Private School Students Perform Better than their Government Counterparts in Karnataka

 * The report released jointly by the Central Square Foundation and Omidyar Network India, highlights that nearly 40% of students in Karnataka attend private schools.

The recently released ‘State of the Sector Report – Private Schools in India’ highlights that Karnataka ranks 14th in private school enrollments with 41.1% school-going children attending private schools. This report by Central Square Foundation, a non-profit organisation working towards ensuring quality school education, and Omidyar Network India, an investment firm focused on social impact, also stresses that the number of students attending private schools in Karnataka has grown significantly over the past decade. It calls for improvement in student learning in private schools.

The report was released by Mr. Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog at a virtual webinar in July 2020, and gives a comprehensive analysis of existing research and evidence on the sector. It provides details on the size of the sector, dives into the challenges faced by it, and outlines potential reforms to ensure improved learning outcomes for students in each state. Specifically, in Karnataka, the report finds that reading and numeracy skills in rural private schools have witnessed a slight improvement in the last six years. It also emphasizes that private schools in the state perform better than their government counterparts on the reading and Mathematics parameters: 23% of grade 5 students in private schools are able to do division as compared to 19.6% of government school students. However, learning levels are not at par with grade-level learnings and this is a cause for worry.

Ashish Dhawan, Founder-Chairman, Central Square Foundation talks about how we can improve student learning in private schools: “It is important to acknowledge the significance of the private school sector which educates nearly 1 in 2 children in Karnataka. We need sectoral reforms to improve learning levels and ensure inclusion of regulations based on quality. Key stage assessments in grades 3, 5, and 8, as suggested in the new education policy, can help build a regulatory structure which focuses on learning outcomes. This can also become an indicator that empowers parents to compare learning across schools and choose the best school for their child.”

Roopa Kudva, Managing Director, Omidyar Network India adds: "We need to empower parents to make informed decisions based on learning quality when choosing a school. In the absence of meaningful information on how schools perform on learning, parents tend to give weightage to tangible parameters like school infrastructure or English as the medium of instruction. Philanthropic capital can play a vital role in setting the ground in three main areas: greater awareness building, increased transparency from the schools themselves and improving the quality of engagement between parents and the schools.”

Keeping in mind the challenges and the current needs of the sector, the report makes certain recommendations for sectoral reforms that will create an enabling environment for the private school sector:

●       Create a universal learning indicator to help parents compare learning performance across schools and make informed school choices

●       Develop a pragmatic accreditation framework that factors in constraints of low fee schools and state capacity to implement while focusing on learning outcomes and child safety                      

●       Establish an independent regulatory agency for the private school sector

●       Review non-profit mandate and existing fee regulations to attract investment and enable easy access to credit for schools

●       Strengthen RTE Section 12(1)(c) which mandates 25% reservations for underprivileged children to ensure more robust targeting and fee reimbursements

According to the demographics cited in the report, in Karnataka, 37.8% of girls and 44.2% of boys attend private schools. A higher share of OBCs but a smaller share of SCs and STs attend private schools than the state average. Further, Bengaluru U North, Bengaluru U South and Bengaluru Rural districts have the highest enrollment share, whereas Uttara Kannada Sirsa, Koppal and Haveri have the lowest. Among districts, Bengaluru U North has the greatest private enrollment share at 79.8% and Haveri has the lowest with 22.7%..

Lucknow-Boy Himanshu Singh Beats 2.52 Lakh+ Coders Worldwide to Become Code Gladiators 2020 Champion

Himanshu Singh is an Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi graduate, he passed out college just one month ago and is working with an IT firm in Bengaluru.

* Of the total 2.52lakh+ participants, only 38% were students and rest 62% were professionals  

* Developers from Italy, US, Singapore, Ireland, Germany, Norway and Bangladesh also participated 

* TechGig Code Gladiators 2020 edition ran for 165 days and concluded with a mega virtual finale event – a first such conclusion for this Guinness World record holder event 

* More than 29 winners were felicitated in a grand virtual finale ceremony 

* Winners from 4 theme hackathons - namely UiPath RPA hackathon, Times Internet Multi-Label Classification, Microsoft Hack on Azure and IBM Call for Climate Change – were also crowned 

“Everybody has that one significant achievement in life which he cites as his ‘biggest win’; for me winning Code Gladiators 2020 will be ‘that biggest win’”, said Himanshu Singh - the newly crowned coding champion of the world’s biggest coding competition - TechGig Code Gladiators 2020. Himanshu Singh, who passed his college – the Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi - just a month ago took over 2.52lakh+ coders and won the much-coveted champion’s crown!

Code Gladiators is the annual coding extravaganza hosted by TechGig and felicitated with Guinness World record and Limca Book record for its massive participation. Code Gladiators celebrated its seventh edition this year, and the first one to have a virtual grand finale. TechGig Code Gladiators 2020 edition was announced in March and saw swarming participation by developers – both Indian and international - despite the COVID-19 situation.  

Himanshu Singh won the 165-day long competition in a nail-biting coding finale. The finale rounds for coding and theme hackathons were held on August 8 and 9, respectively. From August 9 - 13, leaders from the participating companies evaluated and judged the finalists to select the winners.

TechGig Code Gladiators 2020 had four theme hackathons – namely, UiPath RPA hackathon, Times Internet Multi-Label Classification, Microsoft Hack on Azure and IBM Call for Climate Change. Theme hackathons are usually centred on finding business solutions to real-world problems. This year the last two hackathons were specifically focussed at finding tech solutions to combat COVID-19.

Explaining more details about the competition, Sanjay Goyal, Business Head, TimesJobs and TechGig said, “In March 2020, we sensed that the COVID-19 situation could slip out of hands, and very quickly we decided to have a grand virtual conclusion to our mega coding competition. We were staring at a mammoth challenge to bring the grandeur of a worldwide recognised event to the virtual format and ensure that all our 2.52lakh+ participants get a slice of this event. I’m happy to share that we’ve been able to live up to all our expectations. We had a few international participants as well, which makes me think that maybe the virtual mode is better than the offline mode”.

International participants Ahmed Makki and Yurasik Ol participated at Code Gladiators for the first time. Ahmed Makki was jubilant about making it to the finals in his maiden attempt. “I feel the virtual mode is better because had that event been held in its usual offline format then I would not have been able to participate owing to visa and COVID-19 restrictions”. 

Talking about the virtual aspect of grand finale event Pourab Karchaudhuri – runners up at theme hackathon Multi-Label Classification, and a theme winner at Code Gladiators 2019 said, “The mood and tone of Code Gladiators don’t flicker’. “The experience is cool considering everything is online and extremely well managed,” he added. As for Lucknow boy Himanshu Singh, the journey has just started. He has recently joined an IT firm and hopes to do his best at his new job. 

The coding champion took home Rs 3 Lakhs and the theme champions won Rs 1,50,000. Collectively, all winners took home prizes worth Rs 50 Lakhs. The complete winners’ list of Code Gladiators 2020 is:

Coding Champions: 

Winner: Himanshu Singh

 1st Runner up: Chaitanya A

 2nd Runner up: Kalash Gupta

 3rd Runner up: Jyothi Bugatha

 4th Runner up: Rahul Dugar

Code Diva Award Winner: Kruti Dharaiya

 Coding Powerhouse:

 Winner: Colruyt IT Consultancy 

 1st Runner up: CDK Global 

 2nd Runner up: IG Infotech

Jawaharlal Nehru University Signs Strategic MoU with TechGig to Power Online Assessments for Faculty and Students

The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has recently collaborated with TechGig Assess Online – a cutting edge assessment platform – to facilitate its academic assessments. TechGig is India’s one of the largest technology community and is a part of India’s leading digital media conglomerate – the Times Internet Ltd.

Both JNU and TechGig have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to corroborate this alliance. JNU hosted a workshop on 10th August, 2020 for its faculty members to announce this partnership followed by a hands-on demonstration of the platform by the TechGig’s team.

Online is becoming the preferred medium to ensure learning and education continuity amid the COVID-19 situation. In such a scenario, this new-age talent assessment has been developed by team TechGig indigenously, keeping the Indian education scenario in mind.

While inaugurating the digital platform, Prof. M. Jagadesh Kumar, Vice-Chancellor, JNU expressed his optimism that Assess Online will be a big boon for students residing in the far-flung areas of the county. “We were concerned about the future of the students – specially the terminal students. These students need to complete their exams so that they can continue with their higher education or apply for jobs, thereafter. This is where online assessment platforms come very handy. At JNU we have a ‘continuous evaluation’ system and I hope that Assess Online will be much help there”. Its noteworthy that JNU was the first higher education institute to introduce remote ‘viva’ for its students, which helped many to take exams from their respective locations, without worrying about visiting campus for just one exam day.

Talking about the partnership with JNU, Sanjay Goyal, Business Head, TimesJobs and TechGig said, “We are thrilled to partner with one of India’s most reputable educational institute. Assess Online is India’s very own platform designed specifically to eliminate the struggles of Indian school/colleges teachers and students. It has advanced plagiarism detectors and remote proctoring measures to ensure a fair assessment. I am hopeful that JNU’s faculty and students will find it immensely helpful.” He also informed that Assess Online is already being used in 25+ colleges and 35+ schools pan-India. About 57,000+ assessments have been created and facilitated on Assess Online.

Assess Online is an easy-to-use platform that lets the teachers create the desired assessments using multiple tools. Its ‘auto-evaluation’ reviews students’ performance automatically, offering a lot of time for teachers to focus on enriched learning.

JNU plans to train its faculty members as well as the students through series of training programs to equip them well with state-of-the-art technological knowledge to enable them to deal with the present pandemic situation.

NSDC and Simplilearn Announce Collaboration to Upskill Professionals in Digital Skills Across India

 * The partnership will help deliver learning in digital skills and technologies 

* Access to over 1,000 hours of free eLearning, available exclusively on the Simplilearn Android and iOS mobile apps

The temporary shutdown of institutions and universities due to the COVID-19 lockdown has affected the overall learning of a large number of students and professionals alike. To support the continuity of digital skilling of the Indian workforce, Simplilearn, a global provider of digital skills training, today announced its partnership with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC). Through this collaboration, Simplilearn will host more than 1,000 hours of free learning in digital skills and technologies for learners across India. Aspirants can find program details on NSDC’s eLearning portal - eSkill India - and access the learning programs on the Simplilearn Android mobile app (bit.ly/simplicertified) and iOS mobile app (apple.co/30pnzsm)

Aligned to the Skill India Mission, the collaboration aims to create a future-ready workforce by leveraging the power of technology.   Strengthening the digital learning ecosystem, both Simplilearn and NSDC will enable access to over 1,000 hours of digital programs and technologies under the categories of AI and Machine Learning, Big Data, Data Science & Business Intelligence, Cyber Security, Software Development, Project management, and Digital marketing. All programs are designed with a unique industry relevant curriculum, which provides learners theoretical understanding and enables them to get an indepth knowledge about the evolving industry trends. 

Commenting on the collaboration, Dr. Manish Kumar, MD & CEO, NSDC, said, “The dissemination of future-ready skills require technology platforms with high outreach capabilities. Through its partnerships, NSDC promotes online learning for accessing exciting work-opportunities that the fast-changing world offers.”

Speaking on the partnership, Krishna Kumar, Founder and CEO Simplilearn, said, “In these uncertain times we have witnessed a surge in the usage of digital platforms and technologies, indicating the creation of new job roles in the days to come. It is of utmost importance that the current workforce is well-equipped with digital skills to meet the industry demands of tomorrow. As part of Simplilearn’s continued partnership with NSDC, we are happy to support and contribute to NSDC’s efforts in the skilling of India’s workforce to prepare for a digital future. Through Simplilearn’s mobile app, learners will have the opportunity to upskill in IT and new technologies, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science, making for a job-ready workforce.”

To date, Simplilearn has helped more than one million professionals across 150 countries upskill and prepare for the digital future and now aims to help build a career for the future professionals in the field of Information Technology. 

NSDC’s eSkill India portal provides learners a platform to explore online skill-courses anytime, anywhere. The portal leverages technology to enable skill seekers to accelerate their learning through methods like virtual learning and remote classroom. eSkillIndia catalogues more than 450 e-learning courses in multiple Indian languages through leading knowledge providers.

Springboard Secures $31M in Series B Funding Led by Telstra Ventures

Springboard, a mentor-guided online learning platform that prepares people for in-demand careers, announced today it has raised $31 million in Series B funding, bringing its total capital raised to more than $50 million. This round was led by new investor Telstra Ventures, with participation from Vulcan Capital and SJF Ventures, and returning investors Costanoa Ventures, Pearson Ventures, Reach Capital, International Finance Corporation (IFC), 500 Startups, Blue Fog Capital, and Learn Capital. 

Springboard launched India as its first geography outside the USA in 2019 and has placed its learners in Fortune 500 and world-renowned companies such as Samsung, Salesforce, Visa, LinkedIn, Cisco. The latest round of capital will enable Springboard to double down on student employability in response to the current job market in India and globally, by creating new hiring-focused products and strengthening employer partnerships to help graduates land their dream careers. 

Since inception, Springboard’s programs were designed to be entirely online, yet heavily supported by human interactions with mentors and a network of career experts. The new capital infusion will help Springboard further support job-seeking graduates by building several innovative tools for India and global markets:

The Hireability Forecaster, which provides early indications of student success and potential employability roadblocks by combining the power of Springboard’s predictive technology and the insights from its global community of almost 1,000 industry mentors. With 80% of Springboard mentors indicating they would hire their mentee, mentors and coaches will have the ability to indicate student achievement and intervene to course correct if students fall behind. 

Springboard Introductions, which offers Springboard students personalized, targeted introductions and job referrals from its community of over 13,000 mentors, alumni, fellow students, and employer partners that collectively represent over 50% of the Fortune 500 across 108 countries. Candidates who are internally referred are 15 times more likely to be hired than those who apply on a job board.

Student-Job Fit Recommender, an AI-driven job matching tool, which recommends open roles at Springboard’s employer partners that match each student's unique background and skill set. 

"India is witnessing one of its toughest challenges owing to the recent job losses that have impacted a large section of the workforce. It is therefore imperative for displaced workers to make the difficult transition into new, in-demand careers,” said Parul Gupta, Co-founder, Springboard. “Our remote-first, mentor-guided model is uniquely positioned to serve not only these individuals, but also universities and employers who need help navigating today's new economic reality. We're delighted to partner with a great group of investors, as we continue on our mission to transform over one million lives by 2030."

“Technology used to be a niche area but that’s no longer the case. As more and more companies are built on tech, the need to understand concepts like Data Science, AI, ML, UI/UX has become more homogenous. For learning to be meaningful, it needs to encompass state-of-the-art curriculum with real-world projects as well as mentorship and that is what Springboard stands for. With this funding we are in a good position to build on our strengths to provide in-demand job skills and holistic support at every step,” said Vivek Kumar, Managing Director, Springboard.

“The education sector is facing a tectonic shift. As enterprises and countries alike seek more and better talent with digital skill sets, the technology training market is set to explode,” said Albert Bielinko, Principal, at Telstra Ventures. "We invested in Springboard because the strong educational and job placement outcomes achieved by its students are a big differentiator. Springboard's highly personalised approach is built with the online learner in mind first, not as an afterthought, and offers a life-changing value proposition for Springboard's graduates.” 

Started by co-founders Gautam Tambay and Parul Gupta in 2013, Springboard pioneered a learning model that has enabled thousands of successful career transitions into the most in-demand technology fields via its job-guaranteed programs that are taught entirely online. Unlike most online learning companies that stop at teaching technical skills, Springboard focuses on employability -- 94% of eligible graduates secure a job within a year, earning an average salary increase of $26,000. Springboard’s unique strength is its remote-first yet human-centric approach that matches each student 1:1 with a personalized mentor—an industry professional working in their chosen field—who provides weekly feedback to keep students motivated and accountable. This approach has resulted in 330% student enrollment growth from June 2019 to June 2020. 

Furthering its commitment to student employability, Springboard is expanding its career services. It has tripled the number of virtual apprenticeship opportunities to build portfolio-worthy content and provide real-world work experience. The career services team has grown its career coaching capacity by 4x to provide more access to office hours, mock interviews, and a team of placement experts assigned to each student. To provide additional support during the job search, Springboard has extended its professional mentorship after program completion. 

In the coming months, Springboard plans to grow its industry-leading course offerings outside the high-tech industry to include additional skills gap disciplines. The company will also look to deepen its partnerships with universities and employers, enabling them to adapt to evolving reskilling needs in a post-pandemic economy.

Vedantu Launches Target JEE/NEET- Early Preparation Camp in India

Coaching camp

* Aimed to benefit aspirants speed up their academic preparation

* LIVE Non-stop FREE revision covering the entire syllabus

* Students will benefit from motivational classes and 400+ hours of LIVE sessions

A pioneer in LIVE online learning, Vedantu has launched a special initiative - Target JEE/NEET, designed by India’s top teachers and coaching experts for all JEE and NEET aspirants appearing in 2020-2022. The 4 Day LIVE online camp will help students get ahead in their academic preparations with specialized LIVE classes and unlimited in class doubt solving, motivational talks with various achievers and JEE & NEET toppers, complete plans with test and other study materials. The LIVE online camp will be conducted from July 13th- 16th, 2020 and registrations are now open for students to participate. Over 80,000 students have already registered for the camp.

The initiative is designed by India’s best teachers & Co-founders of Vedantu to provide access to a plethora of study material and tests along with revision videos from the best teachers, LIVE teaching from experts across India, and 100% guaranteed scholarship.

The program will cater to students from grade 11-12 and droppers covering Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics & Biology. All the learning resources are personalised keeping in mind the student’s curriculum are of premium quality. Parents & students can be rest assured as they can have uninterrupted learning from safety of their homes. Some of the key highlights of the camp include:

400+ hours of classes, by India's best teachers LIVE

Career and Parent counselling sessions

MasterTalk with Toppers & celebrities

Assured Scholarship for everyone who takes the test, from 10cr+ pool

Cash prizes to the highest scorer in the diagnostic test

Most students preparing for competitive examinations have doubts but don’t find a quick solution or the right answer to the same. To address this common problem the 96-hour nonstop doubt solving feature will be a great value add for students. The highest scoring student for Target JEE/NEET will win an Alienware laptop.

Vedanta's SESA Football Academy Continues to Foster Skill Development in Sports Across the Country

SESA Football Academy (SFA), a flagship CSR program of Vedanta which aims to identify, nurture and groom young footballing talents in the country, felicitated young graduates during Convocation Ceremony 2020 through virtual platforms. 27 boys who completed their football training at SFA were felicitated and awarded with E-certificates in the distinguished presence of Mr. Annanya Agarwal (President- Sesa Football Academy), Mr. Sauvick Mazumdar (CEO- Vedanta Sesa Goa Iron Ore Business), Mr. Brahmanand Sankhwalkar (former Captain of Indian football team and  Arjuna Awardee), Mr. Denzil Franco (Former Indian team player, ISL player and an SFA alumnus) and Ms. Leena Verenkar (Head- Group CSR , Vedanta Limited).

The event witnessed an active impressive line-up of core team members of SESA Football Academy and young sports enthusiasts cheering for the graduating students and wishing them for their future endeavors.

Sesa Football Academy was established in the year 1999 with an aim to identify, nurture, create platforms and build talent for Indian football. Till date, around 200 footballers have graduated from the academy. Apart from this, football initiatives undertaken by SFA have also positively impacted over 500 young players belonging to Goa and other cities of the country through various grassroot training programs. The residential academies provide systematic and robust football training through its team of national and international football experts, along with formal education of the trainees during the training period.

While congratulating the graduating batch, Mr. Annanya Agarwal, President, Sesa Football Academy said, “I am extremely happy and equally proud to see that we could produce another talented pool of 27 footballers, who will be next generation football icons of the nation. In line with our vision to contribute towards development of Indian football through robust grassroots training programs, we at SFA are taking significant steps in providing world class training to budding footballers to nurture their talent and groom them as professional footballers. I wish all our graduating players great success and a bright future.”

The SFA alumni have very good track records, making their mark in premier national football platforms including Indian national team, ISL teams and other prestigious football clubs across the country.

Mr Sauvick Mazumdar, CEO of Vedanta Sesa Goa Iron Ore Business said, “At Vedanta, community engagement is at the core of our business philosophy. Sesa Football Academy, developed on reclaimed Sanquelim mine with an aim to provide a training platform for Goan youths, has immensely contributed to Goan football & nation at large. Despite difficult business situations for past several years, Vedanta has continued with our flagship CSR initiatives, especially SFA, to ensure uninterrupted contribution towards development of Indian football. I congratulate all our graduating students and wish them a very bright & successful footballing career.”

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Brahmanand Sankhwalkar, former Captain of Indian football team and Arjuna Awardee said, “SFA has been doing praiseworthy work for the football community in Goa and country at large. The academy is producing good football talent by grooming them through grassroot training programs. I am happy to see these young players get such amazing training opportunity at SFA which is helping them pursue their career in football”.

Former Indian Football team player and SESA Football Academy alumnus, Mr. Denzil Franco congratulated all players and said, “I take pride in being a part of SFA. Contribution of SFA towards honing skills of young and talented footballers of Goa is immensely commendable. I am confident that the students graduating today from SFA will achieve greater heights and bring laurels for the academy boosting its legacy further."

SESA Football Academy also aims to raise the standard of women’s football in the country through Vedanta Women's League, which is helping in development of women footballers by providing them a platform to showcase and hone their talent. Vedanta’s contribution in development of sports is recognised by FICCI, and was conferred “Best Organisation Contributing in Sports through CSR” at the FICCI India Sports Awards 2019.

Concern voiced over employability of tech students!

A Parliamentary Committee has voiced concern over "employability" of students passing out of technical institutions in the country,saying the expected response from the industry is "simply missing".

Despite several initiatives taken for meaningful interaction between industry and academia for mutual benefits specific to technical education system, linkages between industry and technical institutions continue to remain weak, the Committee said.

The anticipated response from the industry is simply missing and the variety of initiatives has failed to evolve the desired level of participation of the industry, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on HRD said in its report on the functioning of All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE).

It was an accepted fact that technical education comprising almost all the disciplines has to have a well- established linkage with the industry both in terms of its proper growth and job opportunities to the students, the report said.

"Over the years, although there has been tremendous expansion in the number of technical institutions, employability of students passing out of such technical institutions remains a matter of serious concern," it pointed out.

Tie-up with industry associations such as CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM, NASSCOM and with entrepreneurship promoting agencies have failed to take off, the Committee, headed by senior Congress MP Janardan Dwivedi, said.

The report said that AICTE's admission that monitoring was required to ensure good response of all the existing schemes indicated the "dismal state of affairs in this most vital area".

"The need of the hour is to initiate a meaningful dialogue with the representatives of the industry so as to have the real understanding of their requirements and remove the existing bottlenecks," it said.

Not impressed by the AICTE's reported move to set up another committee for reviewing the Industry-Institute Partnership Schemes, the report said, "undoubtedly, the Council will have to play the role of coordinator and facilitator between the industry and institutions."

In view of the need to foster public/private partnership and harness private sector resources, AICTE should holistically examine its existing rules, regulations and procedures to further this objective, it said.

The Committee has also sought a report within three months from AICTE on the action taken by it in this regard.

Source: Agencies