Investments in online edu to improve access, enhance skills

The country needs to bet big on investments in online education, making it available to those struggling and aspiring for higher achievements, said S Ramadorai, vice chairman, Tata Consultancy Services, and advisor to the Prime Minister in the National Skill Development Council (NSDC).

Delivering the second CK Prahalad Memorial Lecture 2013, organised by the Aspen Institute India and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), he said: "We need to work out a plan to make on-demand learning a reality, using the national IT backbone or the rural broadband which is presently under implementation."

The country needs hub-and-spoke models to leverage the limited resources, and you may even need to blend software and human intervention, and there are a host of strategies for every situation. This can be one of the most exciting phases in Indian education. "We need to bet big on such investments and plan for the future. The strong incentive from the government and private players will create new business models. Indians are very good at that. Venture capitalists and angel investors will be attracted and slowly we can build a very vibrant ecosystem," he added.

The 21st century model demands that we shred up the traditional educational models. Online resources, from the Wikis to Podcasts to training videos are allowing both children and adults to pursue education on their own. It would be a great supplement to the learning schools and colleges; schools and universities on a cloud are a real possibility, he said.

One small step towards this was the recent announcement of about seven Indian Institute of Technology (IITs), and Nasscom along with other private technology companies deciding to join forces to launch a bunch of free online courses.

Potentially, these courses could help under 1,000 to 150,000 people a year get high quality education and, more excitingly, make them job-ready. The courses will be offered is in the model of massive open online courses or MOOC.

However, "the worry is how can we make this less elitist and bring such to those who are struggling and who aspire for higher achievement," he added.

He said that time has come for a national portal with educational materials freely available for the public. One has to look at how the country could develop that and cultivating more entrepreneurs through this.

The government is looking at various models for skill development and one of it is the constituency model in which the local Member of Parliament and the field officer could take the responsibility of developing skills among at least 5,000 youth from their constituency. The model is already under implementation and is expected to scale up in future.

Another model is to utilise the National Service Scheme across colleges to develop skills among youth. The model has already been implemented in 10 universities as a pilot starting this year and plans are on to touch 30,000 students through the model.

Given that 93 per cent of the working people are in the unorganised sector, and most are in the least developed places in India, it requires a deeply penetrative effort which also addresses the local needs and sensitivities. Aligning with NGOs and social entrepreneurs is important and the PPP model in all aspects of training is the need of the hour.

"My own appointment as the advisor to the Prime Minister indicates the need for crossover efforts for any approach to be successful, collaborative forces with the ecosystem is absolutely critical," he added.