Major study on COVID-19 impacts in Aotearoa launched

A nationwide study to assess the impacts of COVID-19 on people in Aotearoa New Zealand has been launched today by Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington.  

 The “Impacts of COVID-19 in Aotearoa—Ngā Kawekawe o Mate Korona” study, funded by the Ministry of Health, aims to survey people aged 16 and over who had COVID-19, or were a probable case, before 1 December 2021.  

 

Nearly 9,000 eligible people will be contacted by letter and text over the next two weeks inviting them to complete online surveys about their experiences of COVID-19 and the healthcare services they received.  

 

The study is led by Dr Lynne Russell (Ngāti Kahungunu, Rangitāne, Kāi Tahu, Ngāti Porou) and Dr Mona Jeffreys, who head-up a multi-disciplinary team of researchers, primarily from the University’s Te Hikuwai Rangahau Hauora—Health Services Research Centre. Dr Marianna Churchward (Lotofaga, Faleasiu, Samoa) leads the Pacific arm of the research. 

 

“We want as many people as possible to take part in the surveys so we can understand their experiences of COVID-19 and assess the effectiveness of the services they received,” Dr Russell said.  

 

A series of interviews with COVID-19 survivors will also be conducted as part of the research.  

 

Insights gained from the study will be used to provide recommendations to the Ministry of Health on how to better support people with COVID-19 and improve health services in the future.  

 

Survey questions that participants will be invited to answer focus on four areas: 

• the support they received (and would have liked) when they were first diagnosed with COVID-19, and how the situation affected them and their whānau 
• their experience after getting COVID-19 and the quality of the health services they accessed 
• the financial costs of COVID-19 to them and their whānau, and who (if anyone) helped care for them 
• Long COVID and symptoms that continued to affect their health beyond the first month of getting the virus.  

 

Dr Russell said the effects of COVID-19 on Māori, Pacific communities and whānau hauā (disabled communities) are a key focus of the research.  

 

Jenene Crossan, who was the 37th COVID-19 case in Aotearoa, is among those already signed up to participate in the study, and is one of four people who has had COVID-19 advising the research team.  

 

Jenene tested positive for COVID-19 in 2020 and has since suffered from Long COVID symptoms. She’s encouraging others who have had COVID-19 to take part in the study. 

 

“The more we come together to understand the impacts of the virus on our people, the better we can serve and protect our tamariki and whānau.” 

 

Speaking up “may not be comfortable, but it is the right thing to do and I hope it is rewarding for those who bravely step up,” Jenene said.  

 

Any information participants provide to the research team would be kept strictly confidential, Dr Jeffreys said.   

 

“We know some people may be reluctant to share information because of the stigma associated with COVID-19 infection. We want to reassure participants that their identities will remain confidential unless they give us permission to release that information,” she said.   

 

About Education New Zealand:

Education New Zealand (ENZ) is New Zealand’s government agency for international education. ENZ works to grow awareness of New Zealand as a study destination and to support New Zealand education providers and businesses to take their services and products abroad. 

Post Budget Quote by Chitra Ravi - Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Chrysalis

The pandemic has completely altered the way of learning and has increased the pace of digital adoption in the education sector. With improved digital infrastructure and the new initiatives introduced by the government such as the 'One class, one TV ‘, strengthening online education, quality education can now be possible.

As Educators, we should realize Technology has opened up lots of possibilities to improve the quality of education. Tech can be used for the professional development of teachers and also get assessment insights from children. We can safely say that Technology has the potential to solve some of the traditional challenges and pandemic related challenges as well.

About Chrysalis:

Chrysalis was founded in the year 2001 by Chitra Ravi, a school educational visionary with a vision to awaken ‘innate human potential’ in EVERY CHILD. Chrysalis'​ initiatives are based on 20 years of sustained research on education and pedagogy which have led to a remarkable transformation in over 1800+ schools. Through different collaborations, Chrysalis has successfully contributed to the research, curriculum design and bringing rigour in the transformation of the current teaching practices. They have partnered with private organisations and State governments, acting as knowledge partners and problem solvers. Chrysalis actively seek CSR collaborations with like-minded organisations, that wish to impact the education eco-system.

Leading corporates such as IBM, Microsoft and Dell partner with Chrysalis for their strategic expertise on their CSR initiatives in education. For their contribution to education, Chrysalis (EZ Vidya) was awarded South-Asia’s most innovative curriculum award and the coveted ET-NOW 'Game Changer'​ Award from over 63000 organizations across the globe.

Break the silence

 

7-year-old Trisha came from school and started looking for her mother, but she was nowhere to see. When she asked Disha, a lady in her neighbourhood, she told her that her mother fell down and got hurt. Your father has taken her to the hospital.

Trisha got scared and started crying bitterly. Somewhere inside she knew that it was not just an accident. If papa has taken her to the hospital, there is definitely something wrong.

Her father was a very good and noble man for the people. Why wouldn’t he be; after all, he loves his family so much. The complete family goes out for dinner often. Whosoever sees the family of three says that this is the example of a perfect family with a great bond and love.

But no one knew the other side of Trisha’s father’s personality. The person who was cute and loving outside was cruel and feelingless inside. He would beat Trisha’s mother Subha black and blue.

There were times when both the mother and the daughter would cry in a corner and he would simply watch his favourite shows on TV. So many times, the small girl asked her mother to take help of her grandparents, but her mother always refused saying it's ok. Subha told Trisha that his father is a good man, it's only the days when he gets angry, he behaves like this.

She asked Subha, why is it normal. How can papa behave like this with you? Why don’t you raise your voice? Why don’t you complain against him? And her mother simply said, “it’s normal. Husband and wife have small fights.”

Trisha recalled all the days when his father hurt her mother and got scared. She asked Disha to take her to the hospital. The lady couldn’t deny and had to listen to the crying girl. They both reached the hospital and saw her mother with a lot of marks on her face. Trisha couldn’t control her tears and ran to hug her mother.

Disha got some doubt and asked Trisha’s mom the truth. Today when Subha saw the death closely and got worried about her daughter’s future, she decided to break the silence and raise her voice. She told Disha everything and asked her to call the police.

Trisha’s father pleaded in front of Subha and promised that he will never repeat it again. But this time Subha was firm with her decision and requested the police officer to take him away.

Actually, it was not Subha’s fault. In India, we are raised in such a way that every limitation or misbehave with girls look normal. From how to dress to how to speak and what to eat, there are rules for everything.

‘Hey don’t laugh so loud. Girls don’t look good behaving like this.’

‘Don’t wear western outfits.’

‘Don’t speak so loudly. What will your in-laws say, haven’t your parents taught you manners?’

‘Haw, you are not married yet. Girls of your age have already got kids.’

There is a long list of suggestions from everyone, we girls grow up listening to. From how to speak to what to eat, how to walk and to whom we should talk, there are rules for almost everything.

Not just before marriage but after marriage also. Don’t wear this, don’t speak like this, don’t eat this and whatnot. Even if the married life is not good, wives will be suggested to adjust and bear with all the mental and physical trauma.

There is a huge list of DON’TS.

Does anyone ever ask what do we want?

Everyone comes and starts giving their suggestions.

This is the time to break the silence and fight for your rights. If not now, it will be never.

#BreakTheSilence and make your life meaningful. God has given us just one life and this is up to us how we live it.

#BreakTheSilence with Fertility Dost, India’s trusted platform for managing fertility health. #FertilityDostContest 

 

Online Learning Platform to Hire Senior Citizens as Teachers

Lido Learning, an Indian EdTech start-up, is all set to rope in the expertise of senior citizens in Science, Maths and English as it expands its small group face-to-face online tutoring classes. The online learning platform that focuses on Maths, Science, and English for Grades 4-9 has seen a significant increase in enrollments since the pandemic began and is increasing its 500+ tutor pool in an industry-first move of hiring senior citizens and retired professionals as teachers.

"I have 17 years of rich experience in teaching Math in schools. I decided to spend my retired life using my teaching skills with the combination of technology, so joined Lido in September 2019. I am enjoying the work here as teaching is my passion. I am grateful that I can work from home and, at the same time, stay connected with my profession," says Lakshmi Venkatesh, a senior Math & Science Lido Tutor, Grade 6, who has retired from active teaching in schools.

Presently, Lido has several teachers with 20+ years of experience on board and has seen a great response from students and parents, who appreciate the expertise, maturity and the teaching style of these teachers. The EdTech plans ramp up hiring teachers with this profile in a big way.

In the current social distancing scenario, when many senior citizens feel cut out and lost, gainful employment from home in the form of online classes will keep them mentally occupied and help them earn money to supplement their retirement funds. Lido is a very flexible and convenient option as they can set their own hours and work from the comfort of their own homes.  Lido is also offering 5-day training on online teaching to all senior citizens who have the potential to become passionate teachers.

Krishnan Vishwanathan, Math & Science Lido Tutor possesses a Masters in Computer Science and has been associated with the corporate world for 30+ years. Since the past 3 years, he has been teaching middle school kids, who have benefited immensely from his rich experience. "I Joined LIDO to explore my passion of teaching kids from the comfort of my house," explains Krishnan.

He adds that LIDO does a lot of research to simplify complex topics and present them in a child-friendly manner, making it possible for teachers to conduct engaging lessons that are fun and easy to understand. "Training helped a lot in removing the initial concerns that I had. The training, along with the friendly student-teacher role-playing helped me refine my online teaching skills. Also, the frequent interactions and the feedback provided by LIDO helps in constantly improving our teaching methodology." Already an expert, Krishnan looks forward to spending his time mentoring students on Lido as a retired professional.

The founder and CEO, Sahil Sheth believes that retirees with 20+ years of experience will add a lot of diversity to Lido’s teaching base. “Having interacted with thousands of students, including their kids and grandkids, senior teachers are full of wisdom and patience – traits that will lead to better learning outcomes for the children in Lido’s online tutoring groups,” says Sheth. He further adds that "anybody who has ever made a Skype call, which includes almost every senior citizen during the present lockdown, can teach online comfortably after a short 5-day training from the comfort of their home. Our senior teachers can also choose their slots and take up to 50 one-hour classes in a month to earn a handsome sum from the comfort of their homes.”

Lido Learning aims to hire over 500 senior citizens as teachers in the next few months. The selected teachers would undergo a free 5-day training to deepen their knowledge and have them ready to teach online.

About Lido:

Lido Learning (Quality Tutorials Pvt. Ltd.) was launched in April 2019 by Sahil Sheth. It offers live tutoring and personalised online coaching sessions to students from Classes 5-9 in Maths and Sciences from both CBSE and ICSE boards. The platform characterises itself as an online immersive live tutoring platform for students, including interactive sessions, engaging quizzes, and interesting games. The app can be found on Google Play Store.

Every session has a maximum of 6 students to ensure each student receives enough coaching, feedback, and doubt clearing. Students are grouped according to similar achievement levels in the classroom to ensure that the in-class experience can be personalised as per pace and content. With advanced analytics and tracking, Lido can create unique learning journeys for every student. Based on their class performance, students are given customised homework, remedial help, and challenges to push their limits.

Top 5 Indian companies revisiting employee-wellness strategies amid Covid-19 outbreak

Amidst the global pandemic, most companies have been adapting to a lockdown hit India by finding all workable solutions to ensure most of their workforce remains active. This stands true especially for the corporate and IT industry which does not necessitate fieldwork and connectivity becomes the lifeline for such organizations. However, in space-crunch affected Indian homes and residential spaces, not every employee has the luxury to have a room or home office along with the associated challenges of working when the whole family is together.  In line with the current situation, Indian companies are rethinking their employee-wellness strategies and customising programs to accommodate the tectonic change in people’s habits after a prolonged phase of working from home due to the COVID-19 lockdown and are conducting various activities for the employees to adopt simple health measures during this prolonged shutdown to be physically and mentally upbeat. 

Here is the list of five top Indian companies revisiting the wellness strategies in the times of coronavirus: 

1) The auto major Mahindra has launched a series of activities for the wellbeing of our employees which involves interactive sessions with nutritionists as well as an exercise regime. They are also running a webinar on emotional hygiene as employees work from home. Mahindra is also tying up with external agencies for tips on indoor exercises as they feel despite it being just a few days into the lockdown, it can start taking a toll on employees, sooner than later.

2) Brookfield Properties has launched Positive Pulse, A Wellness Initiative to promote employee health and safety while they work from home during the lockdown. Under this month-long campaign, Brookfield Properties will be hosting a series of engagement activities, across its Commercial Real Estate portfolios, Candor TechSpace in Gurgaon, Noida and Kolkata; as well as for Powai Business District and Equinox Business Park in Mumbai.  It will be hosting two special webinars - one on Health and another on financial health along with cooking sessions. As well as a virtual skill-based CSR volunteering and rap/jingle contest, thus giving them a reason to stay healthy and entertained, and adding value and balance to the work-life of professionals even when they are away from their workplace.  

3) Johnson & Johnson has rolled out a 'telemedicine program' globally to help the employees and their families with questions about their physical and mental health. They are also encouraged to seek confidential support from counsellors via phone using the J&J employee assistance program (EAP). Maintaining a focus on their physical wellbeing is also important and Johnson & Johnson has digital mindfulness tools, virtual fitness sessions, home workout apps, access to health experts and regular knowledge-sharing to ensure their workforce stay motivated, healthy and mindful. 

4) Flipkart is encouraging employees across the organization to take a ‘Digital Chai Break’ and guiding them in scheduling their workday. It is also encouraging parents with older children to get them involved in scheduling their priorities for the day and keep them engaged in this regard and believe that this approach will help them balance priorities while working from home.

During video meetings, they also encourage the working parents to bring their young kids to greet colleagues, who are more than happy to see them. This is building a strong sense of togetherness. 

5) Vedanta is putting employee well-being ahead of productivity issues and offers psychological counselling helplines to people facing anxiety and stress-related problems along with online meditation and fitness sessions to a series of engagement activities during work for home to keep their employees motivated and engaged.

Math genius Raziuddeen Siddiqui transforming lives of underprivileged children’s through Likee

In the course of its journey so far, pioneering short video platform Likee has emerged as much more than an entertainment provider. Launched in 2017 by Singapore-based Bigo Technology PTE Ltd, Likee has touched and transformed several lives. Its pool of influencers and content creators are the protagonists of this success story. One such tale is that of 26-year-old Raziuddeen Siddiqui, a mathematics genius who uses the platform to impart education to those who cannot afford to join conventional coaching classes or tuitions.

It was in 2014 when Raziuddeen, fondly called Siddiqui Sir by his students, packed his bags from hometown Pratapgarh in Uttar Pradesh to embark on an ambitious journey to Mumbai. He began teaching at a coaching institute in Nala Sopara, a town in Palghar district near the Maharashtra capital. Though the stint helped Raziuddeen earn his livelihood, his tryst for inner peace and satisfaction was yet to be fulfilled. And that’s when he started teaching underprivileged kids free of cost.

As fate would have it, the teacher with a kind heart got acquainted with a student named Ritesh Jaiswal, who introduced him to the world of Likee. Initially apprehensive of venturing online, owing to the technical nuances involved, Raziuddeen thought over the suggestion and posted 2-3 videos to explore the medium. “Ritesh shot 2-3 videos and posted them on Likee. The response was average for the first few days, but within a week, the videos went viral and garnered more than 50,000 likes. I was overwhelmed by the response and decided to pursue it further,” recalls Raziuddeen.

As his fan base on Likee expanded gradually, Raziuddeen later started using the live streaming feature of the platform. At a fixed time, knowledge seekers would join his live sessions. As part of it, he would discuss and solve queries posted by hundreds of students.

“The response to my videos and live sessions was excellent. With Likee, I could create more content is less time, say 7-8 videos can be shot within 30 minutes. Around 500-600 students joined my live sessions, which were suspended temporarily owing to my health complications. But I plan to resume it soon and will organise it in a more synchronised manner,” says the Math genius.

According to Raziuddeen, creators on Likee must use the platform for more than providing just entertainment. He believes that dancers, singers, teachers and other creators must use the platform to educate and train others. “Thanks a lot to Likee makers that they created such great platform,” he says.

Raziuddeen failed to pursue his PhD due to financial constraints, but he made sure that he would do his bit to help others in need. Once an UPSC aspirant, he still intends to pursue PhD and even appear for the civil services examination. But no matter where the road leads, he is determined to continue using Likee for educating others. He currently has more than 223K fans and over 1.11 million likes on the platform.

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. 

Smile Foundation supports bright scholar girls equipping them with real skills, shape their grand visions through Learning Fest

As part of its effort to equip the girl child to face the challenges and complexities of modern times, Smile Foundation, under its Swabhiman programme has organised a day long learning workshop at Mumbai University for 40 scholar girls from marginalized background to help them explore themselves holistically and shape their own life. 

To make these girls self-aware, confident and make relevant choices in life; interactive and self-exploration workshops were conducted to empower them with various life skills. The workshop also laid emphasis on financial literacy and adolescent reproductive and sexual health awareness among girls. They were helped by experts from various fields to develop their personality, interpersonal relationships and studies. Girls were also educated about various career avenues and job opportunities available for them.

Speaking on this occasion, Mr. Santanu Mishra, Co-founder & Executive Trustee, Smile Foundation said “In India, the girl child is usually deprived of basic rights and education which is evident from the high drop-out rates. This workshop is a platform through which Smile foundation wants to continue the conversation, helping girl children realize their real potential and defeat the societal norms. Through this initiative we aim to empower and inspire the younger girls to develop a road map for the future and make them self-aware, confident, take full charge of their own development and become role models for their peers.”

Smile Foundation’s Swabhiman scholarship programme helps academically bright girls, studying in schools and colleges continue their education several . It aims at imparting practical skills and information to these young scholars, enabling them to explore their potentials and establish a positive self-image and develop better career perspective. The team also engages with the parents/ guardians of the girl children to support an attitudinal shift in their mind-set. Such efforts also help is bringing down the high drop-out rates among girls which is quite high during school to higher education lift.

Such a programme is expected to bring about change in the overall personality of the girls in terms of confidence-building; strengthened ability to manage studies efficiently; effective communication skills and independence to take personal and professional decisions in life. These forty girls are force multipliers who will create impact in the society, inspiring many more in their respective communities.

About Smile Foundation:

Smile Foundation is a national level development organisation reaching out to more than 600,000 underprivileged children, youth and women directly every year through more than 250 welfare projects on subjects such as education, healthcare, youth employability, and women empowerment across 25 states of India. Adopting a life cycle approach of development, Smile Foundation focuses its interventions on children, their families and the community.

Website – www.smilefoundationindia.org

Maharashtra to adopt ‘Chhota Internet’ for delivery of quality education digitally to rural schools without the need of Internet

Due to the unavailability, unaffordability or lack of good user experience of access to internet, both, in rural and urban areas, many students in the government schools are unable to access quality educational content through the internet. Identifying the need to provide regular internet connectivity without hindrance, the state of Maharashtra has planned to adopt Chhota Internet as a technological solution to provide quality education and a better future to the students of upper primary schools.

The installation of this Content Access Management Device (CAMD) will help the children get access to buffer-free focused educational content. It will open doorways to information, knowledge and allow access to increased learning opportunities beyond the classroom.

The success of quality education can be measured by monitoring the performance of the children by the learning management built in the system. Digital literacy is the ability to use online applications, find information through pre-loaded content in an offline mode, assess its quality and value, and make use of it in daily life. Hence, when these students enter the world of work, they would be able to make use of computers and would be digitally literate.

At this historic development, Mr. Sandeep Arya, Chairman & CEO, Chhota Internet said that, “In today’s world, the influence of technology on learning is immense. With the announcement and progress of the Digital India Movement, the seeds of building a tech-savvy rural India have been planted successfully. We want to align with this movement through our Chhota Internet platform, and consequently support the SDG-4 of the Sustainable Development Goal, which focuses on ensuring quality education for sustainable development. This will help us in straddling the headwind of this digital wave to transform the education delivery model in India, where there are over six lakh state-run schools.” Adding further Mr. Arya said “We are welcoming partnerships from corporates, Individuals through the avenue of CSR to help spread this technology in six lakh Indian villages where digital classrooms can help bring wonders in education and skill development outcomes”.

He also mentioned that one of the most important facets of such innovative technology is its ability to allow educationists to deliver educational material digitally over a Wi-Fi network without the need of the internet and in a controlled and responsible manner. The learning progress of the individual student can be monitored, by streaming content that aids classroom learning. As part of the program, the students of the government schools will be provided quality education video and eBook content and reduce the gap between the quality of lectures available to an urban child and the rural child, which would be a very beneficial step for development of rural India.

It would be impossible to take India to the next level without addressing the challenges of education. The quality of education continues to be a matter of concern looking at the dropping attendance rates, lack of trained teachers in the system, non-availability of equipment, and the prevailing issues that inhibit the easy operation of child-centred schools. There is a need to improve the school and classroom environment in order to contribute to the education model in India because these children are the future of our nation and they should be provided necessary means to realise their potential. Thanks to the initiatives by the PM through digital India, rural India is now ready for innovative teaching methods through digital classrooms. All they need is consistent implementation on a large-scale to ensure quality education.

The vision of Chhota Internet is to bridge the gap between learning and growth and erase the educational divide. Chhota Internet will achieve this by bringing students in rural India abreast with the rest of the world, in terms of providing access to a more advanced system of education that is loaded with the latest technological aids, thus, paving the way for future growth via innovative technology.

S P JAIN GLOBAL INTRODUCES ENGAGED LEARNING ONLINE – FIRST OF ITS KIND IN ASIA

SP Jain School of Global Management (SP Jain Global) today announced the launch of its comprehensive technology initiative ELO to bring on-campus learning experience, online. This is yet another career-defining learning program from the school, designed to empower professionals who juggle their time between work and social commitments.

The Engaged Learning Online (ELO in short), uses a blend of emerging cutting-edge technologies to bring in the rigour of an in-class engagement online and in real time. Students could log in from any part of the world and get all the benefits of an on-campus education. They can interact with faculties, share ideas with their peers, collaborate on assignments, break out into teams to discuss and debate. All this happens in real time and without any loss of engagement. The EOL studios are meticulously designed to deliver an engaging experience remotely for participants irrespective of the location they are in - while at work, or at home.

ELO has been designed to blend seamlessly into the busy lives of students, especially part-time MBA students, who along with their studies also manage several professional commitments. Currently, only a handful of top schools in the world offer such immersive online experiences to their students, and S P Jain Global is amongst the very first in Asia to do so.

“S P Jain is a futuristic business school that is focused on crafting relevant, practical graduates for the jobs of tomorrow,” says Nitish Jain, President of the School. “A decade ago, the name of the game was global. As businesses around the world started going global, so did we. We were the pioneers of the world’s first multi-city business programs.

Today, technology is disrupting practically everything, including how we learn, where we learn and who teaches. We are amongst a handful of schools to have embraced technology to craft unique learning experiences to our students. ELO is just the start of many technology initiatives we have endeavoured for the future leaders”, he added.

The first program to be launched through this unique technology is the School’s part-time Executive MBA. “Most of my students are working professionals. One of the biggest challenges they face is managing their time between work, family and study. So, they have to make trade-offs,” shares Dr. Gary Stockport, Dean of S P Jain’s Executive MBA program.

“To better help manage these trade-offs, I’m very excited about letting you know about our latest ground-breaking Online EMBA offering. This is our new fully Online EMBA which is taught in real-time. With ELO, we are still able to bring students the on-campus experience of our world-class EMBA to your doorstep. There is no need for them to come to campus – they are able to connect and learn with their batch mates no matter where they are – at home, work or even at another location whilst you are travelling.” 

Classes for the part-time Online Executive MBA are expected to commence in December 2018 and admissions are currently open.

SP Jain Global leaves no stones unturned to empower their students to be world ready to take on their career mantle. With studies pointing that the globe could move towards a textless technology by 2020 and be a voice technology, it is but natural to enable SP Jain Global ’s students to be adaptive to new age trends and give them a global and technological exposure in their understanding of the subject, work and global culture.

About SP Jain School of Global Management Global – (SP Jain Global)

SP Jain Global is an Australian technology-led business school with campuses in Dubai, Singapore, Sydney and Mumbai. The School offers a plethora of undergraduate, postgraduate, professional and doctoral programs with a motive towards crafting leaders for the 21st-century workplace. Their full-time Global MBA program has received significant recognition in global rankings.

- Forbes: Top 20 Best International 1 Year MBAs (2017 - 19)

- The Economist: Top 100 Full-time MBAs Worldwide (2015)

- Forbes: Top 20 Best International Business Schools (2013 - 14)

- Financial Times: Top 100 Global MBA Programs (2011 and 2012)

SP Jain School of Global Management is registered as a Higher Education Provider in Australia. Upon graduation, students receive a degree conferred by SP Jain School of Global Management, Australia. SP Jain’s world-class business courses are accredited by the Department of Education/Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA), Australia, and licensed by the Council of Private Education, Singapore and the Knowledge and Human Development Authority, Dubai.