It includes states with the most successful records of economic development in the late 20th century — the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore — and those whose growth has been fragile and disrupted by strife and natural disasters.
In neighbouring Asian countries with successful records of socio-economic development — Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and China — high-quality ECE is receiving urgent attention from planners and educators who have become increasingly aware of the critical importance of providing infants a sound foundation for cognitive growth and development.
Although the Union HRD ministry seems content to remain ignorant, Indias globally-tuned, upwardly mobile middle class has been quick to embrace early childhood education (ECE). Currently there are an estimated 50,000 privately-promoted preschools countrywide, whose aggregate revenue is growing at 35 percent per year. And far beyond discussing the merits and demerits of ECE, promoters and educators in private preschools are anxious to make the ECE experience more enjoyable and meaningful for their students.
Frederick Douglass (1818-1895), famous American abolitionist, orator, author, statesman and social reformer, famously declared: It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men Douglass no doubt, made this comment on the basis of personal experience and his observations of the impact of slavery on US society during the 1800s.
Creative thinking involves both hemispheres of the brain, sometimes alternating, at other times, in synchrony. Ideas hop, skip, and dance a tango often culminating in creative resonance, where great insights explode into consciousness.
Consultative needs analysis surveys conducted by the British Council over the past three years for in-service teacher education programmes in several states across India, illustrate that government school English language teachers are on the whole, aware of the key principles of English language teaching highlighted in the National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005.
Special education for gifted children is an idea which is becoming increasingly popular worldwide. In our neighbourhood — Singapore, China, Korea and Thailand — dedicated schools for gifted children are mushrooming. Worried about well-trained youth from such special schools taking the best jobs from Americans, some states within the US have also legislated in favour of special education for gifted children. Even as egalitarian a country as Denmark has acknowledged the need to pamper gifted children.
The IT (information technology) and internet communications revolutions of the past two decades have transformed teaching-learning norms and systems around the world — particularly in post-industrial societies of the first world — beyond recognition. With the introduction of ICT (instructional communication technologies) into classrooms of progressive schools worldwide, it is now possible to supplement and enrich chalk-n-talk and textbook teaching with live multi-media presentations on smart boards, to facilitate deeper understanding of curricular concepts and subjects. Moreover, the internet revolution has created a vast universal digital library accessible to all, enabling students to reach the worlds best teachers with the click of a mouse.
For all students, particularly those on the threshold of completing their secondary and higher secondary board examinations, writing an engaging English language essay is a vital pre-condition of examination success. The ability to write good essays is also very important for students who wish to do well at university. Therefore its important for teachers preparing students to do well in milestone examinations — and indeed in life beyond academic institutions — to help them develop their essay writing skills.
Chalk-n-talk and one-way conversation is still the dominant pedagogy in India's classrooms. Why is it that none of the other faculties are brought in to play in the classroom? How many of the senses are aroused to aid students understanding of the lesson being presented? Invariably some set pedagogy is imposed on students. Can teachers not guide learners to ‘discover' the pedagogy most agreeable to them to make learning a truly exhilarating process?
Today's youth are living in the most exciting time of human history, within increasingly diverse communities and cultures, newer and fast-evolving technologies and ever expanding horizons. Against this backdrop, the challenge confronting school managements is to ensure that their students evolve into sensitive, responsible citizens of the new world. Therefore, it is vital for schools to establish a robust team of counsellors and teachers who can empathise with the young, and successfully provide guidance and support to students regardless of age and grades.
Career counseling is gaining increasing importance in India today, as families and education institutions search for methods and systems to help young people make career choices suited to their aptitude and potential.
One of the great questions which confronts governments, school managements and educationists around the world, is how can schools transform themselves to unlock the potential of every student and teacher? How can government efforts to improve learning outcomes be combined with their obligation to put citizenship on the curriculum, promote healthy schools and place positive behaviour high on their agendas?
There must be few people in the world who didnt feel a sense of loss on June 25 when pop icon Michael Jackson (1958-2009) died. Emotions ranged from great sadness to anger about a ‘life less lived and wasted talent. I dont want to focus on the controversy that surrounded his life and death, but to derive some learning from what fractured and tortured his soul and led to a life fraught with insecurity and unhappiness in spite of all his acclaimed success.
Within India's 5 million-strong school teachers community, there is an urgent need to acknowledge Mother Nature as the greatest teacher and to learn from her example. She speaks not a word in any human language, and yet everything in nature inspires humanity to seek and learn, engendering awe, mystery, and an enthusiasm for uncovering the truth behind her workings, her creations, her cycles and her balance. As such, she is the primal teacher archetype of inspirational teaching and the root of all scientific enquiry. Hence, science has been defined as "mankind's attempt to understand nature”. The great scientist Albert Einstein expressed it more dramatically stating, "We still do not know one thousandth of one percent of what nature has revealed to us".
The recent attacks on Indian students in Australia have evoked shock and dismay within all sections of the populace in India, and the academic community in particular. The emergence of this phenomenon calls for serious debate to analyse its causes and effects and evolve policies and strategies for creating safe and secure environments for Indian students driven to study abroad by a debilitating domestic higher education system.
Is English India's first or second language? For a minority of Indians who have had the good fortune to be educated in the countrys 11,000-plus elite CISCE and CBSE English medium schools it is, clearly, the first language. For the rest of the population, including children who attend state board affiliated vernacular and so-called English medium schools, the status of English is ambiguous. I say ‘so-called, because most of these schools are only nominally English medium institutions. Their lingua franca is the local language, or the mother tongue.
Sensational reports highlighting widespread sexual abuse of children by teachers, care givers, care providers and neighbours which have been appearing in the media with increasing frequency of late, suggest that children are becoming increasingly vulnerable in Indian society, which is experiencing rapid structural changes in demography and economy. The pressures of urbanisation, accelerated rural-urban migration of families in search of work and livelihood, changing societal mores and traditions, altering lifestyles are some of the factors which have cumulatively impacted behavioural norms in Indian society, leading to the rising incidence of crimes against children.
The financial crisis that originated in the bursting of the sub-prime housing loan bubble in the US last year, has now blown into a worldwide phenomenon of epic proportions. With the economic slowdown having bruised and battered the banking and finance sector and IT companies previously regarded as rock solid, campus recruitments have slowed to a halt with key industry players opting out of on-the-spot hiring exercises.
Despite India boasting over a thousand B-schools, some of whom are rated and ranked among the best in the world, most graduates who aspire to corporate careers yearn to do an MBA abroad, especially in the US, UK or Australia. Well aware of this national aspiration, many foreign B-schools have established offices in India and stage pricey promotional programmes in five-star hotels to ‘sensitise youth about the great globally cherished MBAs they offer.
Farah, the schools star athlete was devastated. This class VIII student had been assessed a below-average performer and placed on academic probation. She had been barred from sports and directed to dedicate all her time to the pursuit of academic excellence. She felt inadequate for failing to measure up to her schools perception of intelligence.
Professor (Dr.) C. Raj Kumar, a Rhodes Scholar, is the founding Vice Chancellor of O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana (NCR of Delhi) “The university .....Read More
Kanishka Agarwal, Senior Measurement, Monitoring and Evaluation Associate, Pratham Education Foundation and Muskan, Research Assoicate at ASER Centre, currently pursuing an MBA at MDI. Almost .....Read More
