KOCHI: Kerala needs consistent educational policies where the focus should be the teacher, who is the link between the student and learning, said T K Kurien, managing partner and chief investment officer, Premji Invest.

“Education has been politicised to a certain extent in the country. It is a crucial sector whose outcomes have the potential to impact the next 20-30 years, and to that extent, policies need to remain consistent,” he said while participating in a panel discussion on “The Digital Future of Education and Skills” at the #Future summit, which concluded at Hotel Le Meridian here on Friday.

The panel discussion was moderated by YourStory managing editor Darlington Hector. According to the state’s High Power IT Committee (HPIC) member V K Mathews, Kerala needs a digital education strategy revolving around elements like academic autonomy and digitally-enabled campuses.

Thenkurussi Kesavadas, director of University of Illinois Health Care Engineering Systems Centre, said the system we follow in India is purely based on marks, creating issues for students. “In the US, we get credit for things we do outside the school and they encourage creativity. Here, the entire focus of a high school student is to score high marks to qualify for entrance or other courses,” he said.

Ernst and Young Automation Central Leader Deepak Swaroop, Government and Public Services PwC India partner Sreeram Ananthasayanam and Cusat former Vice-Chancellor Ramachandran Thekkedath participated in the discussions.

#Future concludes

Kochi: As the country sets its eye on becoming one of the biggest digital economies of the world, it is important for stakeholders in the knowledge domain to step up their contributions to shape the India of the future, said Alphons Kannanthanam, Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology. He was speaking at the valedictory function of the #Future, the two-day global digital; summit, organised by the Department of IT, in Kochi. “We have got to change dramatically. We have got to work for India,” he said.

State urged to embrace open data
Kochi: Kerala should consider embracing open data concepts which will allow citizens to review, analyse, visualise and use data effectively, KPMG India chairman and CEO Arun Kumar said in his  keynote address at the #Future Global Digital Summit. “Open data policies can help the government in many ways- like building a centralised big data management system by consolidating data from various government agencies. It ensures  the benefits of government policies percolate down to the deserving sections. Kerala should adopt a proactive approach towards leveraging new age technology for providing transparent and effective governance,” he said.

(Source)