Skills and employability need to be imparted young – schools are the places to start at
While the hue and cry over lack of skills and employability rages among employers and educationists alike, new ideas have implied a long term view negating stop-gap solutions. This new line of thought was mooted at the annual EDUConvEx conference- an annual event providing a platform for thought-leaders to deliberate upon issues of education for economic and social development. The event is jointly supported by Edexcel & Pearson Education as part of their global ‘Effective Education for Employment’ drive. The two day long event is being held on 5-6 February at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. The theme for 2010 is “Effective Skills Development for Employability” featuring an array of eminent speakers from policy makers to educationists and corporate employers.
EDUConvEx was conceptualised by an eminent Steering Committee as a platform for independent and free contemplation of educational transformations with the welfare of citizens in mind. It is dedicated towards philosophical concerns such as the welfare of humanity, the sustainability of our environment and acknowledging that the youth must be employable and integrated into the global workforce.
While concerns on the employability of Indian talent persist, there has been a deliberate push to improve skills and employability at the end of the pipeline. Taking a long term view, the conference indicated that skills development aptitude towards employability has to start at the start and should be one of the focus areas in the academic system. It is far more relevant and easier to inculcate such skills in students and giving them a chance to raise attainment and achievement. The platform also felt that educational systems themselves had to be retrained to handle such new dynamics.
Sami Baig, Regional Director, Edexcel said “It is quite heartening to see such an eminent gathering of speakers and delegates making this conference a success. Edexcel as an international awarding body supports free thinking initiatives provoking thought and action in the field education across the world. We have been cataloguing our research in various countries and these deliberations provide enough ideas for every stakeholder to get involved and deliver sustainable solutions contributing- at a micro level to an individual’s opportunity to economic attainment while accruing developmental and social benefits at a macro level”
While talking about the genesis and objective of the event Prof. M M Pant, Head Steering Committee, EDUConvEx said that ‘this marks an important moment in the transformation of education from its traditional role of providing degree to one of inculcating globally relevant employability skill. He also suggested that instead of very focused approach to developing very specific skills, that designed should be oriented towards, multi-skill orientation and creating ability to learn new skills quickly. The models would deploy current and emerging technologies such as ICT, web 2.0 and mobile phone usage.’
The conference featured speakers as well as delegates from India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka from schools, institutions, policy-making and corporate fields. The conference focused on themes like essential life skills; ability to learn, integrity, reliability, thoughtfulness, managerial and leadership skills, creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship, cross-cultural collaborative and team skills in a mult-lingual environment along with teacher training and assessment methodologies. It featured speakers like Prof M M Pant former Pro-Vice Chancellor, IGNOU; Ms. Isabel Sutcliffe, Edexcel; Ms. Beena Shah, Secretary General, AIU; Mr. Vinay Pathak, VC of UKOU; Mr. Sanjeev Bikhchandani, CEO Naukri.com; Mr. Mr. Vinay Rai, Chairman Rai Foundation; Dr. Darlie Koshy, Director General, IAM; Ms. Nupur Prakash, Director IGIT; Gulsanam Karimova, Training and Education Specialist, MOPE, Uzbekistan; Mr. Dyan Seneviratne CEO, IPM, Sri Lanka among others.
