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Shri Sikandar Singh Maluka, Education Minister, Government of Punjab (Left) and Kahan Singh Pannu, IAS, Secretary-cum-Director General, School Education, Government of Punjab inaugurating the exhibition at the State Education Summit

L to R- Kahan Singh Pannu, IAS, Secretary-cum-Director General, School Education, Government of Punjab; Parampal Kaur, Additional State Project; Dr R S Khandpur, Director General Pushpa Gujral Science City, Punjab lighting the lamp.

Punjab State Education Summit Inspires Teachers to Use Technology

Department of School Education and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Government of Punjab, and Elets Technomedia hosted the State Education Summit in Chandigarh on 7th and 8th February, 2013

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n the words of the programme Chair of the event, Kahan Singh Pannu, IAS, Secretary-cum-Director General, School Education, Government of Punjab, The summit was convened with the objective of discussing and witnessing the huge dimensions in education which are taking place in the country. Pannu added,Technology plays a sole leader in our daily lives and a key role in how we teach, learn, and interact on the administrative platform in schools. Technology is the only answer to make students learn better. One of the most important components of education is to create curiosity and creativity among children. So, how can technology can be put to use in the best manner in this respect, especially in the government schools, was the objective of this conference.

Esteemed dignitaries graced the conference

Sikandar Singh Maluka, Education Minister, Government of Punjab, was the Chief Guest at the conference. Among eminent Guests of Honour at the summit were: Dharam Vir, IAS (Retd), State Election Commissioner, Haryana; Vivek Atray, HCS Director & Special Secretary to Government, Haryana, Electronics & Information Technology Department and Managing Director, Haryana State Electronics Development Corporation Ltd. (HARTRON); Parampal Kaur, Additional State Project Director, Government of Punjab; Dr R S Khandpur, Director General Pushpa Gujral Science City, Punjab.

The summit agenda

The two-day summit included seven sessions along the school and higher Education track. The sessions included: Towards Transformative Innovation in Education, STEM (Science Technology English & Mathematics) Education, Role of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) in School Management, Innovative Technologies in Education, Career Counseling: Choosing the Right Path, Revamping School Education through Skills & Vocational Education, Emerging Trends in Higher Education and Higher Education: Challenges, Opportunities and Insights.

Confederation of private sector and academicians

Corporates from across the country demonstrated their innovations towards propagation of interactive learning in classrooms. While teachers got acquainted with the advancements in other parts of the country with help of such innovations, the presentations from these corporate helped administrators to understand the role of ICT in bringing in transparency in administration. The summit also witnessed presence of top level ofcials and senior academicians from different education regulatory bod-

Reaching to those who matter the most

More than 1500 delegates including representatives from the government, education regulatory bodies and corporate organisations from across the country, district coordinators and school principals from different districts of Punjab attended the two-day summit. The summit facilitated one-to-one interaction among the key dignitaries and the attendees.

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ies, universities, technical institutes and schools. To name a few: Prof Krishnamachar Sreenivasan, Sr Faculty Member, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Ropar; Dr A K Dwivedi, Director, NIELIT, Chandigarh, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology; Dr RS Bawa, VC, Chandigarh University; Dr M B Dholakia, Joint CEO, Gujarat Knowledge Society; Dr Jessy Abraham, Associate Professor, Department of Teachers & Non-Formal Education (IASE) Jamia Millia Islamia; DNV Kumara Guru, Director, External Relations, Indian School of Business, Mohali; Dr Neelam Gulati Sharma, Additional Director, Punjab State Council for Science and Technology; Earnest Charles J Samuel, Founder and Principal, Mount Carmel School, Chandigarh; Komal Singh, Principal, Millennium School, Mohali; Dr Madhu Chitkara, Vice Chancellor, Chitkara University, Punjab; Dr Amrit Lal, Principal, DAVIET, Jalandhar; Dr Lovi Raj Gupta, Vice Chancellor, Baddi University of Emerging Sciences and Technology, Himachal Pradesh; HS Bawa, Industrial coordinator, Centre of Industrial Liaison and Placement Thapar University; Dr Rohit Dhand, Additional Dean, Lovely Professional University; Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal, MD, Baba Farid Group of Institutions; Dr Maninder Singh, Head Computer Science Engineering Department, Thapar University; SPS Bedi, Executive Director, Chandigarh Group of Institutions; J S Dhillon, Professor in Electrical and Instrumentation, Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology; Satish C Sharma, CMD, Maharaja Group Of Colleges, Udaipur; Virender Rawat, Director - Academic, BKanae School, Gujarat; Prof (Dr) Devendra Pathak, Vice Chancellor, APG Shimla University; Dr Aneet Bedi, Professor, Dean Academics, Gian Jyoti Institute of Management and Technology; Jeet Singh, Doaba Institute of Engineering and Technology; Dr Jasvinder Pal Kour Shergill, Principal, Government Medical College, Sangrur Road, Patiala. The summit also had a special session on the essence of Career Counseling that was conducted by Pervin Malhotra, Executive Director, CareerGuidanceIndia.

Recognising the best practices in Punjab

The summit was not only an insightful ride through ICT innovations in the education sector for the people of Punjab, but it also recognised and felicited some of the best practices in the sector in Punjab itself.

Useful ICT innovations in Punjab

1. Mobile Car Science Lab: A car that moves from school to school which does not have lab facility. The car is tted with necessary instruments and material for conducting practical classes on science subject.

2. Project ePunjabSchool: The online portal has connected all middle, high and senior secondary school with centralised database and provides updated information of students, teachers & school infrastructure. 3. Udaan: The project is aimed at spreading awareness of general knowledge among students and teachers. Ten questions and answers are mailed to all the schools and put up on the notice boards so that students can note them and revision tests based on these are conducted during free period. This gives students a free access to questions on a particular topic.

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Industry Academia Interaction with the focus on Skill Requirement for a Paradigm Shift
CT Academy of Tamil Nadu (ICTACT) is organizing a series of conference titled ICTACT BRIDGE a platform for all the stake holders in the education eco-system to discuss on improving the Industry-Institute collaboration, thereby creating a vibrant industry relevant education scenario in the country. This event is being supported by Government of Tamil Nadu and conducted in association with NASSCOM. For the 7th time in the row ICT Academy of Tamil Nadu successfully conducted ICTACT BRIDGE conference.

ICTACT BRIDGE Concludes its Chennai Edition

The conference addressed the pressing factors challenging employability with focus on 21st century skills for Education, employability, and Entrepreneurship on 20th Feb 2013 at Chennai Trade center, Nadambakkam. The event was supported by ELCOT, EDI Chennai, TANSACS TNSDM, STPI, FICCI and TiE. ICTACT BRIDGE 2013 Chennai edition featured powerful sessions and tracks to address specic stakeholder issues with focused themes including Leadership in Building World Class Institutions, The 21st Century Skills for Teachers, Skill De-

velopment and Employability, Conclave on Recruitment Trends 2013 followed by ICTACT Academic Partner Excellence Awards 2013. The conference was represented by a multitude of key stakeholders from Academia, Corporate, Government and Media. The Academia participants included academic leaders, the teaching fraternity, research community, placement ofcers etc. The Corporate participants included corporate executives, senior management members, technical executives, etc.

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A team of eminent experts from the industry and academia are part of the ICTACT Bridge committee, are leading the conference, provide expert guidance, nalise the theme and framework of the conference and be part of various activities of the conference thereby making the conference a real bridge between the industry and academia. The conference was not only a chance to hear from those leaders and brainstorm for the future, but an opportunity for the academia to network with corporate. BRIDGE 2013 Chennai Edition witnessed around 1160 participants from 347 colleges and various corporate.

which will help them to adopt for the 21st century education.

K Ganesan Global Head, Talent Acquisition, while giving the welcome address stressed on the point that the education ecosystem should ne tune its learning system and the syllabus to get itself updated to the 21st century education. The syllabus should be made student centric with active learning. Education through Internet should be facilitated. He quoted that 21st century education is not a Sage on the Stage but a Guide by the Side.

Thiru Kumar Jayant, IAS, Secretary Project Director Tamil Nadu Aids control Society opened his speech by requesting the college to understand the input of the student. The students though have a routing exam system and score high marks are not competent enough to face the demands of the industry. The students are very poor in application skills, but have great skills in memorising and scoring great marks. College is where more freedom should be given to the students and there should be mechanism to suppress the pressure of students. All colleges should have orientation programs. Reading books beyond the academic curriculum should be made mandatory in all institutions. This habit will fetch great difference among the students and improve their communication skills in the long run.

Thiru Atul Anand, IAS, Managing Director, ELCOT said, The government will ensure the access of IT to every nook and corner of the state. He advised that the academia should have an open mindset and accept the new trends

David J Gainer, Public Affairs ofcer, US consulate, Chennai spoke about the values of the Indian education system. He stated that they will introduce 100 community colleges in India. He mentioned that Indian students are working all over the World in all Top MNCs in all sectors; it is the educational background which makes this possible. He stated

that more a half a million Indians travel to US every year. There are strategies framed for the collaboration of the Indian and the US educational institutions. Thiru P Murari, IAS (Retd), Advisor to FICCI President & Former Secretary to President of India Thiru Murari started his speech by stating that he is very much delighted to be in ICTACT Bridge conference. Not only IT but teaching skills are enhanced by taking such collective initiative. Eighty percent of the people who emerge from various institutions are still not employable. The State skill development is established to upgrade the skills and make them employable. We have to look into this problem very urgently. What we need to do is to develop and foster the entrepreneurship spirit among the students. Convert the job seekers into job creators. Risk taking ideas should be promoted. Entrepreneurship cell should be created in every college with partnership from corporate and effectively utilized for the growth of the students. Another important issues is the innovative spirit of the students, because of this the patent registration in India is very low. He nally ended his speech by quoting about the entrepreneurship talent hunt organised by FICCI and US embassy. The Closing session was given by Crazy Mohan and he explained about how skill development has helped him throughout his career. He shared his experience and how his teachers have been an important inspiration for his success. He nally concluded that everyone should nurture a skill which will help them through their lifetime.

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