Three faculty members Dr. Jagdish Shivhare from ECE, Ms. Parul Bansal and Mrs. Poonam Yadav from ECS Department of Dronacharya College of Engineering, Gurgaon attended the Conference on Leveraging Technology in Education organized by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in collaboration with HP, Intel and Microsoft at ITC Maurya, New Delhi on 23rd September 2016.

The objective of the conference was to bring together resource persons and provide a platform to discuss how technology can support inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning. The conference included several sessions with the motive of discussing instructional and learning innovation, building the capacity and capability of teachers in India and disruptive learning methods.

The various sessions during the conference were as follows:

Inaugural Session:

1. The Inaugural session was moderated by Mr. Anjan Das (Executive Director, CII). He welcomed all the dignitaries on the dais and the participants and discussed regarding the theme of the event and mentioned that technology plays a vital role in education today for imparting valuable practical knowledge and skills which are based around computing and communications devices, software that operates them, applications that run on them and systems that are built with them.

2. Mr. Rajiv Srivastava (Managing Director, HP, India) addressed the gathering and threw light on the steps and initiatives taken by HP in education sector. He mentioned that education in India can progress and reach global standards if industries and educational institutes work hand in hand. He also discussed the case studies for HP initiatives in education sector for the masses.

3. Ms. Debjani Ghosh (Vice President, Sales & Marketing Group, Intel Technology India Pvt. Ltd.) discussed the approach and solutions needed for solving the existing problems in education sector. She introduced the winners of Intel “Innovate for Digital India Challenge”, the team 4S Learning who designed a portable solar powered learning system that has several features such as it can be used to create a Wi-fi zone, audio - visual classroom, etc. She also mentioned that there is a need for module on teacher training for making an ecosystem to bring makers of technology together. Technology in education can do wonders if accomplished by the active and thoughtful participation of each and every citizen of the country. She concluded by saying that the execution of such initiatives can bring fruitful results if implemented at all levels of education.

4. Mr. Bhaskar Pramanik (Chairman, Microsoft Corporation India Pvt. Ltd.) discussed the biggest challenge in education sector, i.e., teacher capacity. He then talked about the Project Shiksha and the SWAYAM (Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds) platform for online courses which will be accessible by school as well as college students and provide certification. He also discussed the importance of augmented reality in education and stated that it was encouraging that the Indian government is prioritizing technology as an enabler in education for the transformation and development of the country. He added that CII has initiated the conference as a platform for having transformative exchanges and deliberations to understand the nature of the opportunities being offered by the government programs like SWAYAM which would help in unifying the country and bringing development to the masses.

5. Mr. Richard Everitt (Director, Education - British Council India), thanked CII for organizing the conference and provide an opportunity to discuss several aspects of technology that will help in improving the overall standard of education in the country.

Panel Discussion: Universal access to technology in education: Infrastructure, education solutions, national systems & transformation framework for India

In the panel, the session moderator was Dr. Suresh Subramanian (Vice-President, Industry Solutions HP). He started the discussion by putting the point that 1:1 learning is a key point in India’s education sector. He also talked about National ICT transformation framework, accessible and affordable solutions and choosing the right technology. Government’s role in promoting the use of ICT in education revolves around creation of infrastructure and this includes not just providing internet connectivity but access to quality content. Several issues were discussed during this session such as how we can achieve accessibility in India, the kind of technology supporting the same, how to lower down the drop out ratios, leading to measurable outcomes including learning, social & economic outcomes, the need for ICT transformational frameworks to draw lessons from and the success cases that can be scaled up. During this session, industry experts shared the new trends in this field.

Panelists during the panel were:

1. Dr. Rachna Pant, Principal, Ramjas School, Delhi.

2. Mr. Sandeep Aurora, Director - Marketing & Market Development, Intel South Asia.

3. Dr. Manpreet Singh Manna, Director, SWAYAM Cell, AICTE.

4. Mr. Shantanu Prakash, Chairman & Managing Director, Educomp Solutions.

5. Mr. Pratik Mehta, Director Education, Microsoft Corporation India Pvt. Ltd.

The session was followed by a questionnaire and the discussion was thrown open to the attendees as well where everyone participated actively and several suggestions were made. Some important issues on policy and regulatory front will need continued attention in education sector and the policy should be data-driven, decision-maker and should lead to scaling up of the measures.

The conference was very informative and highlighted the importance of technology at every level of education in India. It was a good experience for the participants to be a part of panel discussion and the talks by all the speakers were ineffably engaging.