The Vice President of India Releases “The Future of Higher Education” Book by ICT Academy
Chennai, July 1 dmanewsdesk: Hon’ble Vice President of India – Shri. M. Venkaiah Naidu virtually released a book on “Future of Higher Education – Nine Mega Trends”. The Virtual event, hosted by ICT Academy has also featured notable industry leaders such as Shri CA T N Manoharan Chairman Canara Bank & Padma Shri Awardee, Shri Lakshmi Narayanan Chairman ICT Academy, Shri CA Pattabhi Ram V Author, Shri M Sivakumar CEO of ICT Academy and with the launch hosted by Dr. B Anbuthambi, President ICT Academy. Around 5000 Educators from across India participated in the launch.
Shri M Venkaiah Naidu, Honorable Vice President of India, Shri CA T N Manoharan, Chairman, Canara Bank, Shri Lakshmi Narayanan, Chairman, ICT Academy, Shri CA V Pattabhi Ram, Author, Public Speaker and Teacher, Shri M Sivakumar, CEO, ICT Academy, Dr. B Anbuthambi, President, ICT Academy.
Authored by CA V Pattabhi Ram, Author, Public Speaker, and Teacher, it is based on a survey of around 5000 educators across India, who were part of ICT Academy’s “SkyCampus” Digital Knowledge Series. The book will cover the new norms in the key areas of higher education such as Student-Teacher relationship, Learning methods, Laboratories, Examinations, etc; all taking a paradigm shift during this COVID pandemic.
The Honorable Vice President of India, Shri M Venkaiah Naidu today called for bridging the digital divide to achieve universal primary education and ensure equitable secondary and higher education. Releasing the book, ‘Future of Education-Nine Megatrends’ virtually through a video conference, he said “technology opens up new possibilities but also makes us realize the big digital divide in our society”. The book was brought out by ICT Academy, a non-profit society and an initiative of the Government of India and the state governments. Stressing the need to make technology accessible and affordable, the Vice President pointed out that there were many children who did not have access to digital devices. “We will have to address the issue of this wide gap”, the Vice President added.
Shri Naidu said that a large number of students were impacted due to the lockdown as they find it hard to study online. Many of them need hand holding to shift from offline to online and require proper training to pursue education through online modes. Stating that many parents in India still cannot afford digital devices, he said that bridging the digital divide was too big and complex for the government alone to accomplish the task and urged the private sector, especially educational technology firms to contextualize the products at affordable prices as per the needs of learners. “This is your time to make a momentous contribution to nation building and to securing a bright future for all our children”, he added.
Quoting the Prime Minister, the Vice President said that in future “online should be main line, so that there is no need for any line”. He appealed to all stakeholders to follow the PM’s three word mantra of ‘Reform, Perform and Transform’ to create a better future. With educational institutions going digital in the context of the pandemic, the Vice President said students and teachers were connecting through cloud-based platforms to communicate, share work, and complete projects. “Examinations are also being conducted online”, he added.
Observing that Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, and Augmented Reality will enter classrooms more rapidly, Shri Naidu said this would transform the way teachers teach and students learn. Urging teachers to impart teaching in tune with the changing requirements, the Vice President said that students can access machines anytime from anywhere in the wake of online laboratories. “The teacher now plays the role of a facilitator, guide, counsellor, coach and many a time that of a friend to the student,” he added.
Observing that the huge demographic advantage is waiting to be converted into a demographic dividend, Shri Naidu said “We should not miss this opportunity. We should enhance access to knowledge and skills to all children so that each one of them realizes his or her innate potential.”
Highlighting the importance of value-based education, the Vice President called for developing a model of education that reflects Indian culture and ethos. “We need to inculcate cultural, moral, ethical and spiritual values among children”, he added.
Hon’ble Vice President wished ICT Academy all success in its endeavours that augment the nation-building exercises and the guests of honour besides appreciating the book “Future of Higher Education – Nine Mega Trends” mentioning as one-of-its-kind, indigenous future scanner for the academia to plan its path in creating the next generation talent pool.
Shri Lakshmi Narayanan, Chairman ICT Academy said, “ICT Academy in the past 11 years has worked with over 900 Universities and colleges, developing the faculty members and students across India. The government of Tamil Nadu has played an active role in developing the Academy with consistent support by the Additional Chief Secretary – IT of Tamil Nadu, Senior officers from Government and other board members from the Industry. With a broad mandate to make students industry ready and to keep faculty in thousands of Colleges upto date with technology, ICT Academy has forged partnerships with industry leaders like IBM, Oracle, Autodesk, Intel, Microsoft, Amazon, VMWare, Salesforce, Cisco and so on to have impacted and created job opportunities for students from tier 2 and 3 cities across India. More than 5 lakh students have benefited from these programs. In the last two months alone ICT Academy, thru its Skycampus, the online digital platform, trained around 5000 faculty members of its member universities and impacted more than 4 Lakh students and teachers through various online initiatives. The Chairman of AICTE and UGC have encouraged the academy to impact more faculty and students.”
Shri CA T N Manoharan, Chairman Canara Bank said, “India is a developing economy with a strong potential to be in par with the US and other developed nations. In the last 5 years, many reforms have been carried out and many are work in progress. We have even surpassed the UK in GDP. I am confident that with India’s resilience, we can overcome the global turbulence and attain the status of a developed economy. In terms of education, Universities, and Colleges, if we remove the shackles of the existing system and think of modern ways, it will accelerate India, building the youth for the future. 5 years back, India was in the 142nd position in ease of doing business but now in the 63rd with having the largest consumer market. Finally, together, let us build a credible economy.”
The author, CA V Pattabhi Ram, mentioned that this book is the story of those born in the Internet Generation (the 2010s). The way these kids learn, get examined and find jobs will be remarkably different. They will be spoilt for choice. Colleges will use blended learning: a clever mix of 20th-century classroom instruction, and 21st-century self-learning. Exams will take place online, anywhere, anytime when the candidate is ready. This generation will access online lab and gamification, and pick the brains of the best professors across the world, courtesy webinars.
On the closing note M Sivakumar CEO, ICT Academy said, “ICT Academy’s efforts have impacted in transforming the lives of 6.7 million lives across 27 states so far, through collaborating with nearly 3000 industry experts, and 99 corporate majors. Among all our achievements, we feel proud about trained around 50,000 teachers in the last 11 years”. He thanked Chairman of UGC, Chairman of AICTE and Chairman of NBA for giving their valuable forward to this publication. He said, “To close with, in all humility, I hereby state that ICT Academy that had a humble start a decade back is now on the mission of empowering 10 million lives by 2025.”
The Virtual Book launch was hosted by Dr. B Anbuthambi, President of ICT Academy and around 5000 Educators, corporate professionals, and policymakers across the nation participated and witnessed the online event.
Source: (NewsVoir)
