MADHYA PRADESH STATE EDUCATION SUMMIT

EVENT REPORT

State Education Summit Addresses Gaps in the Education Sector

The summit discussed various issues, challenges and best practices that prevail in the education sector

Madhya Pradesh

R to L: Shri Kailash Vijayvargiya, Dr Veera Gupta, Lokesh Mehra, Ritu Ghosh lighting the lamp at the inauguration of the State Education Summit 2012

he Madhya Pradesh government is committed to give a technological boost to the education sector with the objective of helping students passing out from different institutions in the state, stand solidly in the competitive world, said Shri Kailash Vijayvargiya, Minister of Information Technology, Government of Madhya Pradesh, while inaugurating the Madhya Pradesh State Education Summit 2012 at Indore 2012 on 19th December, 2012. Shri Vijayvargiya said that the state

has been emerging as a destination for education. The summit was convened with the objective of deliberating on regional concerns and challenges in diverse areas of education. The state has the potential to fulll the future requirements of the knowledge economy. Its youth can become the fountainhead for boosting the Centres agenda of creating 200 million skilled workforces by the year 2020, the Minister added. For this, various educational programmes have been undertaken. The state is witnessing signicant growth

in engineering, telecom networks, and other industries. Yet, the challenges and gaps in industry and academia persist. However, achieving quality and universalisation of education remains a challenge for the state. We are adopting a multi-dimensional approach to improve the quality and inclusion in higher education. We are starting a large number of colleges in rural areas to make higher education accessible to people there. We have opened about 20-25 colleges in the past one year, and have about 15 more in the pipeline, he said.

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Conferences like the State Education Summit act as a platform for knowledge exchange, and sharing of the best practices and ideas to address the gaps and challenges of the states education sector, the minister said. The consortium brought together thought leadership from across the country to focus on the development of the state. Speaking on the occasion, the Information Technology Department Secretary of the State, Hariranjan Rao said, ICT has become an integral part of our education system and new solutions are coming up to keep the education sector updated. He said virtual classrooms can play an important role in bridging the digital divide in our country, and in making quality education accessible to students living in remote areas. The summit had parallel sessions on higher and school education and was attended by eminent personalities in the education sector, thinktanks, academicians, policymakers, educational institutions heads and students, and others, discussing the various issues, challenges and best practices in the education sector. In the inaugural session, a host of speakers including Lokesh Mehra, Director-Education Advocacy, Microsoft; Dr Veera Gupta, Former Secretary, CBSE & Associate Professor, National University for Education Planning & Administration (NUEPA); Dr Michael Harnar, Mosaic Network, US; Ritu Ghosh, Head-Education Initiatives, Hewlett Packard; Suresh Mhatre, Vice President, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS); Vikram Kant Upadhyay, President, Team India & Board Member, Indian Angel Network; and Dr Basheerhamad Shadrach, Country Director, TESS -India, Open University, UK, expressed their views. The parallel pre-lunch sessions on school education and higher education enlightened the education stakeholders where a large number of domain experts participated. All those who have excelled in different areas of the education sector were awarded the Shiksha Ratna during the concluding ceremony of the event.
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Vocationalising Education, and Capacity Building of Teachers

Vocational education and training is an important element of national education initiatives and has been given special emphasis in the 12th Five-Year Plan. The session delved upon the importance of vocational education and capacity building if India has to reap the benet of population dividend

Rashmi Arun Shami, Commissioner-cum-Director, Rajya Shiksha Kendra (RSK) & Ex-Ofcio Secretary-School Education, Govt of MP The perception is that vocational education is low paying needs to change in the country. The notion that only engineering and medical is high paying needs to be revisited. The belief that vocational education produces low quality workers for ourselves and for the rest of the world. This approach is fundamentally wrong. We should be looking at vocational education of higher quality that not only gives people basic skills, but also polished and higher skills. To be the best in the world, we need to produce more people with higher and better skills. This is a challenge because we do not have enough quality vocational training teachers. However, I am hopeful we will be able to overcome this in the future.

Dr RB Shivagunde, Joint Director, PSSCIVE, Bhopal The Ministry of Human Resource and Development has introduced NVEQF and it is expected by the end of the 12th Five-Year Plan. It will make mandatory for all post-secondary schools to introduce vocational education as a part of regular education, which will allow us to impart skills to 55 crore people by 2025. The government has also set up the National Skills Development Corporation (NSDC). They have scanned the entire universe of vocational education and divided into 21 sectors and prioritised them. The challenge is quality education and perception that vocational education is for unemployed people. However, like the Koreans or the Chinese, we should all be adequately skilled before getting a job.

Harvender Khalsa, Principal, Himalaya International School It is very important to understand that vocational education does not mean emphasising only on practical or theoretical knowledge, rather it has a deep focus on providing an environment and training to a student in such a manner that he can easily earn for himself.

Sunil Pandya, Administrator, Vidyasagar School & College There is a strong need to identify creativity and convert it into innovation, enhancing logical and interpretational skills, and providing better career opportunities. The time has come that we should accept that along with primary-secondary education, we need vocational training also as everyone cannot become an engineer, doctor, etc. Vocational education plays an essential role in an individuals growth which in turn, results in the economic growth.

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SCHOOL EDUCATION MADHYA PRADESH STATE EDUCATION SUMMIT

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SCHOOL EDUCATION

Alternative Assessment Strategies and Innovative Approaches in Evaluation

Alternative assessment is a form of student performance grading that allows for a more holistic approach for student assessment over the traditional form. With this kind of assessment, students are enabled to provide their own responses rather than simply selecting from a given list of options. The session delved upon best practices and innovative ways of assessments in classrooms

Dr Basheerhamad Shadrach, Country Director, TESS-India, Open University, UK The Open University, UK, works with different organisations in many ways, by providing courses, collaborating on new curriculum, validating programmes, and sharing expertise to help other distance learning ventures become established. The focus for all our collaborative ventures is on nding new ways to full our mission of opening up educational opportunities to more people at more places.

Mohit Yadav, Director, Annie Besant School, Indore In the times to come, the evaluation process will have to have more of assessment so that examination does not become scoring just a grade or marks, but a tool for teachers to understand students, and for students, a better way to understand themselves.

Rajesh Awasthi, Principal, Choithram School, Indore At times, evaluation becomes more qualitative as compared to assessment. So, if we add quality to the assessment it will lead to evaluation, but ultimately, the focus should be on attaining some basic skills, which will help a student in expressing his ideas and work. Grading and giving marks to the student should not be the only criteria to evaluate a student, we must also focus on skills development.

Dr Michael Harnar, Mosaic Network, US Evaluation does have some sort of participatory element, participatory process has three major dimensions selection of the people, depth of their involvement, and control over evaluation.

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SCHOOL EDUCATION MADHYA PRADESH STATE EDUCATION SUMMIT

Creation of Inclusive Learning Environments in Classrooms

Inclusive teaching means recognising, accommodating, and meeting the learning needs of all students. The session focused on strategies and methods to make learning more holistic, while also trying to make it inclusive, not just within classrooms, but in the society as a whole

L K Kandpal, Principal, New Digambar School, Indore An inclusive classroom is one where students and staff alike recognise, appreciate, promote the diversity, and try to enrich the overall learning experience. In order to make a class inclusive, the system must encourage all learners, irrespective of gender, ethnicity, religious afliation, socio-economic status, and personal beliefs to develop skills to understand and face the challenges of life.

Prakash Choudhury, Principal, Prestige Public School, Indore As teachers, we should be like researchers and nd whether a child is able to learn the way we teach him. And if he is not, we must nd ways to help him learn the way he wants to.

Sarita Manuja, In-Country AdvisorCenter for Assessment, Evaluation and Research, CBSE Effective inclusion improves the education system for all students, regardless of their learning ability, race, linguistic ability, economic status, gender, learning style, ethnicity, cultural background, religion, family structure, and sexual orientation.

Pradeep Pandey, Principal, Pioneer Convent School, Indore We should make learning interesting and technology can be leveraged to achieve this goal. Inclusive learning is beyond giving equal opportunity to all. Inclusion is no longer a problem as all students are being enrolled in education. But, we have to make sure that they integrate well with each other. For better integration, the learning experience needs to be made interesting.

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Right to Education and its Implications for Schools

RTE provides a ripe platform to reach the unreached, with specic provisions for the disadvantaged groups. The session deliberateted on the implications for RTE in schools in India and strategies for addressing the opportunities and challenges for the same

Sangeeta Sood, Principal, J J Public School, Indore The Right to Education Act is forward looking, but I hope it does not become like the other acts, which are only applicable on paper. Just giving admission and paying fee is not sufcient. How can the wide gap in the economic status be bridged? RTE children cant afford the luxuries which their counterparts studying in private schools have. The consequences could be drastic. Such children may either adopt unfair means or develop inferiority complex and negativity.

Ruchira Ghosh, Head Business Development Schools, British Council Division As an organisation, we would like to work with the government as well as the private sector. Our international school awards provide global benchmarking projects that recognise schools for their outstanding work.

Suchitra Dutta, Principal, Maharashi Centre For Educational Excellence Education is a fundamental human right, without which capabilities for a decent life and effective participation in society are less likely to be developed. The RTE Act has provided us the tools to provide quality education to all our children. It is now imperative that we, the people of India, join hands to ensure the implementation of this law in its true spirit. The government is committed to this task, though real changes will happen only through collective action and we must come forward willingly for the same. At the grassroot level, realisation of the intent of this historic legislation cannot be solely left to the government machinery. Civil society and all stakeholders in education must step forward to implement the RTE Act.

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SHIKsHA

RATNA

Shiksha Ratna Awards felicitated schools and higher education institutions that have carved their niche in the development of education in Madhya Pradesh. The Awards recognised the remarkable work done by the schools and higher educational institutes to make leaming innovative and student centric for the holistic development of learners

Shiksha Ratna Awards For School Education

Madhya Pradesh Shiksha Ratna Award for the Best International School: Gyan Ganga International Academy, Jabalpur With an emphasis on all round development of a child, Cyan Ganga International Academy, jabalpur, has carved out a curriculum that lays equal emphasis on academics and personality development. It is one of the unique international educational institutions in the state. The school focuses on continual development and the process is led by a quality management system. A dedicated team of quality professionals has been appointed to assist students to achieve excellence.

Madhya Pradesh Shiksha Ratna Award for the Best Teacher Training Programme in School: Gwalior Glory High School, Gwalior, M P The motto of Gwalior Glory High School, Gwalior, is to nurture its students into caring and capable individuals with an adaptability to their environment, both natural and socio-cultural. The school has well-equipped science laboratories, a hi-tech computerlaboratory and a playground for basketball, handball, Kho-Kho, tennis courts and a 200-metre track. The school has immensely focused on teacher training programmes.

Madhya Pradesh Shiksha Ratna Award for the Best School: The Sanskaar Valley School, Bhopal The Sanskaar Valley School, Bhopal is afliated to the leSE board and plans to introduce the International Baccalaureate (IB) in the coming years. It won the Madhya Pradesh Shiksha Ratna Award for the Best School for its deep sense of commitment to provide innovative education and overall growth of the students by integrating sports, hobby activities, special day celebrations, commu-nity service, eco-friendly initiatives and excursions in its curriculum. The school is a member of the Round Square Organisation, and encourages its students to participate in the International Award for Young People (IAYP) programme.

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Madhya Pradesh Shiksha Ratna Award for the Best Emerging School: Global Indian International School, Indore The Globa! Indian International School. Indore, provides global exposure and insights through international knowledge-exchange programmes. GlIS worldwide has won many awards for academic excellence and best practices. GIIS imparts world-class education to its students across 22 campuses, spread over three continents and seven countries.

Madhya Pradesh Shiksha Ratna Award for the Best Sports Facility in School: WendySchool Junior College, Gwalior Wendy School Junior College is one of the premier educational institutions of Gwalior. It has the best of infrastructural facilities, high-tech labs, well-stocked library and medical room, playground, cafe, etc. The prerequisites that make for a wonderful school life are available, by default, to all Wendyites. The school has transformed all the traditional classrooms into smart classrooms equipped with the latest technology.

Madhya Pradesh Shiksha Ratna Award for Academic Excellence in School: Green Wood Public School, Gwalior Green Wood Public School is one of the outstanding schools inGwalior. Its aim is to mould the personality of a child by developing his mind, sharpening his intellect, nurturing his creativity, strengthening his body, and above all, imparting him the values that make him a good human being and a good citizen, The school has continuously delivered excellent results over the years.

Madhya Pradesh Shiksha Ratna Award for the Best ICT-enabled School: Gyansagar International School (GSIS), Sohagpur GSlS, Sohagpur, has technology-enabled classrooms with 28 digi classrooms, The level of lCT implementation in the school is commendable. At the beginning of the new session every year, the school gives training to its teachers in order to facilitate more aids for teaching and to help them cope up with the new and fast changing education technologies.

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Madhya Pradesh Shiksha Ratna Award for Leading Private University: AI SECT University The AISECT University. Bhopal. is one of the leading private universities of Madhya Pradesh. It is committed to academic excellence and overall development of its students. The university focuses heavily on research and encourages students to excel and strive through education that emphasises on the power of discovery and the foundation of critical thinking. It aims to deliver not only world-class education in state-of-the-art facilities. but also an environment for holistic learning that will help groom students into condent and smart individuals.

Madhya Pradesh Shiksha Ratna Award for the Best Engineering Institute: Truba Institute of Engineering and Information Technology Truba Institute of Engineering and Information Technology engages in imparting quality education in the eld of technological development. The institute not only focuses on the curriculum of the university. but the faculty members have also made it dynamic in nature. The institute gives appropriate attention to theory and eld work. The Center of Innovation of Truba promotes students great ideas and helps bring them to reality.

Madhya Pradesh Shiksha Ratna Award for the Best Higher Education Institute: NIIT Foundation District Learning Centre The NlIT Foundation District Learning Centre works for the unreached. uncared and unattended for ensuring inclusive development. It aims to be the global pathbreakers in employability training. gainfully employing at least two million underserved youth every year. It has begun a number of programmes that would positively impact the underserved of the country through various educational interventions.

Madhya Pradesh Shiksha Ratna Award for the Best Management Institute: Sanghvi Institute of Management and Science The Sanghvi Institute of Management and Science. Indore. was started with the motto to give a new direction to the entire learning process to meet the futuristic needs despite cultural and infrastructure constraints of Madhya Pradesh. It believes that education is about growing as a human being with the right knowledge. skills and attitudes.

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Madhya Pradesh Shiksha Ratna Award for the Best Emerging Institute: Gyan Ganga Group of Institutions, Bhopal Gyan Ganga Group of Institutions, Bhopal, is dedicated to create knowledge leaders. Being one of the largest group of institutions of its kind in Central India, it aims to enhance its leadership stance by proving quality education. Now, it has seven institutes under its agship having courses in the areas of engineering, management, computer application, information technology (BEd). and school education etc.

Madhya Pradesh Shiksha Ratna Award for the Best Faculty in Institute: PIMR Indore The Prestige Institute of Management and Research, Indore, has been rated as an A-class management institute by the AAC. It has also received international accreditation from the International Accreditation Organisation. In recognition of its performance and high standards in providing quality education. the institute has been conferred the autonomous status by the University Grants Commission as well as the Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya.

Madhya Pradesh Shiksha Ratna Award for the Best Infrastructure Development by the Institute: SIRT, Bhopal The Sagar Institute of Research & Technology (SIRT) is creating new avenues for the corporate world to explore the academia of the country and to foster industry-institute partnership. Its massive infrastructure. well-equipped labs. state-of-the-art networked computing labs. national and international journals in the li brary. and ample opportunities for students to showcase their talents in extracurricular and cultural activities. make it a true learning centre.

Madhya Pradesh Shiksha Ratna Award for the Best lCT-enabled Institute: Sri Aurobindo Institute of Technology, Indore Sri Aurobindo Institute of Technology, Indore, aims to be the best seat of learning in the respective disciplines it offers. At SAIT. the clear intent is to produce engineers for the 21 century. who are competent to face the challenges of the global economy.

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Madhya Pradesh Shiksha Ratna Award for the Best Technical Education Institute: Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidyalaya (RGPV) Over a sprawling campus of about 247 acres. the Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidyalaya is marching towards development into a center of excellence in the arena of technical education. research and innovation. There are 5 UTDs . 217 afliated engineering colleges. 95 pharmacy colleges. 88 MCA colleges and four architecture colleges under its umbrella. It won the Madhya Pradesh Shiksha Ratna Award for the Best Technical Education Institute.

Madhya Pradesh Shiksha Ratna Award for the Best Vocational Education Institute: Virtual Voyage Institute of Design Media and Management Virtual Voyage Institute of Media and Management has a clear and focused vision. It strives to provide world-class training and lling up the gap of required skilled human resources. The institute focuses on new and smart courses that suit the demands of the new age and are in sync with the talent of individuals as well as offer a promising future. It won the Madhya Pradesh Shiksha Ratna Award for the Best Vocational Education Institute.

Madhya Pradesh Shiksha Ratna Award for the Best Government Initiative: Centre for Research & Industrial Staff Performance (CRISP) The Centre for Research and Industrial Staff Performance (CRISP). Bhopal. has been established in the year 1997 as a society under the Indo-German Technical Cooperation agreement. The organisation has excellent infrastructure in terms of sophisticated laboratories in various elds. It is one of the preferred service providers in the areas of Technical Vocational Education & Training (TVET). training institution management. and entrepreneurship development.

Madhya Pradesh Shiksha Ratna Award for the Best Private Sector Initiative: Rumi Education Rumi Education provides comprehensive and sustainable education solutions that enable schools. teachers and students reach their full potential through effective and innovative teaching methods. It aims to be the market leader in providing education solutions that empower talent and develop creativity as the foundations of a prosperous society. Its innovative teaching methods and programmes are designed to support teachers and students in their desire to improve and succeed.

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Employability Skills and Prociency Levels amongst Youth Best Practices and Next Practices
Finding a job-ready workforce that can deliver quality continues to be a worry quotient for employers across the globe. This session not only brought out a comprehensive summary of what ails the employers and the institutes, but also gave some specic solutions that can benet the two stakeholders

Siddharth Chaturvedi, Director, AISECT University Higher education institutions need to develop capacity in employer involvement, build exibility in training programmes, and embed the entire concept of employability, but not as an adjunct for one or two semesters. They need to invest in professional development of the staff, bring in activities and action learning into the curriculum, and engage the participants in a more qualitative and meaningful manner.

Lokesh Mehra, Director-Education Advocacy, Microsoft India We need to develop the skills on 5Cs and 3 Is: Creativity, Critical thinking, Collaboration, Communication and Computing; and Innovativeness, Intuitiveness, and Incremental. As of now, we are focusing too much on the professional side. An impetus needs to be given towards arts and humanities.

Manoj Bhatia, Director, Sanghvi Institute of Management & Science The complete integration of employability skills in our education and training system is yet to come. The proposal is to have a developmental model wherein different skills can be brought together to deliver something more than skills, that is, employability skills.

Dr Prashant Rajvaidya, President, Mosaic Network, US The IT set up in India is usually impractical and there is a lack of competent teachers and trainers. In order to change it, you have to work bottom up which also includes enhancement of employability skills. The goal should be to treat those as assumptions and then create solutions that work around these assumptions.

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Changing Dynamics of Higher Education

Envisioning Strategies for the Future

This session delved upon the changing patterns in the education sector and the ways to maintain quality standards in education. It also emphasised on the need to motivate students to make them lead and not merely get employed to earn a livelihood

Dr V K Verma, Vice Chancellor, AISECT University Both quality and quantity are required to meet the national goal of economic development. At present, we have 18 million students in higher education, and by the end of 12th Five-Year Plan, we will have 25 million students in higher education. But, we are still lacking in the quality part. In a country of millions of students and lakhs of teaching force, why cannot we have a cadre for administration of the technical education system? Why cannot there be a forward thinking of our rules and regulations? Why cannot the regulatory body take the role of a mentor, counselor and a facilitator?

Prof Satish Sharma, Maharaja Education Campus, Udaipur Why to serve others to make people serve you? We should prepare real workers for the nation. Why do we prepare them to work for others? They should work for themselves, to make the nation more and more prosperous.

Dr Appu Kuttan K K, Director, Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT) Innovation will keep going. We need to motivate and promote the students. We should always have a positive attitude and positive publicity of things. Small things done by the students should be appreciated in the media.

G C Sharma, Head-Financial Education, National Stock Exchange (NSE) Financial literacy should become an essential life skill for the masses.

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Dr P K Sen, Head, Dept of Applied Physics, Shri Govindram Seksaria Institute of Technology and Science In India, we talk more than we do. When it comes to implementation, we divert our attention. The time has now come for us to start criticising ourselves. Knowledge is no more segregated. We have to gather knowledge from all the sectors if we want to create good quality engineers, technologists, and scientists.

Ritu Ghosh, Head-Education Initiatives, HP We have villages without schools, schools with no classes, classes with no teachers, and teachers with no books. The root cause of this problem is that all our resources are not integrated. To cover this up, such schools have ghost teachers to sign their attendance and get paid. And, in reality, these teachers live in the cities and consequently, there is a high student dropout rate, which is evident. The question is if we are creating this youth to add to the economic growth.

Dr R K Khandal, Vice Chancellor, Gautam Buddh Technical University (GBTU), Lucknow Based on the technologies required, you need to decide how you are going to frame your strategies, devise plans, develop policies, and put them in place to match what is required and where gaps exist. Technology can put you in the leadership position. But, it cannot lead you. It will always be your assistant. The leadership role has to come from the human factor and that is from the teacher. The teacher has to play the role of showing the student the way to go forward.

Emerging Trends in use of Technology in Education

About 95 percent of all business education uses technology in some way or the other. With a panel formed of representatives from the industry, the government sector, universities, private institutes, entrepreneurial development centres, and investors, the session took us through the emerging trends in the education sector

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Suresh Mhatre, Vice President, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) The dearth of quality faculty, keeping consistency in quality across all spheres of education, and leveraging technology for meeting volumes are the three reasons why we need to rely more on ICT.

Vikram Upadhyay, Board Member, Indian Angel Network Besides the basic parameters of a team: the market space, need, and demand and supply, investors look for scalability of the business. In the business model of the education space, the fastest and most proven stability and scalability comes from the use of technology. A technology which can reduce the time and increase the space is given high weightage by the investors.

Dr Sanjiv Tokekar, Director, Institute of Engineering and Technology, Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya Our enrolment ratio has scaled three times from about 49 lakh in 1991 to about 1.5 crores at present. This is a problem created because of massication, a term given by the UNESCO. Massication has also given way to unethical practices in the system. Education runs as a business these days.

Sumeet Ponda, Chairman, M K Ponda College of Business and Management Technology is opposed to the basic concept of education. It is not an ingredient to complete a more effective education. Technology desensitises us. The more technology we use, the more insensitive we become. Technology is only a facilitator. The idiom of technology has gone so deep into our lives that students from nursery to research are put almost on a conveyor belt. The teachers and parents have become insensitive to their toddler, infantile and teenager needs. Technology can be a good slave, but, we are making it become a master.

Prof Jagdish Bhagwat, Faculty for Operations, Supply Chain and Marketing, Jaipuria Institute of Management, Indore In todays world, technology is readily available to us and sometimes, students are a step ahead of us in technology. Technology is indeed, a boon to all of us and we need to leverage it to develop better managers for tomorrow.

Dinesh Khare, Regional Coordinator, Centre of Entrepreneurship Development The BA, MA, BSc and MSc courses in our country are not up to the mark. Doing these courses is not good enough to make a student employable. A student may be having a rst class degree. But, the curriculum is still based on mugging and rote-learning system. This process does not make a student competent enough to take effective decisions. The improvement of the quality of teaching-learning process of these courses will facilitate betterment of the overall education system.
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Technical Education in India

Challenges, Opportunities and Insights

The session opened on the note of several challenges in one of the fastest growing sectors of our country. It brought into light the fact that employability is the biggest challenge in the technical education sector in our country. It pointed out some of the phobias and assumptions made by the industry, academia, parents and students

Dr Mukesh Pandey, Dean-Industrial Technology, Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidyalaya The principal challenge with the massive expansion of technical education is maintaining the quality. The premier institutes in our country like the IITs, NITs and even the RGPV, have failed to inspire or nurture innovation, entrepreneurial skills, and path breaking technological ideas as generated in foreign universities like the MIT or Stanford. We need to reposition our institutions and universities in response to the global changes that are happening on a day-to-day basis.

Dr Lovi Raj Gupta, Vice Chancellor, Baddi University The major challenge in technical education is getting a good job. Factors like employability, quality of teachers, and less practical exposure are associative. The need of the hour is to think out-of-the-box. We need to dene the box today and the rest will be done. The society has already taken in the privatisation in school education and senior secondary education. Most of us send our kids to private schools. But still, the society has not gulped in the privatisation of the higher education sector.

Dr Rajeshree Dutta Kumar, Vice President Strategies and Alliances, Mosaic Network, India Twenty ve percent of the population of India is still illiterate. Only 15 percent of Indian students actually go to high school. Out of those 15 percent, only seven percent are able to make it to the graduate level. Population is not a challenge for us; it is an opportunity. Even though about 3.5 lakh engineering students graduate in our country every year, we are unable to optimise on the existing talent pool that we have.

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