Welcome to 3rd ICT in Education

In yet another attempt to drive the technological revolution for the development of one of the most important factor of everyone's being- Education, VARINDIA, India's frontline IT publication has organized 'ICT in Education Summit- 2013' on 8th February. The event attracted a huge number of academicians from across Delhi and NCR along with various corporate where the IT industry showcased various products and technologies. The invitees of the event include various IT honchos, VARs and senior officials from the Educational fraternity.

The event witnessed the presence of Honorable Guest Prof. Rajaram S. Sharma - Joint Director - CIET - NCERT. Other guests who graced the event were Tarun Mallik, Director - Online Business & Competitive Strategy - Microsoft India; Ritesh Chopra, Country Sales Manager (Consumer Products & Solutions) - Symantec Corporation; Rajan Verma, Director - Sales - Net Axcess Communication; Saket Setu, CMO - C - Zentrix; Dr. Harold D'Costa , Director - Intelligent Quotient Security; Sujit Panigrahi , Co-founder and CEO - Fitness 365; Sujit Bhattacharya, CEO - Indus World School; Vijay Shukla, Managing Partner, Eduvisors; Sharad Agarwal, Director - Fracton Technologies; Shamim Alam, Business Solution Architect, India HP, Indigo and Inkjet Press Solutions APAC/ Japan; D.K. Khanna, DDG, Dept. of Telecom, GOI; Sunil Gupta, AGM & Head IT, JPC, GOI; N.K. Goel, Chairman, CMAI; Mr. Manit Jain, Director- Heritage School, New Delhi, Mr. R. C Sekhar, Director- Gyan Bharati School, Saket, New Delhi, Dr. Anju Mehrotra, Principal - Kalka Public School, New Delhi, Ms. Anshu Sahi, Principal, Army Public school, New Delhi, Ms. Sonia Anil Verma, Salwan Public School, New Delhi, Ms. Seema Malhotra, Educational consultant, New Delhi, Mr. Gaurav Tomar, Director, Rabindranath World School and Dr. C.S. Arora, Senior Consultant, Ministry of HRD, Department of Higher education, Govt. of India.

Addressing the audience Prof. Rajaram S. Sharma- Joint Director- CIET- NCERT said that Education is undoubtedly a significant aspect today. Education should not be treated as a weapon but should come to the children as a means to an end. He added that the curriculum should be updated from time to time. Deepak Kumar Sahu, Publisher, VARINDIA welcomed the esteemed guests and elucidated the intent of the forum which is to bring upon the up gradation of Education with the help of ICT.

Ritesh Chopra, Country Sales Manager (Consumer Products & Solutions) - Symantec Corporation, opined that since technology is playing a vital role in education today, it is important to keep a tab on what a child is accessing. Thus, proper security is very important. He delineated various solutions of Symantec which can address the security threats.

Rajan Verma, Director - Sales – Net Axcess Communication gave his companies perspectives and shared information on the usefulness of wireless solutions. He has thrown light on several technological dimensions which can uplift the present day educational scenario. Ankita Saikia, Head Marketing & Alliances, Amtrak Info Systems Ltd. talked upon the penetration of education in India like never before. She spoke about the usefulness of tablets for students.

Saket Setu, CMO - C-Zentrix said that it is high time when we should do away with the copy paste model and work upon more original ideas which are at par with the modern day demands. He added that educations institutions should build seamless communication platforms using technology for enhanced results. Dr. Harold D'Costa, Director - Intelligent Quotient Security stressed upon the cyber threats that are looming large incase proper security measures are not taken. He has thrown some live examples which explain the threats one can fall prey of sans proper security.

Vijay Shukla, Managing Partner, Eduvisors opined that education is imperative and that with the coming of technical advancement the education landscape is definitely going to see new horizons.

Panel Discussion

The event also comprised of an interesting and interactive panel discussion. The theme of the panel discussion was 'ICT in Education and its Benefits'. The session was extremely informative and highly appreciated by the audience.

The panel discussion was moderated by Deepak Kumar Sahu, Publisher, VARINDIA. The panel consisted of Sharad Agarwal, Director - Fracton Technologies; Sujit Panigrahi, Co - founder and CEO - Fitness 365; Tarun Mallik, Director - Product Marketing & Strategy - Microsoft Corporation India; Harold D'Costa, Director - Intelligent Quotient Security; Vijay Shukla, Managing Partner, Eduvisors and Dr. C.S. Arora, Senior Consultant, Ministry of HRD, Department of Higher education, Govt. of India.

From the panel discussion we had not only set an example of a successful role model of active involvement from the education fraternity and corporate bodies in empowerment in ICT in education but also shared best practices and the ways to overcome challenges including latest Technology and delivery. The take away point from the moderator of the session was the uses of ICT is making major differences in the learning of students and teaching approaches. Regardless of all the limitations discussed, ICT benefits the education systems to provide quality education in alignment with constructivism, which is a contemporary paradigm of learning. The event concluded with a vote of thanks and left the audience with the food for thought that today there are innumerous technologies made available for enhancing education. It is now for us to bring it to proper utilization and act upon wisely.