Chief Guest: Smt D Purandeswari, Minister of State for Higher Education
Keynote Speaker: Dileep Ranjekar, CEO, Azim Premji Foundation

A Perspective on the Scenario of Education in India

The speakers will share their views on the situation of education in India, the areas that have been neglected, and how we can take it forward in future.

• Professor V N Rajasekharan Pillai,  Vice Chancellor, IGNOU

• Manish Sabharwal, Chairman, TeamLease Services
• Jeroninio (Jerry) Almedia, iCONGO
• Professor  A K Shiva Kumar, Visiting faculty, ISB and Advisor to UNICEF India
• Dilip Thakore - Publisher/Editor of Education World, India

Demographic Dividend of India: Education as a Turnaround Factor

India currently boasts a very positive demographic composition with the percentage of youth in the population at a high level. Are we, as a nation, prepared to benefit from this natural demographic advantage? India is a sought after destination due to its inherent advantage of cheap labour, but are we risking the danger of not being able to provide adequately and appropriately skilled labour to a booming job market? Is there a surplus of demand and shortage of supply?

These are the few questions in the perspective of the panel discussion. In this light, we wish to elicit different points of view on overcoming the challenges outlined above and the means through which education can aid in doing so.

Stakeholders in the Education Sector- Challenges and Solutions

Achieving universal primary education is one of the Millennium Development Goals set up by the United Nations. Various stakeholders in the education sector in India are striving to achieve this target. A lot of efforts in this direction have been exerted by both the government and non-government organisations in India. Due to the sheer size of the country- the population and its diversity- it is a Herculean task by all standards. We have faced and overcome some impediments to move ahead towards the goal of education for all in India. While some challenges were overcome, most of them are persisting still.
The panel would share their views as described above and facilitate an opportunity of cross learning among the various stakeholders present in the Conclave. This panel is to discuss and share with other stakeholders the challenges in the field of education sector- those that the participating NGOs came across while trying to reach the goal of providing quality education. The NGOs would share their experiences of how they dealt with such issues, which ones they overcame, and which ones they are still trying to overcome. Apart from the administrative issues, the focus will be on challenges like the financial background of children, education for the girl child and for special children (spastics, visually or hearing impaired, etc.), child psychology in school education and accessibility of school for children.

Self-sustainable revenue generating models for enhancing the scope and quality of the existing set-ups of education in India.

In the final phase of the Conclave, students from the Indian School of Business and other prestigious business schools in India would get an opportunity to discuss, analyse and present financially self-sustaining models for providing quality education in the rural areas and to urban underprivileged populations. The paper will cover practical ways of enhancing the quality, depth and reach of education in India.