Page 32 - EducationWorld June 2020

Cover Story

Amrish Patel ing higher education in the new Covid-19 challenge is to scale good KG-Ph
era? D education in rural India where
Managing trustee, SVKM Trust & Shirpur The immediate challenge after impo- 90 percent of students report poor
Education Society sition of the lockdown was to shift to learning outcomes.
virtual classrooms and deliver aca- Moreover, agriculture education
demic programmes seamlessly. As- and practices are obsolete. In Shir-
sociated challenges were completing pur, we have started a model 110-
evaluation, maintaining the academ- acre farm on which we will practice
ic records of each student’s progres- organic farming with latest Israeli
sion to higher class, and completing technology. Our intent is to revolu-
the graduation process of final year tionise farm practices and productiv-
students. SVKM institutions met ity. In this connection, the recent
these challenges very effectively. initiatives of the Central government
Looking to the future, the major to liberalise Indian agriculture is a
challenge for HEIs (higher educa- good beginning.
tion institutions) will be to attract
students from different geographic C. Raj Kumar
regions, states and countries. At least Vice chancellor, O.P. Jindal Global University
for the next year or two, colleges and
universities will find it difficult to n alumnus of Madras, Delhi,
maintain student body and faculty Oxford and Harvard univer-
diversity as students are likely to Asities, Dr. C. Raj Kumar is
enrol in local HEIs for health safety founding vice chancellor of the O.P.
reasons. Jindal Global University, Sonipat,
mrish Patel is managing trust- Placements and summer intern- Haryana (JGU, estb.2009). JGU is
ee of the nationally renowned ships are also likely to suffer. Due to ranked among India’s Top 5 private
AMumbai-based SVKM Trust the economic slowdown, students universities by EducationWorld.
(estb.1934) and founder of the may also lose the opportunity to get The Covid-19 crisis has majorly dis-
Shirpur Education Society (SES) and valuable internship exposure and rupted the education system. How has
R.C. Patel Trust, Shirpur (RCPT). deserved placements. JGU responded to this challenge?
The SVKM trust manages seven This is an unprecedented situa-
schools, 12 colleges and NMIMS What are your Top 3 proposals for reviv- tion that all education institutions
Deemed University with an aggre- ing and reforming higher education in are facing worldwide. As the crisis
gate enrolment of 62,000 students India? drew on, we realised we had to find
and 1,900 teachers. The SES and With the GER (gross enrolment robust alternative strategies to ad-
RCPT trusts provide pre-primary to ratio) in higher education in India dress emerging developments. We
junior college education to 34,000 averaging 30 percent against 60-80 immediately set to work to move
children in Shirpur. percent in industrially developed
OECD countries, there is urgent need the entire teaching delivery mecha-
How have SVKM institutions responded for major reforms in higher educa- nism of all our 5,100 students in the
to the Covid-19 challenge? tion. The critical challenges con- nine constituent schools of JGU, to
Fortunately, SVKM institutions have fronting HEIs are: employability of the online learning mode. We also
been investing in digital technology graduates; improving quality of the adapted the design and delivery of
to strengthen learning and academic teaching-learning ecosystem; insuf- the university’s assessments and
processes for the past several years. ficient funding and technology sup- exams to suit the new online mode.
Therefore, the already existing port; lack of institutional autonomy
technology infrastructure helped and excessive regulation of even
us to make quick use of installed highly rated and well-performing
technology in programme delivery HEIs.
and evaluation, to ensure academic
continuity. You are also the managing trustee of the
SVKM institutions include several Shirpur Education Society (SES) which
colleges affiliated with the University has done extraordinary work in rural
of Mumbai, autonomous institutions education. What’s your prescription for
and NMIMS Deemed University. reviving/advancing rural education?
A positive outcome of the Covid-19 SES (estb.1986) has promoted over
pandemic is that it provided all our 70 education institutions in the
institutions the opportunity to trans- vicinity of Shirpur on the Maharash-
form themselves, adopt new technol- tra/Madhya Pradesh border provid-
ogy and handle the process of change ing high-quality SVKM benchmarked
management effectively. school and collegiate education. But
SES institutions accommodate only
What are the major challenges confront- 5,000 students. Therefore, the real

32 EDUCATIONWORLD JUNE 2020