Virtual classroom has power of tech digital medias and learning resources: Ms Kiran Dham

Globus Infocom Ltd is a Make in India brand defined by innovation, research and development as the base to drive growth in the industry. The channel-friendly organization is marked by a large customer base throughout the country with a pan India service network. It works towards offering need-based solutions to a large customer base to meet the technology requirements of 21st century.

Here, Ms. Kiran Dham, CEO and HR Head, Globus Infocom, shares her views on the future of the Indian education industry.

DQ: How is the Indian industry collaborating for infrastructure and education?

Kiran Dham: There is considerable collaboration within the Indian industry in the area of infrastructure and education. Some players in India are among the finest in developing educational infrastructure.

Collaboration between these players is leading to the creation of pedagogical resources that have tremendous scope. The Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India is also planning to raise around Rs 1 lakh crore (US$ 15.52 billion) from private companies and high net worth individuals to finance improvement of education infrastructure in the country.

There have also been a few low key mergers and some sharing of technology, leading to the creation of outstanding products. In the education space, AR and VR projects that take students on a journey within the human body and across time and space have resulted from collaboration between industry players. We expect there to be greater collaboration in the industry.

DQ: What will be the power of online, social and emerging technologies for enhancing the reach, quality, affordability, and speed?

Kiran Dham: Online networks will play a vital role in expanding the reach of educational technologies. Today data costs less in India than it does anywhere else. Cloud-based learning platforms have boosted the reach of quality education in the remotest areas of the country. Speed is also no longer an issue as these run on the optimal bandwidth with minimal hardware or software resources.

Virtual classroom solution has the combined power of technology, digital medias and the best quality learning resources across the world, which makes it possible to instil quality education in every nook and corner of the country.

Also, the power of social media is a huge enabler of education. Its reach is formidable, so much so that every young adult in India has a social media account which enables them to stay updated on the latest 7 current happenings across the globe.

DQ: How is the academia, the industry and the employers transforming the education quality?

Kiran Dham: Academia in India is among the best in the world, and the country’s industry expertise is second to none. According to National Employability Report, the education sector in India is poised to witness major growth in the years to come, as India will have world’s largest tertiary- age population and second largest graduate talent pipeline globally by 2020-end. India could potentially emerge as a global supplier of skilled manpower.

Still, a major part of the educated youth are considered not skilled enough by the industry employers. This created a need for interaction between the academia and employers to work upon the lack of skills among the youngsters for the job.

The education industry has been working more intensely in collaboration with employers and industry upon providing quality education for knowledge generation, technology development, technology transfer, skill development, employability generation and entrepreneurship, transparent industry-academia collaboration with Government intervention. ICT would be the major factor to transform the infrastructure across the educational institutes.

DQ: Is what being taught in the technical colleges enough?

Kiran Dham: The leading technical colleges in India are excellent; however, the majority are letting students down. Even though the standard of courses available across colleges in India is developing, there still seems to be a lack of opportunities for practical application of skills learned through conceptual understanding.

Because of this, many students in India struggle to get job placements after graduation. The root cause of this problem circles back to the Indian education system emphasis on rote learning to remember concepts rather than understanding them. Also the main courses available in Indian technical colleges are basically STEM based which depicts the lack of emerging technology courses & speciality for students.

DQ: Are they in line with the ongoing processes across the various industry verticals?

Kiran Dham: The leading technical colleges are equipping students with skills that are in demand by various industry verticals. The traditional technical pedagogy has revolved around the rote learning ignoring the other required skills which make a huge part of employability in the current industry scenario.

Today’s job market requires approximately 30% of the technical knowledge & 70% soft or professional skill to succeed. Now, colleges are designing their curriculum as per the requisite skillsets under the categories of “managerial skills, entrepreneurial skills, leadership skills, communication skills, and teamworking skills” instilling these skills from the beginning.

DQ: How are the various happenings across the world finding their way into the national curriculum for colleges in India?

Kiran Dham: Once again, the best colleges and universities like the IITs, NITs, IIMs provide exceptional education. IT and digital technology are transforming the happenings across the globe. Digital tech is helping to meet the requirements of the industry. There are many techs which can enhance the efficiency and cater to the requirements of the industry.

We can enable students to access smart content through technology. AI, ML, AR and VR are the future of the technology. The Indian tech curriculum is focussing upon creating specialized courses for the expertise in these fields. Smaller companies and start-ups are using these technologies in their educational platforms.