In near future 80 per cent of the jobs will result out of STEM
Sanjay Trivedi
India Subcontinent, News, Sci/Tech, South East Asia, World News
120 Views
- A Roundtable was organized to deliberate on the roadmap of STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics] Education and Research in India at Science City in Ahmedabad under the Chairmanship of Mr. Prakash Javadekar, Minister of Human Resource Development Government of India. Prof Pankaj Chandra the (VC Ahmedabad University) moderator of the roundtable introduced four topics – Opportunities and Need for STEM Education in India, Making Regulations STEM friendly, Designing School and University Education for Higher Returns on STEM Investment, Global Experiences in Enabling STEM Education and Policies for India - and requested all the participants to present their ideas so as to come with actionable solutions which can contribute towards evolving a policy framework for STEM education and research in India.
- The session was presided over by Mr. Prakash Javadekar, Union Minister of Human Resource Development. Sharing his thoughts on the potential of STEM as a discipline and area of research, he said, “Technology and development are key to the progress of any nation. The need of the hour is to inculcate innovation in young minds. There are several initiatives that the government has undertaken to generate interest and promote innovation in the youth. Atal tinkering labs, Smart India hackathon etc. are some of the steps that have been taken by the government of India to promote innovation among the youth.” He added that the new examination which has been introduced in 5th and 10th standard in schools will bring a visible change in Innovation and Research in the education system.
- Speaking at the occasion, Mr. Bhupendrasinh Chudasma , Minister of Education for Government of Gujarat stated that Gujarat government is very keen on encouraging innovation among young people. He also stated that recently the Government of Gujarat bagged the top rank in the national start up ranking, brought out by DIPP, Government of India.
- Principal Secretary of Education Department, GoG, Mrs. Anju Sharma presented a brief overview of STEM education and research and said that STEM is the foundation of skill and jobs. She added that as per a study carried out by National Science Foundation, 80 per cent of the jobs will result out of STEM and hence there is a dire need for India to work on promoting STEM education from school level.
- Attended by eminent educationists of India and key policy makers of the Central and State government , the objective of the roundtable was to focus on identifying different channels for promoting STEM in India, both as a discipline of education and as an area of research & innovation.
- Mr. R Subramaniyam, Secretary, MHRD, Government of India outlined the importance of quality STEM research in higher institutions.
- Well-known names from the academia including Prof. Sanghamitra Bandhopadhyay, JC Bose National Fellow, Professor, Machine Intelligence Unit and Director, Indian Statistical Institute; Dr Liesl Folks, Dean, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences & Prof. Electrical Engineering, University at Buffalo; Prof. Sanghamitra Bandhopadhyay, JC Bose National Fellow, Professor, Machine Intelligence Unit and Director, Indian Statistical Institute; Prof. V Ramagopal Rao (Director IIT Delhi); Prof. Anil Sahasrabudhe (Chaiman AICTE); Dr Bhusan Patwardhan – UGC Vice Chairman, Prof V . Ramgopal Rao – Director IIT New Delhi, Prof Errol D’Souza – Director IIM Ahmedabad, Dr Sudhir Jain – Director IIT Gandhinagar, Dr K Keshava Rao – Dean, IISC Banglore, Dr D Srikanth Rao – Director Manipal Institute of Technology, Prof Pankaj Chandra – Vice Chancellor, Ahmedabad University, Ahmedabad, Dr Biswajit Saha – Director (Skill Education and Training) Central Board of Secondary Education, Dr Joseph Emmanuel – Director Academics and Chief Vigilance Officer, CBSE, Youngsuk Chi ‘YS’ Chi – Chairman, Elsevier, Mr Parvinder Bhatia – Sr Director Global
- Partnerships, Discovery Education, Prof. V Chandrashekhar, Centre Director, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Hyderabad; Dr Himanshu Pandya – Vice Chancellor – Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, Prof. Mike Bergin, Professor, Duke University, Civil and Environment Engineering participated in the roundtable discussion.
- Union Minister Mr. Prakash Javadekar launches a coffee table book at STEM
- Just a day ahead of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Business Summit 2019, the Department of Education, Government of Gujarat organised a seminar on STEM to bring together the academia and intelligentsia across the globe to brainstorm on the potential STEM holds as a discipline and an area of research. The seminar was inaugurated by Minister MHRD, Mr. Prakash Javadekar, in the presence of Minister of Education, Government of Gujarat Mr. Bhupendrasinh Chudasma at Science City in Ahmedabad today.
- Mr. Javadekar unveiled a coffee table book titled ‘Student Startup and Innovation’, documenting the success of student start-ups in the state.A documentation of selected research papers for STEM Research, policy and pedagogy was also unveiled on the occasion.
- Addressing the audience, Mr. Javadekar stressed on the importance of innovation among young minds and spoke in detail about the initiatives that the Central government has taken to provide an enabling environment and quality education to students across the country such as Atal Tinkering Labs, PM Fellowship, Ucchattar Avishkar Yojana, research parks etc. He also emphasised that innovation is the key enabler for sustainable progress of any country and is the driving force behind the Make in India programme.
- Speaking at the inaugural session, Mr. Chudasma said, “Education has evolved in past few decades and now the focus is shifting towards hands on learning. Various community science centres are functional across the state established and science
- clubs have been set up for percolation of the STEM Culture. The government has undertaken various initiatives including distribution of tablets among first year college students to promote virtual learning, providing NAMO Wi-Fi etc.”
- Prior to the seminar, research papers were invited in three categories: Policy Reform Required to Promote STEM; Pedagogical Interventions to Promote STEM Disciplines; and STEM for Innovation & Research.
- More than 350 research papers were received by the Department from leading academic institutions. Of these, three papers were awarded Rs 1 lakh each, two papers were awarded Rs 75,000 each and one paper won the prize money of Rs 50,000.
- As many as 5 Strategic MoUs were exchanged during the seminar, including those between IIM Bangalore and GKS; e-infochip and VGEC Chandkheda; Gujarat Cleaner Production and LDCE, Ahmedabad; Gujarat Forensic Science University and GEC, Gandhinagar; Association of Chemical Technologists, India and RCTI, Ahmedabad.
- The seminar comprised of a plenary session and paper presentation session. Among other dignitaries, Minister of Education for State Mrs. Vibhavariben Dave, Principal Secretary (Higher and Technical Education); Secretary, MHRD, Mr. R Subrahmanyam, IAS; Mrs. Anju Sharma, IAS; Prof. Michael H Bergin, Civil and Environment Engineer, Duke University; Prof. Sanghamitra Bandhopadhyay, JC Bose National Fellow, Professor, Machine Intelligence Unit and Director, Indian Statistical Institute; Dr Liesl Folks, Dean, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Prof. Electrical Engineering, University of Buffalo and Prof. V Chandrasekhar, FNA, FTWAS, Centre Director, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Hyderabad were also present.
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