By Abhishek Kumar, Regional Director, Onvu Tech South Asia

 

 

India is rising brilliantly in the international scenario. The second-most populous nation is not only the fastest-growing multi-trillion economy, it isalso emerging as the epicenter of nearly all IT innovations that have been surfacing of late (including UPI-based digital payments). India is also believed to be a country that is soon going to contribute a lion’s share in the ‘next billion’ people who’d join the digital bandwagon. But are we ready for the challenge that this opportunity brings with it?

 

For a country like India, which has unprecedented opportunities to tap in the ripe global digital market, there is a need to build capacity around the same – especially the workforce, both current and prospective. The nation has undertaken some of the most progressive enterprises including Digital India, Make in India, Startup India, Smart Cities Mission, and even global green initiatives such as International Solar Alliance. However, it still faces a challenge in terms of training its youth and directing them towards these ripe areas of growth.

 

The Grand Indian Education Challenge: The Bottlenecks in Indian Education System

In a country as big and diverse as India, it is considerably hard to supervise the wide-ranging dynamics of education. Uneven distribution of economic resources naturally creates a disparity, with the metropolitan cities enjoying an advanced class of pedagogical training and support services, whereas, the non-metropolitan regions considerably lagging in terms of them.

 

This is the prime reason behind the dismal employability of professionals hailing from non-metro regions. According to the new Annual Employability Survey 2019, 80% of Indian engineers are not employable within the growing knowledge economy. Also, only 2.5% of them have the tech skills in Artificial Intelligence required by the industry. So, as it is apparent, the mere establishment of educational institutes is not sufficient. We have to also enhance our training methodologies in order to bring about the desired results. The more goal-oriented our academic training is, the more aptly we will be able to nurture our human capital.

 

This is an area where technology can bring about a considerable difference. Today, the rise of various technologies,such as Video Analytics and Artificial Intelligence,is unlocking unique efficiencies throughout the market. Thankfully, these technological innovations also have the potential to add considerable value to our education system.

But how?

Leveraging advanced smart video technologies, several industry pioneers have already developed sophisticated solutions for the education sector. These solutions leverage 360-degree video to effectively monitor a classroom and non-intrusively empower our educators with advanced analytics. This systematic, data-driven approach has tangible impact on the overall pedagogical training approach of an educator and hence, positively impacts the overall classroom performance.

 

As an added benefit, it also becomes a go-to solution for every educator who seeks career growth and development. This empowers them to go beyond the conventional approach of ‘handwritten notes’ and ‘staff room discussions’ on how different classes must be managed or what unconventional approaches must a teacher adopt to teach critical or mind-boggling topics.Such solutions provide all relevant resources and training material aimed at both the teacher as well as the students. Mass deployment of such solutions can considerably increase the effectiveness of our teachers and hence, lay a strong academic foundation within Indian youth which is soon going to join the active workforce of our country.

 

India is at a crucial juncture wherein the global spotlight is gradually shifting towards the country.This is the time to expand capacities beyond compare. Perhaps, the education sector – considering its importance in the broader country wellbeing and growth – is going to be a good place to start.