 In 2020, the Indian government introduced a national education policy with a forward-looking vision to leverage technology into education. And to have a discussion on this topic, I would request my colleagues Jyoti Kiran and Gagantip Chauhan to please come on stage. The Indian government introduced a national education policy with a forward-looking vision to leverage technology into education. Now I request my panelists to please come on stage. First, we have Hridesh Madan, co-founder with Bullseye. Welcome, sir. Ambal Bajera, CEO and founder of TCY Online. Our associate director, Palakshya University. So, patient, over to you, Jyoti Kiran and Gagantip. Thank you. Thank you, sir. To start with the session, because it's about national education policy and NEP and the digital transformation. First of all, I would like to start with you, Mr. Madan. And why do I want to start? I will tell you. Because you are a formal education and online education. You are working in both the modes. You are working as an organization. We are talking about the perspective of national education policy for a long time. And you are tackling both things. You tackle the children who come to school and the children who come to you online to take training to clear exams. What are the developments that you see in the new framework in 2020? The way the government and we as a country, first of all I would like to talk about the digital transformation. That India as a country, the good thing is that when we started to outsource IT and made a way of export, and made a way of income for the government, for the country of India. We started using that technology ourselves. We started adoption. When it comes to digital adoption in the world, we are one of the pioneers. Today we are digitally transformed in complete payments or banking. So this is a very good step when we are talking about digital transformation with NEP. Because this is the future. This is the point that can give us the next leap to this country. There are a lot of challenges right now. But I think in the next 10 years, the way NEP is talking about, whether it is about hybrid learning, online resources, teacher training, assessments, we are talking about education 4.0. And I think it is not far away that in the next 10 years, we are a demographic dividend, if we implement NEP with education, we can reap a very good dividend. Absolutely. Jyoti. Yes, Vadeera ji, since you deal with elementary school education, so you have a chain of schools by the name of Mind Tree. I just want to know what is so different in your schools and why anybody should bring the kid to your school and how they are different from other schools. You have a chain of schools by the name of Mind Tree. I just want to understand what is different in Mind Tree schools when you compare it with others. Okay, two-three things. One is when we started our first school in 2005, so we came from the competitive background. So we were more alert and we were more open to change and accept new things. Trust me, I'll give one example. When we got our IIT Mandi school, we have one school with co-branded with IIT Mandi, and their director, Professor Gonzales, asked me only one question. He said, you know, these students we have in the villages around Mandi, because that is in command, which is 40 minutes from Mandi, he said, how you're going to ensure? He said, sir, you give me a kid. You come to our school and look at our drivers' kids. If we don't tell you that they are drivers' kids, you won't be able to make out. Because we feel that the background of education, the family background, it has a lot to do with it. So we tried there not to be dependent on the homework. We focused on language skills. So overall, I think if I understand the whole process in school, one thing that you touched on, and I would like to add a little further, that we believe in a little process-centric teaching. And here some people agree, some disagree. And when I was here, the question was why aren't teachers being made in society? Now, changing it is a very long process. You need a youth, you need a generation who can change the thought process. But how can we get the best teaching capability from an average plus teacher? I think when we focus on that, we are far ahead of the school. Mr. Vadheera, because you are dealing with online things and TCY online, which has millions of subscribers and all other things. But when we talk about techniques, AI culture has begun, what are the techniques that you think we will incorporate in the future? So if I have to give this answer in two words, my answer would be data analytics. Before I explain, before I get into how analytics can help our children, school children or college students. So there are two things in this. I always lay more importance than performance on whether the child is getting into the right field or not. And analytics can play a very key role in that. In the previous session, it was a very intriguing session for me, so there was a lot of discussion about sports. Let me take a small example. Although not small, the answer is going to be the longish. As sports, in this hall, in this room, I think many people are wearing smart watches. Some of us are also wearing smart watches. So this phenomenon has started since last year. So now most of us know how many calories we are burning every day, how many steps we take, the distance we cover, what our sleep pattern is, what kind of surface, pulse rate and everything. So you will not imagine it has improved the lives of billions of people on this earth. These analytics. I will go one step further. Youngsters may know, nowadays, many athletes wear fitness pants. And there are some other companies also. So in addition to the points I just mentioned, it even tells you how much your muscular load is. What are your strain levels throughout the day? And your recovery is complete? No. Just imagine. Let me go one more step further. If we have seen footballers and cricketers playing in the ground, you might have noticed there is a small bulge coming out here from the t-shirts. So there is a small device that is called player tracking device. So all it does is when the player is playing, the most important thing is, let me talk about these two games, more than what the fastest speed of the player is, what is its acceleration? Because from where he is standing to where he gets when the ball is there, he can do it so quickly. Then his hydration level, his fatigue level. So this whole real time, his coaches and management are watching. Now just imagine these three or four things that I have just explained. From this, how many players or sportsmen's performance is getting enhanced. And if you notice, they are not consciously putting any data, feeding any information, it is just a variable that they have in the body. And the data points, the trail of data that is captured, so the insights or the information that it produces, it becomes so valuable for an athlete that the level can change. In addition to this, there are some games which have equipment. Let's say cricketer. A small IOT sticker can be put on a bat. All the time, through Bluetooth, it is connected to a mobile phone. And his coaches are watching it real time, the performance, and the player can watch later on. Like, from which force is the stroke going? As a whole, if we talk, everything is calculated. So, in student life, the exact, today we are on the fourth, season four, it is possible that in season eight, when we are sitting, we are talking about students, how students' lives have changed. That was my intention of bringing the example or the parallel of sports. I want to add one point to this. You run around 1500 centres across the country and around 200 abroad. So, you have a huge data of the students. So, what are the measures which you take for the privacy of the data of the students? Of course, you know, that is one of the problems. The huge issue of the privacy of the data. Of course, that is the understanding between us and our partners. You are very right. So, through these 1500 centres, we are catering to a little over 2.5 lakh students. So, that is the very essence of the nature of our business, the data privacy. So, there are multiple levels of, you know, privacy, the levels of security that happens, you know. So, earlier, you know, people used to have their own servers also, but things have changed. Now, everything has gone on cloud and the security levels are at multiple levels. So, that is becoming less and less. Of course, there is always a risk. There is always a sword hanging. But I think more and more, you know, cyber security, the organisations like us, so cyber security is one of the key things because... Right. You know. Parvanji, coming to you, Palakshya University, because after all these two steps for school, then online classes, then CAD, CLAD, everything is clear, then the student will come to you, obviously. And when we are talking about national education policy and the digital transformation, how you see that as an associate director of a university and in private sector, are you incorporating all these things in that or are you trying to do that as a university and how? Yeah. So, I think technology is really becoming a very, very important and essential part of everything. So, now when we are talking about education of today, it is essentially digital education, right? It is impacting the way we are teaching. It is impacting the curriculum, what we are teaching. And of course, it is impacting the methods which we are deploying to teach. So, technology definitely improves education in various aspects. It makes it accessible like Sir was mentioning that he is catering to 2.5 lakh students. Now, to cater to this scale, it was not imaginable maybe 15 years back, but now technology has allowed to do that. So, I think it is really being important for any university, any institution to make technology as the biggest enabler. So, Plaksha definitely is one of the pioneers in tech education to, as our slogan says, re-imagine tech education. So, we are changing the way we have been teaching digital education, technology education and making it an essential part of everything we do at Plaksha. So, it is the way students learn in the classrooms, whether they have access to curriculum 24 by 7, whether they have the curriculum which was not available earlier. So, everything is getting really easy for you to incorporate that because the new education policy says that if a student starts in a four year course after a plus two, it starts. So, first year, if you have a drop-off, then you give the certificate. Second year, then you give the diploma. Third year, then you give the degree. Fourth year, complete, then you give the research work. Is it really so easy to go that way? Are students, students' parents accepting that in 4 years, and a researcher's degree in 4 years, is it possible? And how many challenges are coming to you? No, it is easy but it is important. So, the purpose of national education policy is to do what is important for the country. So, our education system is very rigid. If we take an admission in a degree, then we have to study courses of the same type for 4 years. Even if something is wrong, but national education policy allows you to study what you want and what interests you. And many times, we take admission after first year, we realize that maybe this education is not right for me. I did not have to do mechanical, but I took my rank in society pressure. So, in this framework, it is not an option that you can change it after a year. But maybe when our education is completely implemented, then we have the option that after a year of mechanical, maybe I want to move into data science or maybe I want to learn philosophy or psychology along with mechanical. So, I think that is the broad purpose that we make the education more relevant for the student and the society when they are studying. It is already there in many western developed countries, but now we are trying to adopt that there will be challenges but definitely it is a very very good step and will add lot of value to the skills and the happiness of the students and parents. Mr. Indesh, again moving back to the national education policy. I just want to know what are the vital issues which are important for the successful implementation of this digital into national education policy. When we talk about digital, the first step is enabling factors. Okay. As I gave an example we have fully digitized in banking and payment sector. So, there are two things behind it. Backbone, one is your smart internet and the other is your smart phone. And on top of that, the operators, that was PTM, Google Pay, the third party API, the whole ecosystem was developed where the combat role was played, when it was introduced. So, it was a collective effort. When we talk about education, now there are grass food level challenges. In fact, I was a person who was Jammu and I have a friend who was heading the hotel. So, I was asking him this question that we are at 5G but I think we are moving between 2.5G and 3.5G. So, we are lucky if you get 5G. Internet connectivity is one of the things that we are talking about in reality. I am talking about education 4.0 and the person who said that education will be generated in actual time when you connect with the internet in real time. Because it is really impossible to control the offline data. For that, the first thing is connectivity. Why do we have to go far? In our current school, we know that there is only 20 kms away from Mughal and not even 15 kms away. So, these connectivity issues and we feel that the way we are talking about 6G and things are coming, I think this is the first thing in 2-3 years. Because it is a base. The second thing is a good thing is a transformation that I think will happen through smart TV. It will happen through smart TV. Today, a 32 inch smart TV costs Rs. 7000-8000 if you take unbranded. That child, who we used to talk about digitally, in our mind, he was 5% or 5% school who had a laptop at home, who had internet connection. Today, the mid of the pyramid can be accessed through smart TV. So, the second thing is how we have digital infrastructure in schools. Because, until we have digital infrastructure, what will we implement? So, the second thing is the availability of digital infrastructure after the internet improvement. The good thing is that the cost is very low. We are operating at the cost of enabling digital infrastructure. The third thing is where companies, learning resources, I think something has been done but still a lot is left. We are living in that era of education. I remember when I was in college, the computerised branch was written in the bank. So, the passbook was placed under the dot matrix printer. So, our definition was that of computerisation. So, we are working in silos in education. Mr. Madan, do you think that the era where we came from the drastic change, is it too early or too late? I think that if we talk about Covid, then everything was negative. But the good thing is that Covid has caused the education of schools, school teachers and the education of the children which will go a long way to the digital transformation of our country. Our teacher who was in his 50s, 60s who never even had thought of using technology. They started taking online classes and all this learning happened in 2 or 3 months. The education is very important. So, the digital transformation is the word we use. It is digital transformation of attitudes. So, digital literacy was improved. Yes. That is a big factor which will pay off in the coming time. Mr. Madan, do you have a student who is at the level and wants to get a job? Then it will come to a conclusion and they will be admitted in a good institute. One background that is left is this generation who is a copy and paste written generation a generation from books and the next generation is coming to you do you think that you can reach that level you accept that challenge. No, it doesn't come now because this gap doesn't exist, it hardly exists. Because now what is it? I am just an example of what Hrideshi said. We just have to see which academic resources consume or its exposure. One is let's say tutorial, it could be smart TV, smart class, whatever. You know, in which topic there is so much engagement, easily you can capture, whether it is a closed circuit or a television, its facial expressions, its ear movements, this is one. Second is, when a simulated kid does experiments in a lab, you get to know what his engagement is. Third, the most accurate thing is when he does assessments, digital assessments objective. From that, you get to know his skill and sub-skill level, the preceding grades as well. After that, like gamified education consumes a lot of kids. Now, the main issue is, as he rightly said, the analytics of all these reside in different silos. In NEP, if you read an initiative by the government that any kid in their framework, in the framework of school, all the data consumed, their AI will have a centralized repository of each student, so that in the future, if they get anything out of it, let's say in higher education, a course, at a company, Udemy, Coursera, if they want to do something, they can export the data so that they know what happened in his academic journey in the last 7-8 years. So that is really a gargantuan task, I would say, but it is still in silos. So what you are saying is, how much difference, how much gulf, I think this is thinning by the day. In fact, sometimes we struggle to catch up with them, but I think they have grown on technology over the last few years, so I don't see that issue. We struggle with the teachers that are there in the classroom. That's what my question was, right now, we were talking about Generation X, Y, Z. Right now, it is Ultra Max Pro Generation, so when you have to deal with Ultra Max Pro Generation and teachers have Generation X or Y or Z+, it can happen, but you have to deal with Ultra Max Pro. It is the simple parallel, the simple parallel would be, today, look at the level of X-rays, CT scan, MRH. Now you are talking about who interprets doctors and how much they use them. So the doctors that are catching up with that, so they are in tune with the latest, what is happening in the medical world, and the ones who are behind it. Moving on to Mr. Pavan Kumar ji, after this new education policy, the many abroad universities have also, I mean they have their campuses in the country, so you have more of the competition. I just want to know what are the courses which are at par with the industrial relevance, which are there in your university, which can cater to the industrial relevance? I think foreign universities opening campuses in India is a very, very welcome step. It's the kind of standard which is being set for our education to go to that level. So it was a long pending development to happen in the country and it is happening now. I don't think it's going to be a competition, it's really going to be an opportunity for Indian education system also to move towards the best in the world. Now in terms of curriculum and in terms of courses, I think technology and digital skills are really becoming the most important part of things which would be needed for future leaders. I sometimes summarize the kind of things in bucket, so you'll say it's logic, language and laptop. So if you know logic means can you handle data? Language is your ability to talk and behave in a certain group and a team and laptop. Are you comfortable working on technology in certain application? So if a student would have these three things, I'm sure he would be competent and capable to work in any profession. So Plaksha also has courses which are really very, very deep in technology. They are sort of the state of the art courses which deploy data science, IOT, all advanced technologies we can think of. They are sort of bringing interdisciplinary, bringing together in one go. So this is going to become a template for most tech education institutions in the country to follow and I think that's how the future education, higher education would flow. Yes, you are also good. While you are at 7, then you are good. Sir, unfortunately in India, the numbers we have, you see, our challenge when we talk about the broad, then a holistic personality is seen there in any admission. So we call it subjective criteria for any selection process. In India, we only work on objectivity. There is a number, an IOT number, you have 50,000 or 25,000. If you have 25,000, then you are good. Now, I don't see any immediate solution to this. There are two reasons for that. If we talk about holistic development, then there is some corruption, say it is inbuilt, there will be some fake certificate. Look, challenges are real, real. Second, if it comes, then when we talk about evaluation, then there is subjectivity. Because subjectivity, someone read you like this, someone liked it, someone felt bad. The pressure in India is the number, it will not let this thing kill. But one good thing has happened that you talked about grades, the government said after NEP, one nation, one test. And when this CUT was introduced, in fact, I am meeting many principals around CUT. So even now people feel that this is just a paper of humanity and commerce. But this is not just a paper of humanity and commerce, engineering colleges have come in it. And very soon, because there is time for education and adoption in the state, but this is a very good move. There are some problems and solutions as well. You see, after the introduction of CUT, who was the biggest gainer in the Delhi University? Bihar University. Bihar University's child, usually those of you who have studied from the Hindi medium, you will not find him in Stan Stephen or LSR, who is going today. But there are NEP's challenges as well, sir. I was reading news that some children of Tamil Nadu got admission in Delhi's top college and they all failed because they had come from Tamil medium and later they could not even adopt in English medium. So these are challenges. Yeah, language barrier is one of the major challenges. So NEP is very big, but I think if you, the paper of CUT does not talk about numbers. It only talks about skills and is trying that if you are earning a number, but if you have a basic understanding of the concept, then you clear the competitive exam and our experience is that it is not necessary that you clear the competitive exam at the top itself. One child who has a good conceptual understanding, he can clear it. So that was a welcome move. Thank you very much, Mr. Deshmundar. Thank you very much. Over to you, sir. Thank you so much, sir, for your valuable insight on this topic. Please stay on the stage. So I request my colleagues, Shruti Kuran and Vagandheep Chauhan to please stay on the stage. We have Rudesh Vadan, co-founder Hidh Bholzai, Mr. Kamal Vadeira, CEO, founder T-C-Y Online, Mr. Pawan Kumar, Associate Director of Falakshar University.