Tag: Education

January 18: “I want to see the young citizens of India become aware netizens. It is my goal to make the children of India cyber empowered today to reduce the likelihood of cybercrime tomorrow” – Anuraag Singh.

Anuraag Singh is the Founder & CEO of SysTools, a Delhi-based IT company, and a renowned Cyber Expert and Digital Forensics Trainer. He lives in New Delhi, but his cyber expertise is recognized all over the world.

Anuraag’s father is a retired Air Force Officer, and since his childhood, he dreamt of walking in his father’s footsteps. However, even after days and nights of hard work, luck did not favor him. But, this did not come in the way of his dream to serve his country.

During the pandemic, there were several threatening cases of cybercrime concerning the students of universities & schools that came to his notice. And it was at this point when he realized, it’s time to give back to society what he has learnt so far.

Even before the pandemic, Anuraag and his team held several cyber awareness seminars and workshops. However, it was during the crisis, that he realized the urgency of equipping the young minds with advanced analytical skills, intellectual capacities, and critical thinking related to cyber empowerment.

Anuraag Singh emphasizes that like Physical Education, English, and other subjects taught in schools, a separate class for “Cyber Awareness” should also be made mandatory, given the rise in cybercrimes all over India.

Anuraag does not sit back and wait for the next cybercrime to take place and then fix it. Instead, he believes in empowering the young brains with cyber awareness now to teach them the responsible use of technology and can spot any type of cyber-attack in the future.

As, Jawaharlal Nehru, our first Prime Minister of India, has said:

“The children of today will make the India of tomorrow. The way we bring them up will determine the future of the country.”

Why is Cyber Awareness Important for Educational Institutions?

Because of the crisis, schools & colleges were left with no option but to conduct classes online. This leads to increased risks and vulnerabilities in the digital sphere. Unlike large organizations, educational institutions are not completely aware of the threats posed by cyber-attacks, whose advantage the cybercriminals are taking.

Cyber-attacks and crimes in educational institutions have made headlines on the news channels several times. No other industry in the market has been hit as hard as the educational sector. Do you know why? It was the lack of cyber awareness and practice of cyber hygiene among the students and the faculty of these institutes that made them victims of such heinous crimes.

How can educational institutions overcome this problem? The first approach, which nearly everyone follows, is to install several layers of firewall protection and comprehensive antivirus software. They are effective but only up to a certain point because everything beyond that depends on the person using them.

Throughout his work, Anuraag Singh has learnt that humans are more targeted by cybercriminals than technologies because of the high level of vulnerability.

Considering the prevalence and new ways of cyber-attacks, educational institutions need to integrate cyber empowerment into their daily lives. This can be done by not only including cyber awareness as part of the syllabus but also through cyber empowerment programs that cover all aspects of information technology.

Training and Workshops in Educational Institutions to Defeat Cybercriminals

Creating a cyber-safe environment should be a priority for educational institutes not just to avoid financial loss or disruption, but to protect the students from any kind of harm.

Through his cyber empowerment programs, Anuraag Singh covers not only students but also the teachers and staff of educational institutions.

Currently, the syllabus of schools and universities focuses solely on technological concepts. However, if we want to educate our children on proper internet etiquette, it is required to think outside the box and equip them with information that is not even found in books.

To achieve that, Anuraag Singh has launched his own Cyber Empowerment Program that covers all the aspects of information technology along with hands-on experience. Students of most of the Government and few Private schools and universities were fortunate enough to be a part of this program.

Through these sessions and workshops, Anuraag aims to uncover all the gaps and issues in the Indian cybercrime systems and thus fill them.

His Cyber Empowerment Program to create Cyber-Smart children consist of:

1. Classroom level learning
2. Digital transformation & cyber revolution via education, practice & implementation
3. Advanced cyber lab setup with international standard technologies at every school.
4. Learning through artificial intelligence integrated animated videos.
5. Providing a platform for students to share innovative ideas.
6. Sessions on cyberbullying, social media fraudsters & the latest phishing mediums.
7. Opportunity to explore and learn the latest trends & practices in the cyber world.
8. Workshops, Posters, and Seminars related to CyberSpace.
9. For students aiming to pursue a career in cyber security, job-oriented training, practical exposure, and real-time case studies are provided to them.

He has even included several topics in his cyber empowerment program for the students keeping in mind the covid-19 Pandemic.

These topics cover the basics of data protection, shoulder surfing, email security, mobile device security, password security and protection, an up-to-date rundown of the tactics and strategies frequently used by cyber-criminals, etc.

It is also important to remember that cyber awareness training is not a one-time thing and must be repeated regularly. Since online criminals are not taking a vacation, we must not too!

Where There Is A Will, There Is A Way!

 No success can be achieved without any struggle. Anuraag has decided to bring a change in the Indian education system &enlighten schools and colleges about the importance of cyber awareness in order to make it a mandatory subject in schools. During the lockdown, it was an easy call to discontinue the cyber awareness sessions that he was providing already. But, he did not let the Covid-19 be a reason to stop him. Instead, Anuraag took this as an opportunity and moved his sessions to the online platform. This proves that the person having a will to do something will always find a way to do it, while others are busy searching for excuses.

Along with providing training sessions in Schools and colleges, Anuraag Singh has also assisted the Law Enforcement Agencies since 2007 in solving cybercrime cases. Providing training to the police officials to make them proficient at handling cybercrime-related cases was a long time practice for him.

“It was my parent’s dream to see me as an Indian Airforce Officer. They are, however, much more proud of me for teaching & empowering the future of India to be the next generation of cyber experts.”

Surat (Gujarat) [India], January 17: B-Schools are often criticized for teaching management cases that have no direct relevance or belong to a different milieu (on American companies, for instance). Contemplating this, The Founder Director of Fashionova, Mr. Anupam Goyal and Mrs Ankita Goyal joined hands with Faculties of S. R. Luthra Institute of Management, a leading Management Institute of Surat, allowing them to write a case about their firm for teaching purposes.

The case study addresses the creative journey of Fashionova that aims at bridging the gap between the garment industry & budding design professionals worldwide, thereby generating employment opportunities for them. It will be an effective tool for students to learn & apply concepts to real-life situations & strategies.

The case was developed by Mr. Riddhish Joshi, Ms. Swapna Nair, Dr. Hemlata Agarwal (S.R. Luthra Institute of Management) & Dr. Priya Narayan (Metas Adventist College).  It was compiled from interactions with the owner of Fashionova and published sources and is intended to be used in classrooms for subjects of strategic management, entrepreneurship, and the like.

The case discusses the market opportunities, the founder’s vision and objectives, their innovative products, services, and processes. It also highlights their USP, marketing strategies, their initiatives, achievements as well as challenges in their entrepreneurial journey. The lessons from this case can be useful for students as well as budding entrepreneurs who have a passion for innovation, taking their enterprise to a new level. Right from receiving the start-up recognition from the government of India and being acknowledged for PPE creation by the Honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji Tweet on Mann Ki Baat to getting the case paper registered, Fashionova has come a long way.

It is a matter of pride for Surat that the case paper has been finally registered with European Case Study Centre, and now it is available globally for all business schools. The main objective behind this is to introduce the benefits of business education using real company cases.

The Founder Director of Fashionova, Mr. Anupam Goyal, said, “The authors of this research paper have done a tremendous job & the hard work has really paid off. He strongly believes that sharing real-life experiences can contribute to the better functioning of the industry as a whole, and this case paper will help in enhancing the problem-solving skills related to businesses.

January 13: Akshay Anand, the ED of Pratibha Pallavan Public School shares his views on how education needs to be delivered despite the pandemic and how Pratibha Pallavan Public School is contributing its bit to this noble cause. He also shares insights on how they are going about to achieve it. Below are excerpts from the conversation we had with Akshay Anand on how they are delivering education in Covid. In the pandemic times, what has been done by the School to sustain the education?

Introduction

In these dark times, it is important to remember that there are still people out there doing good. This week we sit down with Akshay Anand, Educational Director for the Pratibha Pallavan Public School and talk about how he is continuing to deliver high-quality education in a country where so many people have perished from Covid. He’s one inspirational guy!

Our Approach

In these times of such a dangerous pandemic, most schools and parents are scared that their children will get infected or sick. However, at our school, we believe it is crucial to continue with our routines and educate students despite such dangers. Our students have been vaccinated against Covid as soon as the government rolled out the vaccination drives for those below 18 years of age. However, we developed our own application to continue delivering educational excellence. We strictly follow and adhere to the government guidelines to make sure that our children won’t get infected.

 Results, thus far for Pratibha Pallavan Public School

Akshay says that despite going online mode, our students secured our legacy of being CBSE class 10th, District Topper, in Jehanabad for the last four years by securing 99 % marks in 2021. 30 of our students secured more than 90 % marks. “This is nothing new for Pratibha Pallavan Public School our students are flourishing in different fields of life because we not only educate them, but we develop the winnability in their habit with the holistic education system we have developed since 1993 says Dr Abhiram Singh, Chairman Pratibha Pallavan Educational Group. Our efforts would have been considered significant during an ordinary time in our country’s history. However, he says, they will seem insignificant in comparison to what we intend to do for delivering quality education accessible to all.

The Future Plan for Pratibha Pallavan Group

Akshay and his team have planned out a 5-year plan that can be seen below. The school is growing rapidly, with more than 5000 students currently enrolled in their school (the age range of students is from 5 to 13). Due to Akshay’s management skills, he has been able to set up a stage for the groups University in Jehanabad Itself to deliver much more to the community. Akshay is also, through his group, planning to set up a world-class educational infrastructure in the form of a school in the Delhi- NCR region. This will help develop the state and the countries educational infrastructure and produce some quality of assets for the society.

Conclusion

The upcoming school year brings a fresh new problem for many in India. Many schools have been forced to close for months due to Covid that has ravaged major cities in eastern India. However, even after most schools closed down across Jehanabad & Bihar, one school remained open –Pratibha Pallavan Public School (PPPS). The school has been praised for their dedication to education amidst crisis, and it’s not hard to see why.

About Akshay Anand, ED Pratibha Pallavan Public School

Akshay Anand is an Educationalist & Entrepreneur who has been a part of Pratibha Pallavan Educational Group since 2005. He is the Educational Director of Pratibha Pallavan Public School. Akshay has done engineering in Computer Science from RGPV, Bhopal. He was instrumental in creating a ‘Virtual Classroom’ & Pratibha Pallavan App using technology when schools were forced to shut due to the covid 19 pandemic.

New Delhi (India), January 11: Lifology, the Guinness World Record winning & ISO certified guidance organization, launches 10,000 Global Fellowships for students from Indian schools across the world. The initiative is fully FREE and aligned with the New Education Policy – 2020, envisaged by the Government of India.

Students from 9th grade to 12th grade can apply for the fellowship. From the applicants, 10,000 students shall be selected and provided with 2 weeks long International Certification Program, deep mentoring by experts such as Chetan Bhagat, Dr Jebamalai (United Nations, UNIDO Frmr Principal Advisor), Dr Mukesh Kapila CBE (Frmr Advisor to World Bank),Dr Kiersten Connors (Aluma of Stanford University) and Rahul Easwar (Alumnus of IIM – Ahmedabad, London School of Economics) Lana Eghterafi (Alumna of Harvard University) and support to create a masterplan for future. Along with students, parents shall also be encouraged to be part of the process.

Praveen Parameswar, CEO of Lifology shared with the media that Lifology Global Fellows would be shaped-up as promising 10,000 young adults in India by assessing their talents and skills with an exclusive AI powered tool, exposing them to emerging career options, guide them to the right future tracks, tune the mindset for success and enhance 21^st-century skills. He also said that the fellows would get opportunity to win scholarships worth up to 30 Crore from universities and top development programs in India and abroad. They can also win attractive prizes such as iPad, iPhones and MacBook, and the top performer shall be recognized with a fully paid NASA trip.

Sarath Chandran, IIM (K) alumnus and Chief Co-Ordinator of the program, said that they expect to receive an application from more than 2 lakh students from 2,000 plus Indian schools across the world, and 10,000 of them shall be selected for fellowship based on merit.

He also added that the program should bring the vision set by NEP – 2020, CBSE and National Skill Development Corporation regarding the development of Indian children into reality.

Schools, parents and students who are interested in the program can apply through the link available on www.lifology.com/lgf and contact mobile number 7994820999 for assistance. The last date to submit the application shall be 26^th January, 2022.

Prizes worth INR 11 Lakhs Up For Grabs!

No Enrollment Fee

The last registration date is January 10, 2022

 New Delhi [India], January 7: Leveraging its immersive learning expertise, Practically, India’s first experiential learning app designed to make learning immersive for students of classes 6-12 has launched the ‘School and Student Championship,’ a nationwide school quiz contest. This exciting and unique championship quiz has been introduced to make the onset of the New Year extra special for students and their corresponding schools since both stand a chance to win some exciting prizes. There is no registration fee which makes it a double bonanza.

The quiz offers the top three winners cash prizes of up to INR 6,00,000. Additionally, students also stand a chance to win scholarships worth INR 5,00,000 on the Practically App. The competition will be held in two segments: first for students from grades 6th to 8th and second for 9th to 12th. The questions are curated by the Practically team of experts based on the corresponding age group.

The last date for application is January 10, 2022. The qualifier round will be held on January 12, 2022, and the semi-finals are scheduled on January 13, 2021. The quiz final will be held on January 14, 2022, and winners will be announced on the Practically app and social media channels.

To further elaborate, the cash prize will be equally divided among the winners and the school. The winner will get INR 150,000 cash reward and a 1-year Icon scholarship, the first runner-up will win INR 100,000 cash, and a 1-year Icon Scholarship, the second runner up will get INR 50,000 and a 1-year Icon scholarship. The students who rank between 4^th to 10^th will get a 6-month Icon Scholarship, while 11^th to 15^th position holders will get a 1-year Legend scholarship.

Commenting on the initiative, Ms Charu Noheria, Co-Founder & COO of Practicallysaid, “During these tough times, we hope that the quiz will be a refresher for schools and students. We are confident that young and curious minds will be thrilled to participate in the newly launched championship. We have made this School and Student Championship quiz accessible for all to benefit schools and students across the country. The quiz will provide a transparent platform to students  to showcase their capabilities.”

Enrollment Link –https://bit.ly/3q7Mmgo

Last date to register – 10th January 2022

Founded in 2018 by Mr Subbarao Siddabattula, Founder & CEO, Ms Charu Noheria, Co-Founder & COO, and Mr Ilangovel Thulasimani, Co-Founder & CTO, Practically uses next-generation interactive methods, such as Augmented Reality (AR), Simulations and 3D videos for an enhanced learning experience. It is an intelligent, interactive and immersive learning app for classes 6 to 12 with a focus on STEM learning. Life-like simulations and Augmented Reality (AR) experiences are combined with learning pathways to bring learning alive and increase the retention rate of concepts. Recently, we launched the revolutionary #ScanAnything feature becoming the world’s first EdTech company to do so. Practically also offers Live classes, a Coding ++ course, and a 24×7 Seek Help feature for doubt resolution, where students can reach out to subject experts on the platform. 1,500,000 students, more than 350 schools, and 18,000 teachers across India and the Middle East are already benefiting from the engaging content on Practically. You can watch the latest brand commercial on YouTube. The app is available for download for free on Play Store and App Store.