ISB launches MFAB Management Programme for Next Generation Leaders Of Family Businesses

Report by India Education bureau, New Delhi: The Indian School of Business (ISB) today announced the launch of its new Management Programme for Family Business (MFAB). The programme was launched by prominent leaders of Indian family business groups, Adi Godrej and Sunil Kant Munjal in the presence of key members from the ISB, Dean Ajit Rangnekar, Deputy Dean Deepak Chandra  and Professor Kavil Ramachandran.  MFAB has been specially designed to groom the younger generation of family-owned businesses for leadership.

Announcing the programme, Ajit Rangnekar, Dean, ISB, said, “The ISB’s MFAB is a part of the school’s mission of developing and enhancing business leadership through innovative world class programmes in management. We believe that there exists a huge need for a top-notch global programme for grooming the future leaders of family-owned businesses. MFAB aims to fill this gap by providing a structured learning platform that will help young family business scions navigate and grow their businesses in a hyper-competitive and globalised business environment. Nurturing India’s family-run businesses will eventually contribute to the entire nation building process.”

Like the other world-class programmes from the ISB, the curriculum of MFAB has been contextualised to the needs of the segment. The curriculum will focus on enhancing analytical and functional skills, strengthen strategy and leadership as well as bring to the fore solutions to unique family business related challenges. MFAB will support the business scions to realise their growth aspirations by providing modern management tools and help professionalise their businesses. It will equip them with diverse learning opportunities through interactions with world-class faculty, international exposure, industry interventions and experiential learning.

Elaborating further, Professor Kavil Ramachandran, ISB, said “Family-owned companies around the globe are currently facing unique challenges as they navigate a highly competitive business environment - developing their next generation leadership and managing succession, governance, generational struggles around business strategy and professionalisation. We believe that MFAB will play a crucial role in addressing these complex challenges.”

Spread over a span of fifteen months, MFAB will have the content and rigor of top global Masters in Management programmes, contextualised to the needs of family businesses. It will be delivered in modules of seven days, every sixth week at the ISB campuses in Hyderabad and Mohali. Participants can travel from any location due to the modular structure of the programme. The programme will provide an opportunity for international immersions in USA, Africa and China.

Speaking at the occasion, Deepak Chandra, Deputy Dean, ISB, said, “Over the years, the ISB has successfully launched pioneering management programmes in India, aimed at young working professionals, mid-managers as well as senior management. Our latest offering, MFAB seeks to address the distinctive challenges that are faced by family business owners and groom the future leadership for an increasingly globalised world.”

The admissions for the programme will begin on January 01, 2013 and the first batch will commence in August 2013.  The selection and admission criteria are as follows –

Participants are required have a Bachelors Degree or an equivalent qualification (like CA, etc.).
Prior work experience of 4 years is recommended, though is not the prerequisite
Applicants will be required to appear for the Business Aptitude Test (BAT), and appear for a personal interview.

MFAB Highlights

• Targeted at the next generation leaders of Family Businesses.
• No break from work – Part-time format spread over 15 months
• Classes in modules of 7 days, every 6th week
• Global Faculty from leading business schools
• Immersion in USA, China, Africa

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Need for synergy b/w industry, civil society and governments

Report by India Education bureau, New Delhi: The telecom industry should lobby with central and the state governments and the civil society to convince them about the need for a virtual world for empowering the people of India, communications and information technology (IT) minister, Mr Kapil Sibal said at an ASSOCHAM event held in New Delhi today.

“Our aim is to make the digital world omnipresent and omnipotent, for which the government and industry should work together with the civil society, state governments and demonstrate the enormous advantages of the virtual world,” said Mr Sibal while inaugurating the 9th National Summit on Digital Society organised by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).

“There is a need for investments in basic infrastructure in the virtual world along with the need for constant research and applications to be developed,” said the minister. “The first political task is to gather all the forces together i.e. the central government, state governments, civil society to ensure there is realisation that for India virtual world is the future.”

While releasing an ASSOCHAM-Com First India study titled ‘Broadband for India’ the minister also stressed upon having partnerships within the industry players. “The key players in the industry must realise that in the virtual world too they would remain the key players and there is enough space for everyone.”

The minister also said there is a need for creating an ecosystem that ultimately empowers the common man as the intent of any policy of the government is to reach the faceless man.

“Governments should not be looking at filling up their pockets but should be looking at empowering people and fill up their pockets,” said Mr Sibal. “This has to be the objective and policy of the government, not just in telecom but across the board.

Calling upon the need for a holistic integrated network the minister said, “We cannot have different networks giving different solutions but a central network from where the data floats and that is our first imperative.”

The minister also said there is a need for developing an industry to manufacture the right devices which is the second imperative as networks are of no use in the absence of devices. “If we are going to import devices at heavy costs then the dream we have to empower rural India won’t be realised.”

Mr Sibal also said there is a need to give enormous encouragement and create the right kind of space for manufacturing industry to be able to connect the information to the device.

The minister also informed that government is moving towards developing a chip and will take a decision in a few weeks time about whom to partner with in this behalf.

Sharing his views on the need for a robust content industry in India, Mr Sibal further said, “I am amaking a project for developing content of folktales of India on the internet for our children so they learn about their roots, traditions and culture and that’s how India has to move forward.”

Reiterating his views the minister further said that its not an easy task to achieve the aforementioned goals and this can only happen through strong partnerships between the government (central and state), industry, civil society and other stakeholders.

The ASSOCHAM-Com First India study has recommended for taking calibrated steps to strengthen the broadband ecosystem of carriage, content, devices, skills and others. Besides, the study has suggested reducing cost and speed of building broadband infrastructure and to reduce fees and levies and streamline approvals for towers and other infrastructure to speed up network expansion.

There is also a need to reduce costs and improve environment for internet service providers involved in delivery of broadband services to low income and rural users, said the study.

Urging the government to address concerns about allocation and pricing of spectrum to realize the unique potential of wireless broadband in India, the study has suggested releasing additional spectrum to minimise lost value of idle spectrum.

Expanding and expediting the roll out of the National e-Governance plan to deliver public services and to strengthen the content ecosystem and supporting the low cost smart phones and tablets are also other suggestions jointly made by ASSOCHAM and com First India.

Amid others who spoke during the ASSOCHAM summit included – Mr Sanjay Kapoor, CEO (India & South Asia), Bharti Airtel Limited; Mr Sunil Kakkad, CMD, SAI Infosystems India Ltd.; Mr Rajkumar Dhoot, president, ASSOCHAM; Mr Sunil Kanoria, vice president; Mr Umang Das, chairman, National Council on Digital Society and Mr D.S. Rawat, secretary general.

http://indiaeducationdiary.in/Shownews.asp?newsid=17863

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Indian SMEs to partner with the Cambodian Enterprises

Report by India Education bureau, New Delhi: Cambodia has recorded a growth rate of 10%, since the last 10 years, According to Mr Dinesh Patnaik, Ambassador of India in Cambodia, the time is right for the Indian SMEs to look at Cambodia as its key partner for  accessing the ASEAN market, as well as be a part of Cambodian growth story.  He was speaking at the Business Marker event – Small Business – Big  Opportunities, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

 The Business marker event was organised jointly by the FASMEC and the  Embassy of India, in Cambodia, earlier today. It coincides with the visit  of the SME Delegation to Cambodia and the second edition of the ASEAN-India Car Rally in 26 November-20 December 2012, organized jointly by CII along  with the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India.

 Addressing the Business Marker event, Mr Phok Sovannarith, Secretary of  State, Ministry of Industry, Mines & Energy said that the India Cambodia  relationship is based on mutual respect and cooperation. Seeking support  and cooperation of the SMEs from India, he mentioned that the Cambodian  SMEs look upto the India to study their best practices and develop a  globally competitive Cambodian Enterprises.

 Mr K K M Kutty, Leader of the CII SME delegation to Cambodia and Past  Chairman, of the CII National MSME Council, earlier reiterated CIIs  commitment to guide the Enterprise to Enterprise cooperation, between  India and Cambodia. SME represent a good low-investment high-return  opportunity for Cambodian SME, who can source niche products from India.  Indian SMEs are flexible, reliable, quality conscious, and adaptable.  Intellectual property rights are well-respected in India as well, he added.

 Earlier, speaking on the occasion, President of the Federation of  Association for Small and Medium Enterprises of Cambodia (FASMEC), Oknha Te Taing Por, mentioned that for Cambodian enterprises, it is useful seek  cooperation with the Indian SMEs, as there are many sectoral synergies  between the two sides.

 The highlights of the Business marker event were the two (2) MoUs signed by  CII with – FIRST, Federation of Association for Small and Medium  Enterprises of Cambodia (FASMEC); & SECOND, Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC).The institutional arrangement between CII & FASMEC and between CII & ICC, will enable the growth of trade and commerce between India and  Cambodia.

 In addition, the Business marker event  focussed on Women Entrepreneurship,  by bringing together the Women Entrepreneurs from India and Cambodia. This  underlines the vital role assumed by the Women Entrepreneurs for the
 development of national economies in both the nations.

 During the discussions at the Business marker, opportunities in the  following sectors were stressed upon, between India and Cambodia in the SME  domain : Agro-industries, Agricultural equipments, Rice Mills and  equipments, Food Processing, Sea Food, Hand and Machine Tools, Industrial  Vocational Training / IT education / Engg & Medical, Textiles, Auto  components, Logistics, Packaging and Railway equipment & construction /  consultancy and Construction material.

 It is envisaged that the visit of the CII SME delegation to Cambodia will  lead to cooperation in FOUR key areas : 1.) Capacity building 2.) Database  Management 3.) Exchange of SME delegations and visit to Trade Fairs; & 4.)  Collaborations with the CII Center for Excellence (CoEs) for R & D and  Testing facilities. These would facilitate the enhancement of competencies  of the Cambodian Enterprises through Joint Ventures and Technology  transfers.

 India and Cambodia enjoy strong and warm relations based on ancient  civilisation bonds. Hindu and Buddhist linkages go back to the 4th century,  and Cambodia’s famous Angkor Vat temple complex and other major sites are  living testimony to these early contacts, according to CII.

http://www.indiaeducationdiary.in/showEE.asp?newsid=17864

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An Ivy education is now possible

India has 568 universities, and thousands of autonomous degree granting education institutions- but only a few dozens of the myriad institutes are renowned for providing quality education.

The majority of the population is enrolled in degree mills that churn out a massive number of graduates while imparting little to no valuable benefits to the students in terms of skills. Some estimate that only 50,000 of the 300,000 plus engineering graduates India produces are actually employable.

The Indian IT sector is still one of the fastest growing in the world. The industry began with the outsourcing of menial tasks and BPOs, and then followed software services outsourcing. Today India has become the back-office of the world, but we should not be content with that. Every year more MNCs are moving their research and development divisions to India, and software start-ups have started mushrooming all over — driving the next big growth of the technology industries in India.
In terms of investment, reenumeration of lecturers and facilities, Indian institutes are unable to match the universities of the world. This was long considered a self-perpetuating cycle that students find themselves trapped in; but now an alternative has appeared that could change the way education works in India. Courses from the best universities in the world are now available online for free.

The trend was started by MIT Opencourseware, which shared some of MIT's internal course materials to the general public. The two biggest players today, Coursera (www.coursera.com) and Udacity (www.udacity.com) deliver tailored courses by the world’s top universities designed to be taught exclusively over the web.
The average Indian would not be able to afford these courses on campus but any person who can afford a reasonably good internet connection can study online from the best professors in the world.

Both Coursera and Udacity were designed for computer science courses. Udacity still retains a heavy focus on quant heavy programming courses, but Coursera has expanded to include courses as varied as artificial intelligence, history, economics and music- all from top schools in the respective fields — Stanford, Yale, CalTech and the Berklee school of music.

The biggest bottleneck Massively Online Education faces is simply the lack of interest or poor time management skills by the students. For the motivated student, however, all the knowledge in the world is now his or her oyster.

http://www.asianage.com/life-and-style/ivy-education-now-possible-982

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Education contributing to nation's growth: Pranab

President Pranab Mukherjee today said India is fast emerging as a great economic power with the country becoming the third largest economy in the world in terms of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP).

“The growth rate our country enjoys is second only to China among the major economies in the world. In the six of the last nine years, we managed a growth rate in excess of 8 per cent. Though the growth rate have slightly contracted since 2010-11, in the face of the global economic meltdown, India has been able to withstand the crisis and has shown a remarkable resilience,” the President said while delivering his convocation address at the Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidalaya at Haridwar.

Mukherjee also noted that it is the growth of education in India which is a key factor responsible for the resilience, which in turn helps skilled workforce to contribute directly to the nation’s output.

In the field of higher education, India has 659 degree awarding institutions and 33,023 colleges, he said. At the end of the Eleventh Five Year Plan period, there were a total of 152 central institutions awarding degrees.

The number of such institutions have increased by 65 during the Eleventh Plan period of 2007 to 2012, he said adding this has indeed contributed towards increasing productivity of our work force.

The President said the Indian Institute of Technologies and the Indian Institute of Managements have created benchmark in technical and management education in the country and are held in high esteem internationally. It is, thus, heartening to note the number of IITs has increased from 7 in 2006-07 to 15 in 2011-12, and the number of IIMs has increased from 6 to 13 over this period, he said. The total number of degree awarding Institutions- Central, State and Private- has increased by 272 over the Eleventh Plan period. Evidently, the enrolment to higher education institutions in the country has also increased, from 1.39 crore in 2006-07 to 2.18 crore in 2011-12, which is the terminal year of the Eleventh Five Year Plan, Mukherjee said.

"Notwithstanding our achievements, we have to upgrade the standard of higher education. The country lacks behind in terms of research and innovation. The total number of patent applications filed by Indians in 2010 was close to only six thousand, which pales in comparison to over 3 lakh applications filed by Chinese, around 1.7 lakh filed by German, 4.64 lakh filed by Japanese, and 4.2 lakh filed by Americans. The number of applications for patent filed by an Indian comprised only 0.30% of the total applications filed in the world, he said.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/education-contributing-to-nations-growth-prez/495063/

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Bringing world class education to the heart of India

With India being a nation that matters to the world, Delhi, the capital city, has stood to gain a lot, especially in the education sector. The changing face of Delhi has been very pleasant; the city, hence, is considered to be a very important destination for world class education. A hub where global business houses are flocking by the dozen, where super-malls are springing up at the rate of almost one a day, Delhi is the place to be at if you are looking at a truly global career. This is the reason why it is here that top B- schools and coaching institutes are setting up shops, with thousands of enthusiastic students turning the city into a knowledge supermall too! With various options under one roof for students , parents, teachers and academicians, Times Education Expo is the most preferred destination for educational institutions and students alike.

TEE focuses on international and Indian be employed at the same time, have the privilege to meet distance learning centers , industrial training institutes , institutes of technical education, open universities , management training centers, language centers and specialised schools of arts. Business schools for aspiring students looking at business management studies and education equipment and accessories for every single education institute looking to source great equipment for educational infrastructure are special features at TEE 2012.

You can also witness international institutes , which have their campuses in India at the fair. New College Nottingham, UK (ncn) in collaboration with The Batra Group will be one of them, which will bring to you, NILA - New College Nottingham International Lifestyles Academy. NILA offers courses in hospitality, fashion, retail and interactive media. Notably , students must be prudent enough to judge the best colleges for them.

Times Edu-Schools , universities and institutes offering courses on Medicine, IT, Economics, International Management, Engineering Technology, Architecture, Designing, Fashion, Music, Law, Aviation, Accountancy, Media etc. It also features human resource consultancy firms, placement firms and call centers for those aspiring for a great career, banks, student loans, immigration and visa experts to aid students who aspire to study abroad. And for these professionals who desire to pursue further studies and cation Expo 2012 will be held in Delhi on December 15 and 16 at Pragati Maidan . Students can register on the spot and visit this most awaited education and career fair of India. With quality institutes, universities and colleges participating, this event in the field of education has been the most renowned fair on India's education calendar and it aims to be the greatest fair ever held in Delhi, catering to a community of students who are destined to be the future of a bright enterprising India. Be there as this is one class students cannot afford to bunk!

Pariticipants

1 Academic Information Centre (AIC) 2 Academy of Art University (AAU) 3 Alliance University, Bangalore 4 Anibrain Digital Technologies Pvt Ltd (XDI) 5 ASM Group Pune 6 Campus France 7 CentrumDirect Ltd 8 Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) 9 Delhi Para Medical and Management Institute (DPMI) 10 DSK Supinfocom International Campus 11 ESMOD International Fashion Institutes 12 Falcon Education Pvt Ltd 13 International Placewell Consultants Pvt. Ltd (IPC) 14 ISOMES (Bag Films & Media Ltd ) 15 ITS Ghaziabad 16 KIET Group of Institutions 17 MIT Institute of Design 18 N & N Chopra Consultants Pvt. Ltd 19 National Insurance Academy (NIA) 20 Nottingham International Lifestyle Academy (NILA) 21 Oasis Resource Management 22 OP Jindal Global University 23 Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyor (RICS) 24 Scholarship Facilitation Services Pvt Ltd 25 School D'Hospitality 26 Sinhgad Institutes 27 Sri Sharada Institute of Indian Management (SRISIIM) 28 Swiss Textile College 29 The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) 30 The Institute of Cost Accountants of India (ICWAI) 31 United Knowledge Education Consultants Pvt Ltd (SI UK Education Council) 32 VanArts & many more...

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/Bringing-world-class-education-to-the-heart-of-India/articleshow/17552215.cms

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On a train called Knowledge, travel opens eyes and minds

Distance learning and student mobility are key phrases in higher education, but in India such ideas are taking on a different meaning in a university project that will use the country's famous railways to its advantage.

The plans by the University of Delhi to set up a mobile college on a train are inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's railway journeys around India and South Africa, where as a young man in 1893 he was expelled from a whites-only compartment.

"It's a huge process of education travelling in a train," said Dinesh Singh, Delhi's vice-chancellor. "Gandhi understood that very well and discovered his calling in life on a train journey."

Learning in India used to be based in practice and experience, Professor Singh told Times Higher Education. "At some point down the track we have lost that; our education is now largely blackboard orientated."

Equipped with science labs, classrooms, libraries and dormitories the train - known as the Dawn of Knowledge College - will also have wi-fiand 200 laptops for video-conferencing so students can keep up with lectures and classes taking place on the campus in Delhi.

"Students will do experiments to figure out the speed of the train, investigate the cultures that they pass through, the agriculture, the rivers they cross, examine the design of the toilets on board," Professor Singh said.

"There will also be the business of learning to get along with a large group of people as they undertake a journey of discovery."

India's railway network is one of the largest in the world: it covers about 40,000 miles and has more than 7,000 stations.

Journeys will last a semester, and students will be selected from among the university's 200,000 undergraduates based on a written proposal for a project to be undertaken during the cross-country venture.

The train will carry about 1,000 students and 150 faculty members as well as staff from the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, who will be in charge of its operation.

Delhi hopes that the Dawn of Knowledge College, which it expects to cost about £6.7 million to purchase and modify, will set out in October 2013. Students will be involved in the design of the carriages.

Professor Singh said that the Delhi government had promised funding for the venture, whose cost would also be subsidised by about 100 students the university hopes to attract from the US.

Earlier this year, the university ran two short residential railway journeys for its students, few of whom had ever been on a train.

Parminder Sehgal, chief coordinator of the trips, said a longer journey would allow students to become more involved with the communities they visit. "They could be living with villagers and seeing their problems and then trying to solve that problem for them," Dr Sehgal said.

Professor Singh said that he also harboured aspirations to open a college aboard a ship, which would sail students around the coast of India.

"Education must be in action, that way ideas will come to you," he added.

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=422022&c=1

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Swosti Education Foundation to start hotel management institute in Bhubaneshwar by July 2013

Swosti Education Foundation, the education arm of Bhubaneshwar-based Swosti Hotel Group, is looking at starting a hotel management institute, which will share its campus with Swosti Premium Bhubaneshwar hotel, by July 2013. The institute will offer diploma and degree courses in hospitality and will be affiliated to Utkal University of Culture, Bhubaneshwar. This information was revealed by Pradeep Kumar Vaid, Vice President Operations, Swosti Group.

Talking about the expansion plans of Swosti Hotel Group, Vaid said, “We have land banks in Puri, Chilka and Satapada in Odisha. We are looking at coming up with hotels and resorts at these destinations soon. Since these locations are nearby the lake area, we are awaiting for the Central Government’s approval for these locations. Once we get the approval, we shall start the construction.” In addition, the group is looking at taking up management contracts of hotels, he added. “Initially, we would like to start with Odisha and then move to other cities where we have our regional offices,” he said.

Recently, Swosti Hotel Bhubaneshwar, a premium boutique hotel, has added a pub, Oceana, with 45 covers; family restaurant, Aqua, with 79 covers, spread on 1,700 sq feet of land with a private dining area; and a 24X7 coffee shop, Galeria, at the lobby level. Of the 54 rooms, 27 rooms have been recently refurbished, while the remaining half will be completed by October next year.

http://www.hospitalitybizindia.com/detailNews.aspx?aid=15322&sid=1

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India, US must work together more in science and technology

KOLKATA: Calling for greater India-US collaboration in science and technology, American ambassador to India Nancy Powell on Friday said sustained educational exchanges were a key to developing human capital in the two countries.

"India and the US have much to do to collaborate in future in the field of science and technology. Although India's science and technology establishment has made enormous progress in the last few decades, further collaboration is needed," Powell said in her speech at the PANIIT Global Conference, 2012.

Stressing on joint ventures between Indian and US companies, she said "Indian companies have huge human capital and our products are technologically innovative."

The envoy said both the nations have focused on skill development.

"India has recognised a need for such training — without it the huge youth dividend could go unrealized — and is planning to work with the American community college system to establish a similar system here to meet the huge, unmet demand of Indian students for higher education that will allow them to succeed in India's growing economy," she said.

Pointing out that US was "enthusiastically" supportive of India's interest in exploring the community college model, she iterated Washington's pledge to work with India in creating partnerships between the private sector, educational institutions, and the state governments.

She said India and US could share their strengths in information technology which is beginning to radically change the field of education.

Refering to China, she said it was producing one million graduates very year in science, technology, and mathematics. "While India graduates about half that number, the US fewer than half. Both the United States and India need to do a better job."

"This is why the IITs are so important, and why the US government is eager to promote cooperation between Indian and US institutions of higher education."

Talking of the need to foster global skills and international experiences in young people, she said the US warmly welcomes Indian students into its colleges and universities.

"During the 2011-2012 academic year, over 100,000 Indian students studied in the US. India is second only to China in terms of international student population at US higher education institutions," she said.

"We are actively encouraging more American students to study and explore India through a new initiative called 'Passport to India'. India and the United States both recognize that sustained educational exchanges are key, and that's why we have placed such an emphasis on the US-India Higher Education Dialogue," she added.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/India-US-must-work-together-more-in-science-and-technology-Nancy-Powell/articleshow/17525167.cms

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Education needs private sector push

Both, financial and technical resources would be enhanced by private involvement in education

The Supreme Court of India recently issued an order directing State governments to equip all schools with appropriate facilities such as toilets, drinking water, classrooms and teachers within six months to ensure that schools meet the standards set by the Right to Education Act.

While the government currently spends about one per cent of the GDP in education and is planning to increase it to 1.5 per cent, estimates show that the country requires an investment of over $150 billion in the next 10 years. But more than the money, the need of the hour is to implement education and related infrastructure requirements within a stipulated timeframe.

The future of not just millions of children, but of our nation depends on transforming the idea of universal quality education into practice, and leveraging the private sector to achieve this appears to be one of the most attractive options we have.
PPP DELIVERABLES

The Public Private Partnership (PPP) model can be implemented through five deliverables that have the potential to transform the education landscape of India and empower even the weakest sections of our society.

The first is anganwadis, which are part of the government’s Integrated Child Development Services and are crucial in developing physical, cognitive, emotional, social and linguistic skills of children between ages of three and six.

The Vedanta Group has already implemented a PPP model for the anganwadi programme. This model offers some key learning. Additional training for the anganwadi workers has equipped them better to handle both education and healthcare-related issues. Our effort at providing additional dietary supplements has substantially raised the nutritional levels of the children.

Every child, while visiting an anganwadi, is provided by the government with nutritional supplements which add 300 calories as well as 20 gm of protein to his daily food intake. Vedanta further supplements the government’s efforts by adding another 150 calories worth of supplements and 10 gm of protein to the child’s intake.

And the use of teaching aids has made elementary education fun for the children. Better health and promise of a better life through education can then motivate even illiterate parents in India’s poorest regions to make an informed choice of sending their children to schools.

This is the second deliverable that needs both infrastructure development and equitable access opportunities.

It is often seen that children, despite completing primary education in their village schools, drop out of secondary school education due to infrastructural constraints.

These include inaccessibility to a secondary school in another village, poor conditions of roads and the lack of transport facilities, among others. It, therefore, is important to open schools in the farthest corners of the country.

We have partnered with DAV to open the first English-medium secondary school in the Lanjigarh area of the Kalahandi district of Odisha, which has also benefited children of the tribal communities. This is an important step as it empowers them to gain access to a quality of learning at par with schools in urban India.

In a developing country like India, where nutritional requirements remain a cause of concern, the mid-day meal programme is the third most important deliverable. While the anganwadis can help lay a foundation to a healthy childhood, sustained nutrition is the key to a healthy body and a healthy mind.

The government’s mid-day meal scheme has found many takers. Corporates such as Infosys, Vedanta and Tata are active partners.

At Vedanta, we have taken the initiative of setting up centralised high-tech kitchens and partnered with NGOs such as the Naandi Foundation to run them and provide over 2,50,000 students across 2,710 schools with nutritious meals every day. Not only has this government-corporate-NGO partnership helped in improving the diet of young India, it has also helped push up the attendance levels in schools.

LEARNING TOOLS

Creation of imaginative textbooks and teaching aids, especially e-learning, is the fourth deliverable that can be driven through the PPP model. Foundations, funded by corporates and individuals, such as the Vedanta Foundation and the Azim Premji Foundation, have already taken the lead by devising e-learning curricula modules in the local language and implementing them in State government schools.

This has helped spread computer education and bridged the gap in the quality of teaching that has often come in for heavy criticism over the years.

The fifth deliverable in the PPP for education model relates to providing coaching for higher education technical courses such as medicine and engineering to underprivileged students. Bihar DGP Abhayanand’s pioneering Super 30 concept has found many takers and the private sector has helped set up more such centres across the country. Vedanta Foundation has also joined hands with Super 30 to launch centres in Maharashtra and Rajasthan.

This not only enables the students to seek admission in premier institutes but also has a direct bearing on the future workforce of the industry.

In India, where the most obvious failure of the education system has been the lack of resources and low motivation levels, PPP is the only model that can help the country achieve its dream of universal quality education.

There are numerous formats of the PPP model followed across the world. What must be remembered is that for a country as diverse as India, there cannot be a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. Somewhere, the government needs to take the first step; somewhere the private sector will have to step in.

A start has already been made, and it’s imperative that more private forces join hands with the government to give the children of this country the future we owe them.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/education-needs-private-sector-push/article4171308.ece

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