This Teachers day, let's look at Ed tech platforms that impart education as virtual tutors

Teachers impart not just education but also values. They play a very important role in a student's life as they are a constant part in the process of learning and also encourage students towards reaching their ambition. The disruption in the education sector and living in an age where digital learning has impacted almost everyone around us. Virtual Tutors have gained popularity due to its effective teaching methods where a student is not bound to time or location. These methods have been super fruitful for this digitally influenced generation as it provides a platform where a student can interact, learn and grow along with the learners from different parts of the world.

Here are a few platforms who are emerging as virtual tutors:

Udacity - Udacity is a silicon valley based lifelong learning platform that co-creates courses with industry giants for future technologies. From mentoring, project reviewers to structured guidance, Udacity provides assistance to a variety of learners for courses in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Analytics, etc for both tech and non-tech background.

Toppr - It emphasizes on adaptive practice through machine learning algorithms, personalized tests, and goal-based pedagogy. Therefore, facilitating learning for students at their own pace and in their own space. Toppr currently caters to over 4.5 million registered students. With a community of 15000+ educators across India that works 24×7, Toppr ensures that no doubts for students remain unanswered even past midnight.

Next Education - Founded in 2007, Next Education is a fast-growing, technology-driven company revolutionizing the K-12 education system in India. Every day, its innovative products and solutions transform the lives of 10% of India’s private-school-going children. It has created innovative products which make teaching easy, engaging and effective  

Aakash Digital - The ed-tech version of Aakash, this online learning platform helps students get quality Aakash coaching at the convenience of their home through live online classes and recorded video lectures. It helps students get the discipline and academic excellence of Aakash at home and facilitates them to learn anywhere, anytime. With the latest technology and experienced teachers, Aakash Digital ensures that students get everything from teachers' guidance to quality study material, doubts resolution and regular assessment through online practice tests to crack exams like NEET, JEE as well as school and board exams. 

Edx - Leading massive online course provider Edx, it caters students with presence in various countries. It hosts online university-level courses in a wide range of disciplines to a worldwide student body, including some courses at no charge. Acting as virtual tutors to a large number of students they are deeply committed to understanding the barriers that learners face when looking to advance or change their careers.

Imarticus - It incorporates a variety of delivery methodologies -online, classroom and blended – that are managed by a fully integrated state-of-the-art online learning management and governance system. The curriculum for each course is designed by industry experts to ensure relevance and industrial applicability, and to equip trainees with the pertinent skills that ensure employability upon completion. Imarticus has educated 30,000+ individuals globally.

Hindi is losing its stature among millenial kids and parents are to blame too!

With around half a billion native speakers, Hindi is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. Even though it is quite common in North India, a large section of the population can speak it well but find it difficult to write in it. This stands true for kids as well, most children today speak in Hindi with their friends and at home but when it comes to writing in the language, it becomes surprisingly hard to pen down words and expressions. It is a pain-area for parents also, because they find it challenging to teach the language to their kids and search for Hindi tutors. A survey conducted by iChamp also showed that Hindi is a big challenge for students in metros.

Hindi’s stature as a language that connects a majority of people in India has also taken a toll. Globalization has opened up a lot of opportunities and English has come to be the most important language of the century. Hindi-speaking masses are looked down upon owing to a rather unpopular opinion that it signifies a sense of backwardness while English gives a sense of superiority and high-class. But that shouldn’t stop us from learning a language that has historical and cultural roots in our country and helps us connect with most of them.

The following are a few reasons why children today are weaker in Hindi -

Script is different from most Western languages

The Hindi script appears similar to the Arabic style of writing and is often considered difficult because the characters are quite unique, and kids require some time and practice to master their strokes and lines unlike the English alphabet.

Grammar is tough

Many kids complain about Hindi grammar as it is confusing for them because they are learning English also. In English, they learn the format SVO (Subject+Verb+Object) while in Hindi it is SOV (Subject+Object+Verb) and the gender usage in Hindi requires extra efforts as well. One of the biggest reasons is that parents themselves have forgotten Hindi grammar and are not capable of teaching kids. This leads to kids not being very comfortable with Hindi from a very early age itself.

Reading is now limited to English

Reading in Hindi has also gone down substantially. In a typical middle class family in urban india, from newspaper to magazines, hoardings on roads, signage on top of shops – everything is in English. Kids are not exposed to hindi at all in their day to day life.

Emphasis on English

Hindi may be India’s most widely spoken language, but the language of the government and business is resolutely English. Parents often emphasize more on English as they think their kids would do better in life if they become fluent in the global language early. Another reason is that Hindi speaking people are often looked at as inferior and English has come to denote class and elitism which is why most urban parents want their kids to speak in English even at home and when communicating with them.

Hindi is not “cool” anymore, as far as the younger generation is concerned, Hinglish is considered a more viable option.

 But we should understand that in today’s time, being multilingual is more beneficial. Research has shown that learning multiple languages challenges the brain and improves cognitive and social-emotional development. This is why there is a need to emphasize and focus on other languages including Hindi for your kids.

Reasons alone cannot constitute solutions so here are some tips to help improve Hindi for your kids -

1. Hindi grammar may not be easy to grasp at once. But you can make it fun for your child by giving Hindi worksheets for practice after school.
2. Multilingual children may get confused with gender usage or other conflicting grammar concepts if they don’t use the Hindi language on a regular basis. Explain the differences by answering your child’s queries with patience.
3. Encourage Hindi conversations and get good Hindi comics for reading and also read them bedtime stories from Hindi story books.

Karo Sambhav’s School Programme resulted in over 800 kg e-waste collection in Delhi

Karo Sambhav, a tech-enabled Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO), engaged in developing and implementing responsible electronic waste (e-waste) management solutions across India, organised a felicitation ceremony at Modern Public School, Shalimar Bagh in Delhi today. The event was organised in conjunction with the successful culmination of the four month-long school programme aimed at building awareness and inspiring students towards recycling of e-waste.

Designed for students from class 5 to 10, the programme was carried out at 70 schools in Delhi. During the felicitation ceremony students, teachers and schools were awarded under various categories.

Gyan Mandir Public School and St. Mary's School, Dwarka were honoured for collecting maximum e-waste amounting to a volume of 330 kg. Six schools won the award for best toolkit execution which include Venkateshwar Global School; Delhi International School; Gyan Mandir Public School; Apeejay School; Modern Public School, Shalimar Bagh and Bharti Public School, Swasthya Vihar.  Venkateshwar Global School; Delhi International School; Modern Public School, Shalimar Bagh; St. Giri School; Evergreen Public School, Vasundhara Enclave and Bharti Public School bagged the title for Best Community Outreach Programme.

Talking about the success of this programme, Pranshu Singhal, Founder, Karo Sambhav, said, “We are building a cohesive e waste movement across India. We envision to drive a long-term behavioural change with respect to critical environmental issues, through Karo Sambhav School Programme."

The programme enabled by principal partners Apple, Dell, HP, Lenovo among others aims to create awareness among students on critical environmental issues like the waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), preventive environmental strategies, and inspiring them to take actions in their daily lives. Other partners of the programme include Xiaomi, M-Tech, Savex, Supertron, Inflow, and HMD. Karo Sambhav has partnered with International Finance Corporation (IFC), member of World Bank Group, to build sustainable e-waste solutions for India with a focus on awareness generation, capacity building and knowledge exchange.

Sarina Bolla, Program Manager for IFC’s India E-waste Program said, “The use of technology is increasing exponentially and building awareness among future generations will enable more responsible use and disposable of electronic waste. We encourage student to join the movement and support our objective in building a responsible and sustainable e-waste management ecosystem in India.”

In order to increase the efficacy of the program, the curriculum of the program was designed as a toolkit of 7 exercises to enable development of participating teachers’ competence and to empower them to provide enriching practical experience to the students. Also, the awards were given based on the continuous field visits, and communication established with the participating schools by Juana Technologies, the execution partner of Karo Sambhav in NCR. Since, July 2017, Karo Sambhav has engaged with over 1800 schools across India, in alignment with the State Education Departments, and the State Pollution Control Boards.

About Karo Sambhav

Karo Sambhav is a tech-enabled, environmentally beneficial and socially responsible e-waste Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) which is setting-up an India-wide transformative solution for managing e-waste by partnering with Producers, NGOs, Government Bodies (Centre and State) Industry Associations, Bulk Consumers, Waste Pickers & Aggregators and responsible Recyclers. Karo’s producer members include prominent brands like Apple, Dell, HP and Lenovo. For more information, visit www.karosambhav.com

TEDxYouth with the theme of ‘Evol-YOU-tion’ held at Oberoi International School

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading students of Oberoi International School (OIS) organized and hosted TEDxYOUTH@OIS event on Saturday, 12^th January 2019 at Oberoi International School Auditorium, Goregaon. The theme of the talks this year was ‘Evol-YOU-tion’, signifying achieving something above and beyond what has been achieved so far.

TEDxYouth@OIS is a student-led, independently organized TED event. The speakers this year included three student speakers from OIS - Ida Ali, a student of Oberoi International School, Filmmaker Director and Writer; Aamir Khan, another IB student of Oberoi International School, Young Entrepreneur, Vedika Kanchan, writer and artist, and three guest speakers. The guest speakers were Mr. Vinay Jaju, Social Entrepreneur Co-founder and COO of ONergy Solar and SwitchON, Alisha Rajpal Freelance Copywriter and Writer and Siddarth Shetty, Digital Infrastructure Expert.

Aamir Khan, Ida Ali and Vedika Kanchan, the student speakers and Mr Vinay Jaju and Siddharth Shetty, the guest speakers of the TEDxYouth@OIS

Commenting on the occasion, the organizer of the event, Ms. Zarine Khan (Economics & Business Management Teacher at OIS) said, “TEDxYouth@OIS is one of the most creative events of our school since they are organized by and catered towards our students. This event lends a platform to inspirational ideas of OIS students and also for the achievers from various walks of life. The objective of our students to host this event annually is sowing the seeds of change today to create a better tomorrow and improve the fabric of society."

One of the student speakers, Aamir Khan (17), Youth Entrepreneur and Innovator and the youngest Group Vice President at EL Group International & COO of YachtSmarter a New York based company, shared his experience by saying, “This was my first TEDxYouth talk. I have spoken at other platforms and conferences as well, which involved a majority of adults in the audience and that makes it challenging. However, today’s talk involved the young audience and my school community which allowed me to make my talk more relatable and helped me connect better."

The event ended with a vote of thanks. A sapling that signifies continuous growth and evolution, along with a goodie bag was given to both, the speakers and the audience present for the talk.

About  Oberoi International School

Established in 2008, the school aims to provide an elevated learning environment through comprehensive facilities and an enriching curriculum. A co-educational private school, Oberoi International School is fully authorized IB School (International Baccalaureate School) offering all three IB programmes, the Primary Years Programme (PYP) from Nursery to Grade 5, Middle Years Programme (MYP) from Grades 6 to 10 and the IB Diploma Programme (IBDP) for Grades 11 & 12. Oberoi International School has two campuses in Mumbai, its vision and mission are extended across both their campuses as does their commitment to delivering high-quality international education. OIS is 'One School, Two Campuses' with a strong synergy, collaborative leadership and shared best practices. The infrastructure at both OGC and JVLR campus is purposefully-built, planned, exquisitely designed and precisely fabricated to educate and empower future global citizens. The facilities and resources are among the world’s best, making Oberoi International School a significant example of a 21st-century learning environment.

About TED and TEDx           

                                                       

TED, a non-profit organization started about 30 years ago, has been a growing platform for ‘Ideas Worth Spreading’. Expanding from a 4-day conference in California, TED now reaches out to hundreds of countries around the world. TED as developed and grown to support world-changing ideas that are brought to stage at these events. The TEDx Event is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to replicate a TED-like experience. The main goal of these is to initiate meaningful conversations and help create a closer-knit community of intellectual thinkers. In the term TEDx, x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides the organizers of these events with general guidelines, but individual TEDx events are self-organized under a license issued by TED Conference.

Miss Deaf Asia Inspires more than 100 Women Entrepreneurs at Business Conference

 To motivate and inspire budding women entrepreneurs, Miss Deaf Asia-2018 Nishtha Dudeja was invited as a Chief Guest at Business Women Conference-2019, organised by Uprise India at India International Centre (Delhi). Nishtha addressed the conference and encouraged the women entrepreneurs.

Nishtha Dudeja recently won Miss Deaf Asia 2018 title at the 18th edition of Miss and Mister Deaf World -Europe -Asia Beauty Pageant at Prague, Czech Republic. She is the first Indian to have won any title at Miss Deaf World Pageant. Uprise India Foundation, which is the Women Entrepreneur Initiative, the organized 3rd edition of businesswomen conference 2019.

"I am honoured to speak at this gathering. We, women, are in the habit of underestimating ourselves and we need to realize that if we set our mind to it, then nothing can stop us from achieving our goals. I have fought through many obstacles but with the support of my family, I have conquered all these obstacles to realise my dream. I believe that we all are special and unique in our own ways and we are our own biggest strengths. I want to congratulate Uprise India for helping young women entrepreneurs with their initiative. It aims at raising the importance of women equality in society and works as a catalyst to the budding women entrepreneurs in making them self independent,” said Nishtha Dudeja, Miss Deaf Asia 2018.

The experts in the panel enlightened the audience with different aspects of business through facts and figures while speaking on the topic of Personal Branding, Crisis Management and Financial Literacy.

During the occasion, Akash Shukla, Founder, Uprise India Foundation said, “I am really thankful to Ms. Nishtha Dudeja, Mr. Sharad Kohli, Mr. Vikram Shankar and other thought leaders who have joined us to take this initiative to another level. In today’s time, we are missing the mindset of seeking out new knowledge and challenges and most importantly we are missing long-term development plans.

Barkha Gupta owner of Ganache Panache who attended the conference said, “
In today's program, I was inspired by the life journey of Nishtha Dudeja and Uprise India is an excellent platform for women entrepreneurs looking for networking, mentoring and exposure. Ganache Panache is to extremely happy to associate with Uprise for the event”

The other 50 speakers and panelists were a part of this business conference to amplify the voice of India’s women entrepreneurs. These included: Mr. Vikram Shankar, Co-Founder Uprise India Foundation, Dr. Sharad Kohli, Founder & Chairman, KCC Group, Ms. Neha Agrawal, CEO, MensenTock Communications and Ms. Kavita K Bhaskaran, Communications & Brand Specialist and Adarsh Agnihotri, Administration Head, Uprise India.