Indian Education Congress 2019: ‘Building India as an EduEconomy by 2020’
The Indian education system started with the Gurukula system, where teachers were the only source of knowledge has changed over the years. Gradually, the purpose of education changed, which was to get employed.
Now, with the advancement of technology and the introduction of online education, the purpose, as well as a source of Indian education, has changed. The source of knowledge is limitless and the equation of employability has also changed.
According to reports, the sector is pegged at $100 billion and will grow at CAGR of 7.5 % to $144 billion by 2020. It is expected that employment opportunities will continue to grow in the sector for the next two decades.
On 12th February, Franchise India hosted the 9th National Convention on Indian Education also known as the Indian Education Congress 2019 at the JW Marriott, Aerocity, New Delhi. The show kick-started with the opening remarks by Ms. Ritu Marya, Editor-in-chief, Franchise India Ltd, who welcomed the chief guests for the event Prof. Anil D. Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and Dr. Biswajit Saha, Director, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).
The event witnessed the participation of some of the biggest names from the education industry, who are working collectively to revolutionize the Indian Education Industry in their own ways. The event took off with the lighting of lamp followed by the keynote address by the chief guests, who shared their views on the role of leaders of education in the upliftment of Indian economy and how better opportunities can be created for the future generation.
The event started with the keynote address by Prof. Anil D Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), who spoke on how we can bring education and economy on the same page to work together and build ‘India as an EduEconomy by 2020’. He said, “Education is basically creating confident human beings and in the process, they will also contribute towards society, to the economy to the political structure, anything for that matter. Therefore, education per se, whether ground level or basic, has to create individuals who have whatever excellence in them to come out with that and for that how do we support that is very important. If the jobs are created by the students rather than seeking jobs, it will be excellent. Therefore entrepreneurship in the education field has gain popularity. Technology, entrepreneurship, employability, and use of technology – I think these are four pillars on which the entire education system rests.”
The first day of the conference began with the session commenced by Navin Mittal, Commissioner of Collegiate Education, Government of Telangana, Charu Malhotra, Director, IGH-Social Sector Practice, KPMG, Advisory Services and Prof. T Papi Reddy, Chairman, Telangana State Council of Higher Education, who discussed and shared their views about the key policies of State Government towards enhancing the quality of education across the country.
The second-panel session was held by Shreevats Jaipuria, Vice Chairman, Jaipuria Schools, Dr. Commander KartikaySaini, Chairman, Scottish High International School, and moderated by Ritu Marya, where the speakers discussed how educators can blend learning by balancing content and creativity for educating the Gen Y. The panel also discussed making Stem Labs/Maker Labs purposeful and result oriented through introducing smart learning in classrooms.
The second half of the conference began with the discussions on the key success factors for a digital strategy in the school, where the panel discussion took place between DrAnshuArora, Principal, Amity International School, Vishnu Karthik, Director, the Heritage Group of Schools & CEO, Xperiential Learning.
DivyaLal, Managing Director, EbixSmartclass Educational Services, and Pawan Kumar, Chief General Manager, EDCIL India Limited, gave they keynote address on the evolving classrooms, where experiential learning spaces are being created and the benefits of incremental smart classrooms and learning spaces.
The global connect session was commenced by GyulaCsitari, Co-founder & Strategy Director, Logiscool and Juliana Somba Banda, First Secretary-Trade & Investment, High Commission of the Republic of Malawi to India, where they discussed how the Indian Education industry is attracting global attention.
The different changes and technological advances taking place in the early education sector was discussed over a panel session, where S.K. Rathor, Founder, Chairman & MD, Sanfort Schools; David Risher, Founder & Global President, Worldreader;Priya Saxena, Co-founder & Principal, Early Learning Village; and Gina Bains, Principal, Saksham Preschool, participated as speakers.
The first day of the conference ended with the keynote address by R Meenakshi, Director-R&D, Vels Group of Schools.
Later that evening, Indian education professionals were appreciated and awarded for their hard work, unique and beneficial business ideas that carry the potential to revamp the Indian education market. This award segment was carried forward under the banner ‘Indian Education Awards 2019’.
The second day of the conference started with panel sessions by Suchindra Kumar, Director, Education Sector Advisory, EY, Raj Nehru, Vice-Chancellor, Shri Vishwakarma Skill, Govt. of Haryana, and Dr. Kamani KK, Global Economic Advisor, Department of Higher Education, Government of Karnataka, discussing on tackling emerging India’s skill gap and enhancing employability within higher education.
The remaining sessions were drawn in by speakers like Amit Goyal, Head, India & South East Asia, edX, Prof. Christopher Abraham, CEO & Head, Senior Vice President-Institutional Dev. & Professor, S.P Jain School of Global Management, Dubai Campus, Dr. BhimarayaMetri, Director, Indian Institute of Management, Tiruchirappalli, and Dr. Monica Khanna, Director, K J Somaiya Institute of Management Studies & Research, who discussed about the impact of teaching, learning and assessment, corporate partnership to enhance curriculum and provide more opportunities for the students to take Indian education Global and for bringing Global Education to India.
The following panel session was on the topic ‘Changing trends in enrolments at Indian Institutions’ headed by SurajSapra, Chief Strategy Officer, NoPaperForms; Murali Rajamma, Chief Executive Officer, Growthtrack; Shubham Mishra, Head-Marketing, Noida International University; Dr. Vikas Singh, Executive Director, I.T.S – The Education Group; Prof. Manoj Kumar Pandey, Chairperson – Media & Brand Building, and Associate Professor – Insurance &Marketing BIMTECH; Senthil Kumar, Director – Admissions & Outreach, SRM University; and AnkurVohra, Head of Outreach and International Admissions, O.P Jindal Global University. The panel session moved forward, which brushed ‘The crucial role of education in building entrepreneurial competencies through a 21st century framework’ headed by Prof. V. RamgopalRao, Director, IIT, Delhi, Dr. PathikPathak, Director of the Social Impact Lab, University of Southampton, Akhil Shahani, Managing Director, The Shahani Group and Prof. Dr. Padmkali Banerjee, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Dean Academics, Amity University Gurgaon.
The last two panel sessions were on ‘The Funder’s Dilemma’ and ‘Emerging Technologies-beyond simply EdTech’ drawn by esteemed speakers like Gautam Srivastava, Director – Deals Strategy, PWC India; Ravi Kaushik, Partner, Water Bridge Ventures; Prashant Mehta, Partner, Lightbox Venture Capital; Vikas Verma, Director, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation India; and AdityaMalik, CEO & MD, Talentedge. In the last session, the speakers like DrIndrajitBhattacharya, Director- NABET, Quality Council of India, Aveg Agarwal, Senior Vice President- Institutional Business, Toppr.com and Aditi Bhargava, Program Director, UpGrad, who shed some insightful light on the business case for VR, AR, XR and Artificial Intelligence in education and training.
The two days event witnessed strong participation of educators, investors and attendees, who shared their knowledge, carried out discussions on the future of the Indian education industry and created a vision for the aspiring edupreneurs to scratch out brilliant ideas, which will help the industry as well as the students at large.
