Panipat Institute of Engineering and Technology (PIET), one of Northern India's premier educational institutions of technical and managerial excellence organised First of its kind education summit - EduLeaders 4.0.
The summit explored what our rapidly changing world means for the future of our education institutions, teachers and learners on 4th November 2019 at PIET's hallowed campus, Samalkha.
In these days and times of transformation where change is the new normal and given the advent of Industry 4.0 the Eco-System need to be aligned in a manner that the Education that one garners is futuristic in approach and one that can assist the learner seamlessly fit into the Industry requirements.
Edu Leaders 4.0 Summit was an unprecedented success as the event saw the participation of nearly 300 delegates from not only Panipat and its adjoining areas but also from Delhi-NCR and areas like Sirmaur (Himachal Pradesh), Chandigarh, Kanpur, Jaipur, Kolkata, Chennai. The predominant representation was of Heads of School and Academic Institutions, Educators and Technocrats.
"In today's time the world is moving towards industry 4.0 but we are still stuck with education 2.0 as far as our schools and technical institutions are concerned, wherein every focus is on memorising and standardised question-answer system which is a factory oriented approach on the other hand if we really want to bridge the gap and move from education 2.0 to 3.0 and then subsequently to 4.0, we have to get out of the contemporary learning which focuses more on IQ, the focus should shift to emotional quotient (EQ). Education should move from factory oriented approach towards the agrarian approach. Education 4.0 is more about sustainable learning," said Rakesh Tayal, Vice Chairman, Panipat Institute of Engineering and Technology.
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"The course curriculum has to change. The curriculum has to be the web curriculum. One has to design it as per the individual needs, capabilities and interest. There should not be anything called standardised evaluation system and mechanism. There should be whole full transformation change in an education system which we are doing at this point in time. Education 4.0 is not only a technical system, but it's also about your heart, mind and soul. How you will learn to regulate it," he added.
"The thought behind a Summit of this nature was to get the Intelligentsia, Heads of Academic Institutions- across the School, Colleges, University fraternity, Corporate and Technocrats be a part of the same platform and gain insight about the changing paradigm of Education as well as Industry," he further added.
The Summit started with an Orientation to the World of Industry 4.0 and the challenges for educators and industry as a whole. The session was conducted by the well-known academician and researcher Dr Shakti Kumar, Director, PIET.
Post the orientation session, the Summit progressed to the 'Marquee' segment 'Inter-Disciplinary Concept and Application Based Pedagogy": The Way Forward.
The Marquee segment comprised the Who's Who from the field of Higher Education, School Education and Global Innovation Initiatives. The panel discussion was headlined by none other than one of the doyens of India's education system at present Dr Anil Sahasrabudhe, The AICTE Chairman.
The other key panellists were Dr Biswajit Saha, the Director-Skills and Training, CBSE, Dr Ashok Pandey, Director Ahlcon Group of Institutions and Former Chairman NPSC, Rajive Gulati, Sr Program Officer United Nations Technology Innovation Laboratory and the brain behind the Summit Rakesh Tayal.
As Dr Sahasrabudhe succinctly mentioned that the Future of Higher Education System is set to undergo a sea change and the day may not be too far when a Program like B.Tech (Honors) shall be the way forward thereby allowing the students an opportunity to go for Multi-Disciplinary Learning. Dr Biswajit Saha stressed upon the fact that the current academic process at the School Level which focuses a bit too much on 'ROTE' learning and a mark based approach is set to be a thing of the past and very soon a new evaluation and assessment process shall be in vogue.
The well-known knowledge advisor and consultant Arindam Bhattacharya raised several specific questions on the future of Education and Industry to the august Panelists. In response to one of the questions related to the process of learning in these days, Dr Ashok Pandey responded by saying that one has to be a lifelong learner and our ancient scriptures and scholars have emphasised on this aspect for times immemorial. In extension to this view Rakesh Tayal said the education in the future shall witness S.Q playing a crucial part in one's development as in time's to come where a machine shall be a man's partner spiritual quotient and the ability to control one's mind shall be the kernel around which future education models shall evolve.
Rajive Gulati beautifully summed up the first discussion by stating that Industry 4.0 cannot succeed until and unless there is an inter-linkage and constant communication process between academia and the industry and most importantly all curriculum from the formative years right up to higher education has to be developed and worked upon in sync.
"The PIET incubation and innovation centre that is about to be operationalised shall be a one-of its kind where students across all age groups shall have access to the facility and mentors who shall provide the innovators with much-needed guidance and support," added Rakesh.
The second-panel discussion focused on the aspect of INCUBATION and how can a student right from his school days be provided with the freedom to Ideate and Think Big. The panellists for the session were Anita Sharma, Principal, SD Public School, Pitampura, New Delhi, Raminder Sodhi, independent start-up consultant and mentor, Dr Suresh Bedi, chief academic mentor PIET and Shubneet Chawla, Alumnus of PIET currently running his own start-up in the domain of Block Chain.
The key takeaways from this segment were that one needs to embrace failure, learn and re-Boot as fast as possible with the next big idea.
The Summit concluded with the segment on ideas and implementation, whereby all delegates were taken through ideas and practices that can be implemented so that the teaching and learning process moves to the next level. The concepts of flipped learning, blended learning, and technology-based learning processes and approaches like micro-lessons and plickers were demonstrated and the benefits explained to all delegates.
"The primary objective of the Summit was to sensitise one and all and the way the educators need to move out of their own silo's and take on a leadership role so that we as a nation become a global leader once again and regain our," concluded Rakesh Tayal.
This story is provided by Fourth Estate. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article.
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