The future of education is student centric and experiential, educators and academia deliberate at CII’s Education East Summit

 

The future of education is student centric and experiential, educators and academia deliberate at CII’s Education East Summit

 

“It is vital to create analytical minds and encourage young minds to ask questions and probe so that they rise up to the challenges of the world and adapt themselves to all situations,” Dr Ajoy Ray, Former Director, IIEST said to all the educators and education stakeholders present today at the inaugural of the Education East Summit organized by CII in Kolkata. Dr Ray requested teachers present to encourage students, especially in schools, to let go of rote learning and capture attention through storytelling and various out-of-the-box activities to shape up minds of the future. Adding that not asking questions is one of the biggest blunders of our times, Dr Ray called for non-linear thinking, learning with fun and learning to do things that are environmentally sustainable. He also asked CII to work with all stakeholders and create a learning centre in Kolkata for creating logic/statistics and mathematics.

Ms Pratibha Mohapatra, Vice President & MD, Adobe India in her Keynote Address at the summit spoke at length about the need for holistic learning where the use of both the left and right side of the brain is equally important. This, according to Ms Mohapatra, will help to apply creativity and tell stories which will result in reimagination and excellence in learning as creative skills in terms of employability has become important globally. Capitalizing on the new ways of learning and the fact that people are open to consuming differently, there is a huge opportunity for private edutech companies to revision education by bringing technology, tools and infrastructure, she added. According to her, the need of the hour is to build the right curriculum and create a conducive learning atmosphere as well as bridge skill gaps in this geography.

 

“The future of education is student centric and experiential,” said Dr B V R Mohan Reddy, Chairman, CII National Education Council & Executive Chairman, Cyient delivering his theme address at the Summit. Education 1.0 where knowledge resided with the teacher evolved to Education 2.0 with knowledge disseminated in books and Education 3.0 with distance learning and we are now in Education 4.0 which makes teaching and learning interactively, he added. According to Dr Mohan Reddy, the post pandemic world would now focus on learning which has to be student centric where they can learn from anywhere, get taught as per requirement /desire and technology would provide the distraction; reduce silos of skill and knowledge and do activities experientially; make classes more hybrid and interactive with gadgets though the value of classrooms will exist and be vital; train teachers well as pedagogy change is imperative and improve significantly the industry interaction with education to transform India into a knowledge society.

Speaking at the occasion, Dr Debanjan Chakrabarti, Director, East & North East, British Council said that the social purpose of education was brought to the forefront due to the pandemic though the impact of digitization on education is yet to be seen. According to him, digital literacy skills are “patchy” and its impact need to be assessed. Dr Chakrabarti emphasized on collaboration for assessment of students which will help them work as a team professionally and also agreed with Ms Mohapatra that the right and left brain alignment needs to be in focus.

 

The inaugural session also had a special address from Mr Madan Mohanka, Mentor, CII Eastern Region Education Subcommittee & Executive Chairman, Tega Industries Ltd who emphasized on assessing changes in attitudes of schools/institutes after reopening post pandemic. 

Mr Pradip Agarwal, Chairman, CII Eastern Region Education subcommittee & CEO, Heritage Group of Institution opened the summit with a remark that recently both the School and higher education regulators have initiated a series of radical reforms, such as allowing graduate students to pursue doctorate degrees, doing away with the mandatory PhD requirement to teach in central universities, introducing a common entrance test for admission to undergraduate courses in central university colleges, permitting autonomous colleges to offer online degrees, semester exams in schools particularly for classes between 9 and 12.

Ms Bratati Bhattacharyya, Co- Chairperson, CII Eastern Region Education subcommittee & Secretary General, Shikshayatan Foundation delivered the vote of thanks at the inaugural.

 

The two day Education East Summit will have sessions like The Future Classroom: What Will It Look Like and How Will It Be Different?; Beyond COVID: How to Close the COVID Achievement Gap; Rethinking Schools: In Education 5.0 Perspective; Higher Education in India: Vision 2030; The Future Campus: Redefining the Purpose of Universities and Improving Research Operations and Output: Role of HEIs with educators, technology experts, academicians joining virtually and physically.